BUILDING IT RIGHT

http://archives.thestar.com.my/last7days/default.asp?date=\2008\7\31&psect=Metro

OMGosh! We made the front page of Star Metro today!

(Pity it wasn't for a building award or something..)

2 Aug 08: Thanks Khang Siang for your interesting comments 4 & 5. Yup there are many who believe, like Schumacher, that Small is Beautiful. While mega is not necessarily bad, Schumacher made us think through our preoccupation with bigness and consumption.

a few quotes extracted from wiki:

Man is small, and, therefore, small is beautiful

"[A modern economist] is used to measuring the 'standard of living' by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. . . . The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity."

BLOG MAINTENANCE

As this blog only allows 100 authors max, i regretfully had to remove some to make room for newcomers. I followed the first in first out principle--no offence meant. HOWEVER, if you have been deleted but wish to be included again because you want to contribute, then just email me and i'll put u back in. CHEERS!

UNIT 1 - PACT OF THE IMPLICIT

WELCOME TO UNIT 1!

This goes out to Khang Siang, Toby (nice name!) Hong Joo, Azleen, Lydia, Shi Qi, Yu Wei, Preshant, Samantha, Chze Yoon, Kian Ann, Daniel, Brian, Adisputra and Teck Hao.

This will probably be a fun run down the road of radical poetics (Lester, stop chuckling). With super duper massive storyboards at the finishing line. That's about 17 or so weeks' away--not near, not far, just waiting for us to get there. As a group: Hence the pact.

Believe me, you'll get more in the sum of all than in each of the parts. Hence the group. The Unit.

And thanks for the unanimous nod for the Pact of the Implicit--we all need that, even I. And as i said, it's not arbitrary or peculiar or subjective. It's got to do with experiencing what's not obvious, subtexts, and all the sensory stuff that make up the poetics of architecture.

Hence the Soft and Hairy House (isometric and pic illustrated.) Which incidentally is all about sex and love and parenthood and... ya, something of that sort.

I thought the few of you who presented your initial ideas yesterday (Wed) morning were pretty cool...concepts were cool, too. Looking forward to reading your prose or poetry. U can post me for quick comments if you wish, otherwise be prepared to read your piece on Monday. (Practise, pls. Like with passion and feeling?)

Pls join up when u receive an email invitation, and tell the 2 missing ones to email me pls.

Happy posting!

Our ...uh, interesting studio assignment.

Can I have your opinions on our studio project for Studio 4?




I've expressed my thoughts in my own blog, albeit a bit harshly, but I guess I may be pessimistic or over reacting? What do you guys think of our final assignment for this studio?

BILL'S 11 MOVERS

Whilst a lot of this wisdom comes too late for some of us, this is invaluable for kids and the younger generation.

This should be posted in all schools and work places


Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

(received from kc with tx.)

HATCHING

There's a message in there somewhere for architects. Problem is...what?
(pic courtesy of bhy)

BLUE INTERLUDE

hey...this flash video came to be by email...

...quite amazing, for those who like suspension..

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Blue%20Bueaty/index.htm

nice music, too

New form of architecture

I saw this van on the road in Penang during my trip there recently and I stumbled upon a new form of architecture which you guys might be interested in.

Click on the picture for a clearer view.

G10 COMMERCIAL FITOUT @ FINAL VALUATION

Actually, finally, done, and waiting for the tenants to move in and personalise the spaces ...

END OF THE BEGINNING...

Datum 2008: Met up with Wei Chii--one of the original Studio 2006 students! my first batch when i started tutoring in July 2006. One of the last ones to fly off! Haha..

Wei Chii , as you head for a new beginning in a new world, at Strathclyde, Bon Voyage! And have loads of fun in Scotland and all of Europe!

Here's an original poem for my First Batch, wherever you all are...

There is a time when you'll sigh

There is a time when you wish you could fly

There is a time when you will die.

But there is one thing that stays the same,

Your heart remembers your friends name by name.

There is a time when hearts will tie.

There are many worlds,

But they share the same sky.
(c) 2008 Mark Huang, 12 yrs.
Used with permission

EGYPT CALLING!

OK, Guys....last call....Deposit of RM2k with copy of your passport to be handed in to Shereen by Monday 14 July. Remainder payment to be up by 19 Sept. The rest is mystery....

...i mean the mystery of Egypt waiting for our discovery....

1922: A team led by archaeologist Howard Carter enters the antechamber of King Tutankhamen's tomb. Despite some evidence of ancient plundering, it is by far the best preserved of the Egyptian royal tombs.
Though they wouldn't enter the burial chamber itself until the following day, the entrance to the 3,300-year-old necropolis, with its royal seals intact, told Carter he had found what he'd been looking for since 1907.
Carter was fortunate to discover the tomb when he did, because he was just about out of chances. His benefactor, Lord Carnarvon, was short of money and losing patience and about to pull the plug on the project. Carter talked him into bankrolling a final season, promising to pay the costs himself if the dig came up empty.
The final dig began in earnest on Nov. 1. Three days later, workers tearing down a hut exposed the top of a staircase. Within three weeks the entire staircase had been excavated and Carter and Carnarvon found themselves standing in front of a plaster wall. Carter broke through the wall at about 4 p.m. on the 26th. King Tut had been found.
Carnarvon died shortly after the tomb was opened, giving rise to the so-called "Curse of the Mummy's Tomb" (italics by ian ng)
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/11/dayintech_1126

DATUM 2008

A brief reflection...

1) The overriding design preoccupation seemed to be an inclination towards a blurring of the distinction between the traditional components of the architectonic. Okok....dun have to talk like one of them, i know. I mean, a way of thinking of the building enclosure as one unified element. Fusing floor wall roof into a single seamless thing...

2) A clear divorce from the Modern Movement (with its functionalist basis), and a preferrence for Romantic Genius--the imaginative, the personal, the emotionally-spiritually uplifting, the experimental...

3) The respect for materiality remains...

4) Cross overs to other disciplines are embraced---welcome Mathematics! welcome advertising!

5) The balance between the indispensable use of computer aided design by some... and the love of hand sketching by others, makes me chuckle (what a wonderful profession we're in!)

6) Keeping your ear to the ground tends to win out in the end....er, i mean being sensitive to what people generally like and want is usually the best way to go (think roller coaster, think video, think computer games, think vanity, think egalitarian, think accessibility..)

(I thoroughly enjoyed it.) Now let me hear your comments...

HOUSE 702, KUALA LUMPUR

Under Design Development
(Inasreka Team: Ian Ng, HY Yong, HJ Yong, Mohd Abid)