sadness is a state of mine

others have said it better

2009-07-14T21:30:00.002+08:00

It is the final stages of judging an architectural competition. The jury are split. On the one hand there is a scheme, colorful and blobby and empty. On the other there is a scheme in which the drawings are full of activity, where the architecture acts as a setting. Let's call them blob and setting.

"But I can't see the architecture,"says a critic of setting,"the drawings are so busy with people! What are they giving us? What would I tell my colleagues we have actually got?"
"But that, that ....thing. It's just vacant form. Where's the content?" replies the critic of blob.
"At least I can see it. And what I see looks really exciting."
"But it is just eye candy. You are falling into the trap of being seduced by image. It is just another clever architect playing the commodity game."
"Oh, for Christ's sake, don't give me that political bullshit."
"Look, anyone can draw people," another supporter of blob interjects, " making beautiful form is much more difficult."
"They aren't just drawing people. Of course there is stuff there, it is just that it is background. Kind of modest," says the second advocate for setting.
"Oh that is so dull. So damn worthy. At least these guys are giving us something interesting and new. Something luscious, something soft. "
"Come on, that isn't soft. Just because it has curves doesn't mean it's soft. Look at those plans. Pure hard functionalism masquerading as cuddly space."
"Stop it, " says the jury chair, " this isn't getting anywhere. We had better vote."

Hands go up. Still split, so the chair puts in her casting vote.
blob wins.
Asked afterward why she had tilted toward blob, the chair says she sort of liked the color.

From Architecture Depends (2009) , by Jeremy Till

2009-06-14T16:54:00.001+08:00

i don't know what i want.

so the adults tell us we are the future.
so work hard in order that you may fulfill your dreams.

don't lie to me,
you want me to fulfill your own dreams.
it is true that i don't have any of my own,
but be that as it may,
my dream is to deny you yours.

end studione

2009-05-19T22:12:00.002+08:00

so we have been deceived, it's not that they didn't give us the time of day,
it's that we have no weight of substance. And what was all the fuss about then, if our scale doesn't compare.

don't get ahead of ourselves. wait for it.

stage real stage

2009-05-11T22:36:00.003+08:00

Noir is the setting for our little experiment in stage design; in which programmatic complexities are layered within a conceptual simplicity. Where scene and motif intersect, wing into bench into car into branch, we venture into symbolic ambiguity and (hopefully) the architectural challenge of infusing static objects with a little dynamism.

I can do it again.
Edward will have to walk on the walls and sleep off the ceiling.
Fly at a table and bathe in the sky.

break the cliche

2009-05-02T00:29:00.003+08:00

They say it's all been done before, so don't bother trying.
Instead, turn cliches upside down and inside out.

Sketch-up meets minority report meets emo-land.
Gotta love VR.

here, see gram

2009-04-20T23:26:00.009+08:00

Autocad1 is to communicate.
Autocad2 is to sell.

I am glad that I found this out very early in the semester, and realizing that what makes a good video doesn't really have much to do with really good modeling skills, one can look at so many other things that constitute a concept. And how we absolutely must learn from the professionals. I looked at cinematics, angles and mood, animation and plenty of other things that sometimes led to virtual models in skimpy battlewear. And that was good. Unless it was an orcish model. Then it was bad. In a good way.

And my own preferences in aesthetics, you know, if a lecturer wants such a thing as anything and anything by the end of the semester, you can screw everything and give anything you like. If I like black and white and box, I'm gonna give black and white and box. Or hell lot of boxes. And important to predict the extent one can go, with software and time and so many other factors.

So my motive was the adoration of Mies and the box, something which I might never get to enjoy in the processes of studio and someone I never got to study in the godly motherland of mies, so here's my only chance! And the miesan expression of structure, which is not precisely shown, but very much hinted at by having columns grow, and then the slabs go up, and then the skin follows ( which should have followed the same pattern as the tiles after all, very sad). So I wanted to sell Mies, something urban, something shiny.

Even if it didn't have the climax I wanted, hopefully there's the hint of it. Rendering on one computer not designed to take the stress is kind of limiting. Even the godly i7 can't take 56000 boxes and 1453028 faces like a man. But no complaining.

I am very glad that doing this somehow generated discussion, especially with those interested and not required to learn, and even pros who still believe less is more. It was nothing fancy, no theory no architecture. And then; so this is possibly what a successful studentwerk does, it's not perfect and its not as-uber-as, but it generated discussion of the right kind, rather than how shit everything is leading up to final submission.
I told Karlson I wanted a catalyst effect. I wanted to make sure the next semester will !wow! us, knowing their competitive streak. But I was wrong, lolwoothaha. The ripple effect is this season, there's snow, asteroids, explosions, heads turning, bubbles, water, smoke, and bump mapping, and invisible hopping sneakers, not to mention very very good modelling from Jack-the-guy-who-can-only-use-sketchup-like-a-man. Say shit to the bungalow with flat grass and flat pitched roof and one minute of flying through walls and ceilings only to see one door open. Then close.
So there it hath happened. May we all get to watch the awesome ~~not Stacie~~ next semester. In the meantime I can only offer boxes.

If only I can box for studio.

2009-04-16T20:27:00.003+08:00

I believe my bullshit. It ain't bullshit.
No representation.
No symbolism.
No metaphor.

But there is. And I don't say it. But it's there.
Nobody saw it.
And I believe in everything I say.
Experience eludes me. But it should not elude others, especially the ones with imagination.
and I shall make that experience count.

Dematerialization doesn't exist. Perception does.
I believe my bullshit.

spin me right

2009-04-11T00:25:00.002+08:00

Now I think I will change my CAD2 soundtrack.

more than studio

2009-04-09T23:30:00.002+08:00

Yes but for the unholy pain of CAD2. I feel the strain on my studiowerk and the Services is such an unholy pain in the lower back region.

Why put so much effort into so little gain?

Its hard to be at the top of good work. Hard to make a name.
But beyond that, it's easy to make use of omgwtfbbqholyshit work, even if its not really omgwtfbbqholyshit quality. To generate some dialogue and interest into the quality of what is possible from zero knowledge. Its not hard to google a little and copy a good artists' settings.

But its more than CAD. Designing a storyline is so hard. Things move too fast and take too long to render. My decisions are failing me at every frame. It's not poetic anymore when it takes 20 mins to render a glass pane.

So the movie is going to hell and I am glad the nice pictures got out long enough to talk about it, even if its a bubble for my ego that will implode on itself.

And the services. I wonder whether program will save me again. It might take 5 minutes to serve me my first negative grade in a while.

And the studio. Most important and most neglected.

On holy week! Gawd save the meek ples.

i'm only wan

2009-04-04T23:18:00.003+08:00

I'm in Studio 1,
it's a good time to rethink the fundamental.
Formal identities have no bearing on paper and model board.
So we can throw away accepted constructs.
The real fundamentals dictate new intersections.
Studio 1 is our free pass.
Change the universe. No matter how small the change.

How hard is it not to want to be special.
Zaha builds for the future. Kahn built for forever.
We're special. Just like everyone else.

Still, I want to be special too.
Special takes sacrifice.
But my own sleepless nights produce the white and black
I'm not sure will be the holy to end all.

Falling asleep takes forever.
People talking feels like nails on the brain.
Sick is the new well.
and tomorrow is more of the same.

I've got a sinking ship and a bucket for the last lap.
Can emo also fuh.

Spectacular specular

2009-03-21T01:22:00.006+08:00

Cad2 progress with no cameras and materials, save for a bit of glass too far away to see and a reflective bit for my cityscape to catch reflections of the growing Seagram. Stress by Justice catches some turning points very nicely with no editing so i might sacrifice some ears.

ambition

2009-03-17T22:12:00.004+08:00

I want the first structure I design to be significant. I want to infuse it with a philosophy that I can make dictum until I turn 90 and discard it in favour of decadent classicism.

I want them to either say;

It was too bad, he had such potential.
or
I see now, it all started then.

but the Services, and the Construction and the CAD2. When have I trespassed against thee, Imhotep, to deserve the unholy trio of distracting archi-hors d'oeuvres. I shalt be free after the blessed condors on Thursday but noooo,

Dear all,

The next detail sketches for your assignment 2 are as follows:

Construction detail of a timber staircase
Construction detail of a steel staircase

agenda of the angels

2009-02-27T13:25:00.003+08:00

not much to be said without repeating myself, but i might if need be.

A bundle of nerves the last two weeks perhaps because of some measure of insecurity and measuring up to expectations, including my own.
I'd like to think that we won not because ours was the easiest to build, but because ours was a good concept designed wholly with the brief in mind; which required the set to be simple, meaningful and suitably constructed by college kids.

Very often we're blinded by grandeur and visual impact and I admit to being intimidated by much better looking sets. Only in hindsight I can say things like; we can design the most beautiful sets but we fail the instant we put in a platform or the like. Reject the brief and the brief rejects you. And we love to say this represents this and that represents that over and over but nothing ties together in the end. So much meaning and no connection hurt the human construct that simplifies everything it comes across.

And so we won, and that's the painful part, even if I keep telling myself it's no use winning if you don't build, we have to build to 'earn', so to speak.

And so we built, and here's the thank you, since I am the asshole that must have everything his way, I restate that the tremendous effort put in by all, those who know me well and especially those who don't, in making things the way (I felt) they should be, is totally remarkable. You can see the fullness of their effort in that one magic show with the lecturers and everything worked out and the feeling was just

awesome.

Lessons ummm. One. Lecturers are all helpful. Even if we say some are better than others and some are not better than others, the things they say help in some way always. It doesn't have to be a criticism or praise, it just has to be something you didn't think about the way you did. And it follows with teammates and such.

I have had plenty of moments where we are all stumped and someone just says something, helpful or not, that just pushes something into mind and we see the idea there and then. It's not my idea, I didn't start it, it's not their idea, they didn't think of it, but its the moment in between that something meets and nothing else matters.

Lesson Two i guess, follows that sentiment. Its not my idea and its not our idea. We're just swimming around until something feels right. And the feeling of something feeling right, I hope, people felt it around the time of our performance. Every decision we made was not something based purely on prior knowledge or past experience but an experiment into something feeling 'right'. Again, I won't say that my 'right' is the best and only, but thanks to the angels for coping with the asshole director. Right from the start of design into the end of the play.

Lesson Three is that everything works out. Maybe it's not a lesson. I picked the right people but I was lucky to have those people in the group in the first place. The design tutor for design and the structure tutor for construction. The rain destroyed our work but it turned out for the best. It was so unholy cold in the Purple Box but that gave Kid goosebumps. And all is right in the world.

We live in a world.
Thanks again everybody.

life on the edge

2009-02-01T23:34:00.001+08:00

Screw Studio.

KlPAC: Furie of Wind and No Sound

2009-01-16T21:52:00.004+08:00

Establishing the link between the tangible and metaphysical. SABD's Three Installations at KLPAC, Sentul West for the KLPAC Open Day 09.

A series of suspended particles held taut against gravity to start the transition from a tangible experience into a metaphysical one. Touch.

A city of vertical elements, organic but hardly. Touch.

Up beyond reach, Touch if you can, my plastic cloud.

I like accidental happyness. It seems to happen to me a great deal and I cherish that it makes me feel like I do not own my ideas, they are lent to me. In this case, I am glad that it happened to the designer.

The happy accident is the wind. Particles rustling in the midday sun are a reminder of an intangible essence. It comes and goes, for a brief moment fleeting beauty. Wind is the metaphysical presence. That which you cannot touch or see, manifested in an architectural product. Nature is the only way, if we haven't been taught enough times, foreshadowed in undulating rhythm.

Li Qun's ontological success. For an audience of 5ive thou but oh how many will realize.

It exists in what you cannot touch, not what you cannot reach.

pictures courtesy of ryannee

woe mine for oh nine

2009-01-02T02:54:00.002+08:00

I refuse to accept the new year.
Happy New Year 2008 v2!

Stand still

2008-12-20T21:25:00.002+08:00

It was anti climatic.

A simple change in geography would have saved us all. If only Keanu Reeves and a giant humanoid had landed in the middle of Akihabara. The Prime Minister of Japan would be like, YES!, and Klaatu would be perfect cos-playing as Neo, and GORT would be hailed as Ultraman and the only things the Japanese would shoot at him is Hello Kitty stickers and the aliens would see humans as a loving, peaceful but slightly wacky race and happily replenish our oil reserves so we can go on killing each other for a really long time.

cuts off an orange

2008-12-09T15:26:00.003+08:00

The father of Danish modern architecture, Jørn Utzon was gg on November 29.

“Utzon’s work shows the world that he has been there and beyond - he proves that the marvelous and seemingly impossible in architecture can be achieved. He has always been ahead of his time. He rightly joins the handful of Modernists who have shaped the past century with buildings of timeless and enduring quality.”

Timely present from Jean.

I feared that the instructions would be in chinese, but they were pretty direct.

1. Get general idea of which pieces go where.
2. Assemble correctly.

So I spent some time with the sister doing just that.

I'm no Jørn Utzon, lol.

The Audacity of Hope

2008-11-25T15:12:00.002+08:00

Why do great buildings fail?

An outline, because I have not studied anything....yet.

Hope is when your house does not look like a fortress.
Hope is when your school has more green than asphalt.
Hope is when your parks have more benches than malls.
Hope is when your church has more benches than pews.

The truth is, design has had not much space for hope.

We have more car parks than parks.
We have less car parks than we need.
We have no buses or trains where we work.
We have more roads than walkways.
We have more cars than we need.
We have bigger malls than schools.
We have churches that resemble factories.
We ain't gonna have that many temples for long.
We have mosques that look like palaces.
We have palaces that look like fuck.

In brief conclusion, and in all honesty, great buildings fail because poor buildings succeed.
Poor buildings have succeeded in capturing the great human spirit.
Poor buildings recognize that dystopia is inevitable.
Poor buildings succeed because they are realists.

Great buildings have failed because they anticipate utopia.
Great buildings remain empty glasses over spilled milk.
Great buildings failed because they dared to hope.

But hope is the only thing left.
So design to fail.
And hope.

This is the Sound of Freedom

2008-11-21T07:16:00.001+08:00

no nouveau

2008-11-08T23:08:00.003+08:00

another time another fail. no composure no think. son of a. what, can i console myself with 'you are not my equal'.

There's not much work done this semester to be proud of. There's words like sensitivity and plain and determined and unoriginal and enthusiastic and pedantic thrown about and I might or might not be able to relish or correct everything.

Everyone does the end of semester post.

I am so drained? Not because of the workload anymore I guess, but the whole discourse which is not discourse thing. I mean, wanking about divider pages at 2am in the morning was probably one of the best discussions I've had all semester. That's probably sad. Nobody wants to talk unless they're gonna get something out of it.

There's the lack of direction? If there's one thing I've learnt from the McCain campaign, it's the word maverick. Why must I follow. The whole thought of becoming better than anybody else and better than I am supposed to be through the measure of my work is becoming bullshit.

So the architect pwn me pls.

Context is Cheat

2008-11-03T01:08:00.004+08:00

Essay writing is not just essays, its presentations, its report writing, its magazine features, its the small paragraph used to explain your concept.

Now, essay writing and what not is no big deal. Just use the cheat of context.

Tomorrow is History 101 and for us, its the Pont du Gard. In presentations, its easy to just find facts, stick em in the slides and read, we're Malaysians after all.

The Pont du Gard is an aqueduct. Duh. Aqueducts carry water. Duhduh.
Facts then, it's in Nimes, its so long, its so wide. Can't hurt, but can't help you.

Facts like these write essays for you :

In 27 BCE, the emperor Augustus settled veterans from his Egyptian campaign in the city and gave it the rights of a colonia.

It's the reason why Nimes finds favour with the emperor. Its the huge influx of displaced soldiers. Its the type of people that populate the city. Its so many things that you can't read anywhere else but in between the lines.

Second on the cheat of context,
WATER. When talking about Rome and water, one goes after the water culture. To find out why they need an aqueduct.

Nimes was known as Nemausus, the name of a God derived from springs in the hills.

Its the water supply of Nimes, the fact that they named a god after the springs suggests a substantial water supply. Why then, did they need an aqueduct?

The water culture of Rome is such that it featured prominently in the social lives of the Romans. They had no transport, so they walked. They had to walk, so their houses were centrally located. Think high density low quality. So their homes sucked. So they got out of the house, where did they go? To the fountains and baths, the olden day equivalent of parks and clubs. Baths became big and grand and everyone went to see and be seen, etc etc.

Even toilets, there were no toilets in the average home, only public latrines where 60 or so guys would shit in a row and the water would flow constantly to wash all the crap. And the Romans had no toilet paper and all they had was a sponge and a stick. I mean one sponge and one stick in the latrine. Crap. So I guess the socializing in there extended to ," Hey, pass the stick please."

Water at the baths, fountains and latrines ran constantly. Thats alot of water.
So we get that the water usage for Romans was primarily to fuel these public centers and not for private consumption. Thats why they need the aqueduct.

Isn't that wasting? No, because a rich Roman is damn free and he needs to spend his time somehow. More importantly, there are more poor Romans and life is shitty for them, so they need to be appeased, if not there will be revolt and that would be bad. The huge Pont Du Gard is a symbol of opulence and luxury to the poor and thats a great message for the conquistador Romans.

"You could have this too."

More and more and thats the cheat of context. Original be damned. All that can be implied in a few lines of text and we can take it and twist it no matter the truth.

what is, architecture?

2008-10-27T23:38:00.005+08:00

Time to define now, what you live for, architecture.
Is it just architecture or Architecture or even ARCHITECTURE?

You might have a different take on each too, all in all.
And these definitions we live by change every so often with project or theory.

Right now I will say,
architecture is too wide a net, rarely acknowledged, often abused.
Architecture is the product of artistic endeavor, not Art, in between Time, not times.
ARCHITECTURE is an aberration.
I pray that the loveliest of aberrations will be my own.

we the people

2008-10-23T00:35:00.003+08:00

Another train of thought.

Do you design for the day to day?

Or for event?

Picture this,
the story of your building,
setting to the single most momentous event in history.
Versus your building,
silent witness of monotony and disquiet.

Disquiet.

viva la malaysia

2008-10-21T21:28:00.004+08:00

Solar powered air conditioning. These are magic words. The best thing that could happen to Malaysia. We just need hundreds of these. Thousands of these. All over the country. Our blessed country of the freaking sun.

Read and be aware, of the cooling revolution. The future is bright... and cool.

http://www.greencoreair.com/products.html