starting off. again.

LA-HOUSE by Studio Guilherme Torres

photo by Denilson Machado

Thanks to Yatzer.

I've been working for 2 years now. Means, been abandoning this blog ever since. Since I'm planning to further my Part 2 in no time, InshaAllah, I think I should start involving myself with architecture stuffs immediately. Not that I don't deal with any of them everyday, but .. I mean, I need to develop my sketching skills a bit more to ensure my future studies to be easier. Sketching skills will definitely ensures you to deliver ideas clearly. Isn't it? But look at my sketches. I'm bad in tone rendering and such. Pheww~

Reflecting back what I've done during my Part 1, one thing that I learnt is, ALWAYS PUSH YOURSELF HARDER. My Part 1 is one of my biggest mistake in life. I don't know why I couldn't push myself. If I were pushing hard enough..

Ah forget those embarrassing days. Look forward.

Be bold!

Be smart!

Be determine!

remembrance for architects

Dear architecture peeps out there,

Please bear in mind, we are architecture educated. We learnt about quality of space. We learnt about Sick Building Syndrome. Always put comfort as a first degree factor in creating a space. This does not apply only to clients' homes, offices and more, but most important, this is what your own office should have. Make sure to provide good air ventilation and natural lighting in your office. Your staff really need those to be able to work productively. If an architect's office does not have all these elements, can you really called yourself as an architect? Please, never put money on top of everything. Be responsible to what you have learnt in school and spread it to people around you. Invest a little to make your office a comfortable and most importantly, a 'healthy' place to live in. By then, you can no more ashamed to talk about environmental design, green design, sustainable design or what ever philosophy you prefer.

Hope my two cent will always be remembered.

Hong Kong Trip

Hong Kong International Airport

So here we are! Sir Norman Foster's masterpiece. Hong Kong International Airport is the world's largest airport terminal. Ok, it is HUGE. The picture above was taken at the baggage reclaim area, just right after the immigration counter. Spacious.

And this one is the arrival area; so thus the images below.

Confusing levels, or maybe it was just because i didn't have much time to wander around :P. Remember, you can go to Level 1 or Level 2, Level 3 or Level 5 but you can't find Level 4.

Hong Kong Ferry Terminal (Hong Kong - Macau trip)

i don't know the name of the ferry terminal for the above picture since HK has few piers for different routes such as to Macau, to Central and other places. Their public transport is superb, they have ferries, public buses, vans, trams and trains. All of these public transports hubs are within the tourist attractions and they are very-very efficient and always on-schedule.

This picture was taken while waiting for departure to Macau. It is the atrium that views to coffee house, restaurants and other retail shop lot. Within this area, there are luggage check-in counters, seatings and boarding pass counters. Oh, and also a very big screen displaying departure schedule! Again, so many crowd.
And this is us on our way to Macau. A very comfortable one compared to Langkawi's ha ha.

Macau

And this is how Macau Ferry Terminal looks like. This is the lobby. Our tourist guide then took us straight to the most visited spot - The God of Mercy.

This is the Goddess of Mercy. One of the tourist attraction in Macau. If u are standing right in front of this statue, you can have a great view towards all those developments like this one:

Series of boring blocks... yet very neat & clean.
ok, i'm too lazy to finish this journal so i'll just pick the photos and paste it here, with less elaboration.



This is the next stop after the Goddess of Mercy. I can't remember the name. Maybe..er..maybe this is St. Paul church. Yep the one at the top. See? But my focus at this time was the lake :p




This is a skylight for basement parking cum sculpture for this roundabout. Never heard of skylight? Go and search now. This is Frank Gehry's work if i'm not mistaken.
That was the last place to visit in Macau. So we were going back to HK that evening.

back to Hong Kong

This is how our hostel looked like. Dragon Hostel or something like that, couldnt remember the name. It is in Mong Kok, in front of Ladies Market, few minutes walking to Mong Kok MTR station.



And above is the panoramic view taken during a very misty afternoon in Hong Kong. Right side is the IFC building, designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates. It is actually twin towers eventhough wasn't connected to each other directly and even have a different height. More about IFC, click here

Hong Kong University

Viewing to the city scape,i guess..


This is their square, a very active space for students to mingle and having outdoor class activities. This photo was taken during the lunch break where there was a debate competition. it was soo lively compared to our faculty :(


This is the department lobby. Quite spacious.

Below is a random picture, taken while visiting Leo & Orange Architect at the building next to this one. The image of the tree on the wall is actually generated by a projector and the sculptures at both sides of the escalator are the dropping metallic liquid from top to bottom.


Below is another random picture while walking to Victoria Harbour for Symphony of Lights.
More pictures from these places, feel free to contact me. Even it might not up to your expectations, but that's the least i can do to help you.

am i?

so here i am again, writing a post which is more about myself, not about building, houses etc. this post will be my everydays' reading since what i'm trying to write is more on re-developing my self-confidence towards my architectural world. you may leave this page immediately if u find this self-bragging-post is annoying.



ok, just to remind readers, the upcoming words are just for me myself to read and read and reherse everyday to make sure my self-confidence increases. not intentionally to be proud of it.







hahahah already sounds annoying ha?







ok. the point here is, i want to see the truth about my subconscious mind. about a fact that saying how our brain acts accordingly to what we think either negative or positive. So, starting with this final project, i wanna see how's the result. i'll try to reherse these everyday and see the result:

on previous crit session, i was standing still next to my presentation boards when my favourite & motivated lecturer came to see & judge my works. as always, i really wanted to run away as i thought my work was a total rubbish and i was too shy to face all the critics on my work (which i guess more towards myself). but to my astonishment, she made some 'unbelievable' comments. These are what she had said, remember, this is not intentionally to be full of my self etc, this is just an experiment to my subconcious mind!


the lecturer; talking about my self-confidence:

"i don't know how to say about you, you are..erm.. i can't really say that you don't have self-confidence, instead you are confident. the way you bring yourself, the way you speak out and all show that you are a confident person. it's just you've been to lenient to yourself. you don't push youself harder. when it is difficult, you just let it be unfinished. "

the lecturer; giving an advice.

"why don't you try to push yourself harder for the next project? because i bet, if you do, you'll be very excellent. because not like others, you have all the criterion, you have the creativity, you have the talent. instead, for me, i think you are one of the excellent in your batch. i think you can be a good architect"

and last monday, she asked me regarding to the project that she assessed last month:

" so how's the result?"
" doesn't out yet"
" owhh see. i'm just asking because i think u did great for the last project"

don't puke here. me either feeling terrible posting this conversations but trust me, i think it's all crap haha.

so, i'll wait for the result. i'll reherse these everyday in my mind, ciao~

new books review will be out soon!

i've checked out another 5 books today.

• Intelligent Buildings in South East Asia
• Architects Today
• New Oriental Style
• Environment & Landscape
• The Leader of Architecture

we'll see if these books can influence my design, i mean, the very last and final project ( i hope).

i don't have any intention when i took out these books, it was just an attraction towards the graphics inside. i hope i'll come out with an oriental-based-style YET it is an intelligent building. could it be that way? because as far as i googled, intelligent building always associates with modernism right? can i still adapt all those advanced technologies even when my whole idea is based on oriental style? ha-ha! what am i talking about? i don't even know what does it means by oriental! somebody please, explain it to me.

Rooftecture S by Shuhei Endo

Ever heard about this guy? Shuhei Endo?

You're wrong if you think that he is not as popular as Shigeru Ban or Tadao Ando. He has received numerous prizes you know, including the Andrea Palladio International Prize in Italy. Most of all his works were given a 'tecture' name. Growtecture, Slowtecture, Springtecture and more.

Rooftecture S really caught my attention. The book says he has fashioned an intelligent response to the narrow and abrupt site. Yes i strongly agree and really hope there will be an action from any related party in architecture world to introduce this brilliant ideas for our future. Logically, land price is increasing every year and what's left for us; the not-so-wealthy community, in the future is just a small and irregular piece of land that comes with an 'affordable' price.

So don't worry people. There are ways to make that kind of site to be useful. At least to shed 2 people in a time; you and your husband/wife. Take this as your example, your inspiration:

Rooftecture S, Kobe, Japan.

Perched on a retaining wall, this 66 metre square steel frame house has a wrap-around roof. Well, suits best with its name. Without the existance of this house, i bet; everyone will see this site as unusable. See it yourself, it is on a steep slope.


But i'll be okay if i were to live in this small house- it's facing the Inland Sea, man! I don't care where that 'Inland' Sea is, but as long as it is a sea, then it will be priceless.

u-oh.. its interior, sleek and exclusive! You don't need a curtain since the facades that facing the east-west sides are almost blank walls, only few small windows that perfectly capture the view to the sea while you are eating or washing the dishes.


Bedroom? Well.. it is an open plan bedroom. No walls no partition, just an I-steel-column in between the living and the sleeping area. And there's a patio at the back of the house for you to loafing and partying with friends on weekends.


See.. You got a small piece of land in a difficult and tight location, facing the sea, owning a house which has everything that you need; sleeping, eating and living areas, a bathroom, a kitchen, a deck. So what's more? It's perfect! But never ask for a car porch.......

tree house

it was my childhood dream to own my very little private space on a tree, full with fluffy pillows, story books, tv and foods. i can't remember where did i get the ideas of living on a tree, it must be an influenced from George of The Jungle i might say.. i kept on dreaming and sometimes wishing loudly to everyone in my house about my obsession of this tiny home; of course with a hope that my father will build it one day, especially for me!

years after years and now i'm approaching 23; still- no tree house for me. so i canceled my dream. it was just that easy huh canceling a dream?

so the dream faded like a bubble in the air until yesterday when i take a peek to a book that i borrowed from library, i saw a very interesting photo, an A4 sized photo -showing a woman with her kid clinging to the rope; ( err..what do we call that rope? the one that we use for hiking? yep, that kind of rope) climbing up the wooden stairs in the middle of a forest. i tell you, this photo is very amazing. i googgled but to no avail. so no photo for you. i dont have a scanner :(

the next page shows various views of the overall TREE HOUSE. it's tree house people! it' tree house!! oh this is sooo exciting!

ok, let's review.


Plendelhof Tree House, Germany by Baumraum.

Baumraum is a firm, not a person. Baumraum offers to build unique tree houses for clients . As for the Plendelhof, this house is designed for 2 beech trees and set 8.6 meters off the ground.

my personal opinion- as usual- IMPRESSIVE! ( what else a student like me can say about the the proffessionals' works??) but hey, be honest. don't u impressed seeing something like this in the middle of big shady trees?


you can't expect more from a tree house. they are just a tree house. but this is awesome. instead of a pavilion-like, this tree house is designed nicely that it looks, really looks like a house.well, maybe some part of the house. maybe.

i wonder, how did the architect knows the strength of the branches? is it safe for an overweight like me to be up there?ha-ha! ok,ok, kidding. i know, architects are just fabulous! look at this, it's breathtaking & refreshing. we will be surrounded by trees!


i believe, there will be people out there who thinks this project is just nonsense.

"u don't need an architect to build a tree house. my grandpa can do it better"

yes, everyone can build a tree house. but please, architects (from my very own point of view) are here to educate, to show people around us which is the good design and which is not. they study about human behaviour, they study about the environment and what's important, they study about DESIGN. a very important principle in achieving a more exciting life. err... is it? anyway, just accept that.

afterall, the uses of timber in this structures enlighten the originality of the tree house; a place for working, playing & relaxing. And about people who might says that this is too dangerous for kids, yes you are right. it is better suited to adult. u kiddos, stay on the ground!