Inspired to Inspire

Moutery Hills Winery project - Individual design scheme

2010-08-01T23:15:00.000+12:00

This is my individual design scheme for the lounge space that overlooks onto cafe stage area. This is where the tree like construction resembles the priority of 'the vine' as being the focal point of the architectural art piece (in aesthetics and in structure).

The interior wine tasting area is shaped in that way that allows one to 'take off their shoes and dip their feet into the water' bringing the user to appreciate the 'experience of the elements', through the artful arrangement of space overlooking the stage where 'weddings, music, performances may take place'.

The ecologically sustainable 'green roof' construction is integrated into the poetic use of rain-water, which is then filtered through, and feeds into a water fall and interior pool area. This is an attempt to blend sustainable practices into an artful celebration of space..

Moutery Hills Winery project - Team proposal

2010-08-01T08:56:00.005+12:00

Moutery Hills Winery Project done in collaboration with Daniel Po and Kevin Theomere (from France).

(Check http://podesign.co/ for Daniels work too)

I've always loved working in a team, facilitating efficient and effective workflow, and delivering a collective product! My team members have been a joy to work with and highly rate them!

This project was to develop a Winery project for Moutery Hills in South Island, New Zealand. We had numerous site-visits to various Winery's in the region, listening to wine-makers and their growing and manufacturing process which was absolutely amazing! We embarked on doing an in depth study on the background of the wine company we were designing for to deliver an integrated design outcome.

Thoroughly enjoyed this project!

If there are any questions on work-flow or on the project itself, please comment at the bottom of this post! Thanks for viewing!

The horizontality of the exterior facade elements were construction solutions that blends with its surrounding aesthetic. The underground and recessed concept of the building allows the architecture to not 'take away' from the celebrated element; 'the vine' along the hillside.

The architectural aesthetic is to work with the organic nature of the space that alludes to the Moutere Hills winery logo concept that alludes to the notion of 'regeneration'.

The central glulam 'tree-like core' has played a big part in the exterior concept. This aesthetic is also brought into the interior by expressing the interior beams, designing them to span from its focal point, hereby bringing an architectural focus to the tree-core stage area.

If there are any questions on work-flow or on the project itself, please comment below! Thanks for viewing!

SKATEBOARD STATION

2009-05-26T20:32:00.011+12:00

TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL - Architecture that embodies the users primary human programme

This project, leading from our last research based analysis of the site and context, encouraged us to explore how various ephemeral and ambient qualities may be translated into material propositions. It was a shift to focus on how these qualities can be related to more architectonic solutions, such as its relation to a program, materials, structure, and services. It was the integration and fine balance between the conceptual and the technical, body and the urban, local and the global, enduring and the ephemeral, time and experience.
I found this project to be insightful in the way it challenged us to develop a solid concept that pushed the boundaries of Architecture yet making sure we kept a solid footing on principles such as structure and services. Too often I feel we can be playing words and develop ideologies that infest our universities today, but how we put bones to those words is the real challenge!
CONTEXT - The proposal lies within the heart of Wellington City, on an existing public park, skateboarding ring, basketball courts, and playing field. Research indicates there is a need to build a light rail train station on this land, and our brief requires us to provide additional programmes implemented within our concept such as Restaurants/ Cafes/ Retailing, and the weekly Sunday Market.
PROPOSAL AND DESIGN CONCEPT - My first projects research subject was based on the fact that Architectural form that designers give so much precedence to is usually in a secondary periphery view to the general public's primary human programme. The reality is that the public's focus is on their present programme - eating their ice cream, talking to somebody, playing football, skateboarding, or driving the car - and not on the aesthetics of various building facades. My concept speaks of developing ARCHITECTURE THAT EMBODIES THE USERS PRIMARY HUMAN PROGRAMME, honing into the idea of incorporating the skateboard programme throughout the concept. - from the analogy of the train as being that skateboard, the ability for skateboarders to skate on the building surfaces itself, and the aesthetic form that speaks of this movement.

Film School Design

2009-04-14T01:53:00.003+12:00

Celebrating the Event of Transition - Architecture and Film.

Film School from James Wong on Vimeo.

In the attempt to explain the full story of my design, the ideas and themes emerged through film and cinematic analogies it has for architecture; I satisfy a holistic approach in meeting the 'conditions'.

I have decided to run with a digitally based school (capable of work like 'Gollum') looking thoroughly into its functional requirements. These include the housing of render farms, the need for green screens or green backdrops, technician/ repair areas, ground floor storage for dolly's and vehicle access (for ease of transportation of equipment to outdoor shots), and lecture style computer labs. I have carefully planned quality day-lit working spaces by introducing a light shaft along the centreline of the building making sure a consistent relationship is maintained with the other 'conditions'. I have observed little need for using up treasured space for providing an outdoor space for these digital students, when a big part of my design is to encourage filming outdoors.

My building seeks to celebrate the 'event' of transition. Be it the transition of entry, vertical access, or passage; they all tell a story with a cinematic analogy. Entry into the building and passage into rooms can be made in many ways, even through an unseen slit in the wall (easy to miss when travelling along Marion street). By making people crouch, climb, and squeeze through walls in my building I am able to encourage a greater interaction and relationship with the architecture. There is no one way of enjoying these events. Everyone has different preferences, and this difference is also transferable to difference in style and creativity. Students will develop a unique way of interacting and experiencing the building; further encouraging creativity. The transition of darkness-to-light and light-to-darkness encourages the appreciation of light and ones adaptation to it; an analogy that teaches much about the essence of film. As one walks up the spiral staircase, the angle of view, and the leading of the handrail facilitates the capture of a spectacular part of the architecture; the play and sacredness of light washed over the east 'disc' interior wall. The transition of walking into a dark room, letting the eye adapt to the surroundings which facilitates an experience of realising the unknown, is an event to be celebrated.

The condition of having an strong street facade and exploring it further architecturally has been met by illustrating the fact that 'film is an illusion of movement'. Just as film is a combination of static images made to appear moving, my facade and the 1st floor corridor speaks of that illusion of movement too. The analogy that I wanted to bring from my first project (Set Design) is the idea that the architecture should facilitate the assumptions of the user. This is clear, simple and purposefully illustrated by the east Marion street facade, alluding to a film reel. Just as a book symbolises teaching and knowledge even though we may not always read books to attain it; straight away as one looks upon the building, one assumes 'film'.

UNESCO City of Culture Design - Construction

2009-04-14T00:41:00.010+12:00

This is one of my best work yet!

As part of my Construction paper, we had to design an iconic building that would be fit to enter as a UNESCO proposal. We had to submit construction documents and design in great depth - from overall building plans, sections and elevations, to joint details and materiality.

My building speaks of New Zealand's silver fern. The colours of black and white have a special significance for New Zealanders and a strong and distinct identity internationally. Aside from being a native and widespread species, it has inspired New Zealanders in all aspects of their lives; from sports, to the famous NZ exported 'Fern Leaf Butter', badges on most NZ army uniform, Neil Dawson's Civic Square sculpture, Labour party badge, Violet Walrond's swimming costume for 1920 Olympic games and the list goes on.

I intended to give the city and New Zealanders an iconic building placed elegantly on our Wellington waterfront that they would be proud of. But the trick was to translate this concept into reality - its structural stability, materiality to convey the intended organic form, serviceability and access, lighting, protection from the harsh winds along the waterfront, and an architectural programme that would suit the needs of the users!

I am very pleased with the result as I have learnt so much about how important it is to keep imaginary concepts so closely grounded to reality. Experimenting and researching into the technology of tension cable structures all the way down to working out the details of a spider connection of a curtain wall system has helped me to see architecture in the marketplace very differently. Gone is the time where we can come up with ideological and utopian solutions in our first few years of study and call it architecture. I have deeply enjoyed learning more about how to design buildings that are rich in poetry but most of all to actually make it work!

Film Set Design

2009-04-14T00:10:00.004+12:00

Film Set Design from James Wong on Vimeo.

Part of our design course allowed us to choose from several fields available. From 'urban design', 'architecture and film', 'the design of sacred spaces', 'commercial buildings', 'technology and design' etc. I was interested in the idea of 'Architecture and film' and how it challenges us to see architecture as something not necessarily just about designing static buildings and how things look, but to design spaces to be experienced, and 'spaces in motion'.

This project was to design a film set for a scene based on a story that I adapted. In short, it was a story about a love sick girl ('Shadow') who was suicidal because she was absolutely infatuated with the boy ('Object') she loved all these years. She never had the chance or the courage to tell him, but all she could do was spy and watch him from a distance as he met with the girl of His dreams ('Light'). The film set plays with the mixed emotions of reality and the business of a cafe, the fear of being spotted, the use of light angle and intensity to imply a sense of privacy, texture and ruggedness to facilitate the assumption that no-body could be in that building, height difference in the one spying, sun orientation.. etc.

BBSC 303: Computer Applications and Design Visualisation

2008-07-11T12:29:00.007+12:00

I put hundreds of hours into this,.. painstakingly tweaking polygons gone wrong, photometric lights, rummaging through heaps of tutorials, and troubleshooting countless hardware issues.. but all in all.. I deeply and thoroughly enjoyed this course!!

The aim of this programme was not to produce students who know how to just create pretty pictures, but give them the opportunity to experiment and assess various architectural software.

- We were encouraged to critique the nature and role of computers in architecture as well as to understand the principles behind various working environments (such as Building Information Modelling and its significance in design).
- Establish a knowledgeable position so as to critique the worlds current developments on CAD.
- Understand some principles of information management and control - particularly with respect to project organisation and coordination via the Internet.
- Familiarise ourselves with working with AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, and Revit, and a rendering engine - 3ds MAX/Light Studio, to choose to work with one that suits our given task best.

We teamed into pairs to embark on modelling an existing building (Harajuku Church, Tokyo) with one of the three CAD programs (ours being Revit) and render individually in 3ds MAX. With our previous knowledge on Revit 'worksets' (enabling both of us to simultaneously work on the same project), coupled the use of data management tools over the internet (namely a wordpress site); we were able to model in great detail, communicate our thoughts clearly to each other, and produce excellent results in reasonable time. [A more thorough explanation of our process is as shown in my BBSC 303 site that I created]

http://www.bbsc303.com/jameswong/

This project has taught me much in being able to work with many others on a team. It has opened my eyes to the efficiency and even the possibility of working over the internet; passing each other information and instructions clearly, and never forgetting the fantastic realism of computer generated imagery possible today.

Space for Spiritual Experience

2008-06-16T00:09:00.007+12:00

This project consisted of an internal response and reflection to address the brief. The brief was to design a place for spiritual experience and practice generated through the understanding of the religious and/ or of the spiritual. My approach to its design consisted of questioning the whole notion of what a spiritual space is, formulating a personal response to it, and finally developing a solution to facilitate this experience.

Untitled from James Wong on Vimeo.

In the design process of this project, I made a concerted effort to draw away from using the computer as a modelling tool (as I usually would have). I made this drastic decision in the attempt to explore and express a deeper level of communication through my work, as opposed to being confined to the limits of the tools available in most architectural software. I did all drawings by hand. Medium such as:
- pencil and charcoal for sketches.
- colour-pencil, watercolour, and digital painting for colour overlay.
- enhancements, sense of depth, and depth of view all done with Photoshop.
- Wacom pen tablet was used for digital painting (the tree was digitally coloured).
- no light simulation rendering was used to generate images.

I am very pleased with the outcome of the decision made; as it has shown me the great importance of how design is completely influenced by the tools used in its concept phase. I found my creativity was so much more freed as opposed to being restricted to the limits of a modelling program. The downside was that every perspective took much more time without a software aided rendering engine.

I also spent many hours on site, taking a lot of footage. I made sure I was very attached and familiar with the site; recording tree location, height, thickness, etc. I went to the site at different times of the day to get a full experience of how the space would be felt, as well as recording a sun-path analysis.

All in all, a great learning experience!

Newtown Multi-cultural Community Grounds - Part C [Further Development Individually]

2008-05-08T13:40:00.003+12:00

Newtown Multi-Cultural Community Grounds - Part C from James Wong on Vimeo.

Reflecting back on our initial design programme and its critique, I have noticed a clash of opinion on how to appropriately address the issue of nurturing cultural diversity of space. I believe this clash of opinion is due to a cultural difference in itself, which has been a very interesting process of discovery.

As mentioned in our critique, our project lacked further development in the area of planning out residential spaces tailored for specific cultural needs.
Coming from a very ethnic diverse, multi-racial country Malaysia my initial reaction was very different. I thought planning to accommodate only a specific ethnic group in each apartment drew away from the fundamental of trying to facilitate interaction between all ethnic groups, and not just tailoring the layouts for the specific few.
This reaction stems from experiencing residential ethnic diversity myself. Growing up in areas where the Indian, the Chinese, the Malays, the Westerners, all lived in the same semi-detached housing layouts; where culture grew very flexibly to accommodate the same layout of living spaces. The same room could be used for prayer for Muslim families, an enclosed dining area or idol alters for Chinese Buddhist families, or just an extended living space for Indian families and Western families. I saw planning spaces specific to a certain culture group restrictive, and not liberating.
I made a decision to test this, and just maybe my eyes would be open to see how planning to accommodate specific cultures would actually enhance the design and not just restrict it.

I fully agree that often the time in Wellington and many parts of the world we find badly designed grungy apartment blocks focused around a business agenda; as opposed to an architectural solution to solve social issues faced when dealing with high-density developments. And in this way I suppose planning layouts for specific user groups would be one step, one way in addressing these social issues.

As a refinement of my project I have decided to redesign the interior residential spaces and layouts in the attempt to further nurture cultural diversity of space; paying full attention to the sensitive cultural preferences of various ethnic groups. In essence my project seeks to test our design proposal against the design solutions from lecture 5.

Newtown Multi-cultural Community Grounds - Part B [Architectural Proposition]

2008-05-04T20:28:00.003+12:00

Newtown Multi Cultural Community Grounds from James Wong on Vimeo.

[project done in conjunction with Daniel Po]

Part B – Architectural Proposition (3 weeks):

A very detailed brief was given to us and we had to develop a well thought through proposition to address the requirements of the brief.
In essence the brief asked us to design a high density multi-use (residential, commercial, public services) development proposal that nurtured cultural diversity of place, coupled with a very feasible business plan. The gist of our proposal was to facilitate interaction and tolerance between various ethnic, ages, and culture groups. Our design was focused around a central drawing factor; being a very large display screen to bring not only the residence to interact with each other (as they watch the rugby, or movies, etc) but also to bring the public into the space. This would further facilitate ethnic interaction, usage of the public facilities (crèche, child care centre, multi-purpose sports centre) as well as boost the commercial property value, making our proposal a lucrative one for developers. Another forte of our design was to maximise areas of ‘chance meeting’, for example where all the access ways converged at a large central spiral staircase to maximise the chance in which people meet.

Lots of work went into the design of zoning specific areas so that a certain level of privacy was maintained for the residential areas but maximising traffic flow past or through commercial spaces, especially with the connection between Adelaide Road and Hanson Street. We had to think about retaining certain buildings and facades in the site (as it was part of the brief to do so) and yet retain consistency in the architectural language that it spoke. Maximising the view access of the display screen took a great deal of tweaking our design too.

In terms of our workflow to get this project done within the very tight timeframe we had; a great deal of time went into researching the most efficient ways to test and carry out our proposal; the tools and programs we used, as well as the delegation of work that capitalised on each of our strengths. We took time to learn about Revit worksets; which essentially made it easier for the both of us to work on a single Revit model simultaneously (very awesome, when we found out). Efficient 3ds Max workflow like assigning materials to groups of objects already put into BIM groups by Revit as we exported the model. I have devoted many holidays into learning animation and how to make it possible by using distributed rendering over many computers at our university, as setting up the appropriate software plug-ins (speedtree, onyx) and tweaking the network for backburner use was truly a mission!

I am absolutely ecstatic at the outcome of the animation, as the ability to actually do animation has always been a dream.. something just too far away to reach.. but now I am actually achieving some of those dreams, and I can only thank God for granting me such favour, perseverance, and opening up those doors that I am able to achieve these things. I am still in awe.. not for my glory.. but of the one who has blessed me.

Newtown Multi-cultural Community Grounds - Part A [Research]

2008-05-04T20:24:00.004+12:00

[project done in conjunction with Daniel Po]

This was the beginning stage of embarking on a 6 week project. The project tackles the notion of ethnic diversity in the city, with the objectives to use architecture to:

- Translate cultural diversity of place
- Help maintain cultural diversity of place and,
- Nurture cultural diversity of place.

This project consisted of 3 parts:

Part A - Pre-Design Research (2 weeks):

This part A initial stage consisted of an extensive research analysis of the given site and context; studying the relationship between ethnicity, perception and cultural cohabitation in the city.

In groups of 2, we were allotted specific avenues/ topics of the site to research in; Literature, Sociology, Activities, Visual Indicators of Occupation, Access and Circulation, Activities, Architectural Styles and Urban Fabric, Site Regulatory Context, and Site Context.

The topic of research that we were given was “Activities- various occupations of space”. This consisted of researching different activities that took place in the surrounding area, giving us a better sense of the needs and culture of the Newtown community. Having a better understanding of these needs, it then gave us a better grounding in how our design proposal will best meet and tackle these needs.

Auditorium/ Lecture theatre (Environmental Science and Control in Architecture)

2007-11-04T18:55:00.002+13:00

In essence this project required us to design an auditorium to facilitate the recent growth of students within the Victoria School of architecture and design. The design had to demonstrate clear principles of acoustic and lighting design as well as of sustainability. Appropriate use of natural lighting, heating and ventilation was an integral part of the design scheme. These would reflect the climate, culture and context relating to the facility. Adaptability could be a bonus to encourage flexibility of use now and in the future. Minimal maintenance and easy to manage and operate are factors to be considered.

It was very rewarding in the way that it challenged me to think deeply about how it was to perform acoustically, its lighting levels (maintenance of specific and consistent lux levels in important locations like the stage/ platform), sight lines from seating arrangement, passage flow, egress, fire safety etc. This project has been quite enjoyable contrasting with previous ones as often in the earlier stages of my course it has very much been about the aesthetic appearance, the emotive experiences, and building form that was of primary importance. It was great trying to find solutions to more pragmatic problems; concentrating a little more on the building function.

Surf Club - Lyall Bay

2007-10-17T17:16:00.000+13:00

A project that required us to analyse the site (Lyall Bay, Wellington) and its context in preparation for designing with respect to climate and existing environmental conditions. This project comprised of 3 phases:

1. Site and Context Analysis – Done in a groups of 12 to address:
- The historical development of Lyall Bay.
- The social, economic context.
- The landforms, site boundaries, and building conditions.
- The cadastral plans and planning regulations.
- The design data for establishing and assessing environmental performance targets (weather data, tidal movements, solar access, sund paths, etc.).
- The target environmental design conditions (temperature, lighting levels, solar access, ventilation rates etc.)

2. Concept design – Done in pairs to basically churn out design concepts and explore the various possibilities.. sure there may be specific problems to solve but there are a countless number of design solutions that address those problems!

3. Final Design Development – An Individual phase to bring together all the analysis and conceptual work done to produce a holistic and unique design.

In terms of preparing us as students for the marketplace, this project has definitely been the most complete by the fact that we were given such a realistic situation to design for. A real site with building code restrictions, extreme weather conditions and environmental analysis done to address these problems, as well as social, economic, historical, topographical, and sustainable issues to be considered.

I have learned a great deal in terms of the importance of incorporating solid analysis and research in our designs. We all want workable buildings that performs its function; huge wind speeds blowing into a BBQ area just doesn’t make it usable, sun that directly shines into your eyes as you are eating in a cafe just doesn’t make that place usable, a changing room placed in an area un-accessible to those who need to change just doesn’t serve its purpose either! This is my attempt to address such a wide range problems, weighing out and prioritising solutions that are most important to create a coherent and holistic surf club for the Lyall bay community.

Solar Memorial

2007-10-17T16:33:00.000+13:00

As I understand it the aim of this project was to provide us students with the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with computer modelling software and the three-dimensional characteristics of the interaction between architectural space and the sun's path relative to a specific location. Other aims include exploring the effects of environmental context, climate, culture and materiality in architecture. We were asked to both model an existing building (Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier) in attempt to learn how to use Revit as well as design a solar memorial for a specific time of the year. The solar memorial was a design avenue in which we could use sunlight to create a somewhat spiritual and emotive space in a special moment of time (once a year).

The ability to communicate how a space is experienced is something I am very passionate about. I have sacrificed weeks and weeks of my holidays committed to learn programs like these. This is my first work with Revit and 3ds Max and I’m very proud that I was able to communicate such emotive qualities of the space. Man.. it was extremely hard and frustrating as I came across loads of technical problems but yeah God definitely pulled me through this one.. Its so true that as we trust in God with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding, He will always guide our path.! God is where I find my strength to persevere, my inspiration to design, and my peace and confidence that I am able!

2007-09-23T21:05:00.001+12:00

This was a collaborative effort between Daniel Po, Bohan Lin and myself. We were asked to help redevelop the construction and design methods that the well known ‘Habitat for Humanity’ development scheme uses. It was the attempt to think of ways in which we could bring a greater sense of architecture in support programmes like these, as opposed to just meeting the basic physical and functional needs of less fortunate people. It is all good to make the statement that architecture is not only for the rich and more fortunate; but it is how we can implement such a statement in reality that brings it meaning.

Through having modular structural frames and offering variety and complexity through prefabricated wall components; our design offers maximum customisability, affordability, sustainability, serviceability and desirability.

The transformable living spaces (thus multi functional) allows for maximised living within minimal space, achieved through condensing the furniture within the wall components. This minimised usage of space reduces materials required for construction and consequently reduces overall cost. In other words the furniture is built into the wall; another cost reducing factor. Deconstructable wall elements allow for the merging of small spaces to create single, larger spaces; permitting greater space usage flexibility.

Prefabricated components also mean zero wastage; everything is made to fit. Material costs are reduced, labour costs decreased, building expertise required kept minimal. Services are also integrated into the components, providing ease of access for repairs and replacements when required. Time is money, and with the ease of constructing a house with modular frames and prefabricated parts, completion time would be kept to a minimum. The modular structural frames provide adaptability to different sized or shaped sites; by offering a catalogue of frames and components to our clients, building forms can be generated according to their preference, suiting to the site accordingly. Building code NZ 3604 compliant construction methods are well implemented into the frames and components, assuring stability and safety on the built land.

In essence, we provide the tools, our clients decide the design.

First All Nighter!!

2007-09-23T19:53:00.000+12:00

My first All-NIGHTER!!! Gosh I’ve broken my vow not to do a single all-nighter for the whole of my architecture course, but hey.. looks like I was able to get quite a bit done.! Though I’m very proud of myself for not having to do any in my first year; I just believe that managing my time and consistently working hard but not over the top is a much more effective way of working. This helps me avoid the times when I become absolutely unmotivated after an adrenaline spurt like that (after every high there’s a low) and am able to work more effectively through consistency.

Anyways, this project is quite self explanatory. It is a real-life residential/commercial development project that we were asked to design, off of Cuba Street. This project as opposed to the last brings to the table much more reality and practicality to what we do in architecture. There was a specific criterion of the number of bedrooms, client interest and aesthetic preference, buildable area, floor use, and so on.

Expressing Personality in Design

2007-09-23T18:52:00.000+12:00

This was the model design of an interior wall between two different apartments (or dwellings in general) that had to express the personality of the users of each dwelling. This one was quite philosophical, and in a way helped make us think about the poetic nature of design. We had to establish some sort of relationship between the two facades and think deeply about what ways would be most effective in expressing ones character in the built form.

We were allowed to pick two personalities to inhabit each side of the facade, with each personality having a specific profession. Of the various professions I chose the ‘corsetiere’ and the ‘boursier’. My main theme I wanted to get across to my viewers was the central idea that ‘the boursier sees beauty on a surface level with what is on the body whereas the corsetiere sees beauty with what is under (the corset)’. We then had to interpret our assumptions and theme in an architectural sense; so I decided to have a play with flamboyant ornamental superfluous surfaces for the boursier and for the corsetiere I expressed its beauty through its architectural form.

Courtiers Apartment (construction)

2007-09-10T19:29:00.000+12:00

Hmm.. One of the toughest deadlines we were given (for the amount of work expected for the given time). This was part of a construction paper early on in the Year. It was intended to basically get us to familiarise with the building-code of New Zealand (NZ3604) and implement it into our designs. Things like keeping the joist or stud span consistent with the building code, which is affected by factors like loading, wind zones, building height, whether at 600 or 400 centres and so on.

Apologies for only including some of my detail technical drawings, as I don’t have digital copies of my plans, sections, elevations etc.

In essence this is a buildable apartment in New Zealand that should definitely get building consent. All our designs were to be placed side by side with each other so communicating with neighbouring designers was pretty vital. My model is to scale with every joist, beam, stud, lintel... .. to the right scale, dimension and length. Specifications of the materials used for cladding, interior finishes, insulation and joinery were also mentioned in the detail drawings.

Procedure: The hardest thing about it was that the model was that IT WAS ALL MADE OUT OF A PLANK OF CEDAR WOOD. I decided to use cedar as opposed to generic balsa as it had a much richer tone and finish to it. EVERY ELEMENT HAD TO BE PAINSTAKINGLY SAWN TO THE RIGHT DIMENSION. So that was one of the hardest parts of the project I recon. All in all it took about 80 plus hours at least.

Outside and Inside

2007-08-26T00:41:00.000+12:00

As partly stated in one of the above pictures: "We are all under the influence of a social skin. This being an expectation of behaviour and pressure that makes us feel that as we are being watched and seen in public we are compelled to behave a certain way. This is the unreal world which we want to excape from!" This is a design to attempt to address such a problem. To relieve us of that social pressure. To free us of all expectation.!

Rona Receptacle

2007-08-25T13:46:00.000+12:00

An exhibition building for a historical yacht. We were given a whole load of dimensions for this yacht and were to design something spectacular that really made the viewers appreciate the whole experience. My design consisted of suspending the yacht through a lock mechanism (like the channels in the UK to get boats upstream). This would enable the viewers to get a full look at the boat etc. Its intended location was off the wharf next to Frank Kitts Park.

Observatory

2007-08-25T01:50:00.000+12:00

Here we had to renovate an existing observatory, keeping in line with keeping part of the original structure that dated back in the 1940’s and 1960’s, due to parts of the structure being a heritage building. It catered both for children and educational purposes as well as for tourists and enthusiastic individuals. As you can see I decided to take fun approach towards visiting the building via the existing tram that ran all the way down to Lambton Quay. It not only serves as an educational facility through the large display areas but children will love to go there too!!

Procedure: MAN those watercolours took AAAaaages.!!!! At least a day each.! That’s about all I can remember. I don’t think I’m going to do many more watercolours anymore. I mean I really enjoy it and they’re wonderful but they’re just not efficient when it comes to communicating as much as possible about the space in such a little time frame.

Geologist and Astronomer!

2007-08-25T00:29:00.000+12:00

An Observatory that we had to design located somewhere down South of New Zealand.. Sorry really can’t remember exactly where. But yeah, I kinda lost all the technical drawings for it displaying how it works in terms of solar heat gain, and passive systems that I designed. We were to design a sabbatical lodge for both a geologist and an astronomer. There was a crazy amount time put into planning the spaces such as allocating areas for their equipment, drying areas for wet gear for the geologist, sound barriers to prevent disturbance when geologist sleeps as astronomer often works at night, and stuff like that.

The techniques I use in communicating my designs aren’t at all fixed. Especially during my first year I remember that I decided to experiment with as wide a variety of media as possible. From computer generated design to watercolour, from modelling with clay to creating walkthrough movies, from acting and communicating my design intensions to photography; I made that concerted effort to learn as deeply and as widely as I could.

All in all, from this project I learnt a huge amount of planning techniques, had great satisfaction through the splash of watercolours, working in the grungy 1st year workshop and the great agony of pain staking technical pen drawings!! Yes.. Definitely enjoyed every bit of it.!

Invoking a sense of emotion (communication)

2007-08-24T15:24:00.000+12:00

We had to create a series of computer images that invoked a sense of emotion in the viewer. I did about ten but I think these will give you an idea of what I had to do.

I love the ‘spider attack on Courtney Place, Wellington’... man even I get a bit of goose bumps looking at it!! I mean.. Eeew!! And poor baby!! Hey, it actually looks like it doesn’t have legs..! Heheh.

Nah don’t worry, I’m not twisted guys!!

Emotive properties of music (communications paper)

2007-08-24T15:01:00.000+12:00

Okay I know that as you look through this project it might be a pretty random as you don’t fully understand its background. Anyway part of the brief (brief means something like the instructions to whatever project were given) was to create a container for an object. The container was to communicate or in one sense bring out the qualities of that object. My object was a guitar. I decided to pull away from the generic physical container that usually are found in projects like these; but decided to think more ‘abstractly’.

I decided to create a setting where people would come and sit down with a whole set of media (watercolours, pastels, pencils, spray paints, charcoal, and so on)... and ta daa.. I would play the guitar for them. My instructions to them would be simple: “express on your pad with the media you have been given your feelings and emotions (draw what you feel)”. I would then play very soothing music and let them draw/ paint/ spray. I then got them to change their pad and then play a hard, heavy, metallic rock type tune, and again get them to draw.

The Result: As I play my object, I put everyone who is listening into a container; a container of focus and attention. The best way to communicate the emotive properties of music is to get ‘one to show oneself’... And they definitely did!!

Tadao Ando - Church of Light

2007-08-24T14:44:00.000+12:00

This one was part of my communications paper back in first year.. It was about communicating Tadao Ando's fundamental principles which he incorporates into his work. Basically the Crucks of the assignment was to communicate to the viewer what Tadao ando was passionate about.

Tadao Ando was an architect who sought to express light and it’s intrinsic value quite religiously. As I stated in my project: His Aim was to limit materials, simplify expression to the maximum, eliminate all non-essentials through the interplay of light and darkness which reveals form to bring richness back into architectural space!

My first Design Project at uni

2007-08-24T13:07:00.000+12:00

Woohoo.. Its great to look back through all my work and see where ive come from. This here is one of my first projects that i did for my arch design paper. Coming straight from Malaysia I was Quite a newbie in terms of knowing how to get things done around uni.. Like cheapest form of printing, sizing, presentation, computer logins, server drives, scanning, recourses, equipment and a whole load of stuff I didnt know how or where to do.. Its funny how we take for granted how much weve learnt in terms of working effectively and efficiently!
So pretty sweet that that i finally got things together.

Hmm .. I cant remember now but i think it Aimed in tackling some sheltering program. To temporarily shelter people, so I decided to make it a parent and childeren bonding activity. As well as bring up childeren with a fun attitude towards energy conservation.

My Stand on Architecture

2007-08-23T21:23:00.000+12:00

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know. When attempting to understand what architecture is, you step into a whole matrix of concepts. As I have been in the past bombarded with countless number of architectural styles, fields of thought and manifestoes I have been left confused. I mean try to put in words what ‘sustainability’ really is. When we think of sustainability, too many fields of thought are associated with it; green architecture, efficiency, eco-effectiveness, conservation, cradle to cradle methodology and so on... it leaves me somewhat... baffled. I do know one thing though: that Architecture is neither as undefined or flexible as art, nor fixed, determinable or as rigid as science.

I have therefore decided to put what my current stand is on Architecture in words. Both to convey what I believe as well as that ‘hmm.... maybe I’ll find out as I do so’.

I believe it is a leadership in a way that architecture is the leading of all the specialists together to produce a building, combining the many different concepts, beliefs, and with that weighing out the pros/cons to make a final decision. As the engineer may think wholeheartedly on function, the designer believes in aesthetics and the quantity surveyor believes in minimising the costs and cares for neither.

Architecture is the skill of thinking laterally that brings together all these concepts to produce an all-rounded building, fully scientific in context and yet artistically ingenious.

I have come to love the outcome and work of architecture and am beginning to learn the greatness and ingenuity of the work. What it does is condense and simplify all the various ‘specialist’s’ work into understandable lay man’s type of thinking and representation. Without losing significant information and yet keeping very close contact with the big picture.

An example would be how the architect combines the various ‘specialist’s’ information to produce a plan drawing of a theatre. The architect’s plan drawing shows the sound properties (sound engineer) taken into consideration illustrated by the arrangement of seats, the flow and pathway of people (fire department/businessman), what materials used, its dimension and
how much (QS) and so on.

On a more general context I believe architecture to be the link, not just the jack of all trades and master of none. He is the master at linking these other professions/ ways of thinking to produce a balanced functional piece of art. Very vital in making things happen.