Outside and Inside

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

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

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!

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)

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)

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

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

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

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.