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Mark on Operation Void Deck
Thank you, very fascinating to read, you should follow impressive of your blog. I was very reveling to control your contents from prison term to sentence. We are depending forward to your future situations.
Wall Quotes &
Sernhong on re:ACT at 7th mAAN Conference, New Delhi (23-25 Feb)
There were a total of about 80-100 people at the whole conference. Very interesting meeting eveyone.
France on re:ACT at 7th mAAN Conference, New Delhi (23-25 Feb)
Looks very interesting. How many people were there?
Design2050 Studios - Call for Studio Coordinators
Joshua Teo on Tue, June 30, 2009
The Icsid World Design Congress 2009 will be held from 23 to 25 November for the first time in Singapore. Theme “Design Difference – Designing Our World 2050", the Congress will directly address today’s global challenges in an attempt to deliver powerful propositions that will shape the world of 2050.
This year, the event will go beyond the conventional congress and reduce the one-too-many speaker effect, by approaching and engaging keynote speakers, design leaders and delegates to interact and collaborate before, during and after the Congress. In the months leading to the event, a group of renowned creative experts will head up seven highly interactive and participative “Design2050 Studios”, each of which consists of four to six individuals from multi-discipline backgrounds. They will create Design2050 propositions by imagining, conceptualizing and visualizing a desired future. Delegates will be invited to discuss and refine the propositions in partnership with the Design2050 Studios during the Congress.
As part of their commitment to to raise design capabilities and expand design capacities in Singapore-based designers and design firms, DesignSingapore is having an open call for Studio Co-ordinators to be matched with each Design 2050 Studio, under its Capability Development Programme. This is a rare opportunity for designers/design students to participate fully as members of cross-disciplinary design ‘dream’ teams and network, as well as enhance their project management skills.
The dateline for submission had been extended to 1 July 09, Wednesday and you can download the official public call in pdf format below. Find out more too about the designers involved in the DesignSingapore 2050 Studios at the Icsid website.
Download Design2050 Studios - Call for Studio Coordinators
Find out more about the Design2050 Studios
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Frank Gehry asks “Then what?”
Joshua Teo on Mon, April 14, 2008
Who would think that an interview with Frank Gehry could be so entertaining? I like what he says about the Architect having to bring something of this own to the table in terms of aesthetics. He also speaks about collaboration, and I thought what was interesting from that was the people the person that he chose to collaborate with. While we often talk about collaboration with the community, with people from different disciplines, what was intriguing about this collaboration was it was between 2 brilliant people. I hope that motivates us to be brilliant at what we do. I believe, only then, can collaboration reach its fullest potential. Ganbante!
And the Pritzker goes to…
hann on Tue, April 1, 2008
Monsieur Jean Nouvel. Here‘s an article about it (courtesy The Independent, UK):
Jean Nouvel looks like a villain from a James Bond movie. He is large. He is completely bald. He always wears black, except in the summer, when he always wears white. He is celebrated for his rages but also for his generosity and his long friendships, even with his rivals.
Yesterday, Nouvel, 62, the French architect who has designed some of the most memorable buildings in the world in the past 20 years, won the Pritzker prize – the Nobel of architecture. It was a poke in the eye for his many critics. It was a riposte to those who believe that all modern buildings look the same. Famously, no two Jean Nouvel buildings look alike.
He looks quite a bit like Lim Kay Siu if you ask me (see last picture)! That aside, Fivefootway has this to say about Nouvel’s award, in the context of the larger picture, with a slight dash of cynicism and a serving of wit.
Me, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but here are some images for a bit of that instant gratification.
A nice bald shave and a dapper black suit for whoever guesses the names for the three projects above correctly! (Images courtesy of rightful owners.)
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Singapore 1:1 Exhibition at the URA
hann on Sun, March 30, 2008
Had a chance to attend the Singapore 1:1 Forum last week, held in conjunction with the Singapore 1:1 Island exhibition at the URA Gallery, the second in what I hope is a (longer) series of exhibits on architecture in Singapore. The first was Singapore 1:1 City two years ago. The exhibition documents key architectural highlights in Singapore, chronologised into ‘ages’, from the 1960s til today.
Moderated by Larry Ng, director of the Architecture and Urban Design Excellence (AUDE) programme at the URA, the forum was given its kick-off by Dr Wong Yunn Chii, the curator of the exhibition, who spoke on the processes behind curating the exhibition, and the mode of selection of its theme (and projects). In so doing, the audience was given a live commentary-cum-critique on many of the selected exhibited schemes, which felt like a Brief History of Modern Singapore Architecture 101 (in a most positive way, of course). It was enlightening, as it was my first time listening to a talk on curatorial thought processes, and on viewing the exhibition after the forum, it lended additional credence to the exhibition itself. The photography for some of these projects was pretty impressive as well.
Mr Arthur Aw of Jurong Town Corporation later gave his insight on his eight or so years of working at the Jurong Town Hall, itself a Brutalist-styled design from 1969 (by Architects Team 3) which still commands much awe, if audience response was anything to go by. A quote from Mr Aw: “If someone joined JTC, in the old building (Jurong Town Hall), I would have got to know him within three months. Now, if someone joins JTC, in the new building (Jurong Summit), it would take me a year to get to know him.”
This simple comment brings forth further, deeper questions of modern office-space typologies, and is a silent criticism on developers’ quests to go for taller, lower-footprint skyscrapers. The latter little more than fulfilling efficiency, and, in the case of Jurong Summit, are probably far less of an architectural marker in time, than buildings designed to make their presence felt - Jurong Town Hall would be a case in point.
Ms Rohani Baharin from CPG Airports then gave a detailed talk on everyone’s favourite airport - Changi, documenting the progress it’s made since the opening of Terminal 1 back in the 1970s. This was a very refreshing point of view - one uses or views an airport on a very microscopic level, compared to the people who are actually planning it, everything from its masterplanning to its infrastructure to the little architectural details that contribute to the airport being runaway best-in-the-world for several years running. (Nugget of interesting information: There are baggage carousels running underground from terminal to terminal, below the existing MRT line!)
The audience was treated to a video of the conceptualisation process behind T3 as well, with details of the now-famous skylighting flaps, and the green walls and large expanses of curtain-wall glass. Ms Baharin’s talk ended off with optimistic hope for T4, which has now been confirmed to be in the pipeline.
The Singapore 1:1 Exhibition has been extended til April 11th, and can be viewed during the URA’s opening hours.
Mr Tan Kok Hiang of Forum Architects gave an enlightening talk on the thoughts and design processes behind three of his projects - the Henderson Community Centre, the Assyafaah Mosque (model pictured above) and the new entrance for the Singapore Science Centre. Cultural significance and relevance lend themselves to Forum’s projects, and these show up in details, both highly microscopic - for instance, in the Arabesque screens of the Mosque - and macroscopic, in the primordial Fibonacci Sequence system that guides the new landscaped plaza leading to the Science Centre. It left the audience with the feeling that architecture indeed innovates, and is meant to innovate, while serving more fundamental demands of space, form-making and client/programmatic demands.
The forum concluded with a colourful Q&A session, in which the speakers furthered their respective talks with commentaries on the future of architecture and architectural innovation in Singapore, while keeping true to what we’ve held proud thus far - efficient and “pleasant” design. This is a timely shot in the arm as we are seeking a myriad set of answers to the perennial “So, what’s next?” question, in the context of local architecture.
All in all, it was a talk that neatly wrapped up the Singapore 1:1 Island exhibition, itself a neat set-up. I bought the concomitant book - even with slight reservations on its graphic design - as I know it will become a handy historical document on how far Singapore architecture has come, as it is itself a history-documenting book.
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