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canvas print on Operation Void Deck
Impressive blog. Thanks for writing
Conrad McKee on Wishing all our friends a Blessed Christmas!
Same to you
waiting room furniture on Operation Void Deck
Thanks for sharing this Joshua, good job.
A Burj Too Far…
hann on Wed, April 2, 2008
...or too high, for that matter.
A Saudi billionaire prince is keen on giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “joining the mile high club”, if this is anything to go by.
Yes, a mile-high building. Dwarfing the under-construction Burj Dubai (585 m high) and a good two-thirds taller the upcoming Burj Mubarak in Kuwait (1001 m)... Might we have to coin the term spacescraper soon?
Well it seems to me like tall buildings in the Middle East is very much a burj-eoning trend.
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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The Modern Day Architect
hann on Wed, March 26, 2008
Life as an architect/ architecture student can get pretty daunting sometimes. Here’s something that I hope would bring a smile to your face amidst all those unimaginable datelines.
Young Urbanist Programme Season 1
hann on Tue, March 25, 2008
This is an article written by Lyn-Anne, the Managing Editor of Five Foot Way Magazine on the recent YUP. She did such a good job, we thought you should not miss it. Find out more about Five Foot Way Magazine here.
The Young Urbanist Programme [YUP] held on Monday 10th March 2008, was a 1-day workshop initiated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and executed in collaboration with [re:act] and held at the URA Centre. It was an enrichment programme for primary school students during their school holiday and was attended by 30 P5 students from Radin Mas Primary School and River Valley Primary School. [re:act] was engaged by URA to plan, organize and facilitate the workshop, as well as to curate the exhibition. Through problem-based urban activities, the programme aimed to instill creativity and sensitivity in our future generation, while giving them a taste of being an architect or urban designer for a day.
The objectives of YUP were to raise awareness and educate students on the importance of a well-designed built environment, as well as to introduce simple Urban Design (UD) and planning concepts, so as to build up an urban design-conscious culture from young.
Matthew Chong, a teacher at River Valley Primary School, said it was important for the students to learn about their environment at a young age so they would be aware of their surroundings and be careful in the way they live.
The programme also hoped to encourage students to nurture a keen sense of observation and interest in their built environment and to inspire students to think, design and plan as architects and planners through a design exercise and presentation session. Using URA’s City Gallery as an aid to introduce Singapore’s urban planning & design and coupled with games to add interest to the learning, the workshop was intensive, fast-paced, energetic and creative.
Armed with the YUP Activity Booklet produced by URA, the students were broken up into teams of 5, each led by a facilitator and a teacher. They went on an outdoor site study in the vicinity of the URA Centre and returned to an art and craft session on model-making, site-planning and designing to simulate the real work of architects and urban planners. The students were all in laughter as they cut out pieces of cardboard windows and dabbed their Styrofoam trees with glue.
Claire McColl of Radin Mas Primary School said she learnt how to be creative with cardboard and plastic bottles and also how to work in a team.
The tasks given to the students helped to reinforce their learning and understanding of the built environment.
Teo Hui Ting, a student of River Valley Primary School, said that through the workshop, she finally understood how hard it was to plan and build a city.
At the end of the workshop, students got to present their findings and designs to professional planners and architects. Parents of these students were also invited to sit in the presentation to give encouragement and support to their children. As such, the workshop reached out not only to students, but also to teachers and parents.
Chong Keng Hua, of [re:act], said they are in talks with URA to organize more of such programmes and they hope to include students from polytechnics, ITEs and even parents in future workshops.
FFW was at the workshop and we noticed that even though there were chaotic moments at times (kids will be kids), the students were genuinely serious about making their models as realistic as possible and almost did not flinch when they presented their works to the professionals at URA. This collaborative initiative by [re:act] and URA was a rousing success and everyone involved left with a greater appreciation of our city’s architects and urban planners and new friendships.
FFW applauds the efforts of [re:act] to introduce art and design to students at such a young age and we are looking forward to more of such inspiring initiatives.
Lyn-Anne is the managing editor of FFW and she loves photography and film-making.
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