Unprecedented Design Approach - ABLE & Charles De Gaulle

I have been to Paris a few times but for some reason, I have never walk through building terminal 2E, which shocked me when I found out that it has a very similar design approach to my ABLE project. A longitudinally capsule like structure, that emphasises on the open spatial surrounding, it totally mirrors to what I was trying to achieve for the ABLE project. I honestly have not seen this building before , but it is sad to say that I am lacking behind in innovative design approach by 10 years, when the construction started in 1999 and finish in 2004. But with my design thesis going as planned, I do hope I can create something different that set my design apart from any other, creating a distinction and a new focal point for my site and city itself. As the ABLE is only an experimental to my design thesis, it is just a way of studying my design approach for my concept, and not implementing the initial draft for January in any way.

> The Primary Structure

> The Exterior View

> The Interior View

Cross Design Week - The ABLE Project: Final Sheets

Cross Design Week, consist of various projects that last for 5 days which was held from the 14th-18th of Dec in my university, and out of the various projects shown, I have chosen the ABLE project which is a centre that grows fish and plants. The site given was a 50 by 15 metres dimension with no design restriction.

This is my design statement made for the competition:
This is a rendered view that I have forgotten to use in the presentation sheet.

Cross Design Week - The ABLE Project: Initial Design

There are more initial designs which I would upload next time, however, I joined this competition for a couple of reason. Firstly is due to its first prize of getting a commission to actually building the design. But most important of all is to experiment with some initial design ideas I have which will be implemented into my thesis design. It gives me the opportunity to fiddle with the design concept, creating spatial and shape study with the materials I am going to use for the primary and secondary construction.

Sketch 1.3 - Design Impulse

Sketch 1.2 - Design Impulse

A few more sketches of design impulses I had while doing my booklet.

Concept and Structural Study Models

Initally, the materials that I was going to use were timber and steel, to combine both to create a harmonious yet an alienated building to the site. As I went through more research, it was apparent that a change in materials is needed, hence after a long thought, I am using bamboo as primary and rattan as a secondary materials. It is light, flexible and it is a sustainable material, boast to be as strong as steel, yet capable of disintegrating itself. It grows faster and alot in quantity in comparison to timber. After treatment, it can last for 20 years, a very respectable limit. Here are some pictures of a couple structural studies on bamboo construction, inspired by Vo Nga Trong Architects. While doing this model, I took abit of time to create my initial concept idea in model form.

My Concept Model: Inspired by Rafflesia

Structural Study 1: Dessert Bamboo Dome

Structural Study 2: Bamboo Wings, Vietnam

Structural Study 3: wNw Cafe, Vietnam

A3 Booklet (1-12 Draft)

These are draft of the first 12 pages of my A3 booklet. The template design is to emphasis on Malaysia's natural beauty. There are on going work on page 8, hence its not uploaded.

My Thought 01: The WAF 09

The World Architecture Festival which was held in Barcelona from the 4th-6th of November was very refreshing, enabling myself a wider perspective of the architectural and design approach at a global standard. It showcased seminars and most importantly for me, presentations of buildings by international architects on a Powerpoint format with 10 minutes time limit. This was an opportunity for them to sell their shortlisted projects to juries, to be crowned 'Building of the Year' in their category. What was rather suprising is, some of the presentation was rather, bad to be honest. English may not be their 1st or 2nd language, but it is quite obvious that they are either unprepared or just nervous. Other great presentation, the concept and ideas are actually comparable to us students, the poetic architectural language that is used to describe the shape and feature, but what makes them stand out, is the approach, the understanding, solving and coming up with innovative strategical method that is simple, yet complex. The simplest way of how I understand it is, there is always a reason behind every curve and orientation. I believe that design development has to be thorough, and instead of saying, I want, its more of a, it needs, they need, we need, to solve and enhance an area. Some projects are exceptional, Foster+Partner, LAVA and Rafael Vinoly posted some intriguing experimental innovative design that would be on going soon. I would definitely want to visit the festival again, but not with a £200 receipt, but with an invitation from the EDAW S.O.S Competition or shortlisted for a building I designed in the near future. This has truly inspired me to work hard and be a part with the big boys.

Here are some pictures I took during the seminar and presentation:

Main seminar room

[Managing Explosive Urban Growth] Arturo Ortiz (Director, Taller Territorial de Mexico, far left), Sanjay Puri (Founder,Sanjay Puri Architects, 2nd from left), Meng Yan (Partner, Urbanus Architecture & Inc, far right)

[Governance: Obligations and Opportunities for Architect] Phillip Follent, Queensland Government Architect

Keynote Speech by Farshid Moussavi, Function of Form (co-founder of FOA, Foreign Office Architects)

There are 8 rooms which consist of 3 judges in each room. (from left to right, Charles Jencks, USA, Nabil Gholam, Lebanon [i think] and Simon Allford, UK)

[Making the Uninhabitable Habitable - Masdar City, The Most Radical and Ambitious Urban Development in the World] Chris Bosse (co-founder, LAVA, left) and Gerard Evenden (Senior Partner, Foster + Partners, centre)

Another judging panel (from left to right, Will Alsop, UK, Paul Walker, New Zealand and I do not recognize the guy on the right, sorry)

Keynote Speech by Rafael Vinoly on the 2nd day.