New Year and Resolution

Just wishing everybody who follows my blog a Happy New Year. May 2011 be a better and more interesting year for everybody. My new year resolution is to achieved much more then what I had this year, to yearn for success, without forgetting to have a better health and closer relationship with my family and everyone around me. Always live life to the fullest. Will upload a competition work on the first week of Jan.

Fantasy:Dream:Freudian Psychology

I was initially interested in Fantasy Architecture, a concept that would stimulate ones imagination and creativity when it is being look at or experienced. The idea of integrating Fantasy and Dynamic Architecture becomes an apparent choice which means alot of research and understanding should take place. As I was doing my research on Fantasy, which in itself relates to Dreams, it conveys a very in depth knowledge that leads to Psychoanalysis or Freudian Psychology, is a body of ideas developed by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it can also be applied to societies.

I quote "To a psychoanalyst, the architecture of dreams is a uniquely Freudian concept, since prior to Freud's extraordinary insights into the dynamic armature of dreaming, dreams were thought of as baffling, formless entities that were not considered to be serious raw material for scientific study like other identifiable phenomena in the universe. Freud changed all that by suggesting that the manifest appearance of a dream may seem nonsensical, but the latent thoughts that have been expressed through an elaborate system of disguises are anything but nonsensical and can be deciphered, if the interpreter becomes aware of the dream-work that has so disfigured them."

All I ever wanted was to create or design something that would contribute towards and city, a focal point that seeks to become a design catalyst, a place of amusement and filled with light and happiness and nothing so in depth. The only in depth product in my design would be the amount of technology put into the idea. I feel kind of shallow after admiting defeat to that Psychoanalyst but I dont feel comfortable for some odd reason. I Wikipedia-ed Psycholoanalysis and a dodgy couch was shown, I am given the impression of it being dark, unhappy with negative aura. Taking some time off reading Vincent Callebaut's Biotechnologies article, my few handful of favourite architects. Also borrowing Fluid Mechanics just to see if it is applicable to my Gate design.

Dynamic Architecture

I was going through the interweb and I realised I was not inspired by Kinetic Architecture, but by Dynamic Architecture. I stumble upon Responsive Architecture as well, with all having a similar response method, and that is Techonology with very different vision. Responsive architecture is an evolving field of architectural practice and research. Responsive architectures are those that measure actual environmental conditions (via sensors) to enable buildings to adapt their form, shape, color or character responsively (via actuators). Kinetic architecture is a design concept in modern architecture which explores the physical transformation of a building with the objective to redefine traditional applications on motion through technological innovation. The use of robotics, mechanics and electronics are being more known as new approaches into architectural possibilities. Dynamic architecture seems to involved both but with an added 4th dimension, Time. I have seen a number of videos online and it involves alot of technical knowledge which is not my forte, yet. I mentioned of applying Kinetic architecture which is actually Dynamic, but with the lack of knowledge in technical capabilities, I would try to use the idea of Time, “Architecture as Part of the Environment”, adjusting to the sun and the wind, to the view and to our momentary requirements.

This video is obtain from the Dynamic Architecture or Youtube website.

TRON: Architectural Inspiration

I just recently watched the movie and although it was mediacore, the building design was brilliant. I started to think about the architectural fantasy I was thinking about, design concepts that seems unrealistic brought to life through CGI, Photoshop etc. In my head, these people are brilliant, an imaginative group of selected designers to work on the set. After a quick shower and surfing through the internet for Tron's building, I came across a very interesting interview with the director. It was a short interview but nonetheless intriguing from my point of view. I was only interested where he mention about how the movie was inspired by some world class architects. Here are the couple of Q and A that interest me.


We recently had the chance to talk with Tron Legacy director Joe Kosinski. Kosinski, who originally trained as an architect at Columbia, told us about constructing the brand new Tron City and updating the Tron aesthetic for the 21st century.

You have a background in architecture. In Tron Legacy, you're building this virtual cityscape from scratch. Were there any architects or designers who informed the building of Tron City?

The architects who come to mind are Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, Albert Speer — Speer was an architect for the Nazis, and you can see his influence in the designs for CLU's game arenas. You can see the influence of Neil Denari in Flynn's safe house. It was fun to pull from all these influences and construct something new for this movie. That's part of the reasons I took this project — I saw the opportunity to build a universe from scratch, not only with the architecture, but also with the character and vehicle design. You can put all of these elements together in a way that you couldn't do with other movies.

Would you say that the design of Tron City is more futurist or 1980s retrofuturistic?

The idea is that the Grid was created in the 1980s and evolved independent of the outside world. Syd Mead and Moebius' designs for the original Tron very much had an early 80s aesthetic, and it was fun to take these 1980s influences and evolve it forward within this particular world.

So, the buildings in the movie are inspired by Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, Albert Speer and Neil Denari. There was no mention of any current architects and I would assume Zaha Hadid or Morphosis would be in the group. My brain likes to ponder but it seems my design theory has reach upon a limit that I need to break to move forward. There might be a huge relation between the old school theoritcal design towards the future. I am all confuse and feeling rather stupid, unable to have the ability to think and argue any valid statement for further discussion, all I could do is just ask. All that I could say is, in the past few days while I was surfing through the interweb, kinetic architecture seems to spark an interest within me. Will do abit more research before trying out some experimental design concept for the 4th entrance gate, this might get very interesting.

Architectural Fantasy

I am a big fan of video games, not just because I get the opportunity to blow zombie heads off occasionally, but I adore games like Final Fantasy because its visually stimulating and instead of playing it, I take my time walking around in the game sinking in the awesome creativity the production team has brought forward towards the game. I can assume alot of gamers would just ignore and not appreciate the amount of work that has been put through especially the younger generations because this is probably the norm. Anyways, it makes me wonder many times whether the design inside video games are the way forward? Or its something that we wonder hence its the way forward. It is just the same as wondering and saying that we would fly many years ago and now we have planes and helicopters. Architecture design is moving forward, both structural and visually, due to the modern and newer programmes and materials being innovatively used and made, but is the design becoming more of a cliche then radical or innovative? I know the likes of Zaha Hadid pushes the boundaries of technology to fit her difficult radical design as one might say, but I was not refering to that type of radical, radicalised towards fantasy, a type of building that would only appear in dreams. I made the initiative to look at a few pictures to compare and for some reason it does not provide the same aura, is it because its rendered hence it looks animated? Or we have not tried that approach yet? Or I am just being ignorant and something similar has been tried? Here are just a few examples comparing reality and fantasy.

Reality
New YorkKuala LumpurHong KongLooking at some of the best cities in the world, the tall concrete buildings do provide a sense of cliche. A similar scene can be reproduce anywhere else and the image above is only differentiated by just a singular entity.

Fantasy

The more I look and wonder, I realised that maybe I am not looking for a huge radical change in design but to make sure a repetition does not occur. The idea is to create your own identity that can't be found anywhere else, and when I say identity, its not just a tall building that becomes an "iconic" feature of the city, but something radically different. Every picture in the fantasy section is different and although it showcased tall buildings but the ambience is always different. Maybe it is just me, but I find it exciting.

My hometown Kota Kinabalu, is a developing city and there are words going around that "Skyscrapers" would be needed in the future. It is not ideal from my point of view due to the ecological and geographical feature but I had an impulse idea of creating a fantasy city, which I now realised that I need to create a radical masterplan which hopefully can be applied to in the near future. I would start my mission and vision by completing the 4 new entrance statement and upload to share when permitted.

This building was design by Santiago Calatrava, I just uploaded this picture because the picture above for some particular reason reminded me of it.

Ignorant or Design Flaws?

I went to Manchester Airport recently, and I could not helped it when I was in the toilet, this guy approached the sink while unzipping his pants, he then took a step back, thinking twice before approaching it again and went forward a second time then took another step back still puzzled, before I interfered and told him the 'thingy' is around the corner. I was thinking, was he a complete ignorant or there is an actually design flaw to the sink? Can a simple thing like this be a real problem to alot of people? It maybe 1 in a million, but it may apply to alot of people but this is the first time I have seen such a thing, and it is still something to ponder about. After this incident, I am pretty sure this applies to everything around us, unless you are drunk.

Kota Kinabalu Archway Inspiration

I was looking for precedents from my hometown itself to get some inspiration for my arch design and I only manage to find a few. It has a very typical theme to it and it looks very traditional, which is not really my cup of tea. While doing this research, I have come up with 3 gate design scheme and needing another one before sending it out. I would like to post the work up but being advice not to do so at the moment, maybe I would upload the initial rough design sketch. Honestly, none of these actually helped my design thoughts. Oh Kota Kinabalu, your design boundaries needs to be pushed, you traditional folks needs to be inspired. My mum has commented and says that my design is unique, which I would assume she does not really get it, describing my North1 design a flying fox. She would just prefer an archway across the big highway, that is not going to happen. Anyways, back to the drawing board, just needing a little bit more inspiration, I would just have to go back to the basic, getting inspired by Kota Kinabalu's culture and nature.

Finally, An Oppoturnity! Structural Design Inspiration

I finally have the chance to put a real stamp on a project in my hometown, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. It may be a small project, a gate entrance statement for KKIP, but it is nonetheless interesting due to the size of the monumental entrance. There would be 4 similar entrances which would be occupied by a dual carriageway with a median, hence the width could reach 30 metres. There is a need for it to become a focal point, a monument that is inviting and intruging for the new hub itself. It is exciting because I can practically do anything with it, but my aim is to design something that would hopefully influence the design around the city. The pictures gathered here are just some structural design featured in the World Archtiecture Festival for inspiration.

Selected projects from 2009

Entrance Square, Iran, Naqshyad Architect
This is a project that seems to fit most of the criteria, a literal entrance monument. This monument is designed as the symbol of harbors and seamanship and intends to convey a feeling of the sea elements without directly referring to any of them. A vivid contrast between the severity of metal structure and plasticity of the tensile structure displays an endless encounter which is emphasized in the collision of cycloid and straight lines in the monument structure.

Arena Zangreb, Croatia, UPI-2M [2009 Winner]
Mode-Gakuen Spiral Towers, Japan, Nikken Sekkei Ltd
Road Bridge, Netherland, OAK

Selected projects from 2010

AAMI Park, Australia, Cox Architects and Planners Buttressed Core Structural System for Burj Khalifa, UAE, Skidmore Kish Ladies Sea Coast Complex, Iran, Noandish Sakhteman Consulting Engineers Main Entrance Facade & Vestibule, Colchester UK, Rafael Vinoly Architects Mediacite Retail Centre, Liege Belgium, Ron Arad Architects

The Indicator: 101 Things I Didn't Learn in Architecture School

This list was uploaded in Archdaily and its a list I would like to share with everyone. It was written by Guy Horton and this list is strictly based on his expression alone, it is still none the less interesting. I highlighted some of the points cause I like them, its self preference.

1] Even if your boss is your friend he may have to axe you to save his business.

2] Read the book, On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt. Carry it with you. It’s pocket-sized.

3] Do not drink at work and especially do not get toasted around your colleagues under any circumstances.

4] No matter how highly you may think of yourself you may still be a minion in the eyes of others who hold more power than you.

5] Once you leave architecture school not everybody cares about architecture or wants to talk about it.

6] All eating habits and diets acquired during school should be jettisoned.

7] The hygiene habits you kept in architecture school are inappropriate for real life; bathe regularly and change your underwear.

8] The rush and exhilaration you experience in studio may be inversely proportional to how much you will enjoy working for a firm.

9] It’s architecture, not medicine. You can take a break and no one will die.

10] Significant others are more important than architecture; they are the ones who will pull you through in the end. See 49.

11] Being smart and having advanced degrees can make you a better designer.

12] The industry underpays. Push for what you are worth.

13] Mind your internet traffic at work unless you are certain your office does not have someone monitoring. Of course you should be working every minute, so this goes without saying.

14] Go home to your family.

15] Call your loved one’s frequently.

16] If you are working overtime, the firm buys dinner.*
*Contingent on office policies, of course.

17] Don’t keep a mayline screwed to your desk. They are not cool and they date you. The same goes for colored pencils.

18] Get the biggest monitor you can.

19] Do not, however, ask for two monitors. Even though it makes you look like a bad-ass you will be expected to do twice the amount of work.

20] Make sure team roles are clearly defined.

21] Know what your role is.

22] Be careful with emails. If in doubt, don’t send.

23] At times respect and civility seem to be scarce commodities in architecture.

24] Be cautious of “opportunities” that do not pay.

25] Sometimes the most critical person on your jury might actually be right.

26] Understand how your office is run as a business and how they go after projects.

27] It is best to keep your outside activities quiet.

28] Your boss reads your blog.

29] Pyromania, car soccer, and other antics you made up to amuse yourself at 3 am are not actually normal. See 49.

30] There are no architectural emergencies that should make you completely give up your life on the outside. That may have been the ethos in studio, but don’t carry it into the office.

31] Be suspicious if your firm expects you to work long hours of overtime for no compensation. Be doubly suspicious if they justify it by saying things like, “It’s just part of the learning curve” or “We had to go through this, too.”

32] If a police officer pulls you over on the freeway for doing 90 mph on a Sunday morning while heading into the office, it’s time to re-evaluate your priorities.

33] Know who the decision-makers are.

34] Don’t dress like an intern. See 72.

35] Read Dana Cuff’s Architecture: The Story of Practice.

36] Expect to be regarded with suspicion if your undergraduate degree is not in architecture.

37] Don’t be seduced by mere appearances.

38] If your firm is outsourcing work to save money, be concerned.

39] Architecture firms can have multiple glass ceilings. Be aware of them all.

40] If a principal of a firm sees making coffee or moving boxes as beneath him/her, consider looking for another office.

41] If a principal doesn’t say good morning when you say good morning to him/her, consider looking for another office.

42] When firms advertise themselves as think tanks or research labs, ask them specifically what it is that they do. And most importantly, make sure they pay. Well.

43] If you are invited to be on a jury, don’t trash the student just to make yourself look good or to contradict a rival on the jury. Be constructive and try to help the student. This is the point.

44] Subvert the signature of the software, unless you consciously want the architecture to convey this signature.

45] Architects are in a service industry. They provide services to clients.

46] In proportion to their pay, architects require the most education, most training, and the most exams to become licensed professionals.

47] Don’t be a Typhoid Mary. When sick, stay home.

48] Embrace the business-side of architecture.

49] If you are an architect you should automatically qualify for psychotherapy and medication. [LOLOLOL]

50] Most architects believe they were destined to become architects because of their early childhood experiences. They showed signs of architectural greatness at a very young age. This is a myth that reinforces an unhealthy hero complex. See 49.

51] Architecture in the academy is completely removed from the profession. Likewise, the values within the academy are radically different from the values within a firm.

52] Be cautious about applying theory to space.

53] Do not take design strategies or operations learned in studio too seriously.

54] Know the difference between architectural celebrity and actual worth.

55] Read books with words, not just pictures.

56] All firms are different. Shop.

57] To save time, assume your wife is right.

58] Do not date an architect unless you are certain he/she is able to maintain a healthy life outside of architecture. See 49. [LOLOLOL]

59] Architects should not intermarry. Inbreeding is not good for the gene pool. See 49.

60] If you are married when you go to architecture school, studio ends at 7:00.

61] Do not buy into the fashion of the moment and simply dismiss certain architects without examining them for yourself.

62] Architects who do not build things also have important things to say and should be listened to.

63] If your studio instructor is a recent graduate, be alarmed.

64] Do not obsess about sustainability to the exclusion of other factors.

65] Renderings done in China are so last year.

66] If you start a think tank make sure you have some thoughts to put in it.

67] Read Rem Koolhaas, but do not obsess and fantasize about being him. Delirious New York is still relevant.

68] Archi-babble does not make you sound cool.

69] Keep in touch with everyone you know, especially if they aren’t in architecture.

70] In fact, make friends who are not architects.

71] Do not wear the same shoes every day, They will start to smell.

72] Make sure your jeans are up-to-date. No acid-wash. No baggy.

73] The economically distressed urban zones you can afford while in school are not gentrified just because you and your friends have moved in.

74] If you must read Italo Calvino, read more than just Invisible Cities.

75] Expect a period of post-traumatic stress disorder after you graduate. Do not make any important decisions during this time. [Really? LOL I need a check up]

76] Don’t get a dog just because you are lonely.

77] Architecture is fueled by fetishes—rectilinear designer eyewear, for instance.

78] When trying to decide if a theory book is good, check the bibliography first.

79] Listen to your elders. They are wise.

80] FAIA can mean different things to different people.

81] If you already have a B.Arch, consider further education in a different field. Your M.Arch. can’t make a real contribution to the field if you’re just showing off software skills.

82] Always back up your hard drive.

83] Embrace social media, but don’t be its bitch. Only tweet/post when you have something important to say.

84] Architecture firms should consider forming economic alliances similar to OPEC.

85] Even if you don’t like the look of someone’s architecture they may have something valuable to teach you.

86] Great architecture, like great art, tends to arise from deep psychological issues. See 49.

87] The eighties and postmodernism were not all bad.

88] Being avant-garde is a choice that should be evaluated.

89] Architect’s web pages are often out of control and take too long to load.

90] In one’s life there are a finite number of all-nighters one can pull. You probably used them all up in school.

91] Understand the contexts from which modernism arose.

92] When the economy is good architects can rely on experience to run firms, but when the economy is bad they need advanced business skills they may not possess.

93] Architecture is dependent on boom and bust cycles.

94] Good design is not necessarily the most important factor in running a successful architecture firm.

95] Branding is important.

96] In a corporate firm, those at the top are not necessarily the best but they may have been there the longest.

97] Being good at software does not make you a good architect.

98] Architecture is cliquish.

99] Many architects do not live in houses designed by themselves or other architects.

100] Architecture office parking lots communicate success. There should be at least a couple high-end luxury cars. If there are a lot of beaters, be wary. If all cars are beaters, don’t go in.

101] Be concerned when you are too idle at work.


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The Indicator, a weekly column focusing on the culture, business and economics of architecture, is written by Guy Horton. The opinions expressed in The Indicator are Guy Horton’s alone and do not represent those of ArchDaily and it’s affiliates. Based in Los Angeles, he is a frequent contributor to Architectural Record, The Architect’s Newspaper and other publications. He also writes on architecture for The Huffington Post. Follow Guy on Twitter.