Brutal Oxford

A week ago, I went on a studio walking trip around Oxford, near Marston. We briskly walked through the streets stopping at four different sites with the intention to garner inspiration from 1950s to 1970s brutalist and modernist architecture with their heavy use of concrete as the 'material of the future.'

It was an insightful tour of a part of Oxford I'd never thought I'd go. We shuffled along the streets, gazing at the monumental qualities of these buildings with our hands thrust into our pockets except for the occasional photo-op, whilst constantly swearing at the -8°C temperature making it the coldest morning yet since I've been here. But I guess it was practically complimentary to the harshness and rigidity of Brutalism, as my cross-processed pictures hopefully are. Enjoy:

Stay tuned for more.

PhotoLog | The Jean Nouvel Serpentine Pavilion

Serpentine Gallery, London

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Project Finale II

Here're my boards! I've finally been able to compress them to a suitable size to be posted up here. DO click on the image and magnify it to get a better look. Sorry if they're a bit pixelated due to the compression.

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Mean while, by this time tomorrow, I'll be soaking in the sun, sand and waters of Redang on our little class trip. Photos will come in due time.

Cheers!
Stay tuned for more.

Project Finale I

| The Semenyih Funerary Center & Plant Nursery

The theme for my Architectural Studio 4 throughout the semester revolved around the ideas of death and memories. For my final project, I was required to design a funerary center in Semenyih, Selangor of about 1500 sqm. which would also accommodate a complimentary facility which shares spaces and rituals with the funerary home and must be somewhat co-dependent with one another while being economically self-sustaining on its own.

My proposal for the complimentary facility was a plant nursery. Plants obviously play an important role in all funerary rituals and the relationship between a plant nursery and a funerary center would make perfect sense. The funerary center exists on its own, holding wakes and other funeral related rituals including a columbarium whilst the plant nursery provides flowers and plants during those rituals, renders services to the site in the form of landscaping and can also exist on its own for the sole purpose of selling plants.

Thus, my proposal centers around the ideas of plant life as a counter balance to death.

| The plant nursery consists of cores which cut through the building and form courtyards with timber strips which rise high above to give that sense of void and loss. Each void caters to a specific plant family.



| The ceremonial hall where funerary rituals take place is set against the serenity of waterplants in one of the nursery cores.



| I turned the typical columbarium and interpreted it as a garden. The place where a loved one is interred is made into a thriving landscape where people can come to converse, have a moment and perhaps come to terms with their loss.



| The staircase leading up to the topmost floor, an eatery. On the right as another plant nursery cores, dedicated to bamboo.



| The eatery at the top floor with views out into the surrounding lush landscape and hills of Semenyih and beyond.



| My hand made 1:200 scale model.



| A close up shot.

It may have been incredibly stressful to do all this work, but I'm very happy with the outcome. Of course, I do acknowledge that tremendous improvements could have been done, but that is always the case. You can just never stop designing because perfection could never be achieved.

| My pin-up and presentation spot. My boards are the three panels on the bottom half.

I shall upload my presentation boards soon.

Stay tuned.

May-hem: Over

In case I didn't say it already, the theme for my Architectural Studio this semester is DEATH. The first project, a memorial. The second, a newsletter. And the third and last project which I just finished presenting this afternoon in college is a funerary center.

It was an amazing semester with a challenging theme which I found extremely refreshing because the architectural typology concerning death is very much underrated at this point. I'll post up some renders of my final diploma project in the coming posts.

Stay tuned for more.

Zaha Hadid, Why you do this to me?!

Rewind a few months back and I was still happily trotting down Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. And my visit there happened to be in conjunction with the beginning of the Burnham Pavilion exhibit where architects Ben Van Berkel (of UN Studio) and Zaha Hadid put on display a sculptural pavilion which was supposed to run from late July to sometime in October if I'm not totaly mistaken. I managed to molest catch a glimpse of the one by Ben Van Berkel:

- Ben Van Berkel's Burnham Pavilion



- under the undulating structure

But the one by Zaha Hadid was unfinished and unfortunately delayed for so long that I didn't manage to see it. I only saw it while it was still in it's construction phase:

- Still under construction: curved steel tubes create the structure



- Synthetic fabrics stretched over the skeletal steel frame

And now, the thing is like totally done. Not only is it finished, it's mysteriously attractive and just tugs at my curiosity begging me to explore the structure. Its synthetic fabric-like skin stretched over an organic steel frame of confusing dimensions. Oh, why did I miss this:

 

Stay tuned for more.

Wilmette: Baha'i Temple

We visited the Baha'i temple located in Evanston like two days ago. We happen to be in the area and my sister and her friend was like "You wanna go, you wanna go?" And I said "Why not?" So, we just hopped over for a short look at the temple building since it's supposed to be incredibly ornate.









Honestly, I know little about Baha'i, but I think the temple was incredible as it was funded entirely from donations and took like 30 years to construct. The exterior was richly decorated to awe and inspire. Once inside the temple, where silence is observed, it seemed extremely peaceful. And your line of sight is immediatelly drawn to the focal point, which is the dome.

I would say it's quite majestic. And it is also complemented by the many fountains, water features and beautifully manicured lawns and landscaping surrounding it.


Stay tuned for more.

Chicago Alone

Today I walked nearly 20 blocks. Like SERIOUSLY. I'm so freakin tired. It's 12am here and my sister is already sleeping while I'm the one who walked 20 blocks. Nevermind.

Anyways, it was TOTALY.WORTH.IT. I took a stoll down to Lake Shore Drive to have a look at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments (more to come in another post). But the thing is, I entered the lobby to ask the concierge just to confirm whether I was at the right place since they were like renovating the shit out on the road outside and had like tarp covering any sign saying what building it was. And that man was really friendly. Asked me where I was from and all that and had a decent conversation. I would have to say that Kairi is probably the one who influenced me to strike up conversations with random strangers.

Other than that I just walked the Magnificent Mile again (where all the stores are). I found out how expensive Neiman Marcus was as they carry Dolce, Prada, Diesel, Armani, Ferragamo and all that crap. Didn't buy a single thing. Just looked, touched, and looked some more. I mean if you think stuff in Parkson was expensive, try that Dolce Tuxedo Jacket I saw worth 4995.00. And mind you, that's 4995.00 U.S. dollars. AND it's ONLY the jacket. I'm still sticking to H&M.

I also took a visit to the Art Museum coz I found out that on Thursdays after 5:00pm, admission is awesome-ly free. Walked around but I did not finish the entire museum as it was big. Like BIG. And there was quite alot to see. Nice things. Paintings by Picasso and Piet Mondrain, architectural sketches by Richard Neutra, Mies Van Der Rohe and Frank Gehry. Sculptures by Matisse. Lots of things. I'm so going back there again next Thursday.

Here're some RANDOM pictures. I will most likely organise them better in the coming posts.

- John Hancock building...again. But better view, without me in it.


- Trump International Hotel and Tower entrance.


- The newly constructed Trump Tower. I love how it reflects the sun.


- Inside Macy's. It was pretty nice in there. Tried on a couple things from DKNY but their sizes were too big.


- Random street. You see, I walked alot today. AH LOT


- Finally, the Art Institute of Chicago.


- Dinner at Chipotle. I do like Mexican!

I need to get a tripod or a friend because the entire time I could not take pictures of myself posing in front of fantastic locations. And I think that is just missed opportunity.


Stay tuned for more.

Chicago: 330 North Wabash

For my architecture coursemates:

I paid a visit to the 330 North Wabash building (formerly known as the IBM building). Seeing this building for the first time absolutely overwhelmed me. How could it not when it was designed by famed architect and one of my favourites, Mies Van Der Rohe.

This was infact the last building he designed in the U.S. and unfortunately, he passed away before its construction. Nevertheless, it embodies all of his ideas on minimalism.

If possible, when I journey into the city again, I would like to try and enter the building. That is if I'm allowed to. But admiring the exterior was good enough.

- Signage

- 330 North Wabash behind me.

- Right at the corner.

- The raised sidewalk.

- The entrance

Stay tuned for more structures in Chicago.

Snapshot: Penang

- Shih Chung Branch School,
Northam road,
Georgetown, Penang.


- vegetation taking over the building.


- the dilapidated interior.


- the upper floor.


- window.

“It is again no question of expediency or feeling whether we shall preserve the buildings of past times or not. We have no right whatever to touch them. They are not ours. They belong partly to those who built them and partly to all the generations of mankind who are to follow us.”

Ruskin, John “The Lamp of Memory” from “The Seven Lamps of Architecture” (London, 1849) ch.6 section 20.


Stay tuned for more.