Hannisms

Phantasmagorical Landscapes

2009-06-02T23:26:00.001+08:00

Limestone caves at Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay, Vietnam

2009-06-02T23:22:00.001+08:00

Leaning Tower

2009-05-22T00:29:00.004+08:00

Madam Chrysler, who has her head in the clouds, stifles a yawn after a day-long shopping trip. (After depleting Mr State's funds, of course.)

Wishing bone

2009-05-21T23:45:00.001+08:00

Hopin' for meat.

Dunkin' Donut

2009-05-21T23:10:00.005+08:00

or, a role reversal...

Happy New Year, y'all!

2009-01-04T16:43:00.005+08:00

Melbourne from the air

2009-01-03T19:54:00.000+08:00

St Kilda's

2009-01-03T19:15:00.003+08:00

We built this city... We built this city on rocks alone

Say no to decapitation of pets!

Green building...

Gonna be mine someday....

Jaws of death!

Shooting kangaroos

2009-01-03T18:29:00.004+08:00

Photographs of kangaroos, that is...

And a wombat!

new toy

2008-12-14T03:45:00.002+08:00

Christmas for architects

2008-12-14T03:34:00.003+08:00

Association of Armless Angels

2008-11-23T12:40:00.001+08:00

How happy they are!

SA246. Now on stands!

2008-11-23T12:20:00.001+08:00

Singapore Architect Issue 246. Get yours today!

Now why didn't I think of that?

2008-11-10T00:13:00.003+08:00

From www.failblog.org:

I do wonder if extra postage would've been required for the extra weight that the coins carried...

Christmas comes early...

2008-11-05T18:54:00.003+08:00

... for Copenhagen, which has awarded MVRDV and co-architect ADEPT the Rodovre Skyscraper commission:

See it light up:

More here.

Stunning

2008-10-07T20:49:00.004+08:00

I posted renderings of the Singapore F1 circuit a while ago; these are some real shots, courtesy of Boston.com. Heads up from Gems Sty.

And while we're at it...

2008-10-02T00:49:00.004+08:00

Man + Environment
Archifest Design Forum
16-17 October. Drama Centre, NLB.

Featuring Richard Hassell, Andrew Maynard, Jo Noero, Ken Yeang and more.

More here.

A little bit of publicity...

2008-10-02T00:46:00.004+08:00

...for the event organisers.

More at the main Archifest website.

Singapore Architect Magazine

2008-10-02T00:42:00.003+08:00

Get your copy today!

Xiamen in More Technicolor

2008-09-24T22:07:00.005+08:00

Xiamen in Technicolor

2008-09-24T21:46:00.005+08:00

Xiamen in Mono

2008-09-24T21:30:00.006+08:00

Very cool.

2008-09-14T19:42:00.007+08:00

Aixsponza's Cinema4D video of the Singapore F1 circuit, complete with "play-by-play" commentary by a driver who's in the simulated race itself, can be seen here.

The rendered images (from the artists) are pasted below, but check out the video in the above link for a stylised Signapore downtown, and great animation.

Looking at this, it would sink in that, hey, this really is the first night F1-circuit race (albeit not much of an F1 fan myself), smack in the middle of the city centre (and, as the video would show, over, sideways and under to paraphrase a popular animated film). That would make it two "firsts" - a first for Singapore!

Almost makes me regret not getting the tickets for the real event... but then again, what visual spectacle it would be, a few years downstream, when the Marina Bay developments are complete.

Thanks, Erv, for the heads-up...

Newton Suites

2008-09-06T16:45:00.002+08:00

China Club

2008-08-24T23:20:00.000+08:00

Beautiful

2008-08-17T16:55:00.001+08:00

Image from Getty images

Believe the hype.

2008-07-21T03:23:00.002+08:00

The gorgeous movie posters are just the tip of the iceberg.

Moustaches and Margaritas

2008-07-14T00:23:00.003+08:00

Riding the Waves Part Three

2008-07-13T23:33:00.003+08:00

Riding the Waves Part Two

2008-07-13T23:27:00.002+08:00

Riding the Waves Part One

2008-07-13T23:16:00.001+08:00

Enter the Dragon

2008-07-06T03:35:00.000+08:00

The Pod

2008-07-06T02:59:00.002+08:00

And then some...

2008-07-06T02:18:00.007+08:00

More Bali

2008-07-06T02:18:00.003+08:00

Monkey business

2008-07-06T02:18:00.002+08:00

Creation

2008-06-29T18:35:00.000+08:00

Bali Part Three

2008-06-29T17:57:00.015+08:00

Textures

2008-06-29T17:57:00.013+08:00

Bali Part Two

2008-06-29T17:57:00.011+08:00

Bali Part One

2008-06-29T17:25:00.003+08:00

The everyday

2008-06-09T02:23:00.003+08:00

Discussions on architecture...

2008-06-02T00:58:00.002+08:00

Coffee not included.

Gamut

2008-05-30T01:33:00.005+08:00

Odeon Tower. Spot the foreign object!

Where good conversations are made...

2008-05-25T22:32:00.000+08:00

Mint Cafe.

Happy Birthday Dea!

2008-05-12T02:22:00.003+08:00

Deanna's 25th... at Butter Factory. Where good stuff is made on a dairy basis.

First, there were three (Actually there were more)...

...and then there were two (She doesn't look like she's enjoying the company!)

...and then there was one. (Perfect 'deer in headlights' pose.)

Room with a view

2008-05-04T02:37:00.009+08:00

33rd floor, Pearl Bank

arrival | departure

2008-04-30T01:44:00.001+08:00

Launch.

2008-04-27T18:15:00.015+08:00

Lunch.

2008-04-27T17:15:00.001+08:00

Hunger spells... the menu calls out to me.

Auditions for this season's The Bachelor have begun! Kun being the lucky prize...

Somewhere, beyond the crockery...

Solitaire

2008-04-24T23:35:00.003+08:00

New toy...

2008-04-24T00:38:00.003+08:00

Tragic...

2008-04-18T01:39:00.000+08:00

This brought me a smile...

2008-04-18T01:11:00.003+08:00

Taken off KK who probably took it off someone else. ;)

Out the window

2008-04-09T19:59:00.006+08:00

Singapore's own (cylindrical) Death Star...

Big Brother is REALLY watching.

2008-04-09T17:57:00.022+08:00

This comes about a month behind, but here's a sneak peak at what Rem Koolhaas has "architectured" for an island in Dubai that aspires to be... well, Manhattan.

Image courtesy of The New York Times; you can read the article here.

The round building... no, object... has been likened to the Death Star, which featured rather prominently in Star Wars (I have no idea which episode):

Looks more like a giant eyeball watching over the city to me... Can you say "Here's looking at you, kid"?

Well, make your own judgement.

Lebbeus Woods, architecture theorist and artist extraordinaire, has. (I say this because I'm a big fan of his drawings, many of which are very post-apocalyptic, for lack of a better description.) Read his blog entry, Delirious Dubai, here.

His blog's a very good read actually - ideas abound, and comments and criticisms of these ideas abound.

He says this of Dubai:

"...built up rapidly over the past few years on the wealth gotten from the world’s greed for oil—and more recently as an unregulated sanctuary for cash—it has no depth of history or indigenous culture, no complexity, no conflicts, no questions about itself, no doubts, in short, nothing to stand in the way of its being shaped into the ultimate neo-liberal Utopia."

And of Koolhaas' proposal, he asks:

What, for example, are the space-organization possibilities of networks of information exchange, rather than streets? What are the architectural design possibilities of synthetics, rather than steel or concrete building frames typical of high-rise construction? What are the possibilities for increasing choices in non-hierarchically organized urban spaces, rather than classical, Cartesian systems? And so on—the list of new possibilities is long.

It's with quite a bit of irony to me, that Koolhaas, who, fifteen years ago, so heavily criticised Singapore in the highly-exalted bumper book S, M, L, XL for being a tabula rasa haven for being almost exactly what Dubai is today, is pandering to and relishing in the bland tastes that these very tabula rasa scenarios emanate... and dare I imagine, cashing in in the process.

Woods has this to say, in closing:

"Or maybe he believes, true to his post-Modernist roots, that the past offers the best model for the future ... Or maybe he simply doesn’t have a vision for the future. ... The world’s attention is focused on Dubai, and on Koolhaas and other architecture stars, and because—like it or not—what they do is taken as a model for the future, even when it is, how shall I say, not nearly good enough."

Majesty

2008-04-06T17:02:00.002+08:00

Brazilians in the midst!

2008-04-06T16:17:00.006+08:00

Two very interesting Brazilians, Celina and Renata (technically, they're naturalised Brazilians of Japanese ancestry), good friends of mine from Delft circa 2004, and currently practising as architect and landscape architect in Brazil, came to Southeast Asian shores in December last year.

Of course, they dropped by in Singapore.

Photos here are from a trip up north, to Kuala Lumpur, just after Christmas and before the new year, with said Brazilians, Justin, Sze, Wei Wen, Lorraine, and Wei. (Sorry for the looong overdue photos, guys!)

Ipoh hor fun and white coffee... right in the heart of KL

Kopi? What's that?

Lorraine's always primed for the moment... ;)

Who turned off the lights?

Causeway delirium...

And Justin, who's missing in the previous shots, gets one of his own right here!

All aboard...

2008-03-23T23:45:00.003+08:00

And on the question of existentialism...

2008-03-19T01:17:00.005+08:00

...a sibling remarked that in this day and age, The Question should be "To Work or not To Work", rather than "To Be or not To Be".

While the latter is a question of existentialism, the former seems more of a question of survival to me!

(Now wouldn't that therefore make The Question "To Me or not To Me"....)

Lucid Dreaming

2008-03-19T00:29:00.014+08:00

Picked up a couple of books which are proving to be a rather interesting read - "Flow" and "Creativity", both by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (I didn't misspell that!), on the recommendation of Ronald, a fellow re:ACT member. Csikszentmihalyi was the former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago. (Interesting that he's the father of one of the associate professors of the MIT Media Labs as well.)

"Flow" documents the state of concentration so focused that it amounts to absolute absorption in an activity, and that in essence leads to pleasure, typified by "an exhilirating feeling of transcendence" over one's sense of time and one's emotional problems.

That is to say, the level of pleasurability of any activity is directly variable with how much "flow" one attains, and the theory goes that this flow can actually be controlled, by "setting ourselves challenges - tasks that are neither too difficult nor too simple for our abilities".

Now, if this already sounds like a self-help book to you ("How to Lose a Guy/Girl in Ten Days", "How to be in Touch with your Inner Self", "Feng Shui by Lillian Too" - is there even a "Feng Shui by Lillian Wan"? - or the ilk), it probably is. However, much in the book is referenced to - and derived from - two decades of psychological research, and in reading it, the book does suggest ways of tuning yourself into that state of concentration and consciousness. Translate all that into something that motivates, and you get a bestseller.

And then some...

I'm barely done with the first, but the second, "Creativity", which bases itself on the Flow Theory, is starting to get interesting as well. While the first book dealt with maintaining optimal levels of satisfaction in whatever activity, thus becoming productive at it, the second deals with channeling that productivity into transcendence - i.e., being innovative. With it, more theories on the psychology of discovery and invention come into the picture.

On another note, this is also worth a catch - "A Scanner Darkly", based on the compelling (if grammatically-ambiguous) 1977 novel of the same name by Philip K Dick. Bad choice of a pen-name notwithstanding, Dick has written books which have been translated into some of the most avant garde films ever - 1984's "Blade Runner" which needs little introduction, and 2002's "Minority Report". ("Total Recall" fell somewhere in between, but wasn't quite as tasteful.)

Anyhow, even if not for the existentialist blabber, the animation technique for 'Scanner' is equally compelling:

It's a technique called "interpolated rotoscoping" (more details in the link above), which lends it a rather lucid quality (to me at least), reminiscent of A-ha's 1984 music video for "Take on Me" (more laboriously produced), and more recently, Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" in 2001:

And I've realised that in order to make an existentialist film, one would need the following things, in order of priority: cutting-edge animation software, Ethan Hawke, Wynona Rider and Robert Downey Jr.

As for the books, I'll post something slightly more useful when I'm through (and through) with them...

Brunch at PS Cafe

2008-03-02T18:00:00.001+08:00

equals contentment

Overheard

2008-03-02T17:45:00.001+08:00

X: Hey do you want to go to the driving range this weekend?

T: But I don't have a driving license.....

Persepolis

2008-02-24T04:23:00.002+08:00

Probably the most nuanced, poignant film I've seen in quite a while. And it's rendered entirely in stunning 2D, comic-illustration style.

Highly recommended, both for content and technical brilliance.

Makes you wonder why cinemas charge the same ticket prices for jewels like these, and for Jack Neo plumbs (his most recent offering being, as a friend puts it, a sign of desperation).

Things you do when you're sleepy #124

2008-02-23T04:16:00.001+08:00

Say something really dumb on instant messaging conversations, like so:

X: Hi Hann, still awake?
me: Yeah. You?

love on the streets...

2008-02-21T21:14:00.005+08:00

...or on Telok Ayer Street, rather. Here's a view from my office right down onto a mass-solemnisation (I believe this being on the 15th day of the lunar new year has got something to do with good auspiciousness.) 35 (or 40?) couples getting registered at the very same place! With dancing lions and 881-esque songs and all.

Must've gone something like "Do yooooouuuuu take these women to be your (respective) wives?", in Chinese of course, followed by a cacophony of "Wa ai!" "Wo yao!" "Ngo yao!" "Ho seh ah!" and so on.

twentyfive

2008-02-21T19:04:00.004+08:00

(post)25th at Marmalade

Things you do when you're sleepy #203

2008-02-16T00:03:00.001+08:00

Hail an approaching MRT (metro) train.

And so...

2007-12-29T04:27:00.000+08:00

...the proverbial curtain falls on 2007.

Been a year of peaks and troughs (but really, which year isn't?); just feels as if the peaks were slightly higher this year and the troughs a little lower. Save a couple of things here and there, I probably wouldn't have wanted it any other way, though... Los Angeles and Hong Kong were rather memorable stints, New Zealand was a breath of fresh (icy!) air... Could've done with a bit more travel but I guess that's sated, for now, with a road trip up to KL in the morning.

And then there was graduation - seems of a shove into the real world rather than a milestone, but I'm glad that shove has been cushioned by a bit of a sense of expectation, and a lot of support from circumstances (and individuals) unknown. Practising architecture, lecturing from time to time inspires as much as it occasionally beguiles - it's almost like walking a tightrope with two left feet, but knowing, somewhere at the back of your head, that there's a safety net somewhere down below. Or not.

Many, many new and wonderful people, and some rather quirky ones. Lost touch with a few as well, through reasons both within and without of my control, but perhaps such is the ongoing ebb of.. growing and learning thyself? (And hey, as long as there's Facebook, you can't be too far away. ;))

Received Celina and Renata at the airport after three (long) years of not having seen them - conversation began almost from the point it stopped the last time. Well, more stories (and follies!) to share on our way up to Malacca and KL... with 8 of us going up (plus Wei, Jus, Sze, WW, Lor), I wonder if I'll get any sleep at all.

Will likely be in Singapore, at Cafe Del Mar heralding the new year (unfortunately, not riding the waves as some cultures are wont to do... as there aren't any waves nor any wave-riding talent on my part!), so here's wishing you a great end to a good year.

See you in '08.

forecast

2007-12-26T00:23:00.000+08:00

Goodbye to boring commutes...

2007-12-25T23:37:00.000+08:00

A nice X'mas lunch last weekend...

2007-12-25T22:50:00.000+08:00

over good food...

...and great company!

All architects (must)...

2007-12-13T21:20:00.000+08:00

1. have a gym membership, but hardly ever get down to using it.
2. describe windows and doors as fenestrations, even when the word sounds extremely nasal in Singlish.
3. have martinis or mojitos as their choice drink, oblivious/ignorant to any other beverage.
4. make fun of Zaha Hadid's appearance at some point. Did someone say paperweight?
5. pretend to like to wear Banana Republic when they'd rather do with tees, berms and slippers for those long nights.
6. make at least one comment on the interior decor of any restaurant they dine in.
7. justify their lack of a (healthier) social life by going "ah, but it's all worth it."
8. have architects as their friends (see point 7).
9. refer to draughtsmen as draughtspersons, just to be politically correct, when they address said individuals as CAD monkeys behind their backs.
10. bring up, at a dinner table, that Brad Pitt wants to be an architect, and that Aishwarya Rai and Daniel Wu were architecturally-trained...
11. bring up, at a dinner table, that Zaha Hadid was in The Little Mermaid.
12. criticise the appearance of a building, or of someone's fashion, even when they like it.
13. not have heard of the term "homework" in a long long time, much preferring "project"
14. subscribe to magazines they never read.
15. blog.

Queenstown in a second

2007-12-10T05:12:00.000+08:00

Oops, a bad stitch job for these panoramas!

Thou shalt not...

2007-12-10T04:06:00.000+08:00

...enter?

(Not unless you pay.)

Tailgatin'

2007-12-10T03:46:00.000+08:00

Christchurch in a minute

2007-12-05T00:06:00.000+08:00

Cathedral Square

Quaint.

Arts Centre

Waxing or waning?

Streetscape

Evening skies...

2007-12-01T06:00:00.000+08:00

...a great holiday maketh.

Times like these make you wanna hum to Crowded House's 'Don't dream it's over'...

Barren

2007-11-26T23:51:00.000+08:00

NZ

2007-11-20T20:14:00.000+08:00

...is what it's all cracked up to be.

(Pictures coming soon.)

While we're at it...

2007-11-14T01:17:00.000+08:00

...there's also the Alvar Aalto exhibition, by the Alvar Aalto foundation and NUS Museums, on-going at the National University Museum (that's at the University Cultural Centre),

...and T3 (no Kristianna Loken though (or Arnie depending on who you like); the closest you get to cyborgs are perhaps the smiling SQ girls) which is open to the public during office hours and weekends for the public.

(Images from rightful owners)

Check here for more details! (A little bit of input required.)

Marketrack

2007-11-14T01:15:00.000+08:00

Pretty cool. (Link courtesy of Scarlet / Shinghui!)

Neues Bauen

2007-11-14T01:01:00.000+08:00

Every so often, we architects / architecture-enthusiasts need something to remind us why we even sold our souls - and for some of us, even our (social) lives! - to the Underworld. (Literally, for times when we do things like design basement carparks.)

Here's one of those things - an exhibition (with a keynote lecture) on "New Building"! (Neues Bauen in German. The latter word rhymes with "Frauen", except it doesn't quite mean the same thing. ... Now, if there were a lecture on Neues Frauen.......)

It's based on a 1927 exhibition, International Plan and Model Exhibition of New Architecture, that placed architecture in an international context. That exhibition toured 17 European cities between 1928 and 1930 as a part of Die Wohnung (Habitation), a 1927 Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart, demonstrating the similarities and interdependence between the modern buildings from the US and Europe. (This paragraph adapted from publicity material)

Perhaps the throwback to 1920s architecture ideas - highly innovative at that point in time; still in vogue 80 years on (which can't be said of any 80-year-old Frauen!) would stir up enough nostalgia for us to get re-inspired should our motivation run dry, reliving the little wow moments amidst the snoozes in first-year architecture history courses.

On a side note, if the 1920s was "new", pre-WW2 "modern", post-WW2 (very loosely) "post-modern", the decades straddling the turn of the new millennium "contemporary", wouldn't we have run out of terms to define movements in art, architecture and philosophy say, 80 years downstream?

Anyhow, the exhibition runs from today til 6 January, with a keynote lecture this evening! ...

"Neues Bauen. What was so new about it in 1927?"
By Professor Karin Kirsch

Moderated by Dr Erwin Viray

7 to 830pm

Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore

Free admission

In conjunction with the Neues Bauen (New Architecture) exhibition, now til 6 Jan 2008; 10am to 9pm

(Image taken from the National Museum of Singapore website, hence the funny tags.)

Please see http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/ for further details.

I'll be there, getting some nice photographs, hopefully, of the models (of bauen, not frauen - I've tapped this dry, haven't I)... Anyone keen?? Hope to do a write-up of it thereafter, perhaps from a nice cafe or a farm amongst sheep and kiwis!

Simplicity

2007-11-13T23:42:00.001+08:00

A little bit of it goes quite a long way, sometimes.

Stadia arcadia

2007-11-08T00:51:00.000+08:00

Rather unremarkable, the London 2012 Main Olympics Stadium...

...especially when compared to the Beijing 2008 stadium (the eponymous Bird's Nest)...

...or even either of the Singapore Sports Hub proposals! (Guess which is by Herzog & de Meuron... and isn't there something odd about the one in the middle, which looks like something you might put tuna (or anything else that might constitute your child's lunch) in?)

While we might have weathered the storm of 'iconic architecture' and the Bilbao effect, and that the designers for the 2012 Stadium have, perhaps, sought for something that attempts to be more underplayed and therefore suggestive of being environmentally conscious (the structure is dismountable, and the skin of the stadium is but fabric that, like what holds it up, can also be dismounted), one can't help but feel that the overall design pales very much in comparison to more recent stadia of note.

Look at the engineering and architectural marvel that is Calatrava's 2004 Athens Stadium, and the upcoming Beijing stadium by Herzog & de Meuron for something that is truly evocative, even if the latter borders on being too literal a translation. Or the Allianz Arena, which, above any discussion about sustainability or dismountability or focus on functionality, is simply attractive.

My favourite 'stadium du jour' has got to be the Allianz Arena, also by Herzog and de Meuron, which glows a bright white for German national-team football matches, red for Bayern Munich matches, blue for the Munich 2nd-division team matches. (I have no idea when it's blue- and red-striped though, perhaps when Bayern Munich is playing the 2nd-division team?)

Building Design Online has labelled the design of the 2012 London Stadium "underwhelming" and the handling of which "inept". While the London's scheme's "economy of means" is antithetical to the opulence (and audacity to some) that underlines the Beijing bid, it simply is a missed opportunity as far as architecture or envelop-pushing engineering is concerned.

Back to the drawing board, anyone? ;)

How are you sleeping tonight?

2007-11-05T03:08:00.001+08:00

(Courtesy of Scarlet)

Random things...

2007-11-01T02:08:00.000+08:00

...I found in my hard disk after a bit of housekeeping.

(Images from architecture thesis project, Apr 07; photographs random, both of Tokyo)

I must have pictures with real people in them somewhere! :P

This...

2007-10-31T01:34:00.000+08:00

...would be twice as cool (or half as silly!) if it weren't actually called the Ren building.

Random photos...

2007-10-31T01:19:00.001+08:00

...from a month ago or so.

More recent ones coming up... if I can only find that ixus beneath the whole pile of butter paper and empty cappuccino papercups.

Separated at... midsection?

2007-10-30T20:17:00.000+08:00

Office building, Ljubljana (pronounced Leeubleeana, I surmise), Slovenia. Circa 1980.

Condominium, Singapore, circa 2009 (?). Designed by Ole Scheeren, OMA.

....

...and here's its heavier (and unfortunately miscarriaged) triplet, OMA's proposal for the Gazprom (giant Russian gas company, larger than.. uhh.. Abramovich's nose) City in St Petersburg.

2007-10-29T16:22:00.000+08:00

(Taken from re:ACT blog; post by Joshua the Punkster)

Clear your calendars this Friday as re:act will be having its November Design Sharing Session at a really cool location called TUCK SHOP! If you are in Singapore, are interested in what some of our young and very talented designers/architects are doing, come and join us for a time of great food, great music, and great sharing.

We start at 7pm and will end before 10pm. Details are in the poster above and you can click on the image for a larger version which you can also download and spam to all your friends! Yes, we would like you to invite any of your friends who might be interested! The more the merrier!

Oh yeah, and I guess it doesn't hurt to give a short plug in of this place, TUCKSHOP since they have so generously welcomed us to their premises! Dean Zhou, one of the owners of TUCKSHOP, and also an architect himself will be helming the decks together with this partner Kaye on sax after 10pm in their weekly Friday session called SOULFOOD. We have 1 photo of the place below and also a map of how to get there. SEE YOU THERE!

Picture and map from TUCKSHOP website.

Illustrations

2007-10-23T22:46:00.000+08:00

Here's some work by an acquaintance I met through Jawn while I was in LA, Alina - who was also from Melnitz at UCLA at some point.. She's someone who does illustrations on the go, quite literally, as there's a perennial sketchpad and water colour set (!) that she sketches with even when she's on the move. The following illustrations - and more at her site - have found their way into a new publication called Paper Sonnet, which is available here.

(If you're thinking these tend to have a very Taiwanese/East Asian flair about it, you aren't too far off!)

Here's something else by another friend, architecture-grad Erv, who's running his own art/photography studio, StudioV...

Here's the back of the tee, and the front reads "Magic from the Heart". Magic from the heart, geddit? Geddit? ....

Check out more of his stuff on his website!

Time of day

2007-10-07T03:11:00.000+08:00

Say no...

2007-10-02T02:08:00.000+08:00

...to oppressive governments!

They did.

Asymptote...

2007-10-01T19:59:00.000+08:00

...and their latest, the Penang Global City Centre. Pretty awesome, even if it seems rather no-holds-barred in its curving and torquing and faceting - such nice proportions and, well, (quite literally) asymptotic towers. I could perhaps be a little more critical and go, ah, purely stylistic, an abstraction of Madam White Snake's two dearest pets perhaps, doesn't seem to take Penangite 'character' into account, or a four-way Calatrava / Libeskind / Hadid / Diller-Scofidio hybrid, but this has really won me over head over heels.

Images above (click to enlarge) are courtesy of World Architecture News, and a further writeup on the project can be found here. A quick scan:

"The design achieves its elegance and stature through the simultaneous embrace of
natural landscapes and contemporary urbanism. The PGCC will become a vital new
precinct that complements and enhances the unique characteristics that typify
Penang as a remarkable island metropolis. The design of the iconic towers in
particular draws inspiration from not only the lushness and drama of the
surrounding mountains and seascapes, but also from the rich and diverse cultural
heritage that makes up the Malaysian nation and Penang in particular."

I'm not sure how exactly it draws from the "Malaysian heritage", but perhaps it could be a critique on collective Malaysian psyche and politics - that one tower's an abstraction of the 'bumis', and the other (better-feng-shui'ed one, maybe?) symbolises the Chinese, and that, given that they're asymptotic, never the twain shalt meet!

(That was just a joke and a light-hearted observation on the state of things slightly up North, not by any means a loaded remark!)

Yet another weekend of... (cont'd)

2007-10-01T01:48:00.000+08:00

...brunch which turned out to be high tea courtesy of a last minute change in plans. The spread at L'Espresso, Goodwood Park, is brilliant though. And it isn't too costly either.

...a nice chat over dinner (courtesy of his very nice family) with fellow re:ACT pal Sern Hong, talking through a bit of details of the workshop we're planning for high school and junior college students. Should be fun, and a good learning experience even (and maybe more so?) for the facilitators!

...great wine (and such succulent scallops!) at PS Cafe, Dempsey Road (highly recommended over its Paragon counterpart), with some recent acquaintances / colleagues from Hong Kong who were here over the weekend. Salsa dancers sure know how to mix their food and (dark, dark red) wine. Note to self: Scallops at PS Cafe soon.

...a midnight walk along the coast, to meet up with friends - some old, some new, all quirky enough to be at the beach on the midnight of a Monday morning - who were at some obscure lagoon (okay, maybe obscure only to a non-wakeboarder like myself); taking up the non-sights and silences (and the cool seabreeze) of east coast park. (And ending up being an hour late for not being able to find the said spot. Yet, there's nothing quite like a long introspective walk at the latter edge of a very long week, or, should I say, at the cusp of a new week.)

...realising that I do have to step back for just one moment and think of where/what "this" may lead to.

...gasp! Starting a new, and foreseeably long, week with what will already be a foreshortened night of sleep.

All (if not most) weekends should be like this, give and take a couple of things.

(This blog will return to its regular pictures to words ratio soon.)

Yet another weekend of...

2007-09-30T04:30:00.000+08:00

...great catching-up with people I hadn't met for ten (!) years. How time flies (and warps our physiques)! Everything was talked in terms of "Pre '97" or "Post '97" like we were mainland Chinese discussing what Hong Kong is doing to our economy and bastardising our lingua franca, except that we weren't, and that '97 is actually when we all left Brunei. For greener pastures, so to speak, and quite literally too, for some of us.

And, once again, apart from the powersuits, (decaf after 10 pm!) coffee, inversely proportional hairline vs waistline expansion ratios (no, I'm kidding), banker talk - I'm convinced that 'liquidation' and 'acquisition' rolls off the tongue more easily than 'fenestration' and 'DIMLINEAR' - I was at almost complete ease, which is something I can't really say I've felt throughout the week. It does feel rather surreal having a decade of events squashed into a fenestration... I mean, window... of two hours, and here's looking forward to Raffles Place / Shenton Way / Amoy Street lunches with you gals. As for you, Raj, hope things go swimmingly well in Timor Timor (a rather insensitive adverb to use, considering their water scarcity). Go work your medical magic!

...realising that you really don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, in this case, proximity to (Friday evenings at) Wala's and Baden!

...conversation that rolls of the tongue (pardon the repeated expression), with nary a 'lah' or a 'meh' - such conversations are hard to come by these days, I tell you! And to think I'd almost forgotten how Singlishless conversations and accents used to be so effortless. (Damn the degeneration of a language by local parlance!) Nah, I'm kidding, I'd still go for the 'lah' whence necessary. ;)

...again, inspiring design and architecture, courtesy of SIA and re:ACT. More great lectures coming up next week - Alsop, Vinoly and Holl under one roof, which I think are good fuel for anyone at all remotely interested in design.

...quite a fair bit of self-introspection, and realising that unpredictability is indeed a rather strong (and environmentally-friendly!) fuel. (A rather interesting little bird said this, and boy, does she fly.)

...a book launch at Books Actually - a rather quaint, European-esque (okay, it reminds me of a bookstore at Montmartre, that's why) bookstore up along Telok Ayer Street, ironically smack up against the grey corporatist office I work in... Also, thank god for Mira (of Leo's Espresso - pretty good coffee, and if anything, wonderful service with a smile, courtesy of said barista) and the frothy cuppas she makes me every morning, and frothier ice cappuccinos after every lunch. Made my first purchase from said bookstore, cheapskate that I am, after several weeks of checking out Moleskine travel sketchbooks... and after realising the antique polaroid cameras on the tops of the shelves were more for decor rather than for sale.

In any case, wine was pretty good, shame about the plastic glasses they came in, and bumped into rather good company.

Just a thought: Would barristers make good baristas?

I know baristas would definitely make good barristers, cause they're good at taking something real and tangible and grinding it and blending it with milk and sugar syrup to make it frothy and sweet.

Cue *LAUGH* if silent.

...good conversation at a beer garden (!! ... 'beer' and 'garden' are hardly words you'd say together in one breath, so I imagine the term comes from a German equivalent - biergarten or something like that) in Siglap - shame about the early closing times in the other outlets! - and realising that, notwithstanding the facades (I have to stop using occupational vocabulary), we're only human after all, for feeling how we feel. At least, for the most part.

(Siglap's my new Holland V, notwithstanding the lack of a 2 am or a Marmalade. Hong Kong Cafe isn't quite the same cup of tea, or should I say, yuan yang, but I guess it works.)

...a nice afternoon at a jacuzzi, looking out to Sentosa, which no Osim chair / galloping device / drumming device, with a galloping / drumming Fiona Xie on it or not, can beat! (Now, how about Fiona Xie in a jacuzzi.....)

...watching Man United beat Birmingham, at Hooters. (My first time ever! and I swear it was simply because the other places were all too packed.) But anyways. The Hooters in Singapore is nothing to hoot about at all, and same goes for the pedestrian 1-0 scoreline. Turns out Arsenal and Liverpool won by the same scorelines... and I'm thinking Man City's actually gonna displace Chelsea from the top four this season. Anyway, note to self: It's definitely back to Brewerks / Cafe Iguana / Wine Gallery / Bar Celona next time. No more Hooters. No more.

...planning this week's twice-a-week lectures, which I realise is becoming more and more challenging, as the students are getting more and more savvy! (Which is a highly encouraging thing.)

...a brunch at the Mezza9 Grand Hyatt several hours from now, which hasn't quite happened yet but which, and whose company, I'm rather looking forward to.

Sometimes I wonder if weekends are meant to be more hectic than weekdays.

LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts

2007-09-23T04:18:00.000+08:00

The walls are cavin' in on me...

Photos taken with the Ixus 850IS.

A weekend...

2007-09-17T01:11:00.000+08:00

...of great architecture, courtesy of the Singapore Institute of Architects' Design Forum with the likes of Takehaki Nezu (Loco Architects), Kevin Mark Low... and Wei Hui! ;) giving eye-, ear- and mind-opening presentations about their own work on place-making and context, with great erudition and humility. A good change from corporate, commercial work which have been hogging the headlines recently - yet that itself is a good thing; nary any other week would one find so many architecture news items on the papers.

...of great conversation at dinner after said forum, at the Majestic (big thank you to SIA Design Committee for that, wasn't expecting that of dinner!)... and realising that Kevin Low, Siew Man Kok et al are inspiring conversationalists, designers, architects.

...of nice art and architecture (yes, it's become an occupational hazard), courtesy of Farm's Rojak 9, at the fresh La Salle-SIA College of the Arts. (Pity the construction finishing though... signs of stained walls, uneven sealant application and moisture-logged roof slabs abound.) People might be divided over its form (which I found myself very fond of!), but there's no doubt that the spaces crafted are rather unorthodox, at least in the Singaporean - or Southeast Asian - context. Why can't architecture schools be designed this way? (Images to come, once I've uploaded the images from my Ixus - where are camera cables when you need them, and why do different cameras use different memory cards!?)

...of good company, with friends new and old, over tennis, beer over a football game and a very silly boardgame called Balderdash.

...of reacquainting with a friend I haven't seen in a couple of years (over a very good brunch, no less!), and the joy of finding that while waistlines have expanded (okay, maybe only mine), conversation still bears rapier-like wit, and company (however limited previously) remains as comforting.

...of watching 881 (yes, I watch Chinese movies too - must be subtitled though, for.. uhh.. greater viewing pleasure) with said friend, and finding that Royston Tan could be the local version of Baz Luhrrman, dealing with camp and spectacle as adroitly as he deals with poignancy and grief. (I have to say that the only two movies I've ever teared in... okay, rather, have had my eyes wet by... are local productions - 881 and Eric Khoo's Be With Me (2005)!... No, I did NOT cry though. .....)

..of sitting in front of the computer at 130 am and realising, hey, work ain't too bad after all! ;) ...except the getting up part.

And so a new week begins.

A week...

2007-09-17T00:49:00.000+08:00

...of reconnecting with old friends, from near and far, and finding them even more fun than before. Thanks for the company, guys, and for putting up with my (slight) tardiness (I'm telling you, it's because of architecture!)

...of recognising that maturity isn't an affliction that every individual enjoys the benefit of (or suffers from!)... Yes, I'm looking at you guys. ;)

...of one fairly significant lapse of judgement, that had its silver lining, in that the lessons learnt from it were probably even more significant, and that those involved came out the better from it... in the hope that we understand ourselves better.

...of talking for two separate two-hour sessions to a crowd of a hundred or more, and finding that I enjoy it much more than I am nerved by large audiences...

...and of being very inspired in the process.

...of looking forward to the next.