Architecture Culture 202 Exhibition Booth: Barcelona Pavilion

Ahh, finally, it’s the day of exhibition for Architecture and Culture 202 (I mean yesterday, sorry for posting this late due to busy day despite this assignment is completed)…it is a group work which each group selects a building and showcases how that particular building reflects modernism in the exhibition booth.

At first, the exhibition is planned to be at the gallery at plaza, which is at second level. After considering difficulties of moving booth into that area, the location had changed to the courtyard. For my group, we had selected Barcelona Pavilion, a great masterpiece by Mies van der Rohe and we had spent around two weeks on setting up the booth for the building.

It has been really hard works and effort put on this booth, which costs us around RM4000, wow…that is too much, and crazy, right?! Yes! Indeed….we didn’t expect that the budget used is so unbearable, and now we are like in state of bankruptcy. Thanks to all the reflective materials we bought, as well as some materials that are not needed anymore. I think we are the group with most expensive booth ever.

There are only around 15 booths set up on the day of presentation, which around 20 booths should be expected. Some are very creative, very interactive and very fantastic, with good craftsmanship and brilliant ideas! Despite our booth which consists of only three planes of different qualities on a base, our booth achieved some good effects from reflection too, which is what we are aiming for!

The most important thing is that the booth must showcase Barcelona Pavilion very well, and easy to be understood! Not many people dare to walk into the space of our booth, maybe because it is too glary, reflective and maybe elegant inside…haha…we even did a booklet regarding the booth…ohh, yes, we are proud of our own masterpiece! Thumbs up to ourselves whom manage to finish it well with a good outcome and feedback as well!

Our booth is basically of three independent planes (show free plan concept) of three different qualities (tinted reflective, mirror-like, and transparent). The presentation board of five concepts including pictures and drawing are included on the clear transparent acrylic while the 3D models of column detail and free plan would be on the side of dark-tinted reflective perspex at the back to be adjacent with the board in front. The mirror-like structure at the end seems to create spatial illusion, while the column at scale 1:2 is placed at the front corner to complete the structure, especially seen as four columns by reflection.

Simple yet captivating! Less is more! Famous quote by the architect, Mies van der Rohe!

Very very busy!

Sorry for late update for my blog here! I have been very busy these few weeks, since it is already the mid of my semester. This is really no more honeymoon days for us as architecture students! Many deadlines are approaching, for all assignments from ALL modules! And YES, I have five modules!

There are many submissions for this coming week, just to remind myself:

Wednesday: Architecture and Culture 202 – Exhibition booth submission. (have not completed!)

Thursday : Architecture Techniques 202 – Interim submission for 2 explorative models. (have not even started!)

                     : Building Science 202 – Group report on Building Services (over 150 pages long!)

Friday: Architecture Design 202 – Site Analysis (my part – video!!!, I’m not good in multimedia!)

One more thing, Monday (tomorrow), I got an exam, calculation! Building Technology 204 (Structures) Mid Term…shit! Have not even start revising, eventhough it is of only one question, but a question that took 2 or more pages to solve! Crazy!

Bye…off to continue my assignments!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

There are many names for this Chinese festival!

Mid-Autumn Festival, Mooncake Festival, Lantern Festival or even Full Moon Festival!

However, everyone would be celebrating it in the same way…

For children, they gathered, they played; fireworks, lanterns, candles and eating mooncakes.

For adults, they gathered, they worshipped, they chat, they eat mooncakes, they witness their children playing candles and lanterns.

    

However, this kind of annual tradition is getting much lesser, usually ignored, even including my family and I. Recently very busy with my assignment, but since this day is so important in Chinese calendar, hence I must find some time to update my blog here to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival together with the readers, coincides with the header of this blog for the month. This day reminds me of my childhood memories of playing together with my relatives at night! Really wish to get back to that moment, childish but I like it!

After the work that had just ended at around 5am midnight, we saw the lovely full moon, representing the festival very well, even without lanterns, candles or mooncakes!

Happy Malaysia Day!

It’s not National Day! That one is over not far ago for this year!

It’s Malaysia Day! It’s different with our National Day that falls on 31st August every year. This one marks the formation of the nation called Malaysia in 1963, consisting of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak while the National Day which is usually known as Independence (Merdeka) Day marks the independence achieved by Peninsular Malaysia in 1957.

  

So basically, Malaysia is only 47 years old, even less than half a century, still a young country, and yes, still a developing country, unlike Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc that have became developed nations long time ago. Our target is on year 2020, which coincides with Wawasan 2020 set by our former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir that is well known in world of politics. Let see whether it will be a success (mission achieved) or not?

September 16th, for this year seems a bit different. First of all, it is the first time 16th September is declared public holiday for whole Malaysia eventhough it is such an important date to all Malaysians! Everyone would be happy with one extra holiday (but it is already in our semester break, wasted!). Secondly, I heard quite a lot of fireworks at 12am just now, something like on the eve of Merdeka night. More atmospheric this time!

Anyway, have to continue on our assignments despite the current semester break we are enjoying now, for only one week! Happy Malaysia Day to all Malaysians! Satu Malaysia!

Origin of the word ‘skyscraper’

Everyone who is no stranger to me definitely knows that I’m quite a big fan of skyscraper, not mainly because it is tall, but its presence that dominates the surrounding built environment and symbolises a vision of reaching up to the sky. Recently, it seems that I had abandoned my habit of loving skyscrapers due to busy days with typical architecture of modern houses and public buildings of multi-purpose.

Hence, it’s time to get back a little bit to skyscraper on this blog once again. Skyscraper rules!

There is actually no clear or exact definition of ‘skyscraper’. Defining the word is quite subjective. Everyone will refer it to as structure that is tall (but how tall it should be to be classified as skyscraper???) Arguments and debates came here, which involved many parties and corporations like Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH – responsible mainly in listing official world tallest buildings list), Emporis Standards Committee, etc.

Most cities define the term ‘skyscraper’ empirically. Hence, even a building of only 80 metres tall can be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes above the existing built environment and changes the overall skyline. 

The word “skyscraper” originally was a nautical term referring to a small triangular sail set above the skysail on a sailing ship. The term was first applied to buildings in the late 19th century as a result of public amazement at the tall buildings being built in Chicago and New York City. The first skyscraper was for many years thought to be the Home Insurance Building built in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. More recent arguments point to New York’s seven floor Equitable Life Assurance Building built in 1870 and it was arguably the first office building built using a kind of skeletal frame but it depends on what factors are chosen and even the scholars making the argument find it academic.

The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of the 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-storey buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton—-as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago’s Monadnock Building. The steel frame developed in stages of increasing self-sufficiency, with several buildings in Chicago and New York advancing the technology that allowed the steel frame to carry a building on its own. Today, however, many of the tallest skyscrapers are built almost entirely with reinforced concrete.

A loose convention in the United States and Europe now draws the lower limit of a skyscraper at 150 meters (~500 ft) .A skyscraper taller than 300 meters (~1000 ft) may be referred to as supertall. Shorter buildings are still sometimes referred to as skyscrapers if they appear to dominate their surroundings.

The somewhat arbitrary term skyscraper should not be confused with the also ill-defined term high-rise. The Emporis Standards Committee defines a high-rise building as “a multi-story structure between 35-100 meters tall, or a building of unknown height from 12-39 floors” and a skyscraper as “a multi-story building whose architectural height is at least 100 meters.” Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high rises but some other tall structures, such as towers.

The word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. The skyscraper, in name and social function, is a modern expression of the age-old symbol of the world center or axis mundi: a pillar that connects earth to heaven and the four compass directions to one another.

Competition for taller buildings, and even race for the tallest began on the West, from cities of skyscrapers’ birth (Chicago and New York City) as early as from 1900s till 1990s for almost a century. However, the geographical domination ended when Petronas Twin Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) were built in 1998 as world tallest buildings, marking the beginning of Asia reign in world tallest (next tallest was then Taipei 101 and finally current world tallest, Burj Khalifa, Dubai).

This geographical transition is accompanied by a change in approach to skyscraper design. For much of the twentieth century large buildings took the form of simple geometrical shapes. This reflected the “international style” or modernist philosophy shaped by Bauhaus architects early in the century. The last of these, the Willis Tower and World Trade Center towers in New York, erected in the 1970s, reflect the philosophy. Tastes shifted in the decade which followed, and new skyscrapers began to exhibit postmodernist influences. This approach to design avails itself of historical elements, often adapted and re-interpreted, in creating technologically modern structures. The Petronas Twin Towers recall Asian pagoda architecture and Islamic geometric principles. Taipei 101 likewise reflects the pagoda tradition as it incorporates ancient motifs such as the ruyi symbol. The Burj Khalifa draws inspiration from traditional Arabic art and flower. Architects in recent years have sought to create structures that would not appear equally at home if set in any part of the world, but that reflect the culture thriving in the spot where they stand.

Last picture of the post; I love this! Very inspiring!

Movie Review- Resident Evil: Afterlife

It is movie adapted from a famous video game of zombie-killing by a cool woman. There is already a franchise of it, beginning from Resident Evil 1 till Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction and finally this time the current released movie: Resident Evil: Afterlife.

    

I did not watch all the previous films of this franchise so I do not know much of the background of the story, like the girl’s background, the Umbrella Corporation, etc. What I know basically is there is a girl with super strength and skills in killing those undeads. I also heard before of the famous video games, and same thing, I did not play the games too.

Hence, this movie is fresh for me. The main actress, Milla Jovovich portrayed the character very well, much like how Angelina Jolie portrayed for her assassin characters. Hence, I like her acting, her short hair this time suits her well in the film. The storyline always goes like this, a group of people trying their best to survive, but finally only few are left to safety. There are some scary scenes in the movie, something suddenly popped out and can freak people out, hence not suitable for people with heart attack. Many scenes involving bullets (firing from guns) and too many scenes involving slow motion like Matrix. It is still worth watching, out of 10 points, I rate this film 7.0.

It’s been nine years after horrific 911

Today we remember the tragic moment,

that happened exactly nine years ago,

The most unexpected and unwanted event,

911 that turned the site into ground zero.

It’s a big news that leave us in shock,

the collapse of the towers put us in sorrow,

The images of the terrifying scenes came in flock,

for Americans and rest of the world it’s a big blow.

Nothing else we can do except to pray,

for the sacrifice of victims beneath the rubble,

Speechless and we have nothing more to say,

Days have to go on for all the people.

Salam Aidilfitri!

Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslims around the world, especially to my Malay friends, classmates and lecturers!

It’s a whole new year after a month of fasting!

A lot have returned back to village or commonly said, ‘balik kampung’ yesterday and this morning. It seems to be not much traffic congestion in areas around Kuala Lumpur, since many Malays will be missing in urban areas. It is time for them to return back to their origin hometown and celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri with the elders and relatives. Even some Chinese are planning to go back hometown for this holiday!

It’s holiday for me and for all! That is why Malaysia is good in some points, A LOT OF HOLIDAYS! Since our nation is of many different races, so we have Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Haji, Mooncake Festival (coming soon), Thaipusam, etc. So many holidays every year for us to enjoy!

Anyway, wishing every Muslims around the world, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Batin! Enjoy the celebration!

Movie review: Piranha

Soon after when me and Daniel went back, since he left many things in my house which he should take it back, but even now he still left many things in my house! How forgetful…haiz…haha…he seems to be very tired even during the hot afternoon, so I think it’s the best time for a movie like this one, Piranha!

     

This movie is about an earthquake under a lake that releases thousands of flesh-eating piranhas that are supposed to have vanished two million years ago. There are party going on on the water, and it is now very dangerous for all of them including the main casts who are in a sinking ferry. The scenes of flesh torn out of bodies are disgusting, including the remains of the bodies eaten up by the hungry and violently-attacking piranhas. However, the piranhas in the film seems to be too fake, too violent. Very disgusting, eventhough some scenes I can’t see it clearly.

    

It’s not recommended for people who can’t face this kind of disturbing images, as well as those with heart attack because there are some shocking scenes suddenly popped out of nowhere when you are not ready for it! No wonder it is only for people above 18 years of age. The movie seems too short for me eventhough it took approximately two hours. I can’t really feel the climax or ending of the movie, not very exciting but still breathtaking at some moments of attacking. I expected such ending though…haha…no spoiler…good and worth watching movie, out of 10 points, I gave this film 7.1.

6 days of memorable trip…Cambodia

‘Suah se dai’! to Cambodia!!!

(That’s the Cambodian language which means hello!)

It’s been a long time since I had updated my blog, because I had a pretty hard and limited time surfing internet in Cambodia. They charged people for doing that. Now, I’m back and of course, blogging time for this memorable trip with all my classmates and design lecturers!

Day 1 (2nd September 2010)

I had everything ready on my hand early morning before leaving my house for departure to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Not the same case for Daniel, he always left something behind, or I should say, many things…lol, we met our classmates and after checking in, quick breakfast at McD before off for Cambodia by a small plane. It is a less-than-two-hours flight from KL to Siem Reap. Me, Sam and Jin Fong are like went crazy in the plane with all the humourous chats and games.

It’s plain and poor condition down there as seen from the flight. We reached Siem Reap International Airport, an airport designed based on traditional Khmer roof with addition of modernism in it. A very small airport. We checked in a hotel called Lotus Resort and Spa, three to four stars probably. Quite a nice hotel with spacious rooms enhanced with superb housekeeping quality.

The first place we are visiting is Cambodia Cultural Village. We did not actually learnt much things about culture in the village. The cultural village is like a place where everything related to Cambodia is simply placed inside, even including Superman, Tom and Jerry figures (which I don’t see any relation to culture of Cambodian people, don’t tell me they like to see these three the most! Lol) We saw clay-made figurines depicting lifestyle and famous Cambodian people, floating village, houses of different religions, animals (wolf, etc), and the most interesting one, Judgement Tunnel. We in group of 5 went into dark space in a cave passing through horrific path. I can’t really see much, and we are all frightened up by the man acting as the ghost catching us from the back, which freaked us out and we ran like there is no tomorrow. We quickly leaved the tunnel with tremendously-increasing heartbeats…hahaha

Then, it’s the first time we walked around Siem Reap Town, as the night is approaching. Everything in front of our eyes are tuk tuk (famous cab-like vehicle in Cambodia) and electrical wires hanging everywhere in complicated flow. The place is where many tourists came to enjoy meals, shopping and the lovely atmosphere especially at the narrow alley with cafes side by side, designed in different colours and styles. We had our dinner there too, trying on local delicacies like amok, lok lak, curry, etc as well as cocktails! Delicious and not expensive at all!

Day 2 (3rd September 2010)

The whole day dedicated for our assignment, site analysis. The task I’m allocated is on site measurement. Measuring all the visible details that can be seen on the site plan, and that is a lot, benches, pathways, alleys, lamp posts, electrical posts, sculptures, trees, etc. We basically spent the whole day on it. Anyway, there is still some time for visiting at Royal Residence area and a half-hour long tuk-tuk (famous means of transportation in Cambodia) around Siem Reap Town before back to hotel. The tuk tuk driver is so kind, introducing some places for us, and asking directions from others to bring us back safely to the hotel…It’s a long but humourous preliminary presentation of site analysis that night at the hotel lobby…

Day 3 (4th September 2010)

My most anticipated day, because we will be heading to one of the Seven Wonders of Asia, Angkor Wat, which is also the world largest temple complex. It is hot and sunny out there and luckily i had a cap, since the owner abandoned it already, so I took it…haha…It is a long passage to go before entering the area of the temple, passing through the man-made river surrounding the mysthical temple. Too bad the temple is under repair in some areas, which affected our photography.

Everything is of stonework, massive, gigantic, mysterious, sacredness…I can feel that I have been back to the ancient times when the temple is functional. Eventhough the temple is facing the test of time and nature with many ruins on the ground, it still stands out as an astonishing monumental masterpiece of architecture. The climax of the structure is the five towers, representing the five peaks of Mount Meru which was believed to be the center of the world based on Hinduism and Buddhism.

Next, we visited the Ta Pronh, the temple complex where Angelina Jolie filmed her movie ‘ Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’. The temple shows the blend of nature with man-made structures. The spund trees spread out the roots and branches all across the temple, which add uniqueness to the temple located in the forest. It’s the same, stoneworks with ruins…it is the tree trunks here that make it differs from the others.

Next, it’s time to visit the central administrative capital of Angkor Thom, Bayon Temple. It is a temple of stonework again, but with many figures of different expressions. This is what makes the large temple interesting. Angkor Thom consists of over 1400 temples, and this is the main one that we are going to visit. It is very interesting to see fragmented stoneworks stacked together to form such monumental and amazing structures.

Day 4 (5th September 2010)

Today is the day for us to head to Tonle Sap, the largest lake in South East Asia. The lake is also the focal point during agrarian-empires period few hundred years back. Muddy and dirty lake, but the most interesting part is the floating villages. Many structures like houses, chapels, schools, shops are located along the river leading up to the lake, floating! Their life are there, no more entertainment than playing with water. We, in two boats, cruising along the river, discovering their daily lifestyles, which can be described as poor, simple, and bored!

The most pitiful part is the children, performing with snake for us so that we can donate them money…’one dollar, one dollar’, it’s the phrase we heard frequently there and actually, we were sick of it! We should not give them money straight, because if this is the case, the poor children will just depends on it to survive without the need of schooling. Instead, we bought books and pencils to be distributed to them for education which is very essential for them. A floating school took up to over 200 orphanages who eat, study, play and sleep at there. Pity…

There is a whole free afternoon for us. Since we have nothing more to do for site analysis, it’s time for a walk around the town to famous temples like Wat Bo which has many great stupas and another large temple nearby the town area. We also able to see a beautiful hotel, La Residence with lovely atmosphere, traditional architecture and the modern spa! Rain almost halted our designated programmes, so we stayed quite long in Kids Plaza to wait for the rain to stop. I can’t find my site yet, since I have no idea yet of what to do for my eco-lodge assignment.

At night, I had my dinner with my Indonesian friends at Red Piano, a famous restaurant for it’s Lara Croft Cocktail, favourited by Angelina Jolie. So I tried it, small quantity, but very tasty! Love it very much! It’s the pleasure of loving a drink favourited by a Hollywood superstar. Having a dinner there is really expensive, targeted on tourists like us! However, it’s really a comfortable atmosphere there! Then, we had quick walk around Pub Street and shopping at night market there before going back to hotel.

Day 5 (6th September 2010)

The last day in Siem Reap. It is a long four to five hours bus ride from Siem Reap to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. The most annoying part of the ride is the driver who kept horning anything that blocks his way, people, vehicles, and even animals! Very noisy and uncomfortable to the ears! However, the most interesting part of the ride would be the few stops in the middle when we saw edible tortoises, frogs, grasshoppers, small birds, tarantulas, crickets, etc. Disgusting, but I do tried the cricket…yeaackk, not nice….seriously need to have water after that…

Phnom Penh, is somewhat a large capital city, many buildings of shophouses, and with little or almost no highrises. There are many people and many cars, typical in every cities around the world. However, the condition there would be much poorer. The hotel we checked in, called as Holiday Villa which is by Malaysian company is not nice at all. My room has a kind of smell, but not as worst as others, which has patches of dry blood too…yyehh…luckily we only spent one night there before leaving…

KFC for lunch again, haiz…somehow, the taste is little bit different with KFC in Malaysia…but the chilli and tomato sauces are the same…now, it’s time to go to Killing Field, the most horrible place around 30 years ago, when thousand of people who are educated were killed there by Pol Pot, under Khmer Rouge. Almost 9000 skulls were placed in a tower, surrounded by mass graves. Bodies buried in small area, some buried alive, people killed by farming tools like axes, babies killed with heads smashed onto trees, etc…I don’t wish to say anything more…it’s horrible and terrifying…

Time to get back to my normal emotion, we are now heading to Limkokwing University campus at Cambodia, two blocks of apartment-like buildings connected by a skybridge. Very much smaller, but with new facilities and neat environment. It’s not a very good dinner there offered by the management there, but we had fun and exciting time playing there…haha…

At night, we went for walk at the boulevard near the riverside. We entered the beautiful Nagaworld Hotel and Casino, with fountain and lighting shows in front. The interior architecture is awesome! Almost made me cried, because it moved me as I stepped into the building, especially into a section of a casino, designed in Chinese-style with blue sky as the ceiling. Fantastic, the most interesting part is on how they camouflaged the CCTV into the design!

Day 6 (7th September 2010)

Ohh, time flies. It’s the last day of the trip. We still had a chance for shopping time at Russian Market before leaving. It’s almost a two-hours long shopping in the indoor market, which is like a maze of stalls. Anyone might get lost in it. We were enjoying the bargaining moments, cutting off prices as much as possible, and saying out all necessary stuff so that the sellers will reduce prices further! Our brilliant tactics helped us a lot! But it’s really hot and sometimes crowded inside! I bought some souvenirs there! Last purchase of the trip!

Finally, we were at Phnom Penh International Airport, very different with Siem Reap International Airport, since this one is designed based on modernism. No traditional elements are seen. This flight took shorter time, since Phnom Penh is much closer to Kuala Lumpur compared to Siem Reap which is at north of Kingdom of Cambodia.

‘Chum riep leah!’ to Cambodia!!!

(That’s the Cambodian language which means ‘goodbye’)

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I had actually taken almost 600 photographs which I have uploaded on my Facebook profile. If you wish to see more interesting pictures of mine, kindly go to: (separated into three albums)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212271&id=553754336

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212399&id=553754336

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212405&id=553754336

Thank you for reading my long post here! I had spent few hours of writing this!