spring is here...

back from the land of century egg congee, dim sum, juicy fat char siu, roast goose, Portuguese tarts, and many many more wonderful food!

such a pity the tour gang were not so much of food people. each time i run off to get a snack they would always give me a look that i'm some sort of a glut. its not a place to have just 3 proper meals a day. its snack snack snack. hahha!

work starts tomorrow... dread. whoa i spent the whole evening of return doing the laundry and unpacking. of course i did not forget my baby. the first thing i did was to turn her on. wah... magical.

anyway, some highlight snap shots. i'm not a very good photographer (as of most people are) and i do not carry a huge fancy camera (as of most people do). but what i lack in skills i make up with Heart. uiseh... ceh.

HK's main star attraction... the building comes alive at night.

i must give it to them... preserving their heritage and history despite all that modernity 
art and culture at the waterfront... penny for your thought?
sad yet enchanting... my hostel was just next to it. not much different.
still a surreal landscape to me... 
magnificent... in a tacky way.
its all in the outer appearance... whats inside does not really matter.
foster was here...
the million dollar skyline...
Macau and its churches... endless.
no durian spikes...
breathtaking... 

so while the whole gang will probably gloat of how much they enjoyed themselves over at BeerFest during the weekend... i will tell them how many "chio bu" i've seen.

test render...

trying to achieve an interesting spatial quality as you enter the space.

have yet to add in the water.

if only floating stairs were feasable... sigh.

damn be the laws of gravity.

KL trip... syok.

My KL trip this time around was a much more inspiring one. Aside from being able to listen and see some of the current avant garde architects today at the conference. I finally was able to meet Kevin M. Low in person.

He managed to take us around to see some of his projects. one word to describe his work- REFRESHING.





These images were taken by my colleague. i lupa charge my camera.
Another interesting person i met was Seksan, a landscape architect with an engineering background. His works are similar to Kevin's. they collaborate alot, hence u will notice the similarities.

now that design is over my life feels so empty... not!

che... chec... check it out!! Gradex2006. and remember to click on the RF link situated at the bottom under 'Studio Quick Links'. yea man...

dooms day is next week...

Zakaria... sigh... double sigh...

Opinion by LEE KIM CHUAN
Friday November 3, 2006

Turn Zakaria’s mansion into public library

EVER since Datuk Zakaria Md Deros' controversial “Istana Idaman” in Klang was highlighted in the media, there have been many calls by the people to demolish the mansion which reportedly costs over RM8mil.

By law, any structure that is illegally built has to be demolished. Many small temples on government land and squatter homes have been levelled to the ground for the same reason.

Both the Prime Minister and Selangor Mentri Besar have said that no one is above the law. Thus, it is obvious that the mansion has to be demolished.

But, as a Klang resident, I do not agree. It is a complete waste of money and resources to demolish the mansion.

It serves no real purpose to tear down the beautiful building.

Many visitors to Klang have complained that this royal town of the only developed state in Malaysia is dirty and dusty with uneven and dark roads, noisy and ugly crows, and poorly maintained public facilities.

One example is the Klang public library in Jalan Tengku Kelana. It is very small and the reading materials are pathetically outdated.

The library is supposed to serve more than 500,000 Klang residents, but how many people actually go there?

I suggest that the government turn Zakaria's mansion into a new public library complex.

And I am sure Zakaria, who is known for his contributions to charity, will not mind.



i don't quite agree on the mansions aesthetics. although, the proposal for a library isn't half bad.

enveloped in... dark skies

pretty bum-out on the model making. still trying to figure out how to actually built the gallery in a non-messy way. tough it is. i guess the columns are really structurally important... even in the model. but im trying to avoid putting the columns (oh i sound so much like an architect). when i say putting columns, i meant poking sticks all the way through the slabs. this might cause messiness and waste of materials due to trial and errors. dang! but another problem might occur if i do the other option which is putting columns individually at every floor... thats troublesome. plus. it has to be real accurate and aligned in a perfect linear fashion.
should i drape the whole contour now? or after placing all the mullions? dang!

anyway. other things to worry about aside from submission on the 9th. umm... Archi Prac on the 13th november, and PBL on the 16th. not forgetting the HWIDC... thats if i'm still motivated to do it then. haha. dang! jobs jobs jobs... decisions decisions decisions... chill chill chill... dang!

har... har... har??

and you thought... the durians were everything.

singapores moving real fast. and we all thought that there isnt any space left for huge developments. behold! Vivo City... supposed to be the largest shopping centre in singapore (maybe SEA as well) by Toyo Ito. makes Berjaya Times Square look really pathetic.
vivo city has a similar look to the EPLF centre by SANAA. its the in thing to design undulating platforms...

check out the Vivo City video!!




then there is the ever so awaited Marina Bay Sands. Moshe Safdie's newest masterpiece. Jayjun tried to discribe the building to me but i couldnt really process the image in my head. i guess seeing is believing.

bolehland is really losing out on this design escapade. Please no more lame-o Danga Bay like designs. our type of tropical design style is getting us nowhere.

it ends in 2 weeks time...

decisions... decisions... which one? A or B?

Another used to be...

ahhh... we've finally more or less completed our third assignment. its been a real blessing working with LA4 (ChangHan, SiewWoon and XiaoYi). teamwork is pretty evident i think. we compromise, cover each others back, sacrificed, forgived, took nothing personal. who knows, we might actually start up our LA4 for real.
shouldn't speak too soon, who knows i might be wrong.

i'm back to my R&B mood again. its R&B music or no music at all. Joe's the man, along with A.Keys, BEP, J.Legend, babyface, M.Jordan, etc. And with a little bit of Timberlake. he's a mix of pop and r&b, and i dig the latter genre. love those jiwa-ful drum beats.

Anyway! three more weeks before design submissions and four more weeks before d-day. slightly worried about my exam timetable how everything is all squeezed in 3 days. just can't wait to be finish. then i'll have to concentrate on the HWIDC.

heading for lunch then straight to uni. wonder if i should cycle there?? heck i'm starving...