Design is to Define Semantics.
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Contents
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Domus Academy Milan 2012/2013
Master in Urban Vsion and Architectural Design
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Workshop Workshop Workshop Workshop Workshop Workshop
6_Short Project with CSU Students 5_Filling the Voids 4_Reshaping the Urban Ring Road 3_Through the Façade 2_Territory of a New Modernity 1_Mapping Milan
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NanyAng Technological University -
2011/12_Product Design_Final Year Project 2010/11_Product Design_Year 3 2009/10_Product Design_Year 2 2008/09_Foundation_3D Essays
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ID+A (S) Pte Ltd(2008-12)
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D’Perception (S) Pte Ltd(2007)
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Gravity+Form (S) Pte Ltd(2006)
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DOMUS ACADEMY MILAN, ITALY Master in Urban Vision & Architectural Design
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WORKSHOP 6 Short Project with CSU Students
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This was a short one week workshop with architecture degree exhange students from California State Univerisity in Florence. It was a fulfilling week where there was tons of interesting exhange of cultures and ideas, and of course heated arguments in each individual groups. However it was still lots of fun in the end and all 7 groups produced a good quantity and quality of work during the final presentation of the workshop. The following page illustrates the site analysis and concept of intervention my group (NG YIN SENG JASON/ DA, DAMLA TURAN/ DA, JOSHUA KING/ CSU, DANE PHILPOT/ CSU) derives with. The idea was to create a “wall� gateway, a land art architecture, to direct and welcome visitors into the main city of Florence. The images on the following page shows the project development and proposed interventions we had designed for this piece of land art. Our group was pleased with the final presentation but feels that we could have still develop it better. As for the group, we had little problem working together. We had a clear working structure where I was the person involved in analysising and coming out with the initial strategy and concept; Damla was tasked with developing the concept further into a more convincing proposal; last and not least, Joshua and Dane were involved in the visualization part. All were involved in the making of the presentation slides with Damla finishing most part of it.
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SITE/DIMENSION
WALL/USER_TRANSPORTATION
BASEMAP/INFRASTRUCTURE
WALL/USER_TIME
CIRCULATION PATHS/GENERAL TRAFFIC
CONCEPT CIRCULATION PATHS/BUS ROUTE
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PLAN
PROPOSAL WALL TYPOLOGY
WALL/FUNCTIONS
WALL SECTIONS
VISUALIZATION
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WORKSHOP 5 Filling the Voids
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‘MOTRA’ HOUSING MODERN TRADITION Cities & Architecture
Cities will most probably be the future dwellings for most of the world population in 20-30 years. It is inevitable that more people will live in a city in the future as it is deemed that ‘the city’ provides more opportunities and better infrastructure for a person to live a ‘better’ life. It is also a common believe, based on datas and scientific research that the world will be more sustainable when we can save and manage resources more efficiently if people lives together; and in consequential we would free up more land area for nature and agriculture. Most existing and emerging cities in this moment are looking at means and ways to boast up living standards and infrastructure sustainably for the exponential influx of migration in the near future. Hence most cities are looking at voids to infill more buildings or tall buildings to be able to provide adequate housing for these influx. However it is also a worrying trend in architecture where most cities are modelled so fast without proper understanding of a system and only referencing to a modern generic architecture typology to counter the sudden influx. Personally this form of generalisation or some may called globalisation is terrifying as it seems like a political agenda to easlier manage the world population with a common ‘language’ or ‘ideology’ which to a certain degree suppresses creativity and diversity. Therefore we should reject generalisation and built cities that reflect the locality of its geographical, historical and cultural presence. We do not want a Tokyo’s Milan or even a Singapore’s Milan, what we want is a Milan’s Milan. We need to create cities of different diversity. Therefore architecture could then be a node to express, embrace and enhance this creation of diversity in reference with history, culture and traditions. Hereby it is for us to interprete and reinterprete tradition, history and culture in a modern context to create diversity, belonging and identity to our own roots. And architecture built in this manner will also have more emotional value and can help create memorable memories or experiences for non-citizens visiting the place. After the intial site studies and research on possibility of what form of programs and architecture is needed to fill up the void, a dormitory was proposed to provide affordable short term housing options for visiting student. This modern dormitory architecture will then act as a reference point to assist these tenants to explore the richness of the transition and reinterpretation of history, culture and traditions of Milan city. The dormitory internally and externally was designed with the understanding of evolution of how the local used public and private space, typical room typology, ornaments and decorations, materials, and lastly the proportion of different openings on the façade. The understanding of these elements assisted us in formulating a design strategy where the inner courtyard space is an area of interaction between the user and the building while the façade become part of a memory of the city.
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WORKSHOP 4 Reshaping the Urban Ring Road
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PLAY IN THE CITY
START WITH CHILDREN Walkable Spaces
The inner ring road in Milan which regulates traffic flows around the city center had seen an gradual increase in private vehicular movement and illegal parking on center green divider belt in recent years. Thus these increase in vechicular movement and illegal parking had taken away the possibility of safe, enjoyable walk on pedestrian walkways. It also cuts and creates an invisible public, social barrier between the inner and outer ring as there’s almost no public area for interaction. In addition existing sidewalks are just designed to be basic tiled pavement for people to get from point A to B in the shortest possible time hence they do not exactly provide a quality, enjoyable walking experience. Therefore to be able to re-enjoy these places again, we have to enjoy and play like a children again. We had to slow down our pace and appreciate our environment more. And to be able to create a enjoyable and walkable city, the existing six exisiting wide car lanes from Piazzale Aquileia to Conciliazione, along Viale di Porta Vercellina – Viale Enrico Toti and Viale San Michele Del Carso are reduced to four narrower car lanes (two on each sides) and the wide 9 meter center green divider belt will be shortened to a 4 meter wide divider. The shortening of the center divider is done as our observations had proposed to us that an existing green center belt of this dimension does not exactly served as a public domain for interactions as it is flanked by lanes of fast moving traffic. Most of the time this form of divider becomes an illegal area for car parkings. It is then more sensible to relocate this green stretch to the border of sidewalks thus increasing the width of existing sidewalks. Thereafter with lesser and narrower car lanes, hopefully it will slow down the vechicular flow along this stretch of road. In addition more bus-stops and a dedicated bus lane is proposed on both sides of the road to improve the mobility, frequency and accessibility of public transport services especially during peak hours. This will encourage more people to use public transport system hence reducing the amount of travelling by cars, a slower traffic and maybe a decrease in parking needs. With this action of reducing the overall dimension of the car lanes and divider, we are then able to use this excess to increase the width of walkable area along functional spaces. And with this huge increase, it is then possible to create a safe and enjoyable walking experience on this stretch of road. An enjoyable walking experience program is then designed along this road where people don’t just get from point A to point B in 5 mins, but enjoy and play like children along designed nodes which will engaged and re-engaged our five senses to the surrounding again. The nodes are designed to encourage interactions, communications and creativity creation. We want the city to play again and we hope through playing, we could create a future of sustainability and enjoyment.
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WORKSHOP 3 Through the Facade
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OCTAHEDRA
INTERATIVE FACADE Facade
The public space for interaction is essential in fostering relationship and conversation in the modern urban context. Therefore in recent time, more and more countries are delicating lots of energy and effort to invent and re-invent these new urban modernity with existing infrastructure which had outlived their purposeful usage. And to reuse these existing or under utilised infrastructure as a public social realm in an extremely packed city where useable spaces are extremely rare, can create social, economical and monetary value to the locale. Thus it is crucial in creating these communal areas in the Viale Zara vicinity due to the severe lack of social interaction spaces in this residential built-up district. Lots of multi-storeys were built in the past to tackle the expected growth in car usage. However in recent years due to a slowdown in world economy, shortage of fossil fuel in the near future, better and well-connected public transport system, and the growing awareness of sustainable living; More people are chosing to use public transport than driving hence most of these multi-storey carparks become under-utilised. Therefore the supermarket with it’s under-utilised 4 storey parking spaces provide the opportunity to introduce a new typology of vertical public sphere in and at the perimeter of the building. Thus to invite community participation and to create a better thermal insulation for the proposed social arena with the existing carpark, the polyurethane foam, due to it excellent thermal properties is exploited to design an exciting facade. Exploration in the polyurethane foam production, form and structure, building technology conceived the octahedra triangular module. The new polyurethane foam will be coated with nano thermal color-changing, water-resistant and flameretardant fiber, making it applicable as an self-sufficient wall cladding. The triangular module with fixed and operable windows are installed with a diagrid construction system for the new façade. The new façade will then becomes a social interactive skin to appeal and attract people into enjoying this new public realm.
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WORKSHOP 2 Canton Ticino: Territory of a New Modernity
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PARKING & PUBLIC SPACES EMPTYING AND REDEFINING Caslano
In an urban city context, it is essential to consider the role of public spaces in relation to the built environment. These public spaces not only provide an area to interact and socialise but also increase the land value of the place as these public spaces if well-designed and maintained are valuable asset to the residents living around. The public spaces will be a socialising center to foster close relationship and locality; thus with these strong bond and locale, it will then give identity to the place. And with a strong identity of place and high land value asset, it is also complying to densify. Car parking has always been a major issue in most urban cities and it is almost always difficult to find an innovative solution to tackle this problem. Thus in most scenario car drivers will park the cars along or on sidewalks and also beside major roads. These occurences add on to the already intense traffic burden and they are also a traffic hazard to the pedestrian using the sidewalks. In addition the cars parking at these sidewalks also break the public interaction flows which in most cases is where the level of public interaction is the highest. Caslano, a satellite residential area measuring 2.84 square kilometre and with a population of 4000, is well-connected with Lugano, the major city of Ticino, through the FLP line. Hence with this infrastructure in place, it provides high value in densifying the town with intensification of public activities. The approach to densify is not to pack the place with the maximum amount of people but instead to fill up void space with quality living infrastructure. And as observed most of the built-up area are privately-owned property with enough commercial infrastructure supporting the place. However there are no or very little public space for socialising and interaction; and most of the interactions are along the sidewalks and supermarket. As mentioned in the second paragraph as well, it is imperative that Caslano also have a little problem with public parking space where currently these parking space are situated along the main street of Caslano and infringing into the sidewalks space. Therefore after conscientious studying of Caslano, the strategy to densify the place is to empty selected car parking spaces along this main street and punctuated these empty spaces with public area, providing adequent place for socialising and also to create a stronger presence to the void place along this main street. And in emptying these existing carpark spaces, most of them will be relocated to the backyard of the main axis and with an increase of 10 to 15 percent more carpark lots space catered for future.
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WORKSHOP 1 Mapping Milan
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THE INVISIBLE WALL
DISTANCE, SPACE, PERCEPTION Safety, Walls, Interactions
The intent of this mapping analysis is to explore in modern times, the perception of the ‘wall’ as a ‘safety’ barrier in encouraging social interaction. And the area of investigation to substantiate this notion is Poila, Milan, a distinctive historical and destinated educational zone where the prominent Politecnico di Milano, Milano Leonardo campus is situated. The intensity and vibrancy of a place as we observed is often linked to human’s (personal and group) perception of a safety territorial border. Hence often an open space with basically no physical cover is deemed as a ‘dangerous’ space which greatly refused any intensity of activities. This phenomenon is reflected in the very low usage of the huge green piazza in front of the main campus building even though historically and culturally the Italians favors these form of open exchange. However an enclosed space though ‘safety’ is deemed dangerous as well due to the forced entrapment to interact. Hence we discovered only a low to medium intensity of communication between teachers and students, students and students in the enclosed space of a classroom or lecture halls. On the other hand, we noticed that a semi-enclosed space eg. building with lots of openings to enter and exit or a open shaded space encouraged vitality and liveliness. This trend is detected through the high intensity of usage of certain building spaces at Politecnico di Milano namely the large open underground study and exhibition space at the new architecture department building and covered seating area along the open corridor beside the main campus bar and canteen. Hence the act of creating a semi-physical ‘wall’ maybe considered a great intervention in increasing interactions and this pattern of singularity is significantly demonstrated in today’s social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flicker, etc. where there is a lot of intensity of communication behind a wall.
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NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, SINGAPORE
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2011/12_P.DESIGN_FINAL YEAR PROJECT
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COMSHELL
EMERGENCY SHELTER SOLUTION
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COMSHELL
EMERGENCY SHELTER SOLUTION
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COMSHELL
EMERGENCY SHELTER SOLUTION
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2011/12_P.DESIGN_YEAR 3
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INTERFACE COMPOSTER:
The idea was for preservation of our rich local street food culture (wheel-cart) and to make it affordable, sustainable & easy to build with local material. Methanogenesis is the process used for composting food waste and generate methane gas for cooking purposes. The solid bio product is used as fertilizer. A garbage disposal unit is used to grind food to smaller grain for better composting.
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TIMEBOMB CLOCK:
An exercise to remodel an existing device and breathe new life into an otherwise dull product. Existing mechanism is reused and the new casing is 3D printed with workshop rapid prototyping machine. ABS is used to rapid prototype and takes 20 hours to complete the whole prototyping process.
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EDIZIONE LIMITATA:
A brand new catalogue of collectible objects is ready for production @ ADM. All the pieces are digitally manufactured with the Rapid Prototyping facilities from our workshop and are reproducible on demand. This is the very 1st group of small items designed with the intention of creating a collection of souvenirs to be offered as welcome gifts to visitors and guests of ADM.
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2009/10_P.DESIGN_YEAR 2
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The lighting device was conceived when I chanced upon a picture I took during one of my travels recently. It suddenly struck me that I was enchanted by the energy, vibrancy and dynamics produced by these multiple colours light emitting devices which were so quintessence to a metropolitan city. An aerial map of one part of bustling Tokyo was used to contrive this idea as the city layouts of each country are unique hence may best represent the city better. The triple-layering of clear coloured acrylic was to create a contrast and dynamic quality to showcase the diversity and vibrancy of Tokyo. Acrylic a modern material is used to create this form as a representation of modern Japan. In addition a fabric covering over the structure is utilised to control the quantity of light emitted hence a concept of controlled humanistic evolution with strong culture, locality and heritage.
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VIKHORN RADIO CLOCK:
It is created as an interactive product which is portable, fun, usable as a match-day props and to promote the cultural aspects, and heritage of Denmark to the people arriving for the football World Cup 2010, Africa.
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CHILD-OG BENCH:
A bench measuring 1800mmLx420mmWx420mmH built for play and interaction between adult, children and dogs. Made of polypropylene with thermal color change glass fibre. Rotomoulding.
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2008/09_FOUNDATION_3D
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SAND SCULPTURE:
A team effort to build a scale-down sand version of the ‘Beetle’ on a slopping terrace. It took 8 hours to complete the sculpture. This exercise explores the possibility of building with different materials and form & scale exploration.
HUMAN-BUST:
This exercise is for us to understand the quality of modelling clay and the exploration of surfaces, curves and contours.
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LINES IN BOX:
Different color strings are sewed at strategical points on each box. The boxes are then joined together with adhensive. The optical illusion of these strings moving and passing through the boxes was then created. And the strings are sewed tight and closed to one another to construct the illusion of speed within the boxes.
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PLANAR CONSTRUCTION:
Using planes of irregular-shaped cardboards to construct and explore spaces, shade, forms, volume and asethetics.
LINES IN SPACE:
Exploring the qualities of wire-like material to create a rhythmic and flowing form or sculpture in space. Investigating the possibilities of interaction of musical-like form with the surroundings.
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ESSAYS
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The Chinese Landscape Ink Painting, an Ever-evolving Art Representation The Chinese ink painting had always been an important art representation of the Chinese even since the late Zhou Dynasty as could see from the image of “Lady with Phoenix and Dragon” which was an image done with ink on silk. It is from one of the burial items of possibly a noble hence we could assume that ink painting was of high value even at the time and the representation of a monarchy. However due to the lack of pictorial and written remains of the time and the vast region of China, we could not really establish any form of pictorial artistic movement engaged at the time. Nonetheless we could still possibly established the notion of the way later painters or scholars chose to paint in as could be seen from the ink stroke, the negative space and the generalisation of the selected representation. From these observations, we could potentially derive at the possibility that even at the time Chinese pictorial depiction was more about the synthesis of nature and human, cosmic representation and the way of life. Therefore arriving at the hypothesis and philosophy of the truthful way to represent an image which the artist or scholar paints in; this ideology of representation carries on throughout all of China art history and even to modern times, what changes is the style of depiction through each eras. Hence this essay will explore and validate the argument made above with particularly inked landscape images of a few period, on the artistic evolution of the different styles or concerns; the images used to illustrate the point are “Traveling among Mountains and Stream” (ca 1000) from Fan Kuan (active ca 990-1030) of the Northern Song Dynasty, “The Rongxi Studio” (ca 1372) from Ni Zan (ca 1301-1374) of the Yuan Dynasty, “Stupa Ruins in Burma” (1936) by Gao Jianfu (1879-1951) of post Qing Dynasty, “Red Leaves Cover The Mountain” (1965) by Li Keran (1907-1989), “Peach-Blossom Spring” (1983) by Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), “Mountain Memory No 1” (1983) by Wuxius Wong (b.1936) and lastly “Travelling in Taihang Mountain” (2005) by Jia Youfu (b.1942). Though Chinese ink painting of any theme had been quite a dominant way of expression for the Chinese but it was until the Song Dynasty where ink landscape painting really took flight, this phenomenon was greatly attributed to the three masters namely Li Cheng, Fan Kuan and Dong Yuan (1). While the earlier period was dominated by portraiture representation of the Great Master Gu Kaizhi and his contemporary, it never really achieves greater artistic loftiness after that. Even though it could not achieve the greatness in later time, the portraiture style of Gu Kaizhi was to become a model of development and more important the way in which he capturing the spirit and breath of a painting was to be further develop by later artist. Hence a famous Yuan scholar Tang Hao (1250-1310) pointed out in his book Examination of Painting, Hua Jian (2): “The landscape painters of the Song Dynasty who surpassed those of the Tang Dynasty are the three masters – Li Cheng, Fan Kuan and Dong Yuan. In my evaluation Dong Yuan captured the spirit and breath, (Shenqi) of mountains. Li Cheng grasped the composition and appearance of mountains and Fan Kuan obtained the bone structure of mountains. Therefore, the achievement of these three masters shines throughout classic and modern times and can be considered the best teaching model for all times.” With the achievements of these masters, we then can be able to appreciate the developments of modern ink landscape paintings and embody the vision of these masters for the future of landscape painting. Fan Kuan’s “Traveling among Mountains and Stream” was one of the primarily source of idea or model for the later artist cause it was viewed as the perfect embodiment of co-existence of human and nature or the cosmic universe which was a parallel concept of Confucian Taoism. The image is a close studies of the nature by Fan Kuan hence the realism. With the centre towering mountain at the background separated with the vegetation in the foreground by a thin mist and the inclusion of tiny human figure at the bottom creates an illusion of depth, perspective and proportion to the image which is rarely seen before. The careful depiction of the texture of the mountains, the placement of the valley at the right of the painting and the dynamic texture of the vegetations makes the painting looks real. However these qualities mentioned are quite superficial to the artist as the concern was to give life to the image created.
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And to be able to give spirit and breathe to his creation, he was then to construct his painting in a bird’s eye view where it is then possible for the eyes (bird/ human) to encompass all the elements of the mountainous terrain (nature/ universe) into a piece of paper; hence the careful and calculated disposition of the mountains, vegetation, mist and human figures (somewhat like the composition of the cosmic world). Also the quality of the painting as a pictorial poem as illustrated by words from a Song poet who wrote of two eighth-century masters: “The writings of Shao Ling (the poet Du Fu) are paintings without forms; the paintings of Han Gan’s are poems without words.”(3) In addition to this a celebrated couplet by Su Dongpo also praised the dual genius of Wang Wei (Wang Mojie): “When one savors Mojie’s poems, they are paintings in them; when one looks at Mojie’s pictures, they are poems.”(4) Hence we could see the importance of the Chinese belief of poetic representation in both art form therefore when we scrutinize a painting it should not be based purely on the visual aspect of the Western hypothesis but as a pictorial “silent poetry”(5). Consequently for Fan Kuan’s “Traveling among Mountains and Stream”, we as viewers should be “reading” and navigating through the dense vegetation and mountainous terrains not only visually but spiritually which Fan Kuan could had envisioned. In addition two more important Chinese aesthetic theory namely “rhythmic vitality” and “bone structure” of the famous “Six Principles” by a six-century critic Xie (6) would then assist the artist in enhancing the experience of this spiritual encounter. However with Ni Zan’s “The Rongxi Studio” (ca 1372) of the Yuan Dynasty, we could see a change in depiction of the real landscape instead of realism depiction a more abstract and more conventionalized approach was taken. Pictorial realism was left to the professional and good paintings were to become a vehicle for scholars to express ideas rather than to record visual experience (7). Hence we could see from the image “The Rongxi Studio” the intense usage of dry, crisp, and short calligraphical ink strokes and the large area of negative or un-paint surface to create this lyrical space in a stroke of a moment (short time) which somewhat resonate with the notion in painting of Japan Zen Buddhism. Though not as picture realistic as the Song Dynasty paintings, the main essences of the painting are still carried on with the bird’s eye view method of presentation of encompassing the cosmic space, the poetic flow of the constructed image, the spiritual and breath of the painting and the spiritual experience of the viewers in the depiction. The Ming and Qing Dynasty were mediocre in the history of the evolution of the landscape painting. The Ming Dynasty was engaged in another theme of ink painting hence landscape paintings development also came to a standstill. The scholars at the time were painting more of the same way of the great masters of previous dynasties. While the Qing Dynasty was trying too desperately in developing a new style in landscape painting by mixing all the elements of previous master thus losing the essential essence of ink painting. In addition the Qing governor took and kept away all masterpieces art creation for their own personal collection, the common folks were then not able to learn from these masters but to rely on atrocious art copies done by official court painters hence landscape paintings development could be termed to come to a standstill at this period of time. With the fall of the Qing Dynasty, art creation and development were subsequently resumed and it blossomed into various different styles with the influx of western theory and methods. One interesting artwork to showcase this creative deposition is the painting “Stupa Ruins in Burma” (1936) by Gao Jianfu (1879-1951). The way in which he depicts his landscape we can traced a strong influences of an improvise Western-Japanese art representation. In addition he was a widely travelled man hence his landscape paintings took up a more westernized painterly form. With the “Stupa Ruins in Burma” we could notice a distinct break from the orthodox way of a bird’s eye view vantage point presentation; hereby he shift the focus down and with the used of Western two-point perspective technique, he created a image which had proportion, scale and distance (depth). Thus the texture, form and mass of the mountains, stupa, vegetations and sky were rendered in the western style of combining and juxtaposing different color tones.
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However Western this painting may looks, it stills preserve the major aspect of Chinese ink painting with the poetic pictorial form, the majestic and proportional layout of the sky (depiction of large area of void space) and the nature which still lingering with the Tao concept, and the spirituality of moving in this picture the artist envisioned. Though the form of representation is into realism, it may not be really an exact pictorial representation of the place, but more of the artist conscious construct and layout of the memories of the place. Hence in trying to mix and match his memory of the “ideal” landscape of the place, he is then creating the spirit and breath of the original place into his painting which resonates with what the great masters had done previously. Advancement of the landscape painting in China went nose-diving in the Mao’s era where there was a strong control of creative demeanor by the party, the promotion of propaganda and socialist-realism art. Though landscape paintings were still practice, most of the paintings had to embody the notion of red, bright and freshness which is evident in Li Keran’s “Red Leaves Cover the Mountain” (1965). The end of the Mao’s era produces a huge repercussion of creative art representations. There were so much of pent-up energy and vibrancy of creative personnel for the new era that all forms of creative productions were blossoming. Art representation for the Chinese took a different format and art installation to express ideas became one of the most practice art form from the 1980s onwards. Though art installations were much favoured the creative personnel, the authentic Chinese ink painting was not to be undone. Instead artist such as Zhang Daqian, Jia Youfu, Wuxius Wong and many more, took the mantle to revolutionise this art form. And thanks to them we as the modern day viewers could then witness the splendid fusion of the Eastern art philosophy and Western structure and scientific methods in the form of ink painting. Works like “Peach-Blossom Spring” (1983) by Zhang Daqian, “Travelling in Taihang Mountain” (2005) by Jia Youfu and “Mountain Memory No 1” (1983) are some great example of these Eastern-Western art form in our modern century. These works though executed in the more Western and scientific way does not lose the essence of Chinese ink painting hence seducing the new generation to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of this art form. Though Chinese landscape ink painting had gone through so much ups and downs of China turbulence history, it had always rose up to the challenge and reinvent itself every time tastefully to these complexity; which in a sense is similar to our Chinese culture where we and forefathers try very hard to preserve in the ever Westernising times. Personally, I’m proud of my Chinese culture and heritage though I’m not really from China as these belongings give us an identity to resonate with; in addition I’m also very appreciative of the efforts and time these people spend to preserve these cultural belongings even through adversity. Hence no matter how representation style changes through time, the core value of representation in Chinese landscape painting will preserve on. (2074 words)
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Bibliography: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Michael Sullivan, Art and Artists of Twentieth Century China, University of California Press, 1996 Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting, Harvard University Press, 1971 Yuheng Bao, Ben Liao, Letitia Lane, Renaissance in China: The Culture and Art of the Song Dynasty 907-1279, The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006 Michael Sullivan, The Three Perfections, George Braziller, 1980 Wucius Wong, The Tao of Chinese Landscape Painting: Principles and Methods, Design Press, 1991 Julia F. Andrews, Kuiyi Shen & Jonathan D. Spence, A century in Crisis, Harry N. Abrams, 2002 [Wong, Wuxie/Wucius] Binks, Hilary, ‘A voyage between cultures’, Asian Art News, vol.9, no.3, 1999 Pamela Kember, Critical Essays about Artist, Mountains and Memories: Wucius Wong from http://www.hanart.com/artist EssayDetail.php?artist_number=34&essay_number=40 http://paper.wenweipo.com/2006/12/24/YC0612240001.htm
NOTES: 1) Yuheng Bao, Ben Liao, Letitia Lane, Renaissance in China: The Culture and Art of the Song Dynasty 907-1279 2) Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting 3) Michael Sullivan, The Three Perfections 4) Michael Sullivan, The Three Perfections 5) Yuheng Bao, Ben Liao, Letitia Lane, Renaissance in China: The Culture and Art of the Song Dynasty 907-1279 6) Yuheng Bao, Ben Liao, Letitia Lane, Renaissance in China: The Culture and Art of the Song Dynasty 907-1279 7) Yuheng Bao, Ben Liao, Letitia Lane, Renaissance in China: The Culture and Art of the Song Dynasty 907-1279
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Identification and memories- The act of quantifying Art, man, nature and boundaries. It is quite amazing how man readily accepts and rationalises art from time to time. What was considered avant-garde at different period of time in history was then readily accepted and become main stream art after a period of trans-succession time. For example, the Impressionists were striving for pure artistic aesthetic on canvas during the period of Modernism and hence were not in any form close to existing artworks at the period of time, these expressions of art were being seen as avant-garde during the period. How paradoxical can these be when within a few years these form of representations are readily accept and appreciate as master pieces, an art discourse of social and cultural value, and man’s versatility. And hence what constitute an artistic identity or notion. And after this period where scholars and art historian term as Modernism, there comes Post-Modernism where the primary initiative was to challenge the authority and continuity of the previous art discourse. Thus it seems that just doing art for art sake was not good or intelligent enough anymore for the upcoming generation hence conceptual art or literalist art emerged and this form of artist expressions brings about a dynamic change to the art practice and environment we were used to previously. Duchamp’s Fountain became the iconic symbol for this period of conceptual art practice which to a certain extent deconstructs man’s perception of aesthetics and cultural linkage to the system of identification. Works that are “aesthetically-pleasing” be it painting, sculpture or object may not warrant any artistic value if it was not of scholarly or conceptual quality and may even be criticised for being amateurish. Even though some of the works are pretty weird, man had again learned, morphed and accepted these form of works without questioning the value of it like we always do in the years pass by. Though questionable some of the work may be and this notion of making everyone an artist (even without any artistic ability or training), we should not discredit its formation as it gives rise to many form of art representation such as installations, media-based artworks, performance arts, etc and incite people’s consciousness to question individuality, memories and locality. Through rapid technological advancement, globalization, new found political freedom and an all encompassing art discourse, these form of artworks had taken centre stage in today’s art scene where we as audience are able to witness these transformation with an open heart and mind due to this ability and impending notion of questioning the environment or society around us. However also due to the open nature of these form of artworks, globalization and mass media influence, we may not identify as much to the true context of the creation which then may lost the quality of sensibility; and to quote what Michael Fried said in Art and Object hood, “it is not an isolated episode but the expression of a general and pervasive condition” (1) in modern society. Thus to counter these notion, Terry Smith in What is Contemporary Art said, “While the world seems to morph into an ever-deepening strangeness haunted by recurrent, chimerical familiarities, even as it seems to accelerate towards catastrophe, these kinds of opening strive to give us the tools to see the shapes of contemporaneity and to glimpse modes of survival within it. Seeing the shapes and some possibilities for survival are the two main ways in which contemporary artists are responding to the present situation.” (2) This then generate this idea of searching for individuality either by locality, nationality, gender, etc so as to justify one’s presence in history. Furthermore as quoted from What is Contemporary Art by Terry Smith, “artist in the advanced economies have a common notion in which spectacle capitalism and globalization has not won total consent from them. Hence these artists then developed practices which usually entailing research over time, widespread public involvement and lengthy, didactic presentations which then gives value to these representations. With this notion, wide-ranging concerns on questions of time, place, mediation and mood are explored by artists around the world. They start questioning the tension between multiple temporalities, the doubling of location and dislocation, the concentration of mediation in spectacle society and the cracks within it and how these factors shape individual affect and collective effectivity”. (3) And though these artists are very aware of the bleakness and the fleeting conditions of contemporaneity, they still find ways to be part of it.
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With this understanding, we will look at two recent exhibitions of installation artworks from Japan namely “Sensing Nature” curates by Kataoka Mami at Mori Art Museum, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo from 24th July to 7th November 2010 and “The Definition of Self ” directed by Masahiko Sato at 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo Midtown Garden, Tokyo from 16th July to 3rd November 2010. The exhibition “Sensing Nature” presents us with large-scale installation artworks by three internationally acclaimed artists Yoshioka Tokujin, Shinoda Taro and Kuribayashi Takashi in their own understanding or take of Nature in Modern Japan. This 2010 exhibition initiated by Mori Art Museum was trying to engage in a re-examination of the cultural foundation of the Japanese society as the world undergoes massive political and economical changes hence “Redefining Japan”. An exploration of giving “Modern Japan” a reformed identification based on cultural linkage to nature as a whole. Nature has always been an all encompassing coexisting entity in the construction of the social, political, economical and historical aspect of Japanese society and technological advancement even till modern time. With it subtropical topography, strong seasonal changes and occasional natural calamity, it is very important for Japanese to work hand-in-hand with nature. And to quote from Mr Nanjo Fumio, director of Mori Art Museum, “The Japanese term for nature reflects the concepts of being “self-generated,” of being in an “as-is” state. In addition to this Japanese term, which can be pronounced either shizen or jinen, was applied for the English word “nature” during the Meiji Period. And yet, to this day the Japanese word shizen is linked to a sense of the environment in general, to the cosmos as a whole, with all things of heaven and earth included. This sense of nature can be called unique, something related to an ancient religious sensibility.” (4) The other exhibition “The Definition of Self ” directed by Masahiko Sato examined the notion, identity and perspective of the “self ” with an extensive use of technological equipments throughout the whole exhibition. As more and more individual-identifying technologies are being developed to prevent crimes and enable us to lead a more comfortable life, we are slowly moving forward into a society where identities becomes a numerical barcode just like what was portray in the movie “Matrix”. Are we just memorable by our names, status, professions, looks, etc. or can we identify ourselves better with other means. This exhibition therefore explored and search for a new perspective on what makes us “us”. In attempting to contextualize Japanese view of the tension of nature, the universe and the environment, though extremely fragmented, Mr Yoshioka Tokujin had come out with three installation artworks for this exhibition stemming from the concept of water. He had in recent years navigate the possibility of creating design or art pieces by fusing nature with technology as the product of nature science. The main installation is titled “Snow” a larger scale version of the installation for Miyake’s 1997 Paris Collection. In this show he uses 300 kilograms of feathers filling a space 14 meters wide, 5 meters deep and 6 meters high; and with two fans at two corners blowing at regular intervals at the white feathers to recreate the idea of randomly falling snow as they drift through the air and slowly accumulate onto the ground. White feather was chosen for its lightest while white colour was a symbolic concept of organic-shaped snow turning into water when it melts. As Yoshioka’s vision for this installation was “a reflection of our memories of snow and is sure to elicit a renewed appreciation of nature, the beauty of which has the potential to surpass even the imagination.” (5) Hence in this installation we could clearly identify or relate this picturesque artwork with our memory of snow and this data stored in our sub-consciousness will then bring back recollection of thoughts we had for a place or time, thus depicting the presence of existence. As quoted by Kataoka Mami, Chief Curator for this Exhibition, Mr Yoshioka continues to use the concept of water as a motif in his work. Though the principle “colours” are white and transparent, the notion of representation is different for every work, just like what he describes as “the current in a river never carries the same water twice, recreating phenomena with indeterminate form and instantaneous movements using colourless, transparent materials shakes from its very foundations the conventional concept of design as something that strives to create forms and colours that are as beautiful as possible” (6) Thus to illustrate these possibility two smaller scales “furniture” installations “Waterfall” and “Water Block” were showcased in this exhibition as well. Both installations one a table and the other a bench are made with special optical glass to create an optical illusion of carved-out water block. Hence once again showing the notion of how the Japanese way of encompassing technology advancement and nature as a whole.
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In Shinoda Taro’s works we could see a primitive or should we termed it as naïve nature in portraying or identifying man and natural phenomena together. Three installation artworks are presented for this exhibition namely “Reverberation”, “Model of Oblivion” and “Ginga”. “Reverberation” is a large scale video trilogy based on modern Tokyo cityscape motif. The video trilogy shows scenes from the Tachikawa area, where Shinoda lives, shots made by navigating Tokyo’s waterways by boat, and scenes of Lake Okutama and Lake Tama, reservoirs that provide drinking water for Tokyo residents. As each scene is placed adjacent to one another in a darken room with minimum sound from the video, viewers are then force to move around from one scene to another as a outsider overlooking the city’s daily din and bustle. The minimum sound, darken room and huge video imagery make the audience slow down or even stop to feel the tension or internal vibration in our body which these imagery may stir. This notion resonate with the artist and title hypothesis of “reverberations one might hear if one were able to look down on the whole world and observe everyday life from an astronomical distance (outsider), as well as the sound one hears when one covers both ears with one’s hands. One could say these are the vibrations that link the microcosm and macrocosm.” (7) Hence navigating the possibility of man identifying with the nature and the constructed environment or nature identifying itself with man and man’s constructed space; and interestingly this process of thoughts is captured through camera and displayed as a “memory” with a video installation. In “Model of Oblivion” though the artist aim is to showcase the ancient China concept of the Cosmo world of round heaven and square earth; the intimacy and association of the re-circulating red liquid and the blood circulating throughout the artist’s own body, suggesting the continuity and unity of the microcosm and macrocosm of his works. (8) However from an audience’s perspective or my perspective as a non-Japanese and without prior knowledge of the artist’s works, the white setup of the room, the white rectangular table and white mountain-like terrain structure just make me feel that the artist is trying to recreate a “pure” square earth. But with the addition of the blood-like circulating liquid, it makes me feel that the earth is bleeding and with the man-made pumping mechanism, it just enhance the notion of man continue insensitiveness to the natural habitat. In addition from my perspective this piece of installation is aesthetically very politically and socially charged hence can we also understand the art installation as a method in which the artist is trying to navigate the stupor that is happening in the current art situation and finding a right connotation to today’s art scene. Though ambiguous of what was being portray in “Model of Oblivion” with our own readings, his last installation “Ginga” for the exhibition then return and reverberate to his original obsession of portraying microcosm and macrocosm of the world. “Ginga” or the Milky Way is a huge round white circular low-height pool filled with a white liquid, a symbolic representation of the round heaven and on top the round pool of liquid are 50 bottles filled with liquid dripping simultaneously from them. And the ripples created on the surface of the white liquid pool, depicts for a brief moment the starry heavens of the universe. White liquid used in this installation as the artist phrases it, metaphor itself into milk a liquid essential for growing, and like the red liquid in “Model of Oblivion”, the white liquid could also be interpreted as an abstracted model of the human body. Here, too, the microcosm of the human body overlaps the macrocosm of the Milky Way. (9) Thereafter I could like to link all three installations to an exploration of identification of man in nature or the vice versa to sum up his artworks for this exhibition. And with Kuribayashi Takashi who artwork reflects his primary interest in the boundary lines or border territories between land and sea, the earth and the heavens, created two distinct large scale installation titled “Wald aus Wald (Forest from Forest)” and “Inseln 2010 (Islands 2010). “Wald aus Wald” is a “floating” forest of Japanese larch trees made out of natural materials such as washi and paper pulp. Viewers are then coerced to enter the exhibition from under the “floating forest” or underground and to navigate through the space from under the white forest and only allow to peek aboveground through some openings made in the “earth’s surface”, which represent a boundary. This concept is especially interesting and unique to a place like Tokyo where most of the railway system is underground and the railway is the most daily used transport by commuters moving around for work, play or relaxes in the bustling city. We can also therefore associated the installation with this notion as people moving around underground and exiting to their desired place to work or play in buildings which resonate with the tall overpowering larch paper-constructed trees we notice
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when we peek aboveground from the cracks. In a sense this reverberate this ancient belief of an underground realm which together with the square earth and round heaven form the natural environment we lived in. After navigating through this underground space, we are confronted by this huge mass of black soil and pumice stone installation with a circular acrylic plate at the top dissecting the solid mass, in a very dimly lighted, small rectangular area. This is the second installation “Inseln 2010” by Kuribayashi which like “Wald aus Wald” further reinforce the artist’s perception of the boundary between the earth, the heaven and the underground realm. As perceived by the curator Kataoka Mami of this installation, Japan’s topographical outline is an impression or boundary separated by the sea or a huge land mass from an even larger land mass jutting out from the land-sea level. And with the ebb and flow of the tides or natural phenomena, this indefinite outline is always altering and re-shaping itself through time so in this instance how are we able to exactly define a country’s boundary. In addition from a political and historical outlook, boundaries are just a man-made entity to depict one’s power and territory as geographically under sea-level boundary does not exist when all these “countries” or “territory” are formed or linked by these huge land masses. With the clear flat acrylic resin map at the top of the 4 meter high installation, the boundary between land and sea no longer represents a national border, instead hinting at the boundary that lies between man and nature. (10) This view of the world, in which the land mass simply spreads downwards, is also reminiscent of the geocentricism of ancient times, in which people believed that the heaven existed above a flat Earth. (11) In conclusion for this exhibition the concept of nature, be it physical or invisible had always been the driving vigour encompassing Japan growth throughout history and sadly this motivation is slowly eroding away with internationalism or globalization. Hence this exhibition as discussed earlier is trying to evoke Japanese affinity to nature which is an important vernacular cultural and historical identity, in the notion of “Redefining Japan” and moving Japan forward in the right direction (12) and creating a unique identity in the process. The other exhibition “The Definition of Self ” held at 21_21 Design Sight directed by Masahiko Sato though different in its execution and theme compared to “Sensing Nature” had in fact a common trait of a identification crisis; the earlier one identification of man, nature and boundary; and in Masahiko’s case man’s identity in this technological advanced world. The exhibition “The Definition of Self ” is an extensive media and technology laddered showcase of how mankind can look at different methods in identification (making you “you”) with modern technology. It is also a research-based exhibition where data of each visitor are stored into a megacomputer for further study. Hence before entering the exhibition proper, all visitors are then expected to give their name, age and sex, measure their height and weight, draw a star in one continuous stroke, get your eye scan and voice recorded. All these data collection process are done with technological assistance. While we enter the exhibition proper which is interesting underground as well, we will be compelled to leave our thumbprint (the agreed common denominator of self identification) on the first installation “Pool of Prints” a huge digital LCD panel as part of the recording or identification process. What’s exciting about this interactive installation is that after it records your thumbprint impression, your black digital impression will swim out into the huge white LCD pool of other thumbprints like tadpole thereafter creating a very tactile and graphical imagery on the screen which in art term acts like a canvas where artist makes their imprint; however in this instant is more like a collaboration of all mankind or visitors in creating this piece of artwork. In addition when you put your thumb on the censor again, your digital tadpole-like thumbprint will swim back from the collective mass of thumbprints to acknowledge your “presence”. Hence are we just recognizable or just a unique entity by our biological data remembered by an electronic device? Moving through the exhibition, we encountered different ways proposed by the director in examining and quantifying our existence all by high-end electronic devices. “2048”, “Lost Property”, “Outline to Go”, “After Image”, “Exactitudes” and “Home of the Heart” are just some installations from different artists in the exhibition that provokes interaction with the visitors. Most of the works are computer-programmed hence data are collected, stored and used to generated outcomes to visitors in a quest to identify oneself with the whole environment. Each installation are unique as each installation will only tested, collected, stored one unique individual
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quality of the identification. Hence at the end of the exhibition, we asked ourselves are we only unique due to our natural biological construct or do we have a different dimension at identifying individual if all biological constructed are not considered. We could not be sure if we will be identifiable if we are ripped of all biological constructs but with memories and documentation we may preserved a notion that of individual existence in this world. Hence when artist produces artwork, they in this circumstances act as a documenter of their individuality or existence and becomes part of the historical documentation for future references. (3326 words)
Bibliography: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 Kenya Hara, Designing Design, Lars Muller Publishers, Switzerland, 2008 Tokujin Yoshioka, Second Nature, Kyuryudo Art Publishing, Japan, 2008 Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art, The University of Chicago Press, London, 2009 Jean Fisher, Geeta Kapur, Global Visions- Towards a New Internationalism in the Visual Art, Kala Press in association with The Institute of International Visual Arts, London Michael Fried, Art and Objecthood- Essays and Reviews, The University of Chicago Press, London www.taroshinoda.net www.takakuri.net
NOTES: 1) Michael Fried, Art and Objecthood- Essays and Reviews, The University of Chicago Press, London 2) Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art, The University of Chicago Press, London, 2009 3) Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art, The University of Chicago Press, London, 2009 4) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 5) Tokujin Yoshioka, Second Nature, Kyuryudo Art Publishing, Japan, 2008 6) Tokujin Yoshioka, Second Nature, Kyuryudo Art Publishing, Japan, 2008 7) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 8) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 9) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 10) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 11) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010 12) Kataoka Mami, Sensing Nature- Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature, Mori Art Museum, Japan, 2010
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ID+A (S) PTE LTD
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ID+A pte ltd was a recent startup in the end of 2007 by Mr Frank Tang and Mr Chew Man Wai. I started working for them at the start of 2008 and had been with them till 2011 (permanent & part-time basis). And it has grown from a 3 man design firm till now a 6 man design team. And from 2008 to 2010, I had completed a wide variety of projects (retail, office, residential, architecture, products, etc) either alone or with Mr Frank Tang. After which from mid 2010 till now, I had undertaken lesser part-time assignment due to school workload and firm’s increase in manpower.
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JALAN SINDOR:
A 3 storey semi-detached architecture and interior furnishing consultancy works for a new startingout developer. Lots of natural materials are used to create a modern tropical feel to the place. Completed in 2009.
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JALAN SALANG:
The existing building was partially torned down and rebuilt to maximise the built area allowed. The interior design and furnishing was more of a modern non-western contemporary look with lots of usage of natural material. It is designed to be a simple, cosy and functional living space. Completed end of 2008.
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TURBO ONE PTE LTD:
This is a office cum factory interior design and built project in 2008 at 33 Kian Teck Way, Singapore. The company deals with turbo engine hence for the showroom long repeated patterns, layers and shapes are used intensively to create the illusion of speed. And the green and grey color scheme combination follows the company’s corporate colors.
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Exterior View of Completed Office Building
1st Storey Furniture Layout Plan
2nd Storey Furniture Layout Plan
Proposed Exterior Color Scheme
Image of Completed Showroom
3D Visualization of Showroom
Image of Completed Pantry Area
3D Visualization of Meeting Corner
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DRAGONFLY@ST JAMES:
For the launch of Malboro Methol Ice Blast, the unused space outside DragonFly was repackage into a cool, metallic outdoor smoking area. The design concept is based on the hip factor of PowerHouse, the silver and blue packaging of Malboro Methol Ice Blast, and easy maintainence. Completed in 2009.
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DELI BOUTIQUE @ ZOUK:
The project was to convert an existing snack outlet at the entrance of Zouk into a Zouk merchandise boutique. The Deli was given an clean, organic expression to goes with the overall irregular floor plan and Zouk’s own organic, fluid style. Completed in 2008.
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PHILIP MORRIS SINGAPORE:
The project was to design and build portable smoking kiosks for events and smoking terrace for the large and increasing population of smoking crowds in Singapore who are only able to smoke at designated areas. And to increase PMS presence in the Singapore smoking scene, it had tasked itself to provide hip, relaxing and comfortable smoking ammenities for the smoking crowd. The difficulties to the project is to create a product that is Philip Morris’s and yet not Philip Morris’s as it is illegal for them to do advertising of their goods in Singapore. However I must said that this design must be working well as it has been used for the past 5 years and was greatly received by smokers using them. (2008 till current)
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Event at House
Event at Overeasy, One Fullerton
Smoking Terrace at Movida
Mobile Kiosk at Dempsey
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D’PERCEPTION (S) PTE LTD
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D’perception is a commercial offices design and built firm of 20 years with a workforce of 30-40 person at anytime. As I was only with the company for only 6 months (2007), I was only able to finish a few projects namely project management of interior renovation of Singtel Com-center, design proposal for Welcome (a French internet payment company) and Blackwell Publishing Pte Ltd, and design & built projects for Schenker Logistic (completed) and Chang See Hiang & Partners (half-way).
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SCHENKER LOGISTIC, SINGAPORE:
The project was to spaceplan and design a 30pax conference room cum training room, and a private cosy 24pax dining room for guest. It was a challenging project due to a short timeframe, getting the right system furniture to satisfy a demanding yet very friendly German client and managing a tight budget.
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3D Visualization of Conference Room
Image of Built Conference Room
3D Visualization of Private Dining Room
Image of Private Dining Room
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GRAVITY + FORM (S) PTE LTD
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Gravity+Form is a small local hotel design consultancy and project management firm of 10 years with a manpower of 5 designers at anytime. The projects are mostly China based and all of the projects are lead by their charismatic chief designer cum boss Mr. Yap Beng Tiong. I am very honored to have worked for him on this project for a year (20062007) before I leave the company on medical condition. Although I was only with the company for a year, I had learned a lot about design, management,economy, materials and building process & services from Mr. Yap. Gravity+Form was to me my design learning ground where i truely understand how designer and design works. Though I’m still had a lot to learn but I thanks Mr. Yap for drilling in these good practises into me, and these good practises had been my guiding principles to progress in my design career. I truelly grateful for the training there and hope that I could work & learn from him again.
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YANLORD PLAZA, CHENGDU, SICHUAN, CHINA:
A two 40 storey podium tower block integrated development by Yanlord Group in the CBD area of Chengdu was to be completed by end 2008. The two tower blocks are meant for office and residential uses respectively, and interconnected by 6 storeys of F&B, entertainment and recreational spaces. These were the images of the approved proposal for the final design interior furnishing phase of the residential tower block.
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RECEPTION & WAITING AREA
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LOUNGE BAR
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LIVING ROOM & KITCHEN 89
1 BEDROOM APARTMENT 90
STUDIO APARTMENT
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THANKS..
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