Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 1
READER: ‘Glass’, How We Got to Now, Steven Johnson, pp. 13-38 Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291 DATE:05/09/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
‘‘…The mirror doesn’t ‘force’ the Renaissance to happen; it ‘allows’ it to happen.’’ (p.30)
I realized that glass which is mentioned in the book is playing a role of a medium in a chemical reaction to complete the experiment. People’s desire was giving a direction in exploring the use of glass, and achieved their final goals. But, silicon dioxide (the main compound to manufacture glass) always remains still at its own status and position until any changes people make on it. It is always our choices to find or create a medium to fulfill what we want, it always depends on our own. Therefore, a medium doesn’t ‘force’ anything to change, it provides the required conditions to make changes, and people is the one who force the changes happen. I am wondering if a building, a structural design or a space is acting as a medium to satisfy with the people around, respond with the surrounding’s condition and change the original situation to achieve a higher level of living condition? Every building was once a picture, and we might have a chance to be the one who draw the picture. Come to think of it, isn’t it is important for us to know what to do with our design, what to consider produce a better product? To me, a workable design is always more valuable than a nice looking building. We are the one who choose or create the medium to changes people’s lives. As an architecture students, I think the design produced should really benefit people instead of just having nice looking.
_________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 2
READER: Kenna's Dilemma - The Right - and Wrong - Way to Ask People What They Want - Blink Malcolm Gladwell Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291
DATE:11/09/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
From my point of view, the author, Malcolm Gladwell was wondering why there can be a discrepancy between the first impressions and decisions on the basis of fast thinking between experts and novices or lay people. An extremely talented and outstanding musician is left over without reaching the highlights of his career even though his talent has been approved by the legend of the domain. I think there are three possibilities that lead to this end. One of them could be too much prior knowledge has contaminated the professionals in certain fields. Therefore, their considerations and standard of making decisions are gradually affected and it is hard to come out with general results that will be much more acceptable to the ‘outsiders’. It is also possible that the first impressions that got from the people are not totally what they think or what they believe in. It seems easier to sin if someone opens the door for us. It is easier to do what is wrong if we have seen others do so. It is easier to pick up bad character traits if they have been modelled before us. It is always easier for the people nowadays to follow the same trend instead of blazing a new trail. ‘‘ it was jam-packed, and the people up front were singing along to all the lyrics. It tripped me out.’’ (p.155) However, a dismal outcome from the Musical Research which was decided by the people in town remained Kenna without any achievement or commercial success although over hundred people went for his first performance and their enthusiasm to Kenna’s songs is fully expressed. The discrepancy formed is intriguing and worth thinking over. There's a saying that "all that glitters is not gold". Too many factors are affecting us from ‘directly’ making a decision. ‘‘…if you only test in a sip test, the consumers will like the sweeter product. But when they really have to drink a whole bottle or can, the sweetness can get really overpowering or cloying.’’ (p.163) Sweetness is the destabilizing factor here. The first impressions that we usually make of the people we meet is a result of their appearances, clothing, manner and content of a conversation and other such insignificant factors. Little do we ask ourselves if these few things are enough to decide upon whether or not the person is deceptive. One impression is never enough to judge a person , just the way one test is not enough to figure out the truth, one impression is simply too inadequate.
_________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 3 READER: the true fake - why we build - Rowan Moore, pp. 72-112 Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291 DATE:18/09/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
Rowan Moore overarching message is that buildings are inextricably linked to time and space. They are defined by their context. I agree with this assertion. Buildings will never exist independently of the stuff around them, and the events and thoughts that occur inside them and out. One description of bad architecture is that it ignores this inescapable circumstance. Instead of talking about a lot of buildings, the ways of constructions, the indication of design that mentioned in the books, I would like to say something that just happens around me, in my recent life. Many of us complained about the dishonesty of a taxi drivers or displeasure to the attitude of the drivers. However, taxi drivers' woes are a common story for commuters who strike up a chat with their cabbie – the long hours, low pay and rigid rules when driving for a taxi company. These conditions have led some former taxi drivers to find better-paying work with Uber or Grabcar, as driving for the mobile app-based transportation network can up their monthly incomes by more than RM1,000, minus the stress and inflexibility of working under taxi companies. With taxi companies, taxi drivers had to pay between RM50 and RM65 daily for the permit alone, depending on the company, even if they fell sick and did not work. It was also difficult for cabbies to get individual permits, leaving them at the mercy of taxi companies for their livelihood. They can only earn around RM120 to RM150, and as they are under the ‘rental’ type. They have to pay the permit rental of RM50 daily to the company. Every month, taxi must set aside RM2,000 alone for the taxi. RM1,500 for permit rental and RM500 for maintenance of the car. I spent RM9 to get a ride from MyTeksi services to Sunway Pyramid and have a talk with the taxi driver. “The company will ask you to pay first, and tell us to claim later, but you know what happens next when we want to claim,” he said, alluding to the difficulty of getting his money back. For the three times he got into accidents, he said he had to borrow from a loan shark, as he had no savings at all. He drove a taxi for 16 years, said he could only bring home RM1,120 to RM1,200 for his family of six. The amount would be less if he had an emergency or got involved in an accident. The RM150 he eared daily would be used to the permit rental of RM55, fuel (RM44), his own meals (RM11), leaving about RM40 for his family. Apparently, the company operated by the government is currently implementing the wrong policies, but it is not the government they blame as much as the Grabcar and UBer divers. On my way home, I had a talk with the driver also, but this time it was a Grabcar driver. They didn’t want to take the risk to fetch their customers at the main entrance of the mall. Taxi drivers protested against Grabcar and Uber, they even tried to destroy their cars by scratching the car body and puncturing the tires. Grabcar drivers said that the government had announced that Grabcar is an legal service. He strongly deemed that the taxi drivers should be angry with the government but not them. Government did nothing but collected money from the taxi driver exclusively with an excuse of granting them the permits. He also pitied the official taxi drivers because they did not intend to hurt or injure them, but they were taking action because they were forced to did so, when nobody could protect their rights as taxi drivers. In this case, it is hard to tell which side has done wrongly. Is the Grabcar service to blame? But the appearance of Grabcar had successfully made this service become competitive and the improvement of both sides can be clearly seen. Is the government to blame? But without the permit, disorder might be caused. Are the taxi drivers themselves to blame? But who did care about their lives and their family. I think nobody's right if everybody's wrong, we can never put an end to change or to correct the mistakes, just like there is never a finalized design. We can never fulfil every users of a building, we can never cooperate with every single site context. We are all on the way of doing thing better, do not stop designing and do not stop correcting ourselves. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 4 READER: How architecture works - a humanist’s toolkits - Witold Rybczynski Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291 DATE:25/09/2015 INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew This is a unique book, one that examines the requirements, needs and tools of an architect and how this public art has an impact on us all. Rybczynski `s great skill as a writer is to see the complexity and detail of the ordinary. As great artists do, he shows us the beauty in the mundane, and the value of the ordinary. I had searched some of the buildings mentioned in the books, I found that the only things that made this books become interesting is that most of the architects they cared about details. The original quote by Mies Van der Rhoe, “God is in the details”, is such a positive anthem that speaks to the poetry of the minutiae and the artistic focus and follow through required to achieve anything of worth. The well known character, Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle also once said, “detail is everything”. Let’s say if you’re the manager or the top guy of a company. You have a lot of things in mind. As a manager you need to think of the general stuff and don’t sweat the smaller stuff. That made you feel secure about where you’re sitting right now. I mean, you’re supposed to think about greater things, right? You shouldn’t think about the smaller details anymore, right? You should just be busy about the bigger and more dramatic parts of your project, right? Well, technically, you’re not quite right. Small things always add up to become big ones. When you give attention to the smaller details in your design, you touch your clients in their emotion. Let’s take as an example how Apple does it. We all know that Apple delivers very good and aesthetically attractive products. But this company also makes the packaging an exciting experience as well. They’ve put enough attention to the way the product is packaged that we see more and more people uploading their videos about unboxing a product of Apple.This goes to show that people have become aware of the importance of a great packaging. They do not upload their unboxing videos because they want to show how to unpack the product. They want to show you how the experience goes. From taking out the product from the back, peeling off the protective sticker on an iPod or iPhone, to taking out the headphones and slipping out the quick guide. And you feel the quality of the materials used on the packaging.This is how Apple touched the emotions of millions of customers. And that’s just the packaging! People see and know the value of the tiniest detail put in a product. They may not be too cognizant about that because the process is so intricate that most people fail to catch themselves appreciating a fine detail done in excellence, but they “just can’t understand” why they want to buy that product. That’s the emotion. Emotions can sometimes be so strange that they go beyond our way of understanding them. But just the same, people want to buy because they know that when a product’s finer details are given attention, the bigger and more general details have also been given the same—or even more. Care about detail, have patience in it, and maybe you will discover some “little surprise” that make your product or design more competitive. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312) Think Sheet 5 READER: The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived, Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan and Jeremy Salter Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291
DATE:02/10/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
I seldom read but I watched many inspiring movies. This movie I am going to share is SE7EN, which portrays the exploits of a deranged serial-killer. His twisted agenda involves choosing seven victims who represent egregious examples of transgressions of each of the Seven Deadly Sins, which are gluttony, greed, pride, sloth, lust, envy and wrath. He then views himself as akin to the Sword of God, handing out horrific punishment to these sinners. The character that influences me much is the retiring detective, William Somerset (by Morgan Freeman). He is an extremely experienced and efficient homicide detective. He is cerebral man, and as such, he is methodical in his methods. However, he has seen so much human suffering in his thirty-seven years on the department, that he has become cynical. He once said “I just don’t think I can continue to live in a place that embraces and nurtures apathy as if it was virtue.” Though this is a danger for anyone involved in the law enforcement career, it is particularly poignant in his case because he is also by nature a bit of a philosopher. He seems to want to understand the emotional underpinnings of every deviant act he is forced to bear witness to, yet he must also strive to maintain a detached, almost clinical view of his fellow man. His detachment makes him pretty much unflappable under normal conditions, and pretty hard to spook under trying circumstances. By his own admission, he can be a bit abrasive, especially when involved in an investigation. His sedate and self-possessed sober-minded properties was in sharp contrast to the young and impulsive detective partner, Mills. At the last scene, while Mills holds the killer at gunpoint, the killer mentions how much he admires him, but does not say why. Somerset opens the package that was prepared by the killer and recoils in horror at the sight. He races back to warn Mills not to listen to the killer, but the killer reveals that the box contains his wife's head. The killer claims to represent the sin of "Envy", he was envious of Mills' normal life, and killed his wife after failing to “play husband” with her. He then taunts the distraught Mills with the knowledge that his wife was pregnant, asking if Mills will kill him and become “Wrath”. Somerset is unable to contain Mills as he repeatedly shoots the killer, killing him and completing the killer's “work.” After Mills is taken away in shock, Somerset is asked by his Captain where he will be, and he replies, "Around. I'll be around." In a voice-over, he paraphrases a quote by Ernest Hemingway: “The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for'...I agree with the second part.” I don’t know what kind of impression this movie will leave to you or how others comprehend the messages the movie given. I see darkness that is always around us. Every scene outside is shown raining (except for the ending) and the colors throughout the movie are always dark and drab, thus setting the tone. To me, Somerset is a reflection of pure humanity, how he reacted was exactly the same with us when we encountered those situations. We, humans are all the same, just seasoned by different growth environment and anything or anyone we contacted. Somerset is guiding us through the movie. He is calm, anxious, afraid, lost but trying to get thing better. Isn’t it a full portrayal of us? Isn’t it what we are facing and what we are dealing with? I think resonance is the only way to let a “not-living man” leave a mark in our heart. Along with the investigation, Somerset gradually changes his mind, maybe he should give up the idea of retiring, maybe the town he was living was worth to be saved, and maybe it is not the worst situation. He acceptes the fact that love is a light that never dims. Somerset has conveyed a message to me. Although it is blur, hard to explain, but I did catch something that make me to think, think about my life, think about my future, think about how to face a problem, think about how to face the fear, think about how to survive better in this world of thin darkness and unfairness. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 6
READER: ‘Horror in Architecture’, Horror in Architecture, Joshua Comaroff and Ong Ker-Shing, pp.3143 Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291
DATE:09/10/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
To me, the author’s ideas are too extreme for me. Therefore, I decided to read through this book from a third person point of view which I think is the best way to understand what this book is trying to convey but not losing myself after reading this “reader of the week”. The book nails a correlation between “horror” and the sublime. I once heard a quote from my relative when he was talking about the great educationist, Zhuangzi, “We cling to our point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.” I think, for some of the buildings mentioned in this book, the architects have their reason to build them in such an “incomprehensible” way. Design is a way of life, a point of view. It involves the whole complex of visual communications: talent, creative ability, manual skill, and technical knowledge. Aesthetics and economics, technology and psychology and even site context are intrinsically related to the process. In my humble opinion, maybe the “horror” buildings were not so terrible once they were freshly built. It goes without saying the improvements in technology and many other aspects, any changes happen on the site surrounding can produce a negative impact on the buildings. Today, most people have a new perspective on the problem, but maybe we forget about what kind of situation or condition it was under to build the “horror” buildings. “Horror is the truth about abstraction” is another provocative statement that also rings true when considering how horror “weirds” what is familiar. However, I disagree with that, maybe they were once “normal and perfect” or we don’t really get the conveyed message from the building. Start to look back and see things from other perspectives, how they broke through the stereotypes and opened up a new prospect, we might learn somethings, instead of just clarify them as “terrible” design. We, I mean me myself and some of my mates always discard an idea because of its cathartic and religious implications but presenting the two as being both unknowable, spectral and inexplicable but extremely palpable is quite convincing. Saying in the other way, we do not have courage to try because we are all afraid of creating a “horror” building. Perhaps this is a large obstacle in my way to become an good designer. My friends from business or engineering schools dim architecture is such a subjective module, once the tutor dislike your idea, you will suffer for a long time, and probably will not come out with a good grade. I rarely explain to them and talk about what I have been through since they totally don’t know anything about what I am learning. To me, once your idea is well founded, it is the convincing skill problem. I am still learning how to convince my tutor and make him start to see my design from my perspective so that I will be able to get a clear direction and comments which are more to the point. However, it is not possible to go forward while looking back. Start designing something that will not eventually turn into monster. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 7
READER: ‘Horror in Architecture’, Horror in Architecture, Joshua Comaroff and Ong Ker-Shing, pp.3143 Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291
DATE:09/10/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
De Botton's message, then, is fairly simple but valuable precisely because it is simple, readable and cogent. He wants to encourage his readers, and society more generally, to pay more attention to the psychological consequences of design in architecture: that architecture should not be treated as an arcane and specialist discipline to be left to professionals, but as something that affects all our lives, our happiness and well-being. He wants us to look more carefully at our architectural surroundings, pay attention to them and develop a language with which to judge them. “To turn out something useful, practical, functional into something beautiful, that is architecture.” (p.47) The original purpose of creating a building is to provide a shelter to protect us from all kind of shelter. It should be a useful, practical and functional shelter. However, the intention of building shelter is much different from thousand years ago. It should be something different since it finally come out with architecture. I think what architecture profession offers is an emotional investment on the architect’s part and opportunity for an emotional response on the user part. For me, a beautiful architectural experience provokes an intense emotional connection. It need to be well considered and design to give an emotion connection between the user and the building or otherwise the existence of architecture will not be necessary since there are a lot of templates you can get from the engineers. There is a saying of Walter Gropius that goes “architecture begins where engineering ends.” That’s why I think architecture without essence of poetic beauty is just an empty shell which accommodates empty soul. Why it need to be architecturally beautiful? There are many ways to answer this question. Beauty in architecture draws inspirational thoughts. Beauty emerged in architecture reveals a story, culture, or experience. Most importantly, beauty in architecture is a stimulant that brings happiness to people. It is not mainly about how technologically advanced the building is, it is about how the beauty convey a message to the user or give an experience created within the architecture, and that is how architecture provide happiness. Lastly, I would like to share a quote form an Australian, Harry Seidler “architecture is not an inspirational business, it's a rational procedure to do sensible and hopefully beautiful things.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture THINKING │ARCHITECTURE (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312)
Think Sheet 8
READER: ‘The City Has Always Been a Happiness Project’, Happy City, Charles Montgomery, pp. 15-42 Name: Tan Zi Jian ID: 0318291
DATE:23/10/2015
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Liew
A Greek philosopher, Aristotle once said, “Eudaimonia (happiness) is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” How to achieve “Eudaimonia” has puzzled philosophers and thinkers throughout times, all contributing to the debate, with their varied stances and solutions. Those solutions have shifted, as times moved on, and just as philosophies of happiness changed, so did the shape of cities. As Charles Montgomery says: “new generations are growing up with a different mental library of stories that shape their domestic tastes.” But as we all know, as humans, we long for bonds and attachment. From my opinion, a happy city is connected. In this reader, Montgomery reminds us of our connectedness: “The city challenges us not just to live together but to thrive together, by understanding that our fate is a shared one.” Connectedness is thus the central argument of the book, as nowadays, it is well known that where and with whom you live influences our sensation of happiness. We become happier when we establish casual but regular relationships with the people living around us, not only our nuclear family, but also your friends and casual neighbourhood relations. By knowing this, we can make urban design choices that build on those relations. Last Tuesday, my tutor have shown us a video which was talking about what is the “Big Idea” of your design. There was a project of designing houses in America that wanted to bring back the community of the site. The houses were perfect, I mean how the spaces provided interaction within the users and the concept were all fine, the problem was, the cost is not affordable by the people living there. The residents were angry that there were houses that aimed to improve community but in fact, no one living inside. This was not what they wanted, and instead of having new empty houses there, they tended to leave it as it was. What I try to convey is, architects own the power of creating or destroying with proper reasons, but we have to think of how to produce a design consist of positive energy and make a better world, bring happiness to people. People today are differentiated by social position, financial ability or even educational level. We, architects are able to reunite them, make the people connected as one again, and this might be how we provide happiness. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thinking | Architecture (ARC60603/ARC2323/ARC2312): August 2015