FINALLY, My First Student Has Graduated!!!

Yesterday I attended the graduation ceremony at Gurney Hotel for the last time. It was a significant day not because it was my last time, but it was the fact that the first student I taught at KDU College has finally graduated! She was not only my first student, but the ONLY student I have when I start teaching in KDU! I still remember the first subject I taught was History of Architecture I. That time the school of design has just been established and there was not a single book available for the subject I was about to teach. I took the initiative to choose and buy a very thick book which has since becomes the key text for both History of Architecture I and II subjects.

Teaching only one student was no joke at all. Forget about group discussion. It was lectures most of the time. By the way, did I mention that Uchi was also very fat last time...Maybe because of that, she was quite slow and sleepy most of the time. Anyway, it was really an experience for me because I did learn a lot during those challenging times, not to mention brushing up my history of architecture. With her graduation, my career at KDU has come to a full circle (not sure whether this is the correct description or not). I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to teach a group of very talented students such as Uchi, Kai Shyuan, Yi-Wen, Eilis, Nerissa, Dolly, Mursyida and Adel. Did I miss out anyone? I hope that I've imparted useful knowledge to all of them and may success be with them in the future.

My Last KDU Ball

I've been waiting for this day 23rd Aug as it will be the last time I attend KDU Ball. All the heads were actually instructed to perform on stage singing the college theme song. I insisted that I just want to sit back, relax and enjoy the show for the last time. I hope the principal is not too unhappy about this, but then again who cares! The food is good, better than at Gurney Hotel last year. Managed to snap quite a few photos with students and colleagues to add into my sweet memories. Gonna miss all of you.............

Unbuilt Works

For those of you who take design as a career will know or will soon find out that it is a long journey that you have decided to take. You find yourself doing a lot of proposals but only a handful that will eventually be built. Such is the thrill and despair of the design process. The only way to sustain your endeavor is through passion and the desire to create a better living environment. The 3 images shown here are my initial proposal for the KDU's Walk Of Fame or commonly known as the 'tunnel' area at ground floor where the new curve white wall is located. This original proposal cost too much (about 5 to 6 times higher to be exact) and the management asked me to come up with a revised design. The 2 curve white walls that is there right now is the result of the cost cutting measure. Although never got built, the 3 images up here represent the unborn creation that will unfortunately remain forever in my imagination.

Gallery@KDU

I joined KDU College in December 2005 and one of my first duty was to design an art gallery for the Design School. Due to time constraint and the management wanted the gallery to be completed ASAP, I came up with proposal that I thought would create an impact to the dull interior that the college had. The idea was to insert a few dominant structures that will make the gallery instantly recognizable. I consider these structures as sculptures in their own right besides being practical props for students' art works to be displayed. I'm glad that I leave something behind for the college as well as students which I hope will help in motivating them to produce more creative works for display.

Bangkok Dream World

It was the first time I been to Bangkok with my wife.

Take a stand!

Years ago I was asked to design a 3 storey bungalow by a developer. When I presented my proposal to him, he gave me his feedback very politely. He said to me in Hokkien: "Tan r...lu eh cit le TOWER eh sai mai cuan poh e boh? Co si kak heng AND THEN CORNER eh wui e toh ho liao..." In case you are wondering what the hell does it mean, allow me to translate for you. He asked me whether I can do away with a tower that is purely cylindrical in its form (apparently he thought that it would be more costly to construct curvy structure but he was too proud to mention it out loud), he suggested that a rectilinear tower with round corners would suffice. I defended my decision of having a curve surface in order to establish a prominent achor point for the entire building. I told him that if I were to follow his suggestion, the characteristic of the entire building would be altered. I guess he didn't want to sound like he was completely ignorant of aesthetic, so he agreed with me in the end. We as architects or designers must always take a stand professionally to justify what is right to us without offending our clients. Sometimes we even have to educate our clients simply because it is our duty to do so. We must not blindly follow instructions otherwise we will have to bear the consequences eventually.

Do we need this?

Church Street Pier located next to the jetty terminal at Weld Quay. In case you still don't know where is it, it is the building that houses QEII (the classy pub and restaurant opposite British Council), ring any bell?

I would like to highlight that this is actually a new building built a few years ago. The point that I'm going to make is that since it is a brand new building, why the architect wanted to design it using colonial architectural language? A building should reflect its significance in the historical context of a particular place. By introducing an outdated architectural style for a brand new building in the 21st century really doesn't make any sense at all. The architect of this building should go back to university and study further before producing more buildings that don't enhance the heritage value of George Town whatsoever! And somemore the colour scheme, yaks!!!

House 00

This is an imaginary house that I designed while in KDU as an exercise to brush my rendering and planning skill. Still need a lot of improvement in the rendering part, takes time to master the lighting though. Anyway, this house demonstrates that we don't need huge space just to live comfortably. A house for the contemporary family which constitutes of 4 people at the most need only two rooms, a kitchen/dining and living areas. Design of houses should focus more on how the interior interacts with the external environment. The house is open in the sense that daylighting can be easily introduced into the interior of the living quarters so as to 'enlarge' the space visually and emotionally. As the name 'House 00' implies, this is the prototype of my imaginary house, I hope to design more houses in the future. So stay tuned for House 01!!

Tower of Babel

I did this pencil rendering some time in 1996 while studying at the university, the thought of it makes me feel old. It was indeed a tedious job but I enjoyed every second of it. I guess it is important that all of us must enjoy what we do, then no matter how tough it is, it will be like a breeze to us.

Hidden Treasure - Penang High Court

I participated in the site visit organized by Penang Heritage Trust a few months ago. We discovered this fantastic dome during the visit. The level of details is just amazing. The funny part is that this feature is actually being hidden behind a layer of unassuming 'skin' before the renovation. It was discovered while the renovation is in progress and the architect decided to expose it. At last, one sound decision from the architect!

1998 - 2008