A little bit of publicity...

...for the event organisers.


More at the main Archifest website.

Really Ar? 2 - "So This Is Masterplanning!"

Hi good people,

WE ARE BACK WITH REALLY AR!!!! As you would already know, Really Ar? is Re:act’s design sharing session where we invite designers to talk about their recent projects. This sharing session is open to anyone who might be interested in architecture and design and through this we hope to encourage meaningful discussion of real issues and new ideas! The theme for August’s Really Ar? is “So this masterplanning!” Come find out more this coming Tuesday, 5 Aug 08, 7.30-9.30pm at Night & Day Bar, ( 139 Selegie Road ).

Presenting 3 Speakers:

1. Philip Tan, Surbana

2. Prasoon Kumar, HOK

3. Yu Sern Hong, 5+Design, LA


Special Presentations:

1. Elaine Tan, URA - on AUDE Programme-

2. Chong Keng Hua - on [re:act] Initiatives


We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

TU DELFT ARCHITECTURE FACULTY DESTROYED BY FIRE/ BRAND BIJ BOUWKUNDE TU DELFT

TU DELFT FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE DESTROYED BY FIRE

(For the headlines on the event in the Dutch news, click RTL)

I entered the faculty of architecture at 9.10am, got to the 5th level and there was water all over the floor. The lifts were not working so I walked up all five floors. I walked to the tap and got myself a cup of water.

After approximately 5 minutes, the alarm sounded. I was still carrying my cup of water while going with the flow of people leaving the building. We were all herded to the carpark- that was when the fire at the 6th floor became visible.

The fire looked small, so at that time people were more struck by wonder than worry. The email sent out by the faculty administration announced that the fire started from a "short circuit caused by a faulty water pipe" at the 6th floor.

The fire could not be controlled and continued to ravage the rest of the building. At approximately 5pm or so, part of the building collapsed. At 5.18pm, D.J. van den Berg, President of the Executive Board, released an email statement saying that "no conclusive statement can be given about the exact cause of the fire". Fortunately there were not casualties in the fire.

This is the closest I've been to a headlines tragedy. With the initial wave of sensationalism worn off, I now feel a sense of loss. Loss for people whose works have gone up in flames. Loss of a place that I had some emotional attachment to. Loss of an entire faculty. As I type this I can still see, from my window, smoke billowing from the destroyed building.

At home home now, I turn to my bible for some key to the event, and chance upon Deuteronomy 5:4 "The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire." This gives me a sense of awe of how powerful God is. Am also reminded of the verse from 2 Corinthians 4:18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” The temporal nature of the material world and its systems is quite often overlooked until it collapses. It has collapsed this time- literally.

And the Pritzker goes to...

Monsieur Jean Nouvel. Here's an article about it (courtesy The Independent, UK):

Jean Nouvel looks like a villain from a James Bond movie. He is large. He is completely bald. He always wears black, except in the summer, when he always
wears white. He is celebrated for his rages but also for his generosity and his
long friendships, even with his rivals.

Yesterday, Nouvel, 62, the French architect who has designed some of the most memorable buildings in the world in the past 20 years, won the Pritzker prize – the Nobel of architecture. It was a poke in the eye for his many critics. It was a riposte to those who believe that all modern buildings look the same. Famously, no two Jean Nouvel buildings look alike.

He looks quite a bit like Lim Kay Siu if you ask me (see last picture)! That aside, Fivefootway has this to say about Nouvel's award, in the context of the larger picture, with a slight dash of cynicism and a serving of wit.


Me, it hasn't quite sunk in yet, but here are some images for a bit of that instant gratification.







A nice bald shave and a dapper black suit for whoever guesses the names for the three projects above correctly! (Images courtesy of rightful owners.)

Singapore 1:1 Exhibition at the URA

Had a chance to attend the Singapore 1:1 Forum last week, held in conjunction with the Singapore 1:1 Island exhibition at the URA Gallery, the second in what I hope is a (longer) series of exhibits on architecture in Singapore. The first was Singapore 1:1 City two years ago. The exhibition documents key architectural highlights in Singapore, chronologised into 'ages', from the 1960s til today.

Moderated by Larry Ng, director of the Architecture and Urban Design Excellence (AUDE) programme at the URA, the forum was given its kick-off by Dr Wong Yunn Chii, the curator of the exhibition, who spoke on the processes behind curating the exhibition, and the mode of selection of its theme (and projects). In so doing, the audience was given a live commentary-cum-critique on many of the selected exhibited schemes, which felt like a Brief History of Modern Singapore Architecture 101 (in a most positive way, of course). It was enlightening, as it was my first time listening to a talk on curatorial thought processes, and on viewing the exhibition after the forum, it lended additional credence to the exhibition itself. The photography for some of these projects was pretty impressive as well.

Mr Arthur Aw of Jurong Town Corporation later gave his insight on his eight or so years of working at the Jurong Town Hall, itself a Brutalist-styled design from 1969 (by Architects Team 3) which still commands much awe, if audience response was anything to go by. A quote from Mr Aw: "If someone joined JTC, in the old building (Jurong Town Hall), I would have got to know him within three months. Now, if someone joins JTC, in the new building (Jurong Summit), it would take me a year to get to know him."

This simple comment brings forth further, deeper questions of modern office-space typologies, and is a silent criticism on developers' quests to go for taller, lower-footprint skyscrapers. The latter little more than fulfilling efficiency, and, in the case of Jurong Summit, are probably far less of an architectural marker in time, than buildings designed to make their presence felt - Jurong Town Hall would be a case in point.

Ms Rohani Baharin from CPG Airports then gave a detailed talk on everyone's favourite airport - Changi, documenting the progress it's made since the opening of Terminal 1 back in the 1970s. This was a very refreshing point of view - one uses or views an airport on a very microscopic level, compared to the people who are actually planning it, everything from its masterplanning to its infrastructure to the little architectural details that contribute to the airport being runaway best-in-the-world for several years running. (Nugget of interesting information: There are baggage carousels running underground from terminal to terminal, below the existing MRT line!)

The audience was treated to a video of the conceptualisation process behind T3 as well, with details of the now-famous skylighting flaps, and the green walls and large expanses of curtain-wall glass. Ms Baharin's talk ended off with optimistic hope for T4, which has now been confirmed to be in the pipeline.




Mr Tan Kok Hiang of Forum Architects gave an enlightening talk on the thoughts and design processes behind three of his projects - the Henderson Community Centre, the Assyafaah Mosque (model pictured above) and the new entrance for the Singapore Science Centre. Cultural significance and relevance lend themselves to Forum's projects, and these show up in details, both highly microscopic - for instance, in the Arabesque screens of the Mosque - and macroscopic, in the primordial Fibonacci Sequence system that guides the new landscaped plaza leading to the Science Centre. It left the audience with the feeling that architecture indeed innovates, and is meant to innovate, while serving more fundamental demands of space, form-making and client/programmatic demands.

The forum concluded with a colourful Q&A session, in which the speakers furthered their respective talks with commentaries on the future of architecture and architectural innovation in Singapore, while keeping true to what we've held proud thus far - efficient and "pleasant" design. This is a timely shot in the arm as we are seeking a myriad set of answers to the perennial "So, what's next?" question, in the context of local architecture.

All in all, it was a talk that neatly wrapped up the Singapore 1:1 Island exhibition, itself a neat set-up. I bought the concomitant book - even with slight reservations on its graphic design - as I know it will become a handy historical document on how far Singapore architecture has come, as it is itself a history-documenting book.

The Singapore 1:1 Exhibition has been extended til April 11th, and can be viewed during the URA's opening hours.

Young Urbanist Programme Season 1

This is an article written by Lyn-Anne, the Managing Editor of Five Foot Way Magazine on the recent YUP. She did such a good job, we thought you should not miss it. Find out more about Five Foot Way Magazine here.

The Young Urbanist Programme [YUP] held on Monday 10th March 2008, was a 1-day workshop initiated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and executed in collaboration with [re:act] and held at the URA Centre. It was an enrichment programme for primary school students during their school holiday and was attended by 30 P5 students from Radin Mas Primary School and River Valley Primary School. [re:act] was engaged by URA to plan, organize and facilitate the workshop, as well as to curate the exhibition. Through problem-based urban activities, the programme aimed to instill creativity and sensitivity in our future generation, while giving them a taste of being an architect or urban designer for a day.

The objectives of YUP were to raise awareness and educate students on the importance of a well-designed built environment, as well as to introduce simple Urban Design (UD) and planning concepts, so as to build up an urban design-conscious culture from young.

Matthew Chong, a teacher at River Valley Primary School, said it was important for the students to learn about their environment at a young age so they would be aware of their surroundings and be careful in the way they live.

The programme also hoped to encourage students to nurture a keen sense of observation and interest in their built environment and to inspire students to think, design and plan as architects and planners through a design exercise and presentation session. Using URA’s City Gallery as an aid to introduce Singapore’s urban planning & design and coupled with games to add interest to the learning, the workshop was intensive, fast-paced, energetic and creative.

Armed with the YUP Activity Booklet produced by URA, the students were broken up into teams of 5, each led by a facilitator and a teacher. They went on an outdoor site study in the vicinity of the URA Centre and returned to an art and craft session on model-making, site-planning and designing to simulate the real work of architects and urban planners. The students were all in laughter as they cut out pieces of cardboard windows and dabbed their Styrofoam trees with glue.

Claire McColl of Radin Mas Primary School said she learnt how to be creative with cardboard and plastic bottles and also how to work in a team.

The tasks given to the students helped to reinforce their learning and understanding of the built environment.

Teo Hui Ting, a student of River Valley Primary School, said that through the workshop, she finally understood how hard it was to plan and build a city.

At the end of the workshop, students got to present their findings and designs to professional planners and architects. Parents of these students were also invited to sit in the presentation to give encouragement and support to their children. As such, the workshop reached out not only to students, but also to teachers and parents.

Chong Keng Hua, of [re:act], said they are in talks with URA to organize more of such programmes and they hope to include students from polytechnics, ITEs and even parents in future workshops.

FFW was at the workshop and we noticed that even though there were chaotic moments at times (kids will be kids), the students were genuinely serious about making their models as realistic as possible and almost did not flinch when they presented their works to the professionals at URA. This collaborative initiative by [re:act] and URA was a rousing success and everyone involved left with a greater appreciation of our city’s architects and urban planners and new friendships.

FFW applauds the efforts of [re:act] to introduce art and design to students at such a young age and we are looking forward to more of such inspiring initiatives.

Lyn-Anne is the managing editor of FFW and she loves photography and film-making.

Ongoing Exhibitions at URA

Here's a bit of publicity for URA - definitely worth taking a look, especially since there're three of them, all under one roof!

How to Get There

The URA Centre, 45 Maxwell Road

Nearest MRT Station: Tanjong Pagar

Singapore 1:1 ISLAND

16 November 2007 - 11 April 2008

Singapore has been likened to a 1:1 scale, life-sized gallery ofarchitecture and urban design. "Singapore 1:1 Island" highlightsSingapore's architectural and urban design uniqueness through a selectionof architectural projects completed island-wide, outside of the citycentre, over the past four decades. For more information on the exhibition,please visit http://www.ura.%20gov.sg/spore1_%201/island/

President's Design Award 2007

15 February 2008 - 11 April 2008

The President's Design Award is Singapore's most prestigious award for itsdesigners and designs. It recognises the significant achievements andcontributions of the nation's design talents. The Award entered its secondcycle in 2007 and was conferred on seven Designers of the Year and sevenDesigns of the Year. This exhibition showcases the works of the 2007 AwardWinners. For more information on the President's Design Award, please visit http://www.designsi%20ngapore.org/%20pda/award.%20html

The National Art Gallery of Singapore

7 March 2008 - 28 March 2008

The National Art Gallery of Singapore (working title) is a new visual arts institution which will contribute to building Singapore as a regional and international hub for visual arts. To seek the best design concepts for theNational Art Gallery, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), in association with the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), launched a two-stage architectural design competition in Februarylast year. This exhibition showcases the three winning entries. For more information on the National Art Gallery, please visit http://www.national%20artgallery.%20sg/

The exhibitions are open Monday - Friday, 9am to 7pm; Saturday, 9am to 5pmand are close on Public Holidays. Admission is free.

Young Urbanist Programme (YUP)

Fun, great, cool, creative, interesting, crazy, scary, brain wrecking, spectacular, challenging, the best, excellent, shiok, record breaking, oh my gosh… This was how the primary 5 students had described the pilot YUP workshop completed on Monday, 10 Mar 08. Held at URA Centre, the workshop was attended by 31 participants from Radin Mas and River Valley Primary School. The programme was really packed – it was like the 3-day Design My Place workshop (for JC students) compressed into 1 day! But somehow, it was still magically manageable.

Enjoy the photos!

Really Ar? at Night & Day Bar

And so our first session of Really Ar? came and went. In all, I must say we were quite pleased at the turn out, though it is still a constant struggle trying to get some serious discussion about issues started. I guess it's just the mood that people are in after a long day's work. Still, it is a start! The next time we do this, we will probably have a more specific theme and find speakers accordingly. That would help steer the discussion a lot more.

Thanks to all the people who came to share with us your projects - Adib, Wai Hon, Ker How and Lin Hao. It was most enjoyable. Our gratitude goes especially to Randy who allowed us the use of his place and for supporting us in such an initiative. You have our heartiest appreciations! Of course, also to all who turned up, we hope it was at least remotely meaningful for you. Do let us know how we can improve in the coming sessions!

Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Really Ar? Design Sharing Session

And so we kick off this year's activities with our very first Design Sharing Session of 2008! As you would have probably noticed, we have given a name for all our future sharing sessions - "Really Ar?" I thought it's a cool name. Local, contextual and also a play on the words, Really Architecture! It's inquisitive, dynamic, and has an addictive ring to it. For those of you who need a crash course on the nuances of the Singlish language, the word "ar" normally spelled "arh" is commomly uttered at the end of a question to express enlightenment, as in

"This building was built by Foster."
................................................................."Really arh?"

When exclaimed out loud, it can also be taken to express astonishment or disbelief, as in

"The new national stadium is going to look like tissue paper."
..............................................................."Really arh?!"
(Of course we now know that it will be a bald headed dome instead.)

I could go on, but admit I have digressed. I am easily distracted. Anyways, we really hope you can join us for our opening act of 2008! We've got some interesting projects lined-up for you. Come and give your 2-cents worth on what you think about them. Almost anything is up for discussion. Mark that date down in your calendar now! 31 Jan (Thu) 2008. 7.30-9.30pm. Venue is at the Night and Day Bar. In fact, why don't you do one better and bring a friend along. See you there!


Joshua Teo

While we're at it...

...there's also the Alvar Aalto exhibition, by the Alvar Aalto foundation and NUS Museums, on-going at the National University Museum (that's at the University Cultural Centre),

...and T3 (no Kristianna Loken though (or Arnie depending on who you like); the closest you get to cyborgs are perhaps the smiling SQ girls) which is open to the public during office hours and weekends for the public.

(Images from rightful owners)

Check here for more details! (A little bit of input required.)

Exhibition and Public Lecture - Neues Bauen - New Architecture

Every so often, we architects / architecture-enthusiasts need something to remind us why we even sold our souls - and for some of us, even our (social) lives! - to the Underworld. (Literally, for times when we do things like design basement carparks.)

Here's one of those things - an exhibition (with a keynote lecture) on "New Building"! (Neues Bauen in German. The latter word rhymes with "Frauen", except it doesn't quite mean the same thing. ... Now, if there were a lecture on Neues Frauen.......)

It's based on a 1927 exhibition, International Plan and Model Exhibition of New Architecture, that placed architecture in an international context. That exhibition toured 17 European cities between 1928 and 1930 as a part of Die Wohnung (Habitation), a 1927 Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart, demonstrating the similarities and interdependence between the modern buildings from the US and Europe. (This paragraph adapted from publicity material)

Perhaps the throwback to 1920s architecture ideas - highly innovative at that point in time; still in vogue 80 years on (which can't be said of any 80-year-old Frauen!) would stir up enough nostalgia for us to get re-inspired should our motivation run dry, reliving the little wow moments amidst the snoozes in first-year architecture history courses.

On a side note, if the 1920s was "new", pre-WW2 "modern", post-WW2 (very loosely) "post-modern", the decades straddling the turn of the new millennium "contemporary", wouldn't we have run out of terms to define movements in art, architecture and philosophy say, 80 years downstream?

Anyhow, the exhibition runs from today til 6 January, with a keynote lecture this evening! ...

"Neues Bauen. What was so new about it in 1927?"

By Professor Karin Kirsch
Moderated by Dr Erwin Viray
7 to 830pm
Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
Free admission

In conjunction with the Neues Bauen (New Architecture) exhibition, now til 6 Jan 2008; 10am to 9pm

(Image taken from the National Museum of Singapore website, hence the funny tags.)

Please see http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/ for further details.

A Good Start to Something New

We just finished the Design My Place (Urban Creativity Workshop) over the weekend. It was nothing short of an amazing experience for the students, the facilitators, the organisers, and our supporters. It was very encouraging to see at the end how well received it was not just by the students, but also by our sponsors from URA, our supporters from Design Singapore and other guests that we invited as part of the jury panel.

Our greatest thanks and appreciation certainly goes to Khoo Peng Beng, our Chief Facilitator/ instructor/ teacher/ Akido instructor, without whom, the whole workshop would have been less energetic, less inspiring, less passionate and less successful. More on the workshop in the next few days. For now, enjoy some pictures.