15.12.10

// Sol LeWitt Chairs



This chair was designed and built in collaboration with Zak Fish as part of the structural design built workshop. Students are required to select a client who inspires them and design with the Vitruvian goals of Firmness, Commodity and Delight.
Our chosen client was Sol LeWitt, who is known for his conceptual art of orthogonal linear geometries in multiple combinations. The concept is to have the chairs synthesize a successive combinations of horizontal and vertical lines in multiple configurations. It was made with 3/4" Baltic Birch Plywood, CNCed, sanded, stained in Special Walnut then polyurethaned. 
The SLW Chairs will be exhibited at the annual CUTMR (Come Up To My Room) exhibition at the Gladstone Hotel from January 27-31, 2011


Featured on MoCo Loco








30.10.10

// urban planning lecture in nightclubs




NEW UTOPIA a new track for NEWLY DRAWN.
It's a lecture about the history of urbanism and systemic change.

4.9.10

// 9 Days in Tibet



Tibet July 17-25, 2010

Back in July it has been over two month since I started interning in Beijing, by then I was quite burned out by Beijing's city life, and the overwhelming workload within the office. Along with two other colleagues, the three of us decided to reward ourselves with a mini vacation to get away from the unsettling urban frenzy of Beijing. Tibet became the obvious target as the ultimate earthly paradise, an utopian isolated from the rest of the world is just what we needed. 
Little did we know Tibet was more forbidden than what we had imagined. As foreigners we had to apply for three different permits to go where we wanted, on top of that we had to be under supervision by a local travel agency at all times. After twenty thousand phone calls and emails corresponding with the local agencies, we were eventually ready for the land of harsh landscapes and dizzying altitudes. 
In 9 days we traveled from the barren, stark snow capped mountains of Lhasa to the fertile, heavily forested mountains of Nyingchi, and witnessed the surreal transformation in between. We did camping, hiking, rafting, and overdosed on monasteries. This is a video of my photographs compiled as a series of stop motion clips. Smile!

Music: 印流行 (Indian), Diamond by Klint

Video put together with iMovie

29.4.10

// project review 2010


"The Projects Review Exhibition offers a glimpse into the design research and creativity of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture captured and distilled through exemplary student projects completed between May 2009-April 2010.
Celebrating works from the undergraduate design studios, graduate and undergraduate courses and commended theses from the professional Master’s of Architecture grogram, a picture is drawn of architecture in the making."


28.4.10

// side dishes for the summer


For an architecture student, making a new years resolution is indeed an exercise in futility. Eight out of the twelve month I spent in school is bombarded with studio studio studio, it suffocates the possibility to do anything on the side. I am off to Beijing this summer for a four month work term, in comparison to a school term it is really a vacation in disguise. So in attempt to avoid spending endless hours of ‘free time’ in front of my MacBook, I’ve created a four month compact version of a NYR. Here are what’s on my agenda for the summer besides my day job.

Start studying for GRE, and possibly do a trial run. I think I need something like 1200+.
I will take full advantage of China’s cheap labor force and hire a personal trainer. This will be my After photo come September.
Teach myself Grasshopper, and web design.
Spent time with my beloved toy, I like to look as badass as her.
Put together a reading list, then fulfill at least half the list. 

This is by the way an incomplete list of resolutions, it is meant to evolve over the course of the summer. I will check back in September for a completion report.

20.4.10

// BaliYo Pen




I love this pen-toy hybrid I found on Coolhunting. It’s made by Spyderco and Fisher Space Pen, so summing up the best of both world, you get a well functioned pen that flips just like a balisong. Sweet...

25.3.10

// South Parkdale Revitalization


south parkdale revitalization


A little GIF animation I made for the 3A collective housing proposal. More to come at the end of the term.

// studio



13.3.10

// the faintest ink



These are some quotes from movies and shows I have seen in the past week. I love quotes, I love the way they can articulate my thoughts and feelings better than I could ever imagine. In the past, quotes that at the time have made a deep impression in my mind always seem to vanish over time. This has been proven tragically true time and time again, and leaves me with the feeling of losing a valuable possession. So to remedy that, I am making the effort to record them in the form of writing, now this should be an appreciate lead-in to the first quote on the list...

The faintest ink is better than the best memory. -Mad Men
I love the way a photo can capture a moment before it’s gone. -The Lovely Bones The longest journey begin with a single step. -Precious You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind. -Irish Proverb The older you get the fewer the thing you’ll love, by the time you get to my age maybe it’s only one or two things. -The Hurt Locker

6.3.10

// "the slab lab"


This was the most recent project produce by my studio. Each of us was given a box of the same dimension, within it we were to design a test unit for habitation that challenge the typical mass housing conventions. A total of 70 boxes with radical architectural variations were produced in the end. The finished products were momentarily stacked together in a slab building fashion, one can imagine an apartment building with a pixelated facade, where each pixel/unit is expressed differently according to the occupant's unique way of living. For a moment, the project became a model of domesticity with an agenda of celebrating individuality within the collective herd. Imagine the Borneo Sporenburg in stacks.


21.2.10

// sex bomb



Evgeny Plushenko 2006 Olympics gold medalist, 2010 Olympics silver medalist...funniest man on ice.

// a knife fetish





20.2.10

// indexed

















Funny diagrams highlighting life's absurdities...taken from Indexed.

19.2.10

// new portfolio



two years of architecture school

18.2.10

// judge a book by its cover

Some people like to think that they are beyond making assumptions based on looks and appearances, but they all do it, it's human nature. If you still won't admit you're the same superficial fuck like everyone else, this image should convince you. This work is done by Reclarkgable featuring the same couple in different attires. Sad but true, appearances do matter.


11.2.10

// ponte tower

















I came across this disturbing image during my research on mass housing. It struck me as the most depressing and dehumanizing architectural moment to the best of my recollection, I was profoundly fascinated. Here's a quick rundown of the building. 
Ponte Tower, designed by Manfred Hermer, also known as the Ponte City Apartments, was built in Johannesburg in 1975, and is still the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa. It is a 54-story tube with an open center to allow additional light to reach its inner apartments. It was in its heyday one of the city's most coveted addresses, described by newspapers at the time as "heaven on earth".
Ponte Tower was a true example of Apartheid-era thinking. The apartments facing the outside of the building were designated for rich white families while the inner apartments, in permanent twilight, were meant for their black servants. Life in the building became truly brutal after the fall of Apartheid. As crime rose in the once-upscale Hillbrow neighborhood, numerous gangs moved into building. Ponte Tower became a center of organized crime activity, and life in the building become extremely unsafe. The building has been dubbed as ‘suicide central’ - people from all over town would go there to jump. The windows around the inner core were all barred, and most still are. Owners all but abandoned the structure to decay. At one point the garbage piled five stories high in the open inner courtyard of the building.
Fun Fact #1 Danny Boyle maker of Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later has made a political thriller that was shot on location in this tower.
Fun Fact #2 There was reportedly a huge effort to clean up Ponte City in order to use it for athletes’ residence during World Cup 2010. However, there were questionable business dealings, controversy, and, eventually, no project.
Fun Fact #3 Ponte hit its lowest point when in 1998 it was suggested that it be turned into a prison, an idea soon discarded.

Dear Mr. Hermer, You know you failed as an architect when your building raises suicide rates, stars in a blood-fest thriller, and evokes convert-to-prison proposals.  
more unsettling images after the break

16.1.10

// happy hour



‘Happy Hour’ came from the marketing term used to describe the period in which bars and restaurants offer special discounts on alcoholic drinks. The period usually spans from 4pm to 8pm, a time that is popular amongst colleagues to gather for drinks after a long day of work. 

The duration in between the end of work/school and the family dinner is your time to unwind, relax and satisfy those suppressed urges; such as after work drinks, after school play dates or squeezing in some much needed exercise. This four-hours-long duration inadvertently makes a happy face when applied on to a clock. Whenever you check the time the visually striking image of the smiling face reminds you of the ‘happiest hours’ of the day, the self-indulging time zone we all crave for.

Material palate: 3mm plexiglass and aluminum sheeting. 



13.1.10

// color coordination overboard



I came across this during a site visit in downtown Toronto. It amused me how a neighbors rivalry could go this far.