processing

early career brainstorming sessions. various. i wish i can get my wacom asap. (click here)

im an old man

im start listening to slow, very slow songs.

i still read the sports sections first, and though i didnt bother much about politics (its getting stale and boring, really, all these humbugs accusations and counter-accusations), i read business and properties and the likes instead of the usual cartoon strips.

so, we're having more, say, stylish, boutique, executive office towers. mind you, it wouldnt come cheap. and we're cramming soho and what's not into the city. im personally worried of the trend, whether we will be spaced out by oversupply of office towers. I mean, look; is every single office in KL is fully occupied?

The property gurus kept saying that the property's bubble is definitely up, but it wont go bu(r)st. wonder who appreciate properties that their prices are as it is now?

sustainability, isnt just about green and environment and energy, but also financially. there are so many high-end properties being built, has been, and will be; where as in reality, how many of us can really afford it?

it would be sweet to design a 50 mil bungalow. but it will be more meaningful to design within a really limited budget, but gives a bigger impact as a whole.

just a tongue-in-cheek, i know we appreciate design and form and ideas more, but definitely, this one's worth pondering about.


idealism.sometimes.gesundheit.


read something bout vietnam the other day; click here.

no 16 & 17

the immortal life of henrietta lacks / rebecca skloot

The Time Traveler's Wife / Audrey Niffenegger

getting less time to update my blog; things getting busier, hopefully, the rewards is justified.

and I wish to have more new readings!

This is 3d

Some guy just added me up on fb. didnt know whether he's a super junior or a super senior. ah. the power of facebook; inter-mapping human's relation and network.

By the way what really caught my attention is his 3d works.
have a look (click here)

I remember Logo saying something bout 3d professionals, and this guys is really in his elements.

now this is what I call 3d.

You can earn a good living (better in fact) making and visualizing 3d models, in fact one of my senior has his own 3d firms.

BUT, never let the 3d dictates your design. its a tool of visualization and interpretation of design thoughts. I always remember what dr rashid reminds us; become the master of the tool (in this case, at that time, it was sketchup, but along the way, i realize he's commending on other softwares as well. you dont DEPEND on the softwares, you USE them), and not letting the tool master you. I have the (un)fortunate chance to work with one; he's always bitching why his model has more memory than I am, why I can work mine smoothly, and his design form is limited by what he can use of the software. understand the tool, then you can get the tool to work for you. then you can do weird forms to your will (but justify your design!)


All works posted are the creative property of mr Husnie Nawi

maaf zahir batin

and so eid is coming near, and ramadhan is coming to an end.
another year, another ramadhan, how's your 's this year compared to the previous years?

went to subang to pick up the fabled blueberry cheese tart by kak rozita (thanks bah!) along with her, and have a visit to the ******* musollah ( that's before we got lost about 1 & 1/2 hours) to see how much progress had been done. seeing it, and hopefully, it will be done by eid.

comes to think of it, i enjoyed, and feel more connected, to projects that really brings you together with the people and the community. human scale, emphasize on space quality that evokes emotion.

AAAUUUUMMMMMMM

Cant really concentrate in the office today; everyone's looking forward to the malaysia vs singapore match tonight. and Im going to watch it at the National Stadium!

All the best Harimau Malaya!

Initial Sketch while having a chat w my officemates

a 10 min's editing work

You.the hotshot 3d architect.

"If architects just manipulate form, they will become completely irrelevant"

Thomas Fisher



Become master of the tool, and not let the tool deceive or dictates you.



a gentle reminder to all young inspiring architects living in the world of sketchup

architects are not cool; they're super geeks in smart dress

so claimed by Cameron Sinclair, one of the founder of Architecture for Humanity (click here)

The last DATUM was an eye opener in so many ways, some insipid and tepid presentation, but clarification and manifestation of ideas flew literally.

There were some comments that Asian architects didnt really know how to attract public audience, but what I really look into is their contents and thoughts.
The thesaurus and encyclopedia didnt sound much as your fav entertainment, but you do gain knowledge from them. I know Laurence Loh is monotonous in his presentation, but it his works which he presented are what really matters.

Architecturally speaking ( I wont touch on Dato Seri Idris Jala; I admired him for how he turnaround MAS and leads the GTP, but his talks are more on policies and less on architecture), I got to highlight Marc Simmons, Alfredo Brillembourg and Cameron Sinclair.

for which Marc envisaged on an integrated practice, up to every single detail, and how he understand technology as a tool and not depending on them, that's an eye opener in itself.

Alfredo and Cameron might as well be the anti-thesis of zaha hadid, liebeskind and gehry; but they come with purpose, and stay true to that.

Im not against starchitects, nor im a holy saint, but i believe we're responsible for the built environment, and each architecture needs requires different thinking, approach, architecture style and language, and not to be admired, but to be used and to be feel, empathy of the built environment emotion and ambience.

I leave you below some quotes fro the NOW conference to ponder about;

Alfredo Brillembourg;

1) the best clients are the clients who uses and cares, not the corporate board room
2) Critical thinking is such - only 5% of architecture built is shown on magazines; but we need to think the quality of the other 95%.

Marc Simmons;

1) Now is not the age of starchitects, but collaboration and free flowing information
2) Technology is just a tool; the 1st principal is understanding how things and technology works; consequencing adaptability and flexibility

some silly note taking and sketches during the conference. above is from Ola Shereens' and Alfredo's

Reasons being

if the doctor cuts you open and takes something out, you wont complain infact you'll thank him and even pay him as you know he's doing it for your own good.
If he asks you to give something up you'll try, as again you trust his judgement and know he's telling you for your own good.

Similarly if GOD takes something away from you THANK HIM too as he is the DOCTORS of ALL DOCTORS. if HE's taken something from you its probably for your own good and if HE's stopped you from something again its for your own good.


ALLAH, he is Haakim and Hakeem

p/s: just post something bout Cameron Sinclair vs Zaha Hadid the other day, and guess what, he's coming to DATUM KL 2011 for the NOW conference.
should've asks the developers to come as well. after all, they hold the power (money)

Demi masa.semalam

We're running late for our bowling tournament between archi firms.
we rush to the mall's lil musollah.

no surprise.peak hours for maghrib.it was full.

so the three of us perform our jemaah at the service corridor.
rakaat ke - 2, tambah 3 ahli jemaah.
by the end, it was 11 of us.

I'm lucky to be in my current organization. and im lucky i still hold some life's practice from the good old mrsm days, though seldom nowadays.

P/s: dear architects, new design approach for musollah provided in commercial area? please dont treat it as an after thought.

gesundheit

No 12,13,14,15

12. For one more day; Mitch Albom


13. Abraham Lincoln - Vampire hunter; Seth Grahame Smith (personally, much more better than the twilight series. sorry steph)

14. Doctor in the House; Dr Mahathir Mohamed

15. Theodore Boone; john grisham



Im waaayyyyy behind schedule. its the midde of the year!

“Judge us not equally, Abraham. We all may deserve hell, but some of us sooner than others”


Abe is mind boggling!

dilemma

1. Client vs end user. inevitably, big C wins.but we architect always try to make the best for both ends.have you tried pleasing the needs of both your mom n wife and mother in-laws? it's somewhat familiar. (so now u know the EQ that architects comes with)

2. With all the recession and inflation and cost of living rocketing, there's more and more high end living (note. RM450G for 20'X70' link house) instead of affordable housing. and now calls for micro housing in urban area. KL to become tokyo?

3.My First Home Scheme (MFHS) is a good idea, unfortunately to get a house in the range of RM220G you'll be living far far away from the urban epicentre my friend (and that is before we delved deeper whether your loan get a preferential 3.5 % interest rate. even a RM3G earner will be hard pressed. marriage first?). so, long distance working?

4.to curb property speculators (be aware people), should, or should not, 30% real property gain tax (RPGT) comes into view?

5. dear architects or wannabe, perhaps architecture of relevance should be our priority instead of architecture of excess. click here. (dont stop at the article, follow on the discourse)

6. I've always like this quote by Mok Wei Wei (he's one of the speaker in Datum some years ago);

" Why we need to build taller and taller towers -
in Asian culture the void is imbued with
a lot of meaning and strength,
and we should be designing space as an icon,
rather than object as an icon,
because they are memorable, imageable and
definitely more enjoyable"

architecture doesn't stop at visually arresting breathtaking image, we deal with built environment. visuals and images can lie, but architecture, built architecture, is ever presence. I think Billy Tsien (a speaker in the same Datum as Mok Wei Wei) said something along that line.

There's no harm in exploration, its a must, but we should explore meticulously, more so in space, practicality and function, instead of just hovering about form and facades. that's superficial, to me in my opinion. Justification is the keyword to our works, never stop at being 'pretty'.

Eugene Raskin, in his writing "architecturally speaking" said something along the line (of which I hold very dearly) ;

Architecture is not like movies - as movies didn't make sense when it is played backward, architecture is not. It goes both way.


each to his or her own opinion mates. just be honest with your work. gesundheit

dear whiners

pessimists alike.

blog hopping during break and found something quite interesting. Original post from superfuously sweet


Do you hate your job and feel that you get paid much less than you deserve?
Is there a subject you totally despise and hate studying?
Is there someone who’s being rude and nasty to you all the time?
And have you been wondering why it’s all that way?


Maybe you should hear the story of the evil monster and the little boy.



The story goes that long, long ago there lived a monster in a tiny village. The villagers were all terrified of him, and felt their village was cursed to have such a creature living in their midst.


Several men tried to fight the monster. One man attacked the monster with a sharp sword. The monster grabbed the sword and almost magically pulled out another sword, twice as large, twice as sharp and cut the man into half. Another time, a villager set off with a large wooden club to hit the monster. The monster responded by slamming the man with a wooden club, twice as large as the one that the villager had. On another occasion, a villager tried to set the monster on fire. But the monster opened his mouth and spewed huge flames – that roasted the poor man. Scared by these events the village folks gave up trying to fight the monster. They felt this was their lot, and they had to learn to live with it.


And then one day a little boy said he would go and vanquish the monster. People were surprised, and despite their disbelief, went along to see the little boy take on the monster. As the boy looked up at the giant, the monster just flared his nostrils and glared back. The little boy then took out an apple and offered it to the monster. The monster grabbed it, held it to his mouth, and then thrust his clenched fist in front of the boy. Bang! As the fist slowly opened, the people were astonished to see two delicious apples there. Twice as red and twice as large as the apple that the boy had offered. The boy then took out a little earthen pot with some water and gave it to the monster. And the monster took that and responded by placing in front of the boy two urns made of gold, filled with delicious juice. The people were ecstatic. They suddenly realised that the monster was not a curse – but a
boon to the village. The little boy smiled. And the giant just smiled back.


While the story is centuries old, the monster is still around. In colleges, in the office, and in our lives. And it’s a good idea to remember the lessons from that story. Most of our problems appear that way because of the way we look at them. You get back what you give. Twice as much! Is someone being rude to you? Maybe you need to change the way you behave with them. And no, don’t wait for them to change; you need to change first! At work too, if you go in to work, hating every moment, it’s unlikely that you’ll do a great job. If you don’t contribute, don’t expect to get paid a fat salary. You get what you give. Resolve today then to change. Love your job and give it everything you have. Be nice to the “Ms Nasty” in college. Look at Maths as a cool, fun subject. And you’ll discover that the evil monster is in fact a benevolent giant.

It’s significant that it took a little child to discover the true colours of the monster. Children don’t have preconceived notions. They believe the world is a wonderful place. It’s only as they grow up that the optimism
vanishes, and negative conditioning sets in. Go on. Let the child in you take over. Look at everything you dread with fresh eyes – be it rude friends, tough subjects or lousy jobs.


Maybe the monster is really a nice guy.
Change the way you look at him. And see the difference!


gesundheit.

#5,6,7,8,9,10,11

The full chronicles of narnia, by C.S Lewis, in one book, for the price of RM39.00
what a treat!

I still read fantasies; it opens up your mind, ease your tension, and bring back the kid inside you.
my fav would be "the horse and his boy", with "silver chair" coming close.

split

just some random stuff. breaking 10 min plus from working (yes, im working on sunday)

had a thesis crit session with the final year yesterday. for the first time ever, an alumni crit session at kl. it was good, the alumni get the chance to meet each other, get to know what's happening in utm, and get to share knowledge among each other.

It was the 4th crit, so much is to be expected. the 1st stage should've come up with a schematic design, while the 2nd stage should've finalized their basic drawings. should, but didnt.
and some of the thesis were ambiguous, lack of direction; presentation weren't properly planned, the flow is all tangled up; and boy they really need to be meticulous in designing, they should reflect comprehension of structure, by laws and design maturity as a final year student.

nevertheless, some of the thesis title were interesting. if they can knuckle down, focus on what needs to be done, insyaAllah they'll have fun enjoying completing their thesis.

alas, i only chip-in in the 4th crit; i didnt follow them from scratch, so maybe there's a story somewhere along the line. and this only reflects in the unit that im involved in. ive got no idea how the other units fare, but, insyaAllah, godwilling, everyone's pulling it thru.

but they got to buck up. submission's in 3 weeks time.no other way about it. after all, architects is the best at handling pressure (hint*)

quote on shadow

Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other - carl jung

#4

When death tells a story, you really have to listen

"the Book Thief" / Markus Zusak

stay with me

trying to remember which series or movie i heard this song from.
but featherstone's kinda suits me sometimes ;)

#1 - 3

#1 The graveyard book, neil Gaiman

#2 For one more day, Mitch Albom

# 3 Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko\

* just following suit hisham's; listing up books that i've read for the year 2011. lets see where i'll end ;)
and people, keep your book's receipt. u can get a tax relief with every single purchase of book.

*really fond of the higher vampire witeslav (no, sorry, he didnt sparkle in the day). I like the ideology of the inquisition, you dont take sides for the greater goods. and fuaran's writings is an eye opener too.

gesundheit

vi-ray-us

okay; to be frank, I didnt fancy v-ray much, even in my varsity days ( I preferred artlantis and kerkeythea anyway).

But I think its worth sharing (im getting deeper and deeper to the world of geeks and dork-chippa!), here's a simple tutorial on v-ray rendering process (click here) and (here)

and if you're an architect/archi-student, remember its the essence of design that counts, the space, the construction technicals etc, not the 3d renderings. Im a tad disappointed when trainees come to ask more and more about rendering, instead of what makes a good design, constructions, details and such.

well, maybe its the generation gap. god bless.