Point 92’s latest edition, is a white armadillo, the gucci bag or however we wish to name it. but it has a large hole in it, this interconnecting void that offers lush greenery and landscaped courtyards that slowly climb around the corner of the building is the green bit, the part that makes it sustainable. These are actually break out areas , they need to be planted with big trees, none of that shrubby stuff. once organised, they can be used as proper shaded from the hot sun, nice ‘dining is possible’ roof terraces. From here we let our brilliant engineers design m/e systems to bring in lots and lots of fresh air for a naturally ventilated atmospheric condition. The ‘hole’ is made large enough to be seen from afar, we think at night it can be lit by a number of different ways to evoke yet another iconic conceptual work. an armadillo with a heart? or the gucci bag unzipped.

©2008.huatlim

Was reading an article in the business section of the International Herald Tribune, and found an interesting read on a recent article by Timothy Ferriss, the 4-Hour Work Week, presumably cutting out emails and multi-tasking as we go along. Incredible that anyone could do such things these days without feeling disconnected or unaware of the world outside. Yet, even Netscape Communications founder Andreessen says some very good things about the book. If we can rid of all those emails and having to have all those gadgets, we can come in on a Monday feeling much less overwhelmed with work. When asked how he keeps abreast with what’s happening, Tim says he asks the waiters.

If you ask me, I love work, couldn’t do without my emails, and totally against the idea of lazing around or building huge muscles and picking on people who don’t necessarily mind not climbing up some remote mountains and hiking for kilometres as as if to prove themselves fit. Once a workaholic, always will be. If I do take a holiday, it’ll be about giving time to look at things, and appreciating the environment, its not about leaving the office or not having to work long hours.

[after the Alex Williams' article for the International Herald Tribune]

zlgdesign is proud to receive the prestigious 2007 International Prize Barbara Cappochin Award for their BOH Visitor Centre.

The International Biennial “Barbara Cappochin” Prize for Architecture is launched in Paris. The purpose of the Foundation is to remember Barbara, a young student of the Faculty of Architecture I.U.A.V of Venice by promoting high quality architecture. This quality can only be obtained if the three essential figures, the Contractor, the Designer and the Constructor, work together to identify that thin line that connects life and architecture, by focusing on choices, ideas and materials in order to attain high quality results. This is the objective of the Foundation.

Image of Astro new look office, designed to promote Astro’s philosophy of work, of solidarity, symbolic in the way the facade shows two building materials coming together, one transparent, and the other more solid. A concept that drives the plan form as well as the section, two spaces meeting in the centre where the courtyard breaks into a garden, with many natural elements. The dark cement and the panar glazing on the facade locks into each other as a clasping hand, the interlocking floors give each level a view of the the next one either above or from below. A humane and completely intimate internal environment that encourages external awareness and a sense of connection to light and landscape.

www.zlgdesign.com

Duyong, a restaurant designed by zlgdesign [susanne zeidler and huat lim] created from tradition, albeit reference to the art of making boats, nearly lost through the ages can be seen here in Kuala Terengganu, in Pulau Duyong. The simple geometry of a arched structure assembled to represent and echo the forms of a malay boat gives this interior its essential meaning and presence.

www.duyong.com [website]

As a designer and architect, one often takes a lead role but there are moments when a collaborative stance adds value to the Project. With most scenarios this often makes it difficult to identify the key person lending the idea ot the Project.

It is not often easy for more than one architect to be involved at the beginning of the Project, where the work is mainly at a conceptual level. Quite often a Masterplan architect takes the lead, with several more architects working under the different parcels.

The expertise is already there within each one of the consultants, to give their intrinsic value to the Team as the project requires whether its design or cost management. Neither the Client or his Project Manager must make attempts to lead the Project Team, as such we have many failures where this has been permitted.

It takes USD 2 million towards training an architect to take on a position where he can just begin to lead a team. For spectacular performances we can expect the investment to be much larger, with award winning results and superlative designs.

barbara cappochin award | zlgdesign philopsophy | huatlim

There is a little problem I’ve had for sometime to solve in my head, and that is that I think architecture is taking a bit too long to becoming like what good art should be, generative and always assuming an emotive role. We don’t seem to be able to connect to our buildings as easily as we do with music or art, or simply things we adore, like our children or our books.

huatlim

Generative art is best appreciated through Simon Reilly’s Still Life, and the disturbingly beautiful Mind’s Eye videos. Played through between 6 to 10 minutes, these images are slowly replayed in compression modes or stretched to fill a certain space within one’s minds. Gordon’s work is not dissimilar, and decides to show a western played over a period of over 5 years, this can seen at the Telenor Centre, Oslo.

huatlim

Simply one of the most sophisticated website I’ve seen today, more than merely a technically superb portfolio, Jonathan Yuen’s site is in a class of its own simply because of its artistic and natural feel for nature and how it [graphic design] connects us to our internal sense of beauty. If you can’t see the connection between photography and graphic design, this is the site to visit.

www.zlgdesign.com

I have for some years been very interested to research how generative artists’ work will eventually have an influence on how architectural methodology can borrow from it, and be subsequently developed using this process. Action painting and drip painting of Pollock, how this has evolved to influence chance or generative art as in the work of Brian Eno, the transitional work using compression techniques of Douglas Gordon’s videos and Simon Reilly’s time warp installations are all clues to how architecture can be engaged in similar philosophical framework.

huatlim