I.Design

So, it is September, again. Flash back to the first day of September 2013, I was a freshie in USM. The memory is still fresh,  nervous and excited filled up my mind. A new chapter of  life begins in a place that is far away from home. And that always reminds me to work hard. Homesick gives you strength, somehow it does. Holiday shouldn't be too long. It will make you lazy and lose your strength. Time to wake up and work! Say hi to September! =)

Without realising, it has come to the end of second semester of my first year. Which means, RUS 106 would write down another ending here. Nevertheless, it still giving me a lot of bitter and sweets. Brainstorming for ideas, searching for informations, accepting critics for designs that costs me lots of sleepless nights, yet it is awesome to be one of HBP. As usual, an exhibition is held to display some selected works. And the theme for this exhibition is 'BECOMING'- stage of transforming. This indicates how we are improving and transforming to be better architects, designers and planners.   Idea from BEFORE I DIE WORLDWIDE and we decided to make one in HBP USM!!! See what those HBP-ians a.k.a Ghost of the Dawn want to do before they die.    [Do what you want to do before you die]

A tropical retreat is an ideal place for a family-bonding and getaway. It allows the family to have a wonderful holiday and relax themselves, getting close to the nature at the same time. The site given this time is located at Sungai Udang in Malacca. Again, it is just opposite the sea and provides a good view. Since it is designed for a family, my design concept comes from a family tree. Starting from the trunk, it branches into different parts but they are connecting to each other. I emphasize on ventilation issue as tropical climate is hot and humid. That is why I design a center courtyard in the middle of the house. It is a open area and decorated with tree and ponds. It could be a mind rest area or a family gathering place. I named this tropical retreat as 'The Cluster House' as I hope to bring the family bonding closer. I enjoyed the model making process as I am a DIY lover. The moment I finished the model, I have a strong feeling of satisfact...

The new project sounds interesting. It has been my dream since young to design my own coffee house. So I take this project as a trial. As the site given has a good view direct to the sea, it gives me a sense of relax and freedom. This is how my design concept comes. My design appears like a seagull. Seagull is a social bird and it likes to move in groups. It often appears near the beach to hunt for food. The way the seagull spread its wings wide symbolises the welcoming sense to the visitors. It looks like flying freely towards the sea and gives people the feeling of unstrained, free and relax to interact with each other. As the coffee house is used for community purpose, this idea matches with the theme. Due to some influences of korean drama, I like coffee houses with high glass doors. It gives a good view from inside and outside, providing natural lighting at the same time. Behind the coffee house, I design a recreation park for the community. And there is a amphithe...

Designers and artists need inspirations to create more.  Thus, a portable studio is needed for them to move around and get more ideas. Again, this is a project in group of three. We chose Karim Rashid as our design client. He is well-known by his dynamic, human works which he called them as 'sensual minimalism'. Being an industrial designer and interior architect, he is bold in using striking colors in his designs: pink,white, white, green, purple, blue but not black. He thinks colors are able to create a pleasant atmosphere and black color makes him feeling restrained. Karim Rashid often dressed up in pink and white, which he felt angelic and free. The design is inspired by a leaf blowing in a wind. It symbolises free, untrimmed and relax. The shape of the window was taken from one of Karim Rashid's design symbol called 'soul'. This symbol appears in his design very oftenly and we think it would be bringing out the identity of Karim Rashid....

A reception table is the first thing that comes into your eyes when you enter a company, gallery, hotel and etc. It could bring out the identity of the company and give a welcoming sense to the visitor. Therefore, a reception table is very important. For this task, I chose MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) as my design target. I like MoMA very much and it would be my greatest pleasure if I could design a reception table for MoMa. MoMa is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Its collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art. This inspired me to design a sculptural reception table that suits MoMa's image. The reception table was named as 'Ospiral' which means organic shape of spiral. The design was inspired by an element 'spiral' which is popular in architecture, art and nature.  I could see this element appears in a french curve and nautilus shell. I transformed them into an organic form and this is how 'Ospiral'...

I was quite shock by the first project given in the first day of new semester. The task was to create a poster promoting the old charm of George Town.  Seven heritage buildings in the George Town World Heritage core zone were to be selected to be the main attractions of the poster. The task was a group project of three.  I was not having a really deep exploration to George Town on last semester since I was bombarded by the rushing studio projects. Soon after the morning session of studio, my studio masters allowed us to have a self visit to George Town for collecting information and data. George Town is really a great place to be visited. Filling with heritage buildings of various style from different era, fusion yet harmony. I felt like I was falling into a time machine and back to ancient time. After a lot of discussions and rational thinking, my group had finally come out a concept about the poster design.  We imagined ourselves as the tourists...

It has been a few months since the last post. Final exam and sem break has dragged my attention on revisions and holidays. New semester has just started. After saying goodbye to RUS 104, here comes RUS106. So the blog will be active again with the coming soon exciting projects! [Be strong, be tough]