YOKE HENG NG

2010-06-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

“When you discuss your own work you have to ask yourself what you acquired from whom. Because everything you find comes from somewhere. The source was not you own mind, but was supplied by the culture you belonged to. (…) Architects are in the habit of concealing their sources of inspiration and even of trying to sublimate them…but in so doing the design process gets clouded, while by disclosing what moved and stimulate you in the first place you may well succeed in explaining yourself and motivating your decisions."

Everything that is absorbed and registered in your mind adds to the collection of ideas stored in the memory (...) the more you have seen, experienced and absorbed, the more points of reference you will have to help you decide which direction to take: your frame of reference expands."

- Herman Hertzberger, from his book "Lessons for Student in Architecture"

ARCH 7111

2010-04-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Masters is so hard...

This is a link containing the master plan for the Harold Park Urban Renewal Project we are currently doing for this year:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MN95GEJX

Thanks to all the group members who have made this wonderful presentation layout!!! XD especially the leader of the group =P Of course, everyone did their best too. So give yourselves a big round of applause!!

Now we have more to suffer in the individual project. Yippie~

Beeld en Geluid

2009-06-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

'Beeld en Geluid' is a Dutch word, which means 'Sound & Vision'. This is the title of a rather interesting book by David Keuning, introducing the magnificent design of The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision by the founders of Neutelings Reidijk Architecten, Willem Jan Neutelings & Michiel Reudijk, together with the graphic designer Jaap Drupsteen.

Architects always try to make the building work in reverse in relation to the Earth's gravity. In the case of NIBG, almost half of the volume sinks into the earth (4 levels of archives) while the other half sticks out above ground (5 levels, including offices, cafe & Media Experience), resulting a draw in this fight against the laws of nature. This building has 2 functions: it serves as a public attraction in Hilversum's Media Park, and also an archive to store 'treasures' consisting of Dutch TV & radio programmes. Facts about The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision (NIBG):

Archive: 700,000 hrs if audio/visual collections; 10,000hrs digitally available; 20,000 objects; 1mil photos

Building: 25,000m2 in total; 6100m2 depot with 4km of shelves; 3000m2 office space; 3300m2 Media Experience; 30,500m3 atrium, 26m high, 16m deep; 10,000m3 of concrete; 2244 coloured glass plates with 748 images in relief on facade; 120m2 shop with furnishings on wheels; Grand Cafe with seating for 190 people; Parking garage with 185 places; Theatre 1: 200 seats, film & HD video projection; Theatre 2: 90 seats, HD video projection; Workshop area with 30 workplaces; Temp. exhibition place

Media Experience: 165 computers, 160 LCD screens, 45 projectors; 100km cables; 2000m2 wood, steel & glass walls; 13,000l of chroma-key blue paint; Media panorama - rollup screen, 45m wide x 4m high

Construction: Began May 2003; Opening 1 Dec 2006

The concepts behind NIBG are the main reason why I like this building: -

REFLECTION

As an architectural theme of NIBG, this is expressed on different scales. The stain-glass facades engages the building with the condition of the sky and clouds of that day, creating interesting play of light into the interior of the building (especially in the atrium), with its subtle reflection of colours giving the aluminum plates an appearance of precious mother-of-pearl. Like a medieval cathedral with high ceilings and stained-glass windows, the atrium displays an amazing play of colours, creating a welcoming & merry atmosphere within the space.

At night, the building is set aglow, like a beacon in a sea of buildings of muted colours . The relief in the glass adds an interesting layer to its play of light, showing off images on the relief glass either clearly or vaguely, arousing one's curiosity. Depending on the angle of light reflected off these glass panels, the facade can sometimes be matte or glossy.

In a metaphorical sense, NIBG is a place for reflecting upon the ever increasing information in today's high tech society, a mirror of society, as well as reflecting upon the time where these images and sounds are created, documenting all the pivotal events through time, immortalising things that defines the time which had produced them (e.g. fashion, hairstyles, language, humour etc.). It uses 'journalism as the gateway to historiography', as Keuning puts it.

PLAZA & SUSTAINABILITY

In contrast to many of Neuterlings Riedijk's previous architectural designs, NIBG is sculpted from within, creating a sublimated mass of space: a ;large plaza and atrium in the heart of the building. As stated by the architects, the empty space (as a 'counterspace' for the massing, a internal space) are a luxury: 'anything can happen (in an empty space), because nothing is compulsory. The cavities in our buildings are ... sanctuaries for the uncontrived; they are public places without an assigned purpose'.

The atrium is such a space, like a covered plaza surrounded by separate solid entities defining the walls of the open space. The slightly angled glass wall of the office wing is designed as such to minimise the southern sunlight, while light pours into the atrium in abundance without the need of artificial lighting.

The' treasure chest', a.k.a. the archives are installed underground, as if inside a vault. This is a ingenious move; to utilise the underground's temperature and relative humidity (which is more stable compared to above ground) to regulate the conditions of the archives. This in turn require less climate control apparatuses than a conventional above ground archive facility. Besides saving energy, it also suits Neutelings Riedijk's objective to produce a piece of architecture that stimulates the human senses, which involves a variety of arrangements and composition for the building. In addition, the enclosed box shape of the building also render it a vault-like quality; 3 out of 4 cheerfully coloured facades scarcely have any window.

DISCOVERY

Like a film scrip production for a TV show, the building unfolds in a succession of spaces. The arrangements of the building's program (offices, Media Experience, archives) mimics a functional city; each has its own strategic position, command squares, control directions. As one passes through its low entrance, one will be in awe as s/he set foot into the vast atrium, with its canyon like underground archives and terracing building elements, discovering new spaces as one goes across the bridges, stairs and lobbies that lead to other interesting spaces. Each steps bring different experiences to the senses. One may even stop to scrutinise the images hidden in the relief glass or Wall of Fame (sandblasted).

LAYERING

'Buildings are born naked & must then be clothed' is a famous quote by Neutelings Riedijk, indicating that architects are tailors that custom-make the costumes for the buildings they design. It also needs to have a sense of tactility (by applying the appropriate texture befitting the building), like the comfortable feeling the clothing exudes on its user. Apart from the seductive, translucent and brightly coloured glass screens encasing the NIBG, the 'layering' concept is also applied on the interior of the building, where the 'second-line colours' shine through the 'first-line colours': the fiery orange glow emanates through the dark, dense canyon; and hues created by the LEDs behind the layers of a pale fabric & wooden 4-point stars in the cinemas and , for examples. Other layers are hidden from view, such s the utilities and building skeletons/structures.

TIME

Time is a wave motion that doesn't move in a straight line, and 'every architectural intervention to have its own wavelength' or life-cycle. For example, the Roman buildings have existed for more than 2000 yrs, while commercial or contemporary units and residential houses have different designed-lifespans. Within the macrocosm of a city, there lies the buildings and the forever variable humans and their everyday-life gadgets. In another sense, the NIBG can also be interpreted as a macrocosmic unit, where it contain bits forming the offices, theatres, cafe, shop, archieves, etc., and the visitors (microcosm). All held together by the seemingly flimsy glass-skin envelop to form a whole, complete entity.

Time can also be read as a 'uniform or exponential acceleration' ,where media are constantly expanding through time, i.e. the numbers of radio stations and television channels today compared to decades ago. This is expressed in the numbers above the openings of the archive/ canyon: time is expressed in seconds on the top most level, and the time span gets longer as it gets deeper (e.g. hrs, months, or even years (?)). This numeric system is non-functional, of course. It's just a way of representing the concepts/ideas of the architects. Yet, the most important aspect of time is articulated through the archive materials themselves, showcasing the cultural heritage of the Dutch society since the bygone days till now.

To me, the architects has indeed successfully 'captured' the intangible, immaterial phenomena; time, light & sound. Its simultaneously light and heavy quality do suggest that important things are stored within, like the Pandora Box (in a good sense). The whole building forms a personal relationship between a human & a building, through its rhythmic spaces and volumes, selective projection of building elements, lights and sounds, and the human's sensory factors that enable them to see, feel, touch, taste and smell the architecture and the spaces. This building represents the present, with its modern design and technology, but at the same time, brings nostalgic memories to the society.

Reference:
Keuning D. 2007, Beeld en Geluid - Sound & Vision, BIS Publishers, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

ARCH1202 : Exercise 4 - Week 14

2008-11-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

FINAL SUBMISSION

CONCEPT

HORIZONTALITY seems to be everywhere near & in the site: from the beach & it's horizon as viewed from Arden Street, the Coogee Beach steps, to the grass strips of the oval (as viewed from Dolphin Street), the metallic seats there & the blinds in the Senior Citizen’s Hall of the current Coogee Oval Community Centre. Even the Grandstand itself has horizontal element applied across it, which can be clearly seen on its south-west façade. Personally, I think that horizontal element has a calming effect & therefore it's suitable to be used in the design of the Coogee Beach Community Centre (CBCC).

But a ‘break’ is introduced & that is the VERTICAL element, like the trees on Coogee Beach & the surrounding medium-rise buildings. The seats & field strips can be looked as vertical elements as well when seen from different angle.

With that, a sense of RHYTHM can be produced.

Facade facing oval

Facade facing Brooke Street

PRECEDENTS

John Lautner
(Segel House in Malibu [1979] & Rawlins House in Balboa Island [1980])
John Lautner deals with the surrounding context rather organically & reciprocity seems to to occur in every part of his building designs. Each part & bit of the house are connected nicely, even though they are of different materials.

Herman Hertzberger
(Verdenburg Music Centre in Utrencht [1973-78] & Apollo Schools in Amsterdam [1980-83, 93])
Herman Hertzberger's sense of order & organisation is strong, with clear circulation systems linking all of the rooms or spaces. The choice of materials is also carefully thought through to create a welcoming gesture.
In the Apollo Shools, he has grouped the rooms round & open onto the heart of the school, where I tried to apply the same idea into my design (e.g. the arrangement of the multipurpose rooms, foyer, administrative rooms)

Mario Botta
(Gerbio Residences in Switzerland, 1992-96)
Mario Botta is an expert in using brickworks to create the forms & spaces he wanted. The selection of brick types, textures & colours also goes well with the surrounding context.

DRAWINGS & SKETCHES

The 5 keywords, from top left down: Insertion, Infrastructure, Threshold, Reciprocity (3 images including the one on the bottom right). I personally like 'materiality' for it relates more to the senses; what one sees, touches, feels, smells etc.

A map showing the mass of building blocks & the location of the site (in red) in relation to the surrounding context.

A diagram showing the sun path, the location of the building in relation to the surrounding buildings & natural elements, human flow, & visual & physical permeability (red & blue arrow respectively).

Ground Floor Plan:
The foyer act as a central 'heart' which pumps in human flow from the 2 different entrances (one from the street & the other from the park) & allows them to be redirected to other places, such as the cafe, multipurpose rooms, common kitchen, gyms, & flexible workshop. Most of the rooms have clear views into the oval since it is the most happening place of the site. The kitchen is placed near the Grandstand to activate that area; they can have BBQs there & watch a rugby/cricket match at the same time.

From south to north, the building slowly changes from rigid, angular shape to a more fluid form, just like the context of the site, where there is more built environment on the south compared to more 'natural architecture' on the north.

Lower Ground Floor Plan:

A ramp leads the people down into the gyms, toilets, change rooms & rubdown rooms. Separate change rooms & rubdown rooms are created for the convenience of people & also for the different teams which would be playing in the oval.

Physical Permeability & Circulation

Circulation path on ground floor

Circulation routes on lower ground floor

Visual Permeability & Transparency

Program & Colour Coding

Red: Community & sporting facilities
Blue: General facilities
Yellow: Administrative spaces

Sections & Elevations

Elevation 1:
This is the Brooke St facade by using different coloured bricks, showing the concept of 'horizontality' with a break by vertical columns. The Grandstand's darker brown bricks are continued with the introduction of a lighter coloured brickwork (greyish-brown) & it slowly turns to an even lighter colour near the north side. This exoskeleton of the building implies a strong robust quality of the building that seems to hold up its structure, just like the rugby or cricket players.

Section/Elevation 2:
The interior facades have a warmer colour to create a welcoming gesture, which is done by using timber strips, all placed horizontally as if guiding one's view into certain spaces.

Elevation 3:
CBCC as viewed from east.

Longitudinal Section:
Rendered section of the spaces to show how the light or shadow plays in the rooms.

FINAL MODEL

Overall view of design:

Ground Floor

Lower Ground floor

The huge columns which produce a rhythm. There is also a sense of transparency here. People can see what's happening in the large gym hall through the 2000x2000mm windows on the ground floor without having personally going down into the gym.

The indented wall of the main entrance from Brooke Street.

A clear view of all the routes linking the floors of the building once one is in the foyer.

The 2nd entrance linking the park & the playground to the CBCC.

The cafe is of an organic form since this part is linked to the (natural) park & it implies a softer side of the building. A deck is placed here facing the north so that people can enjoy & experience the nice views & quality of the park while having a cup of coffee.

An angular deck of the care framing the view of the oval.

A slit through the roof to admit natural light down the ramps.

The roof of the large gym hall opening up to the north to gain maximum sun light during winter.

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS of the 'secondary street' & the large gym:

ARCH1202 : Exercise 2 - WEEK 11

2008-10-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Concepts & Ideas:

Horizontality

Verticality

Rhythm

Transparency

WEEK 11 SUBMISSION

Sketch Model

Ground Level

Basement

Facade facing oval

Facade facing Brook Street

Columns & corridor creating an 'inner street'

Security check point

Transparency

Drawings

Small diagram showing the overall Coogee Oval site

CROSS SECTIONS

PLAN

Ground Level

Lower Ground Level / Basement

ELEVATION

ARCH1202 Project 3: WEEK 8-10

2008-10-16T03:14:00.000-07:00

INITIAL DESIGN

Idea + Concept: Erosion & Metamorphosis

Big, bulky buildings are placed on the north & south ends of the site (big gym hall & Grandstand respectively)
Administrative rooms are located near the foyer and top floor with views into small gym and oval
Toilets & change rooms are linked to the big gym hall with undulating roof structure
Cafe faces the middle of the field, with big windows framing the oval (includes window seats & pub-like desk at the inner part of the cafe)
Community kitchen is placed adjacent to the small gym hall & Grandstand since people like having BBQ there
Flexible workshop should be placed on solid ground & should be remote to diminish the noise factor, so it's placed under the Grandstand

Sketch Model

Facade facing Street

Facade facing Oval

View from Grandstand

Toilets + change rooms, large gym hall & cafe

View into small gym hall from office

Entrance to Community kitchen

Community kitchen

Experimenting with different roof shapes to see the effects they create

Plan

Construction drawing

Feedback of 1st attempt:

not sensitive to the site
every part of building seems different to one & another
the facade facing the street doesn't have dialogue with the surronding built fabric
people may have problems walking form one point to the next, e.g. toilets are not linked to the small gym & have to pass through the foyer to get there (imagine a sweaty gym-goer walking down the foyer to go to the small gym or rubdown room)
*sections & plans is a must!

REFORMATION OF DESIGN

Sketch Model

Ground floor plan

Lower ground floor plan

Facade facing oval

Facade facing Brook Street

Double height columns lined along the corridor, facing the street.

Columns viewed from inside of building

Administrative units stacked on on & another adjacent to fully glazed foyer (double height with gradual drop of ceiling to connect with the cafe).

The 'Gladiator' gateway for the Rugby Players

Steps leading to the 'Gladiator' gateway & the oval which can act as seats...an idea inspired by the Coogee Beach steps.

Community kitchen with grass-covered roof

Wave-like roof structure to allow more northern light into the building

Smaller entrance from the park...enables parents to buy a cup of coffee & keep an eye on their kids in the playground.

Sketches:

Plans

Sections

Feedback:

the 'Gladiator' gateway limits the view into the oval & it has direct link to the toilets, but this can be improved
cafe can be stretched to the whole edge of the site
seats can be linked further south
try rearranging the toilets, change rooms & rub down room to create a more convenient link
small gym hall is too far in relation with the toilets, change rooms & rub down room
facade & joints connecting the Grandstand and the rest of the building can be improved (e.g. 'knuckle' joint, extension of facade with different material)

New changes: rearrangement of cafe, multipurpose rooms, small gym hall, toilets, & offices

ARCH1202 Exercise 2 - Week 7

2008-09-15T03:53:00.001-07:00

Week 7 Submission

Sectional drawings

Cross Section

big gym sinks into ground
car access into the field
walls wrap around the rooms like a shell

Longitudinal Section

administrative rooms set to the North, separated from the rest of the rooms
big gym hall is located deep into the ground, while smaller gym is above it (adjacent to the ramp & links to the toilet/change room/rub down room)
toilet/change room act as a 'bridge' that links the big gym & store rooms & allows cars to pass underneath it
kitchen & cafe are placed near the Grandstand & the centre respectively t allow good view into the oval
multi-purpose rooms & flexible workshops are set at the top floor

An 'Edge'

one-point perspective drawing showing the big gym ( basement), the rub down room, ramp & small gym hall (lower ground level, partially set into the soil), and a cafe (street level)
a row of windows are placed on the East side of the small gym hall to allow more light into the hall, & the tiny holes (punctured concrete slabs with glass inserted into the hole to prevent dirt to fall into the hall) also helps filtering light into the small gym hall.

Detailed section of 'edge' of small gym hall

ARCH1202 Exercise 2 - Week 5 & 6

2008-09-08T04:59:00.001-07:00

Week 5:

Initial sketches for Exercise 2
-an overall S-shape structure
-big gym hall set underground
-cafe at the top of big gym

<-- Brook Street ----------- Coogee Oval -->

Week 6:

The shapes of my design are ideas that are derived by looking at the plan f the site; from Coogee Beach's profile to the Oval and to the buildings; as if the beach is being embraced by the natural rock formations on land, and the same goes for the Coogee Oval that is being embraced by the surrounding buildings . More curves can be seen form the beach & it gradually turns into rigid, straight lines that are portrayed by the building forms. Something in contrast seems to be at work here, such as fluidity & rigidity.

From there, the 1st attempt of designing the community centre is formed.

These are done based on the functions of the rooms or spaces, where I've colour-coded the floor spaces in blue, red and yellow for general facilities, community & sporting facilities & administrative spaces respectively.

Then, the design is broken up into bits (i.e. administrative offices are grouped together & placed at the north end), while some of the spaces are 'sandwiched' in between to produce a 'layering' effect (e.g. most of the general facilities like the cafe & toilet/change-rooms are placed in between the community & sporting facilities).

The initial design is a cube-like or rectangular building. No actual plan are drawn for I tried to look at the spaces volumetrically & at the same time, determining the minimum heights each space should have by drawing a human figure in it.

ARCH1202 Exercise 1 - Week 4

2008-08-22T07:05:00.001-07:00

A1 POSTERS

Brief Site Analysis:

Coogee Beach:

aboriginal meaning of the word ‘koojah’: ‘stinking seaweed’ or ‘smelly place’

Coogee Oval:

a coastal void
a place for international, state, & regional sports, namely cricket, rugby league & rugby union
Cogee Oval’s principal role – to serve the needs of rugby union in the area

Roof -shapes:

___ , --^-- , ^

Surrounding buildings:

emphasis on verticality
medium -rise buildings with big windows facing the field & sea

Figure Ground Drawing

showing the solid-building forms & open spaces (voids, alleyways & back-door courtyards)
red represents buildings on site

Coogee Oval - field analysis:

A combination of a square/rectangle with a circle

Rectangular: masculinity, vigour (rugby), competition
Circle (curve): femineity, soft (kid’s little football field/playground – family quality time), relaxation
Metaphor: ‘sea & waves’, calm vs. vicious
H2O – continuity, changes course if a rock is in its path, but slowly deforms the rock à soft & strong at the same time
Note: curve = community, peace

Grid System

As portrayed by the satellite, the urban fabric around Coogee Bay is constructed according to a grid system, but in reality it's a different story

Physical & Visual Permeability

Mapping

showing location of trees & how nature seems to blend in with the built environment by 'moving' diagonally
trees closer to the beach provide less shades (pines & palm-trees) compared to leafy plants (Eucalyptus etc.)

Contours

the field seems to exert an attraction force to its surroundings

Major Arteries

busiest roads: Arden Street & Coogee Bay Road

Density

from left to right: population/human activity, noise level created by human, noise level created by cars
the top row is of day time while the bottom row is of night time, say from 7-9pm

KEYWORDS:

Reciprocity

Aboriginal art - 'Fragmentation & Multiplicity'
fragmented architecture, blending in with its landscape

Ambiguity

Section of the site viewed from the sea showing reciprocity
dark charcoal lines - buildings; grey pencil lines - natural elements like trees
both grew/built according to the land form

Materiality

Coogee = cultural hotspot (tourism)
different currencies represents people of different countries & backgrounds that visited this place

relates to the human senses: touch, feel, see, smell etc.

Threshold

layerings
aware of change
different shapes, different sizes, different experiences

relates to distance, passage (activity), transition
defines boundaries where things start to change

Insertion

represents a sculpture (in squid form) that's placed in the public open space

based on the Bali Bombing Memorial erected in Dolphin Point to commemorate those sacrificed during this sad accident, whereby 6 members of the Coogee Dolphins rugby league
an introduction of new things, a break, but at the same time trying to link things with its surrounding, a continuum --> 'Duality'

Infrastructure

passages, corridors & links --> communications
program that links culture with nature
the drawing shows a wire-circuit: red circles represents a gathering place filled with excitement (here it's the Coogee Oval where the Rugby teams play)

alphabets & symbols: indicating roads & streets as a 'communicator' or 'link'. Also shows the traffic flow around this area
gold & silver dots: places where people tends to spend most of their money (usually round commercial areas)

Red: commercial blocks which are more rowdy with more happening things
Blue: residential areas that are more relaxed

Sketch Model

I tried to combine all the keywords & how I feel about the site into the design:

Reciprocity: curve & fluidness of the sea & waves
Threshold: transition between interior & exterior
Insertion: sticks penetrated through the paper, as if holding up the structure
Materiality: literally a 'map' for this is a tourist spot
Infrastructure: a community centre (design still in progress...)

ARCH1202 Exercise 1 - Week 1

2008-08-21T06:39:00.001-07:00

RECIPROCITY

MATERIALITY

THRESHOLD

INSERTION

INFRASTRUCTURE

ARCH1201 Project 3: Final Submission

2008-06-15T01:28:00.000-07:00

Narrative:
The dealer is a guy who likes delicate sculptures and also bold artworks. He appreciates his privacy but at the same time enjoys the street life.

Therefore, the building is separated into two parts: public (galleries) & private (apartment/bedroom, kitchen & workshop), linked together by the semi-public office (I put it so since people can come into his office & make deals with the owner).

The bedroom is at the top-most level to ensure his privacy but since he enjoys the street life, he can always sit in the open living area to enjoy the street life & also the night scene ((or sun set views, which I find particularly beautiful) .

Site Plan

Site Plan with the red box as my chosen site. The grey organic shapes represent the trees, in contrast with the solid and rigid black building blocks.

Site Model

Poche

<--Rear Courtyard---------------Street-->

Spaces on each levels from the 3rd level to the basement :

Level 3: public spaces with a BBQ area (left), pubic courtyard, bedroom & outdoor living space (disconnected from the public area)

Level 2: From right to left, workshop with a view out to the street & a cubed bathroom/toilet (this space was to be the kitchen initially but it seems to be a bad idea to place the bathroom/ toilet together with the kitchen), kitchen with stairs connected to the 3rd & 1st levels, galleries

Level 1: (definition of rooms or spaces from right to left) Entrance & shop front facing the street, an office, open & uncovered space to place sculptures, bigger gallery spaces & some smaller ones

Basement: A storeroom & big gallery space for large installments (such as Kiefer's artworks). The two smaller rooms are public toilets (male at the left, female's at right).

an art work by Anselm Kiefer inserted into the 2nd level

Final Model

Front

Side

Back

Top view showing the (private) open living space & bedroom in front & the BBQ & public area at the back.

Section & the display of two artworks: large painting/sculpture by Kiefer & small wheel-barrel (tracery) by Lane.

Entrance and shop front, with the office covered in mesh-wires so that the dealer can see what's happening in his shop (and idea inspired by Cal Lane's tracery artworks).

A closer detail of the office. One can vaguely see through the stairs into the back of the building.

Bedroom & outdoor living area at top,workshop & bathroom/kitchen.

Kitchen area with stairs connecting to the bedroom at the top & office below.

Kitchen with the view out into the open, uncovered (gallery) space.

Narrow gap (view from below) into the uncovered gallery space (with the large gallery wall detached)

views from back courtyard

Largest gallery space in the middle of the whole building.

Roof-courtyard and BBQ platform

Imagine that the gallery is lit up from within during the night.

Passage of time: light & shadow through spaces

Circulation & Linkage

From office to kitchen

To the dealer's apartment

One Point Perspective Drawings

A sequence of images showing the journey through the building, read from bottom right to top left.

Imagine that you’ve come into the dealer’s small & compressed shop, with a little (& partially translucent) office at your right. It’s a bit dark but u see an artwork under the light & you walk towards it.

Stairs from officce to kitchen

The space suddenly opens up into the sky. It’s big & u can see the eaves of the kitchen too...but it’s that it? There’s only a big solid wall in front of u and a sculpture. You look around and find a narrow passage way. It’s really dark but u insist on walking down the stairs and there’s more light; one in front of you & the other on your left. Which route will you take?

If you turn into the left, you’ll suddenly see an even bigger space. It’s a gallery space for large installments and artworks. At one end there’s filtered light from the sun outside, and there’s a gap in between the glass panels of the building with the soils of the earth. At the other end there's a room for storing the artworks. No one is allowed there except the owner.

If you kept on walking straight & up a flight a stairs, you be able to see s gallery for small items or artworks, and it's linked to a outdoor courtyard and an another smaller gallery up another flight of stairs. But if u turn around you'll see the big gallery, with the white-washed walls.

Smaller gallery spaces

To outdoor courtyard at the back. Note the glass panel on the ground to allow filtered light into the gallery below.

When you proceed up into the roof top, you've come to a roof-courtyard wit a BBQ area.

view into the open gallery space from roof-courtyard

Finally, if you are lucky enough, you'll get a tour into the dealer's kitchen, workshop & maybe even his apartment too.

Bedroom & private outdoor spaces

ARCH1201 Project 3: WEEK 11& 12

2008-05-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

WEEK 11

Rough sketches:
These sketches are the signs of initial ideas, done through sections as a way of organising the spaces and at the same time, trying to fulfill the dealer's requirements.

Since most of the buildings (including the two buildings on my selected site) along this street are about 3 storeys high, I want the building that I'm designing to be about the same height too so that it will not obstruct the height of other buildings. But the overall height for my design is much taller, so I made it a 3 storey building with the lowest level dug deep into the ground to become the basement.

<-- Street-----------------------Garden -->

Note: for the gallery in the basement, a small recess is dug in the ground (at the rear of the building, the part facing a small garden) to allow natural light to be filtered into it.

Floor Plans & section

<-- Street-----------------------------------Garden -->

<-- Street-----------------------------------Garden -->

Sketch Models
- arching glass panel at the front and also a curved roof
- transition from a small, compressed space from the entrance to an opened, uncovered space
- then through a small, narrow stairs & back into a vast gallery space at the basement
- public and private roof courtyards are connected

front view

rear view

A series of images showing the passage of time and the shadows it creates:

WEEK 12

By Week 12, most of the shapes & organisations of my design are done, but refinements are still required. A grided system is used to better organise and develop the spaces: 5 boxes of equal size (5.3 x 6) is drawn and are subsequently divided into halves, one thirds or half of the 1/6 to place the rooms, galleries & also stairs.

<--garden--------------Street-->

Sketch Model (2nd stage)
- the volumes of the spaces are maintained with only slight changes in their functions
- all circulation routes are placed at one side
- the eaves of the roof are extended, namely those for the large gallery and the kitchen
- the dealer's private courtyard has been disconnected with the public roof-courtyard

Exterior facades

Front

Side

Rear

Interiors

Shadows through time:

The images above are taken using one of the roof designed with 4 small-squared roof lights forming a bigger square in the middle. But the triangular-like entrance to the public rooftop doesn't seem to fit in. So a few attempts were made to change it.

Experiments of lighting effects are based on these two.

Option 1 (left) & Option 2 (right)

Option 1

Option 2

But the only once which seems to make the space looks brighter (and not jail-like) is the one on the right, so option 2 is the one that I've used in my final model.

Circulation and linkage within the building:

Uncompleted site plan in the form of a figure ground drawing:

Site model

ARCH1201 Project 3

2008-05-29T21:18:00.001-07:00

Site: 228, King Street, Newtown, Sydney

Images from Google Maps & Google Earth:

Red marks the spot!

Site Analysis

King Street of Newtown is one of the busiest street around this area and according to the city of Sydney webite, it was 'the first suburban shopping centre outside the city centre'. This thoroughfare is still a shoppers’ paradise today. Hundreds of stores, cafes and restaurants lined along this street, giving it a happy & lively mood with a tinge of Bohemian ambiance. It is a diverse place where people of different ethnic, background & religion can meet, exchange ideas and do activities.

Buildings along the way are mostly of Victorian or Federation styles. And the building that I've chosen is a fairly modern one, about 6 meters wide (a very narrow site indeed), sandwiched in between two Victorian style buildings as shown below. It catches my eyes from the moment I first look at it.

Buildings on both sides:

Other reasons for me to choose this site:

i) Beautiful sun set scene facing the street (viewed from the perspective of my selected building)

ii) little garden at the back of my ideal site

Selected artists & their artworks

Anselm Kiefer (Germany; France, b.1945)

Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe
1984-1986
280.0 x 380.0 x 75.0cm overall
358.1987.a-b

Cal Lane (Canada; Halifax, Nova Scotia, b.1968)

Detail of tracery

Hood & door, 2006
plasma cut steel car parts

Wheel Barrel, 2006
6 cubit feet
plasma cut steel wheel barrel

These images are from Cal Lane's website:
http://www.callane.com/page9.html

Ideas & inspirations from the artworks by:

Anselm Keifer:

texture, sense of touch --> materiality, brutalism
sudden projection of things out of a (fairly) smooth surface

Cal Lane:

turn junk into ‘gold’, i.e. she has managed to create delicate tracery out of unwanted metal/tin cans. It's simply fantastic!! --> perforated screen --> diffused light

ARCH1201 Project 2

2008-05-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

Vemeer's painting entitled 'The Geographer'

Narrative about the painting:
Note the expression on his face. It seemed as if he's taking inspirations from the outside world... Or just being distracted by the things happening out of the window, wishing that he can be part of it instead of focusing on his mundane work as a geographer.

Concept:
To create a space which has a viewing platform for relaxation

Initial design: Three spaces are located on top of one & another to form 3 stories;
i) the ground floor has 'holes' on the walls that act as window openings to light up the dark & gloomy space,
ii) the second floor (study space) has a roof light that 'enlighten' the geographer while he's doing his work,
iii) the third floor has a lower ceiling but with a big opening on the ground, glazed, & serve as a viewing platform into the open plane beyond

Like a troglodyte (cave) dwelling, it has a heavier base than the top.

The materials to make this initially would be clay & transparency, but since the design has changed during the process (while still maintaining the sequences & major features of the spaces), screen boards are used to resemble the smooth surface of concrete, in contrast to the rocky & somewhat sandy site while transparency is still used as the glazing for the viewing platform.

Rock formations in the Arches Park, USA that became the inspiration for my design.
(Source: Sunday Telegraph)

Drawings

An exploded axonometric drawing showing how the internal spaces are linked by the stairs (in ramp form)

Human scale in relation to the design

Final Model
Exterior

Main entrance at ground floor

Section cut & Interiors

Interior at ground floor

Interior of 2nd floor

Stairs connecting the 2nd floor to 3rd floor

The viewing platform with glass stairs which can serve as a sitting area.

A more secluded place on the viewing plat form

The stairs (not made) that links the 3rd floor to the ground floor

FINAL SUBMISSION for PROJECT 1

2008-04-19T02:14:00.000-07:00

Final Model
(Done by Jandark Mikhail & me)

Overall model

Front

Back

Bird's eye view

Stairs

Section

Section detail 1

Section detail 2

Detail of ceiling

Interior of main living all (roof off)

View from entrance (rear of building)

Temple-like front facade of Livingroom

Bedrooms

PARTI Diagrams

Structure

Enclosure
-the shaded parts indicate that it's an indoor space, or places where they are covered by a roof

Program
-to show the relationship between indoor & outdoor spaces

Geometry & Circulation
Attempt no. 2 for geometry & circulation. It turns out that both of them are still

Refinement & final drawings of Geometry & circualtion

POCHE Drawings

Plan

Sections

PROGRESSES

2008-04-19T01:11:00.001-07:00

These are the first few attempts whe producing the parti & poche drawings.

PARTI & POCHE

Structure

The buiding is more heavily structured from the back till the front, i.e. more solid at at the back & gradually opening up to the views of the mountain (more voids) at the front.

Geometry

Square & triangles are the dominant shapes that built up this house. Image mirroring & duplication of shapes is fairly evident.

Circulation

My first attempt was to draw an ant tunnel for the horizontal circulation, but then changes have been made to identify the parts of the building which i think the owner (Jorn Utzon) & his family might go, with different frequency.

The dotted path indicate the route to the exterior part of the building, which included the swimming pool, courtyards & the flight of stairs. Meanwhile, the shaded parts shows the circulation in Can Feliz, & the denser the shade, the more frequent that particular space is visited, i.e. the kitchen, bedrooms & bathrooms.

Enclosure

Model
Model in progress...

ARCH1201 Week 1: Parti & Poche

2008-03-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

Drawing attempts of Parti & Poche

* (assumed) roof plan

ARCH1201 Week 1

2008-03-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

PROJECT 1: ARTIFICE

Assigned villa: Villa Can Feliz, by Jorn Utzon (1994)
Location: In the mountains of Mallorca, Spain

CAN LIS & CAN FELIZ

Can Lis

-built in 1972
-Located on top of a cliff
-extraordinary view to the sea

Can Feliz

-Inspired by the site itself
-Nostalgic: 2nd house looks like the 1st
-Dimension of sandstone blocks: 40x40 cm or 40x20 cm
-Area: 400~500m2
-Meaning of the word 'FELIZ': Happy, Fortunate

Utzon's Sketches

Elevation & Sections

Image sources:
-Weston, Richard (2002), Utzon: inspiration, vision, architecture, Hellep-Denmark: Edition Blondel
-Sergeant, John. (1996), "Utzonian Houses." Architectural Review (Oct 1996): 47-49

Elevator Path

2007-10-23T19:26:00.001-07:00

The elevator snakes around the beam, connecting one space to another.

ARCH 1102 THE BRIDGE

2007-10-23T03:03:00.001-07:00

Starting point...within Zhang Yin's space:

The elevator on the left goes down one level and allows one to stand on the 'snake's body', while the other leads to the dining/meeting space.

View out of the 1st floor window

2 stairs leading towards her office

View through internal window

View down the stairs

Moving glass elevator...allows one to see it's surroundings.

At the meeting point...

Two similarry designed tables are placed in the middle of the dining area: the grey table's for Carlos and the red one's for Zhang Yin. The grey table sits heavily on its spot to show the strong power taht Carlos holds in his businesses, while the red table moves to symbolise the adaptability of Zhang Yin in thee situations she's been through.

A short brake from the elevators...a Viewing Platform on the highest point in the beam.

The 'snake's tail' & entrance to Carlos Slim's space:

The corridor

The reception area

Heading towards Carlos' office...

Carlos' big office space...

Back to reception area...

And into another open space...

External views: The Beam, the Snake & the Dining Space.

The Viewing Platform.

*as mentioned, the elevator on the left goes to these place*

Link to final map: http://hosted.filefront.com/heng51star

CONCEPTS

Elevator pathways:

A Snake that wraps around the whole structure of the beam, the dining space & also supports its own head (Zhang Yin's office), as if wraping around its prey, signifying POWER. A few elevators are placed within the Snake. The starting point is placed in Zhang Yin's space, like a snake swallowing the food until it reaches its tail. Windows or holes are carved onto the Snake's body to allow passenger to view out of the elevator pathways.

Zhang Yin's space:

Zhang Yin seems to be a very protective person (eg. she defended her son & said that the son is qualified to hold a high position in the Nine Dragons Company) and one who appreciates her privacy, thus the layering of walls and vertical screens. A hole is carved on the roof to allow more lights into the space, & a big window is placed directly infront of her office for she tends to watch over her employees' progress. Her space resembles the head of the Snake to suit the design of the elevator path.

Carlos Slim's space:

He's the riches & most powerful person for now, so his office sits within the solid & heavy beam, symbolising his strong power & position in his career. All spaces within the beam are connected through the reception area, like a big network but with a centralised system.

Dining/Meeting space:

It's designed to be partially solid yet a bit light-weight, so glass is used & louver-like structures are made. It also works as an open-air space for there's no glass in the middle oppening, just be careful not to fall off..

Table

2007-10-22T21:28:00.001-07:00

2 tables with the similar design are created. For Carlos, the table is fix to the ground, showing that it has a strong position (like him in his company); for Zhang Yin, a movable table to indicate her resourcefulness and adaptability to the situations she's in.

SKETCHES

2007-10-22T18:25:00.001-07:00

One Point Perspectives

Two Point Perspectives

36 Custom Textures

ARCH 1102 WEEK 12

2007-10-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Fraps Images

Overall view

Zhang Yin's office

Exterior view

Interior views

Stairs connecting to her office

Zhang Yin's office

Dining Space

Carlos Slim's space (didn't chang much...)

The corridor

The reception area

Open space connected to the reception area (previously was a meeting room)

Walkway to his office

The secretary's office

Carlos Slim's office

Feedback 2

Link to UT2004 map: http://hosted.filefront.com/heng51star/

Note: Again, a temporary access door way to Zhang Yin's space has been provided, which is through one of the windows of the 'snake head'.

ARCH1102 Week 11

2007-10-16T04:39:00.001-07:00

Changes to design & concepts:

A) The elevator:
A 'snake' that wraps around the beam, the dining space, and the offices.

Overall exterior view

Dining Space (undeveloped)

C) Carlos Slim's office
A series of different spaces that connect in a central point (the reception area) that resembles a big network.

The long corridor (1st floor)

The reception area

Metting room (1st floor)

Walk way to his office (2nd floor)

The secretary's office (2nd floor)

Carlos' office

B) Zhang Yin's office
A protective shell and screens that block direct viewing of her office.

Exterior views

Interiors

Outer layer

Inner & more secluded space (her office)

Feedback 1

Link to DRAFT 1: http://hosted.filefront.com/heng51star/

Note: The elevators have not been created. Therefore, a temporary access door haas been made on the glass wall of Zhang Yin's space.

External Elevator

2007-10-02T19:54:00.001-07:00

ARCH 1102 WEEK 10

2007-10-02T19:26:00.001-07:00

Selected Sketch as elevator

SketchUp model

Unreal Images

The Elevator

External view

Internal views

Dining Hall

Slim's Office-walk way

Waiting area

Meeting room

Zhang Yin's Office

ARCH1102 Week 9

2007-09-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Selected sketch of L-shape pathways

Unreal Images

Exterior

Interior

Lower space (Client: Zhang Yin)

Middle space

Upper space (Client: Carlos Slim)

ARCH1102 News Articles

2007-09-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

Client 1: Zhang Yin

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUTE: Business

China's 'Queen of Trash' finds riches in waste paper

by David Barboza
15 Jan 2007

HONG KONG: Just five years ago, Zhang Yin and her husband were driving around the United States in a used Dodge Caravan minivan, begging garbage dumps to give them their scrap paper.

She and her husband, who was trained as a dentist, had formed a company in the 1990s to collect paper for recycling and ship it to China. It was a step up from life in Hong Kong, where she had opened a paper-trading company with $3,800 to cash in on China's chronic paper shortages.

"I remember what a man in the business told me back then," Zhang Yin said. "He said, 'Waste paper is like a forest. Paper recycles itself, generation after generation.'"

Zhang took that memory all the way to the bank. As a result of her entrepreneurship, she is now richer than virtually any other woman anywhere in the world, including Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, and the chief executive of eBay, Meg Whitman. Her personal wealth is estimated at $1.5 billion or more.

Her companies take heaps of waste paper from the United States and Europe, ship it to China and recycle it into corrugated cardboard, which is then used for boxes that are packed with toys, electronics and furniture that are stamped "Made in China" and then often shipped right back across the ocean to Western consumers.

After the boxes are thrown away, the cycle starts all over again.

Late last year, Forbes magazine named Zhang the wealthiest woman in China. She may even be the richest self-made woman in the world, challenging a handful of others, like Giuliana Benetton, who started the Italian clothing company with her brothers, and Rosalia Mera, who co-founded Zara, the Spanish clothing retailer, with her former husband.

Most of the world's richest women inherited their wealth: from the Walton sisters of Wal-Mart fame to the daughters of the men who created Mars candy bars, L'Oréal cosmetics and BMW.

But not Zhang. She started out from a modest background, the daughter of a military officer. Now she dominates the world's paper trade through her giant companies, one centered in Dongguan, just outside Hong Kong, and the other based in Los Angeles.

"She's a visionary," said Herman Woo, an analyst at BNP Paribas, which helped her large paper company list shares in Hong Kong. "She doesn't mind putting a lot of money in at the beginning, to build the company."

That company, Nine Dragons Paper, is now the biggest paper maker in China. It raised nearly $500 million when it went public in Hong Kong last March.

Since then, shares of Nine Dragons have quadrupled, giving the company a market value of more than $5 billion. The Zhang family controls 72 percent of the company, which makes it one of the richest families in China.

Zhang's smaller venture, America Chung Nam, which is based in Los Angeles, is one of the world's biggest paper trading companies, with ties to recycling yards in New York, Chicago and California.

No other U.S. company sends so much material to China, in as many containers, as America Chung Nam, which was named the top U.S. exporter to China by volume for the fifth consecutive year in 2005, according to Piers Global Intelligence, which tracks import and export data.

Now, with the paper industry shifting to China, where labor and land are cheaper, Zhang and Nine Dragons are vowing to take on the world's global paper giants, like International Paper, Weyerhauser and Smurfit Stone.

"My goal is to make Nine Dragons, in three to five years, the leader in containerboards," Zhang said emphatically during a short interview in her Hong Kong office. "My desire has always been to be the leader in an industry."

Zhang rarely grants interviews, and when she does, they are brief and controlled by an army of handlers.

Zhang does not go into detail about how she made her fortune. In a society known for close ties and hidden deals between government officials and business leaders, she says simply, "I'm an honest businesswoman."

Zhang was the oldest of eight children born into a military family from northern Heilongjiang Province, near the Russian border. During the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966, her father was sent to prison, like millions of others who were branded "counterrevolutionaries" or "capitalist roaders."

When the Cultural Revolution came to a close in 1976, her father was released from prison and "rehabilitated." She went to work as an accountant.

After economic change got under way in China in the early 1980s, she moved to the southern coastal city of Shenzhen, one of the first areas in China allowed to experiment with capitalism. There she started working for a foreign-Chinese joint venture paper trading company.

In 1985, she ventured to Hong Kong, which was then still a British colony. Ng Weiting, who was her partner in Hong Kong in the 1980s, says Zhang was driven and tough and had figured out how to get the best performance out of those who worked for her.

"When her employees asked for a pay raise, she would grant it if it was reasonable," he recalled. "But when her employees made mistakes, she would criticize them severely. She made it clear when to reward and when to punish."

Analysts say Zhang's ebullient personality made her a great saleswoman and a savvy deal maker.

There were occasional threats from competitors, but being a woman was not a problem, Zhang said.

"Actually, I didn't find it difficult," she said. "I found men respected me."

After Hong Kong's paper market proved too small for her ambitions, she moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and married for the second time, to Liu Ming Chung, who was born in Taiwan, grew up in Brazil and is fluent in English.

Together, they formed America Chung Nam. At the time, China's fast- growing economy was suffering from shortages of raw materials, and the country began looking overseas for scrap metal and used paper. Zhang Yin was one of the first to sell scrap paper to China.

China's own paper products are poor quality, often made from grass, bamboo or rice stalks. Most paper made in the United States and Europe is derived from wood pulp.

America Chung Nam quickly made deals with American scrap yards and began shipping huge containers of paper back to China. The demand grew so fast that in 1995, Zhang (who also goes by her Hong Kong name, Cheung Yan) returned to China to found Nine Dragons, opening her first paper making facility in Dongguan, a major manufacturing hub in the bustling Pearl River Delta region near Hong Kong. Liu now is the chief executive; Zhang is the chairwoman.

A decade later, the company has 11 giant paper making machines, 5,300 employees, $1 billion in annual revenue and a huge new facility under construction in the country's other booming export hub, the Yangtze River Delta area near Shanghai. Reported profit last year rose 349 percent to $175 million.

Nine Dragons is now one of the fastest growing paper companies, and yet it says it cannot keep up with demand for container board, the material used to make boxes, because of the booming growth in the Chinese economy and exports.

Foreign paper companies have been slow to build a sizable manufacturing base in China, Analysts doubt they will catch up any time soon. And Chinese manufacturers have advantages. They burn cheap coal rather than clean but expensive natural gas. And they are capitalizing on less expensive labor and the newest machinery, while paper makers in the United States and Europe are often using less efficient machines from the 1970s and 1980s.

"It's very difficult for U.S. companies to get into this business now," said Woo at BNP Paribas. "I heard five or six years ago they looked at opportunities but they didn't do anything.

"Right now," Woo added, "the largest globally is Smurfit Stone. Weyerhauser is No. 2. By 2008, Nine Dragons could be No. 1."

Analysts have been nearly unanimous in their praise of Zhang, though she came under some criticism for appointing her 25-year-old son as a nonexecutive member of the Nine Dragons board of directors.

But Zhang vigorously defends the appointment, saying her son is qualified and Nine Dragons is, after all, a family company. She has a second son in high school. And her younger brother, Zhang Chang Fei, is the company's deputy chief executive.

Zhang jumped to No. 5 this year in the Forbes ranking of the wealthiest people in China, from No. 107 last year, largely because of the huge public stock listing.

She has not lost her ambition, though. Sometimes called the Queen of Trash, she doesn't disown the title. But, she said, "Some day, I'd like to be known as the queen of containerboards."

Client 2: Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim is the richest man you've never heard of

An interview with Mexico's Carlos Slim

by Chris Hawley
Mexico City Bureau
May. 30, 2007 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - Carlos Slim Helú's business career began on the playground, trading baseball cards.

He would buy the adhesive-backed paper cards at a candy stand in downtown Mexico City, then make a meticulous record of each trade in a ledger notebook, carefully evaluating whether he had come out on top in deals with his peers.

By age 12, he had moved on to trading stocks and bonds. Before turning 30, he owned a soft-drink company and a stock brokerage. Now, at 67, Slim is the world's second-richest man and is closing quickly on Bill Gates, according to Forbes magazine's most recent rankings. Slim's business empire stretches from Mexico to the United States - it includes major stakes in companies such as CompUSA and Saks Fifth Avenue - yet most Americans have never heard of him.

Slim accumulated his $53.1 billion fortune by collecting companies in much the same way he did baseball cards. He searches for businesses that are undervalued, infuses them with cash and uses the size of his holdings to overwhelm the competition. He now owns stakes in more than 220 businesses but says he has never forgotten the lessons of his youth.

"Buying well is a discipline," he told The Arizona Republic in a rare interview, noting that trading cards was "the first type of business negotiation you do as a child."

"There were always doubles, so you traded them with the other boys, the difficult ones to get and the easy ones. Some boys had a few and some had a lot."

These days, Slim has a lot. His wealth has caused some resentment in a country where 40 percent live in poverty and thousands emigrate each year to seek opportunity in the United States. Both the U.S. and Mexican governments complained recently that Mexico's economic growth is stunted because large conglomerates such as Slim's have too much control.

From the minute many Mexicans are born - perhaps in one of Slim's Star Médica Hospitals - they begin putting money in his pocket. They use electricity carried by Condumex brand cables, drive on roads paved by the CILSA construction company firm and burn fuels pumped from Swecomex drilling platforms. They communicate through Telmex phone lines, smoke Slim's tobacco, which is sold under the Marlboro brand, and shop at Sears Roebuck of Mexico, a subsidiary of his huge Carso Group.

"It's hard to live a day without buying one of his products," Sandra Morales, 31, said as she ate lunch in the Plaza Insurgentes shopping center - a property owned by Slim - in Mexico City. "He's so rich and powerful and in a country where there are so many poor."

Slim says that he is held to a double standard because he is Mexican and that many U.S. companies such as Microsoft, Boeing and Intel enjoy similar dominance of their sectors. During a two-hour interview in Spanish in his Mexico City office, Slim puffs a cigar and offers similarly strong opinions on everything from Mexico's future to Bill Gates' charity efforts.

A love for numbers

A widower, Slim spends most of his time in a relatively modest, second-story office above a branch of his Inbursa Bank. He keeps a buzzer on his desk to summon assistants, who cater to his numerous and varied whims.

Slim's many obsessions still include baseball. His favorite team is the New York Yankees. Sitting at his desk, he pulls out a notebook with a treatise he is writing, purely for pleasure, on Barry Bonds' statistics.

"I like numbers," he said. "Words speak to some people; to others of us it's numbers."

Slim says he inherited his drive from his father. Julian Slim Haddad was a Maronite Christian whose family left Lebanon when he was 14 to escape persecution by the Ottoman regime. Julian Slim opened a general store, called the Star of the Orient, in Mexico City just as the violent Mexican Revolution was beginning to sweep the country in 1911.

It was the elder Slim who forced Carlos and his siblings to keep ledgers of their allowances and expenses.

"Carlos: remember that all assignments given to you must be done on time, quickly, in much clearer letters and without erasures. If not, I'm going to deduct from your allowance," says a note in one of the ledgers, which Slim still keeps on his office bookshelf.

Slim also adopted his father's penchant for profiting during crisis. During the 1980s, when Mexico's economy buckled under a debt crisis and other businessmen scrambled to get their money out of the country, Slim snapped up stock at fire-sale prices. He bought controlling stakes in the Sanborn's chain of restaurants and department stores, a tire company, hotels, paper mills and more.

Soon after, in 1990, Slim made one of his most controversial purchases.

The Mexican government was auctioning off several state-owned enterprises, including Teléfonos de México, the state-run telephone company, also known as Telmex. Slim and his partners, France Telecom and Southwestern Bell, beat two other groups of bidders. The consortium paid $1.76 billion for a 20 percent controlling stake.

Since then, the market value of Telmex stock has rocketed from $7.39 billion to $41.2 billion. The company owns about 90 percent of Mexico's phone lines.

Members of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party alleged that Slim underpaid for Telmex and demanded that then-President Carlos Salinas de Gortari be impeached for negligently selling Telmex at less than market value. A congressional committee, controlled by Salinas' party, later found no evidence of wrongdoing, but suspicions linger in Mexico that Slim curried favor with Salinas to win the auction.

Slim says he won Telmex because his offer was better - about 8 cents more per share than the next bidder, according to the government.

"A lie repeated many times begins to be believed," Slim said. "We won because we paid more."

Integrating an empire

After acquiring Telmex, Slim's net worth increased dramatically. He integrated his companies so they did as much business as possible with each other. At the Carso Group, the holding company for many of Slim's investments, Rule No. 6 on the list of 10 corporate principles is: "Money that leaves the company evaporates."

The domination of large Mexican conglomerates such as Slim's chokes off growth of smaller companies, says Celso Garrido, an economist at Mexico City's Autonomous Metropolitan University who studies Mexico's business dynasties.

The resulting shortage of good jobs drives many Mexicans to seek better lives in the United States, says Roderic Ai Camp, author of Mexico's Mandarins, a book about the country's power elite.

Even Slim compares his business model with that of another company often accused of monopolistic practices: Wal-Mart.

"If Wal-Mart invests a billion dollars and others invest $100 million, Wal-Mart is going to grow more. So if we invest $2 billion a year over many years and others invest $500 (million) or $100 million, it's illogical for them to have the same size as us," Slim said.

Along with Telmex, Slim controls América Móvil, the world's fifth-largest cellphone company with 124 million customers in 15 countries. In the United States, he controls Tracfone, a pre-paid cellphone company that claims 8 million customers.

Slim's holdings, in business and beyond, are now so vast that he sometimes loses track of what he owns. Yet, the small boy with the ledger notebook still surfaces from time to time. While speaking in his office, Slim impulsively decides he needs to know the value of his necktie, which was lying on a chair nearby.

He stabs a button on his intercom, reaching his assistant, Silvia Esparragoza.

"Silvia, how much do these ties cost there in Sanborn's?"

"Those ties cost, on average, 481 pesos," she replied.

"About 43 dollars," Slim said, figuring the exchange rate in his head. "Is that with tax?"

"Yes, with tax," she said.

"On sale or not on sale?"

There was silence from the intercom. "Um, I don't remember," Esparragoza said.

Looking disappointed, Slim flips the intercom off. "The tie is from Sanborn's, but the shoes I buy from Saks, which isn't my store," he said.

Then he corrects himself.

"Well, we're partners, but it's not my store," he said, smiling.

In fact, the Slim family is Saks' biggest shareholder, with 17.4 percent of the U.S. company's shares.

Riding Mexico's market

Slim's fortune has surged in recent months - by at least $23 billion since February 2006, Forbes says - primarily because of his holdings in Mexico's booming stock market. The market is up 58 percent in the past year as large corporations have posted robust earnings.

As Slim's wealth has grown, so has the criticism.

Business groups regularly complain about Telmex's business phone rates, which are more than twice as high as in the United States. In April, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Mexico would benefit from more competition. Mexican President Felipe Calderón pledged in April to make it easier for companies to enter the telephone market.

Slim came under fire again last June, when Bill Gates announced he would retire from Microsoft in 2008 to devote his time to his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Days later, Warren Buffett - whom Slim recently passed in the Forbes wealth rankings - announced he would donate most of his $52.4 billion fortune to Gates' foundation.

"The fact that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are channeling the majority of their fortunes to philanthropy exposes Slim's passivity," wrote Jorge Zepeda Patterson, a respected Mexican columnist.

"Instead, we Mexicans continue donating 'philanthropically' to Telmex's finances, thanks to its extraordinary rates and profit margins."

In March, Slim pledged to inject $6 billion into his three charitable foundations - the Carso Foundation, the Telmex Foundation and the Condumex Foundation for History Studies - over the next four years, for a total endowment of $10 billion. He also plans a new building for his Soumaya Art Museum, named after his late wife that is aimed at exposing disadvantaged Mexicans to European art.

But he says his most important pursuit is a new, for-profit venture called the Latin American Development and Employment Generator, or IDEAL for its acronym in Spanish. The company will build infrastructure projects - dams, hospitals, universities and toll roads - and, in many cases, operate them at a profit. Slim says such projects would create more jobs than charity projects undertaken by Gates and Buffett.

Slim says overall, he's optimistic about Mexico's future. He says Mexico's economy soon could begin growing at a rate of 5 percent a year - about twice the average rate so far this decade - enough to generate more jobs and discourage as many Mexicans from emigrating.

What Mexico needs most, he said, is better education, especially in engineering, and more investment in machinery.

Meanwhile, Slim has begun passing day-to-day control of his companies to others, including his three adult sons. He rolls his eyes when asked how he would like to be remembered.

"I think they must teach that question in school, because they always ask me that," he said.

Slim's own companies employ 218,000 people. Ensuring that those companies are strong may be his most important contribution to Mexico, he says.

"When I die, I'm taking nothing with me," Slim said. He taps a balance sheet that shows the increasing value of his companies. "Everything I'm leaving is right here."

Reach the reporter at chris.hawley@arizonarepublic.com.

Client 3: Ratan Tata

India not thinking big enough: Ratan Tata

by Sindhu Bhattacharya
Friday 25 May 2007
05:43 IST

NEW DELHI: The jury may be out on whether India can achieve the all-important 10% gross domestic product (GDP) growth target anytime soon, but India Inc’s most prominent face - Ratan Tata - is clear that “we, as a country, are not doing enough to reach this landmark”.

Speaking at the concluding session of the CII National Conference and Annual Session, Tata was categoric. “India is not thinking big enough, not taking bold steps,” he said when asked about the possibility of touching the 10% mark.

And, as if this was not indication enough of where our policy makers are lagging, Tata said that compared to the targets India has been setting for itself, China seems to be leaping ahead due to its risk-taking ability.

“Take the example of tourism. Why don’t we, as a country, set our sights on a target of 10 million tourists by 2010? We think 4-5 million is good enough but if we push ahead we can certainly achieve the 10 million mark…We shouldn’t worry too much about infrastructure, airports etc, these will come up as business increases. Similarly, we need to be bold in other areas for growth to accelerate,” Tata added.

Tata’s comments came in the wake of Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia sounding a positive note, with his assertion that India was “very close” to achieving the 10% GDP growth number.

But Tata was not merely talking big. Take the example of the ambitious Rs 1-lakh car project, which attracted many nay-sayers when the idea was first mooted. But a bold approach by the chairman of the largest Indian business house pushed Tata’s men into creating something that was almost unimaginable some years back.

And his dream appears pretty close to realisation, with the launch of this car slated for early next year.

Not only did Tata exhort the industry as well as the government to take a bold approach to decision making, he also surprised many by revealing that the various companies under the Tata Group spent a whopping Rs 600 crore last year on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, up from Rs 450 crore spent the year before. And this was done even when there has been no specific charter, no mandate within the group for engaging in CSR activities.

Asserting that he himself has made “very little personal gain from the growth and prosperity of the Tata Group,” Ratan Tata said. “It is important for some of us (the industry leaders) to become role models, be moderate in the way we live and conduct ourselves”. This would help dispel the notion that big business is selfish, bad, he added for good measure.

Tata’s comments assume significance in wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warning companies against forming cartels in the conference.

Singh stressed that price stability is necessary to spread the benefits of economic growth.

“The operation of cartels by groups of companies to keep prices high must end,” he said.

Clients selected: Zhang Yin & Carlos Slim

Similarities:

both are successful businessman/woman
dare to risk: invest more to gain control (power) in their business, and willing to collect things or businesses that are undervalued to make their business strong
rich: this shows their status & how powerful they are in the business world

ARCH1102 Week 8 (THE EDGE)

2007-09-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Link to map: http://hosted.filefront.com/heng51star/

Charles Darwin: " I love fool's experiments. I'm always making them."

Stephen Hawking:" I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, & that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."

Revised version of 'Electroliquid aggregation':
People can make choices in their lives even when everything seems predestined: one just have to be brave enough to explore new things, although it might appear foolish to others.

Images

Exterior

Interior

(bird's eye view)

5 Selected Images

Mini Galaxy:

the unknown paths are no obstacles for humans to explore
there's a middle platform for Hawking to wonder at the stars and think of his theories

(worm's eye view)

Enclosed Ramp:

a link to Darwin & Hawking's spaces
a discussion space for exchange of theories
indicates openness to accept other's views

Interlocking Rectangular Spaces:

different rectangle sizes symbolize different stages of evolution
DNA-pattern texture is used in relation to the Evolution Theory

ARCH1102 Week 8

2007-09-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

Axonometrics Sketches

Charles Darwin

Selected sketch: Last Image

Stephen Hawking

Selected sketch: First Image

Combined Spaces
Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

Set 5

Set 6

Set 7

Set 8

Set 9

Set 10

Selected set: Set 9

36 Custom Textures

ARCH1102 Week 7

2007-09-02T19:49:00.001-07:00

Parallel Projections Sketches

SketchUp Modelling

Unreal Images

Electroliquid Aggregation

Experimenting is the same as choosing a path
before you cross. The outcome can sometimes
be unpredicted and surprising.

Link: http://dashboard.filefront.com/heng51star/

ARCH 1102 Week 6

2007-08-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

Unreal Editor Images

Stephen Hawkings

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined,

and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."

Exterior
Worm's eye view

Bird's eye view

Interior

Charles Darwin

"I love fools' experiments. I am always making them."

Exterior

Worm's eye view

Side view

Bird's eye view

Quotes of the week

2007-08-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Charles Darwin:
"I love fools' experiments. I am always making them."
(http://www.darwin-literature.com/l_quotes.html)

"The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason."
(http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/charles_darwin.html)

Florence Nightingale:
"How very little can be done under the spirit of fear."
(http://thinkexist.com/quotes/florence_nightingale/)

"Were there none who were discontented with what they have,
the world would never reach anything better."
(http://thinkexist.com/quotes/florence_nightingale/)

Stephen Hawking:
"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined,
and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
(http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/stephen_hawking.html)

"It matters if you just don't give up."
(http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/famous/stephen_hawking)

ARCH1102 Week 5 (Datum)

2007-08-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

Art Gallery by me, myself & I.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=51de7d9c7519a509d1a6754316886264

Model (completed)

Section through model

Stairs 1

Underground stairs

ARCH1102 Exp1 SketchUp 1

2007-08-19T05:52:00.001-07:00

ARCH1102 Exp1 Sketchup 2

2007-08-19T05:51:00.001-07:00

ARCH1102 Exp1 SketchUp 3

2007-08-19T05:50:00.001-07:00

ARCH1102 Week 4

2007-08-14T20:12:00.001-07:00

Model

36 textures & some textures used

Kneadable

Slimey

Bumpy

ARCH1102 Week 3

2007-08-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

Remodelling the sketch:

3D view

Side view

Section

Artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Patricia Piccinini

Words: Faithful, Acceptance

The Stairs

Stair 1 (connecting through underground)

Material: cement/plastic

Stair 2

Material: Concrete

Overall view through section:

ARCH1102 Week 2

2007-07-31T02:37:00.000-07:00

Artists: Leonardo da Vinci & Patricia Piccinini

Words: Faithful & Acceptance

Sketch 1

SketchUp Images:

Materials:
Concrete (wall)
glass (window)
steel (cross)
wood (handrail)
mesh wire & cement (irregular shapes)

Sketch 2

SketchUp images:

Materials:
Steel (to connect some of the sculptures with the main structure)
Concrete

ARCH1102 Week 1

2007-07-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

LEONARDO DA VINCI: Religion, Believe, Faithful

MARCEL DUCHAMP: Illusion, Spin, Fun

PATRICIA PICCININI: Acceptance, Interact, Ethical

YOKE HENG NG: Model, Develop, Spatial