Urban Arts Oasis I

A commissioned project for a local arts governing body. Garnering both extensive off-site and on-site studies, a practical design approach was adopted to both conserve as much of the existing building as possible, whilst energising the facility as an ideal venue for urban cultural and artistic activities.

Within an urban centralised location, the project site yielded an immense potential to be a hub beyond addressing the programmtic concerns, and to be an oasis locale to the downtown financial zone which is largely devoid of both cultural and artistic energies come sunset.

The building is likened to an urban vehicle that attempts to engage the weary urbanites, a building that speaks beyond the protracted boundary.  Extended circular motifs that seemingly bleeds from the form mimic the speech bubbles of a comic strip, of which users can interpret with their own texts and whimsies.

SAM Interior Concept Design

Recent completion of a Concept Design proposal for the entrance lobby of Singapore Art Museum (SAM).

One of the main observation when one enters the main reception lobby is the disparity between the formal architecture of the museum building and the lobby spaceitself.

The formality of the main entrance drop-off is being contradicted by a lobby space that is skewed to one side,with the main museum signage incidentally placed along the external wall of the office room.

Thus, there exists an opportunity now to revisit the possibility of having a lobby that is able to respond to the symmetry of the architecture but yet able to exudean artistic and contemporary charm of the museum itself, with these 2 strategies:

A. CENTRAL AXIS
A central axis is maintained and respected with theplacement of the key programmtic functions along this axis; entrance reception counter, office room, visitors’seating, Roll of Honour and donation box.
The centrally located main reception provides a senseof focus for visitors upon entering the premise. At thesame time, both the left and right walls of the receptionlobby are free for temporary or permanent artwork displays for added interest.

B. CONTEMPORARY IMAGE
To echo the museum‘s reputation as the world’s largest public collection of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian artworks, the lobby design is contemporary with bold choice colours ofblack and red, and yet with clear, simple and elegant forms to reflect the timelessness of the architecture the museum resides.

Bump and Mind. U:phoria architecture+design pays tribute to Comme des Garcons’ 1997 idiosyncratic collection

Our studio embarked on an exploratory journey to study the parallel practices in fashion and architecture, with inspiration drawn from Comme des Garcons’ Spring/Summer 1997 “Bump & Mind” Collection.

This quirky and surrealistic collection featured models wearing gowns attached with bumps that seemingly challenges the conventions of garment cladded forms. In this collection, “Comme des Garcons (CDG) does not attempt to show what is supposed to be the ‘natural’, but instead, to enable the wearer to approximate the ‘actual’.

In these dresses, individuals feel that they are weird but perceive that the clothing does not represent the ‘natural’ and, by extension, themselves” – Artforum International, Dec 1996.

Though conceived 12 years ago, this collection with engorged garments is still being perceived as futuristic. In architectural sense, the relevance is even more so with the current liberation & proliferation of technologies that allow building forms to go beyond the convention of post and beam with amorphous forms.

As a tribute to this ground breaking creation of CDG, a series of forms or objects are explored and devised to specifically co-relate the ephemeral qualities of that collection with the permanence of structured forms. These forms are contorted and misshaped with protruded skin elements to emulate the unusual garments conceived for the collection. Enveloping frames free the interior of column structures and thus allowing for a greater fluidity of space within.

Whether as building elements or sculptures, this study attempts to draw closer the disciplines of architecture and fashion, and just as important, to provide a befitting context and background for the co-existence of CDG’s garments.

Pavilion Place @ Orchard

A competition project I did near the end of 2007.

Design Concept is based on 3 principles of Contrast :

(1) Material Contrast
- Steel is commonly perceived as a hard, rigid and robust construction material.
- In this design proposal, and in contrast to that thought, I attempt to portray steel as a light and elegant material with an almost ephemeral quality.
- To do so, the pavilion mimics the nature of a fabric with its soft flowing quality.
- This is achieved by having the individual steel bar placed at different angle on each end of the pavilion. With all the steel members in placed, we will get a parabolic surface.
- The entire pavilion is then anchored on 2 points of each end, with the wall extending to become the roof.
- The end result is that of a light, elegant steel structure that seems to be floating above the ground.
- It defies gravity.

(2) Urban Morphology Contrast
- The 2nd contrast is that of contrasting with the dense Orchard Road urban morphology.
- Being in the heart of this street, the pavilion is fluid response to concrete jungle that towers above it.
- It respects, but not necessarily responds to the contextual element that surrounds it.

(3) Location Contrast
- By nature of its location, it is already a contrast.
- It is being sited right smack in the heart of Orchard Rd, just across the youth centred Hereen Bldg, and yet offers one of the most contemplative corner of this busy street.
- It is also devoid of any form sensory bombardment as one experienced throughout the entire street of Orchard Rd with the myriad of advertisements and media .
- It is a place for contemplative resting and to be away from the sensory bombardment.
- The pavilion and the tea-garden provides an almost zen-like spatial escape from the busy nature of its surrounding.

The Great Start !

Am starting my blog here...