Wanting it too badly

Trying too hard.

Wanting it too badly.

Feeling as though each every day thing you have done the last 24 hours somehow has some bearing on the outcome of tomorrow’s game. Of course it doesn’t. Still we do it though – now is time to be calm, take a deep breath and take stock.

Reading the Paul Tomkins meeting with Rafa this week has just reinforced what I already knew. We have a top man, a genuine and good-hearted man, at the helm of this club. He lives and breathes it and deserves, commands and gets (in most parts) our respect.

Second in line is a more local figure head, but no more passionate than Rafa in terms of Liverpool and the city. Sammy Lee is the lungs and pulse, keeping the players from the edge of failure.

Thirdly we have Kenny, the King, the arms and legs of this club now reaching out, taking us to new places and meeting new friends, extending the hand and greeting old ones.

With these three we cannot fail. Let’s not get too hung up about tomorrow, or the next game. Relax, keep the faith, have the belief, and inhale and consume all the calmness that Tomkins returned with him on Wednesday. We are in good hands and sometimes we need reminding.

Yesterday, whilst interviewing supporters in the city centre, a local man simply said that ‘every true Liverpool fan is behind Rafa…. he has been good for Liverpool and the city and knows us’.

And there you have it. 50 years ago a sure of himself man from a Scottish mining village came in to Liverpool and had to spend the early years transforming the out of touch club. The man we have now does know us – he has been here before.

(Taken entirely from a post by a poster named Rafas3leggedtable from the Red and White Kop Forum.)

Believe in yourself.

What is design thesis?

The design thesis is about the program.

The program is everything in Architecture.

Is Architecture about buildings?

No, Architecture is not about buildings alone.

Architecture is art and science. Architecture is about the act of organising, structuring and visualising space for people. Architecture is about space first and form second.

Process is master to product.

When the ‘art’ in architecture becomes important and the ’science’ in architecture takes its course, then the process also takes its course.

Hence the reason why the program is important.

The program is not just the brief of accommodation and the site analysis. The program is the architecture.

Design thesis is about getting a program to be explored and often tested.

That’s what a design thesis is for.

Getting the Right Concept

Yesterday, during the studio pin up session, I noticed some students were slowly “getting off from the blocks” but many did not realise that they are in a race. In a sprint relay analogy, getting a momentum quickly would ensure that you have a chance to grab for a credible medal finish. But of course, you would need to build on that momentum until the finishing line.

Another analogy is to compare the design thesis process with a “marathon”. In this case, its about “pacing oneself”.

The  ideas  “momentum building” and “pacing oneself” are important aspects in sustaining a possible winning finish and is something that I believe into be true.

I remembered having a good momentum doing my design thesis but fell into a fairly long period of distraction,  side-tracked, off-paced and was sufficiently emotionally exhausted with a problem that I had with a couple of housemates back then in London. It was really affecting me badly and my design thesis supervisor noticed it by saying ” you have not been progressing…” I did not tell her exactly what the problem was, but I acknowledged her diagnosis by saying that ” Yeah, it’s so difficult to push my design further and it feels like ‘wringing clothes and getting very little water out’ with my progress”.

I reflected on yesterday’s pin up session and the fact that the bare bones and rudimentary outline of things to come was shown by many students. Be it in the program, the sketch, the diagram… so like in a race, all the student need is to just push on to get the right concept.

If the momentum is not there or really slow in coming, sometimes the problem is ‘not dealing with a bigger issue’, not asking the important and over-riding question earlier in the design process.

Sometimes its just about just drawing, drawing and drawing – it out!

It’s visual, so it has to be tangible.

Critical point

The critical point in the Design Thesis is when you have to decide and so much work to be done. Other work! Like dissertation…

Life is not fair. It’s always like that mind you. It’s always happens when you have the most work at the critical juncture. The point where you need to make inroads to discovery of your great concept. Its all hard work. Nothing comes by magic.

Learn to parcel out work. Learn to simplify things.

Not easy but it can be done.

Learning to concentrate is vital.

Seizing the moment

A moment would pass you by. When you least expect, if you don’t catch it, it will slip by indefinitely. You can’t have that moment again.

“Every once in a while, we have our rare moments, when everything seems to suddenly come together, like a good book..but they also go away quickly…the opportunity, the site, the client, the market…we make the best we can from these moments, such we find in projects as point92 “, huatlim.

These rare moments for a designer is depicted in Huatlim’s experience. All of a sudden he got the opportunity, the site, the client and the market all at once.

In the design thesis process, you can make it easier for yourself. You can create the opportunity definitely, and the site and the client. And when you set up the market, you will have a higher level to achieve in your design. To make it real, to produce something that can be transformed and change lives, even more so.

In the case of the designer, it is possible.

Interested in Architecture?

I was looking for something but I stumbled upon a conversation at forum.lowyat.net:

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/623018

Ah…the mention of James Steele and UM is there as well…I was wondering if people interested in the 4th year (B Arch) is attracted to the USC-UM programme per se.

What is a Fulcrum?

I was just fascinated with this word: FULCRUM

One definition is: the pivot about which a lever turns (when fulcrum is a noun) Remember your Science lesson? Physics?

Another is: An agent through which vital powers are exercised.

“Vital powers” meaning important and all embracing powers, then. And what powers are these?

Let’s put it in context.

Alonso is the fulcrum of the Liverpool FC. He is the one that sprays passes to the attacking players on the offensive. Sometimes Alonso helps with the defense. He is the “fulcrum” of the team. The agent that exercised the vital powers in the team. He sees the problem and solves it immediately. He reads the game intelligently. He is a thinking player.

Yup, that’s what I want to be. The thinking player. The fulcrum.

Thinking Architecture

As the Pritzker Architecture Award winner in 2009, Peter Zumthor stated in his book “Thinking Architecture” that: “I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”

Architecture that ‘thinks’ would inquire its existence, its purpose and how it came to be. Architecture is conceived in the architect’s mind and produced to be used, delight in and be enjoyed. Architecture’s purpose is unique in its own program but who is to say what is what and its personal whoever is feeling when they are experiencing architecture.

Zumthor’s architecture was further described by another as: “Zumthor’s Thermal Bath building at Vals is described as “a superb example of simple detailing that is used to create highly atmospheric spaces. The design contrasts cool, gray stone walls with the warmth of bronze railings, and light and water are employed to sculpt the spaces. The horizontal joints of the stonework mimic the horizontal lines of the water, and there is a subtle change in the texture of the stone at the waterline. Skylights inserted into narrow slots in the ceiling create a dramatic line of light that accentuates the fluidity of the water. Every detail of the building thus reinforces the importance of the bath on a variety of levels.”

Celebrating the purpose of it all, is what architecture should be about. The essential purpose of what it is built for.

In another note, I was thinking about “Thinking Architecture” which is used in a  way to describe the Design Thesis. Its meant to be a way of thinking about architecture. True, that its more than that. The program is not given but is created from almost nothing or a topic out of no where. Based on some issues and some sort of hypothesis and objectives are created, but once you get over that, you come to the game of conceiving something.

How hard or easy is that?

Design Thesis Studio 2009/10

We sometimes ask – about batches of students, about the group that we will be working with. We would not know whether it would be a ‘good’ group or not.

I don’t try to be preconceived, but I am human. I mean, the group thing is important. A group consists of a collection of individuals which will have to co-exist together and in the case of the Design Thesis Studio 2009/10, they seems to gel better than the previous batch.

The Archiweek that we had last week was excellent because some serious gelling had occurred. What was the right ingredients? I think individuals played their part as a team. They worked together and not against each other. However to me the most essential element is they know what is most important.

There are many leaders in the group. And many are women. That to me proved crucial. I am not saying about the Aainaas and the Annies. I am saying that people like Lay Hongs and Sin Yuens have their strengths. And we know about the Cheryls and the Aivens. Not to mention the Ummu Hanis and Fuh Yiings… I know Xin Yun seems to have that far away look, but she’s also in the act.

Its often that guys take the lead but in this case, the guys knew how to give the girls who lead, the space and mandate to lead. And that’s important.

So these are the plusses about the group that I have seen so far.

The Design Thesis journey may seem to be a lonely and painful one (at many times), but with the group of friends / batch mates that exist and making more use of the studio, I think individuals will flourish in this environment and it would be a really good group.