I leave the blog open for current design thesis students to refer to if they wish and others as well are welcome.

My new blog is:

CONTEXTURA1DESIGN

Developing ‘soft issues’ which is similar to working on the functional aspects of the design, must take importance and precedence until we start designing for ‘sense’ and ‘exploration’ of experience, which is  before Form beginning to take root.

And even if we come up with the Form, we must always be ready to tear it to pieces and start again, because the Form is not important.

Form must never be permanent. Because what we seek is the Sense of Place.

Place, and the experience of it, must be the sole objective, taking over Form.

For so long we have been trained and worked in a way that we manipulate form and the digital software just simply leave us to think less, that we just lose ourselves and we do not innovate or push the envelope of what the experience can be.

References

I was fortunate enough to spend last weekend in Switzerland, where I visited the offices of Peter Zumthor to discuss his much-anticipated Serpentine Pavilion – the hortus conclusus – a black box with a contemplative garden at its heart. You can read our exclusive interview with Zumthor here.

It was a privilege to sit down with Zumthor (after donning the requisite office slippers) and fascinating to speak to the – mostly young, mostly female – architects who work in the Atelier Peter Zumthor and Partner offices.

The Zumthor process of design relies heavily on model-making – huge, 1:1 mock-ups built in-house are routine. The office is a maze of working models, with drawings and materials pinned to every wall (even the cloakroom). Projects begin with a sketch, a concept model and photographs of the model which capture an ‘atmosphere’.

These are referred back to throughout the project to ensure nothing of the original concept is lost. Zumthor’s employees speak about how easily the essence of a project can be squeezed out by accident when detailing a design, so a lot of time is spent perfecting these mood boards, which use photographs of the model to simulate the experience of walking through the building.

I don’t want to idealise his way of working, but I was intrigued by Zumthor’s respect for the purity of the initial concept.

Best,
Christine Murray

It depends on who will be in the studio masters team. We play different roles and the knowledge and how we apply our skills as coach or consultant, makes a whole lot of difference to the learning outcome for the students.

For my sabbatical, I hope to get some knowledge on the practical aspects of design, contract, law and construction in a contractor & architectural firm. This is what I will do for my sabbatical and I will write more about this in my other blog.

The last session just ended and now we are in exam week and this is my review on the Design Thesis Studio 2010/11.

When I first met this group of students in May 2010, before they left for Korea, it was with Kevin and a discussion on the topics ensued. I had an impression that this batch was ‘weird’. Yes, weird can be good.

Fast forward and now my verdict is that this group is full of brave souls. After going through the Malaysian Board of Architects (LAM) visit and the External Examination, I can clearly say that this batch has ticked all the boxes and surpassed my expectations.

It was not an easy ride because I told this batch, that I had this ‘monkey’ on my back, which is the meddling by the Department, ie Kevin was left out in the original lecturing team and I was just flustered and had to shoulder on and moved on. It was a relief that we got him back because it was an essential ingredient to get this batch up to scratch and to fulfill their own expectations.

What got me in the end is the sheer brevity of this group. The fact that the projects that they undertook was mostly “unsafe” projects. I had to deal with this problem with the last previous two batches. Of course the first batch (2008/09) had even more safe projects than the last batch (2009/10).

I have written before about taking risks and it clearly showed that this batch were full of brave souls taking risks. They just push headlong and with their hearts defied the fact that they will be scrutinised so much due to the LAM requirements expectations.

I want to congratulate all of you for defying the odds.

Sometimes we find the hard and the fast together which when metaphorically speaking, ‘bangs straight at us’, hitting us like a bolt of lightning and a sucker punch.

We were minding our business thinking all is fine and sundry, then out of the blue, something hits us hard and we are floored. We did not see that one coming!

Teaching is unpredictable. That is why I love teaching. All that drama. Sometimes it is a boring soap opera, re-wound many times. Once in a while it’s a full blown tear-jerker tugging your emotional seams till it breaks open seamlessly.

I did not see many or any tragic-comedy yet but I hope there is one coming. Maybe it is happening now, so I can laugh and cry at the same time.

And where am I in all this?

Right in the middle…and seemingly lost as always.

I have started to write about the design thesis projects for the last three years when I was involved. This is two-fold. One is for assisting the department for a future design thesis approach and the other is for your information on how to be clear about your design thesis.

Your design thesis could be placed under one of these “categories” (the word ‘category’ can still be changed):

• Sustainable Science (sustainability is the major component of a building type included here)
• Conservation / Adaptive Re-use (included conservation area or context is very influential)
• Community Architecture (field-work protocol important)
• Building Type (some projects are under (1) form driven / art buildings; (2) utilitarian (3) hybrid)
• Issue-driven (building less important than other component)

I am sure there need to be an in-depth discussion about this for some of the projects. I listed all the projects from the last three years and put them under the categories that I believe they should be in. I will explain later about some of the projects and also some of the current projects (that I discussed with the author of the projects concern).

Some of the in-depth discussion could be a debate about which category the project should be in, but in my opinion, the author is the best person to actually say which category her/his project should be in. If the author is very sure about which category his/her project is in, he/she will be better at presenting his/her project.

Clear-cut is like Pacilia’s Church project. It is definitely “building type”. It is almost not important as a ‘thesis’ to deal with the site because its mostly about the building. That’s why it is important to really go and detail the building and not so concern about urban context or site so much although the site made her possible to make decisions about her site strategy and site planning. What she must do is of course the focus on the “church” type. That is for sure and must be really apparent in the presentation.

Clear-cut is also Nurhayati’s Pulau Ketam project. It is definitely “community architecture” because the process must follow a protocol that is similar to “anthropological studies”, which is to study the people’s activities and use of space. Community architecture can concentrate in the end on the building, like Farhana did with the Mah Meri School Design but she had to study on the people, activities, social and cultural aspects as she went and visit more than 3 times ( I believe) and although the design of the building was more universal, it did not matter, but for Community Architecture, what matters more is that the designer went through the protocol of study.

Just now I spoke to Shazana and she said that her project is “issue-driven”, but people who do not understand design thesis and who only concentrates on her project title: Contemporary Art Museum may think it is “building type” and Sha certainly feels its not, so its important that Sha presents her project as “issue driven” although she must show her building / architecture like everyone else. Sha’s project is like Wendy Gan who did the Pasar Seni site, which is issue driven although she did the social-culture study protocol in sem khas, which helped in a way to determine the youth component, but its issues driven although she designed the bus terminal underground and designed also the square. It also solved the urban design component but design thesis its more about issue driven rather than urban design. Sha could benefit from learning about what Wendy went through and how to approach the presentation.

Also I spoke with Syareena just now and clearly hers is “building-type”. Since its about a kindergarten, I am concern with the details a lot because that is the expectations of the kindergarten design, where even the anthropometrics and ergonomics of children ie her module design is so very important. Also important is the structure. But I told her that urban design solutions are secondary, ie the pedestrian path to the other side.

I also spoke with Xanyi and he agreed with me that his project is “building type” changing the idea of a vocational school and building a model based on BUSINESS + SCHOOL thus the Apprenticeship Centre, meaning that site and location is important for such a new type of vocational school. So it also happens to be in Petaling Street and although the issues were similar to Cheong Gin Yong’s Melaka project, it is very much different in many aspects, so the architectural idea shown by Ginyong can assist Xanyi to execute similar design ideas in his scheme though Xanyi’s scheme has its own special qualities, the ambience of shop house scale / urban scale is similar. So very much the site influence the building type but still its about the “building type” and its not issue driven like Sha’s or Wendy’s. Therefore I advised Xanyi that the first point he can present on the ‘local products’ issue but that is one of the points. Two more points on building type, as mentioned.

I actually had a chat this morning with the 1st year students during my History 2 class. They are the first to follow the syllabus that touched upon Malaya/Malaysian architecture. I decided to speak to them about their retreat house and I said its similar with the design thesis. You deal with site, client and themes / ideas. I asked them where do they get their ideas? From the site? Form the client? I said to them, if their client is Michael Jackson, how will you design your retreat house for example. His character is strong thus you can actually find ideas. They actually had one of their classmates presented Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao, and we had a discussion on that. That because its a gallery you can use a more amorphous form, as opposed to the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital presented by another classmate which is very much linear based on “utilitarian Brutalism” (quoted) similar in character to Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh complex. Since its a hospital, its practical to use a linear design rather than amorphous. One of the design thesis projects that challenges itself very high is Nuriana’s Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre where the “building type” is “hospital” requiring a more linear design, more utilitarian in nature but the author decided to design it from the site forces and the undulating lines juxtaposing these lines with the program of the psychiatric centre, thus the form. Yes, the author sets herself to create spaces that expands believing of its healing or calming properties and sets herself challenges to design the structure and constructional detail. But at the end of the day, what is the category of Nuriana’s project? In my opinion its a “building type”, clearly the issues coming from the programme. Clearly, the centre is part of a hospital complex but here the exercise is to come out with a building type in an open site, and there in lies the challenge. It could look like another linear building like any hospital, but the convincing argument must be borne from the new building type right down to the details and spaces created thus hybrid(?).

If  I ask most of my students, they would nod their heads in agreement when I say that their work is form-driven.

I was starting to write about this and I thought that easily studio masters could demand the ‘product’ from the student telling them ie you must have this drawings, this models etc. However, do studio masters teach the process? Do studio masters  ‘design’ the process in the studio programme (or even understood it)?

If the process is not taught,  students become (automatically) form driven. They will look into magazines or whatever to obtain and justify how they got the form. For those who just follow what studio masters say without thinking and reflecting, they get frustrated at almost every turn. There are studio masters that ‘force’ (or coerce) the students to be form driven but students will not obtain an important skill if they persist with form driven process.

Form driven process is a short-cut to obtaining a design. There is not much introspection and research and drawing is often in the minimum and fall-back to the computer aided design ‘short-cuts’.

So what happens to process driven.

It is all about drawing and the cycle of drawing, over and over again. Students should stretch the time taken to draw manually over and over again until there is no more time but to produce. The thinking process while drawing is done and made again and again until it becomes natural.

Of course when you start to design and you have to have crit, you would have to produce, like based on AJ metric or some standards. There was a project in 2nd year where you use the architects design principles and approach to design, but if that architect is form driven than you are back to square one. You need to follow approaches that is process driven especially in your development years as a new designer and would be architect.

Design thesis has an approach that is process driven, so many students might be reluctant to follow at first, so that’s why they are so late at getting the concept.

(More later)

After chatting with Kok Yong and Kar Wai, I realised more about the design thesis. One is a ‘thesis’ and the other is the ‘concept’. No matter what the thesis is, the more detailed and studied the thesis is, the better it will be. It shows. But the “start” is important. However there are exceptions. But we have to seek this case by case. Somehow key drawings are important. It is all about the drawings. Large site plans + 2Ds are the bread and butter but the key drawings are the sections.

IDEA  >>> Key Ideas  <=> Key Drawings >>> Concept

Concept are shown in the drawings. Like ‘products’ that we use, drawings are the next best thing for us to imagine the product.

Architectural Process >>> Product

Process is the testing of ideas > making scheme / idea better. Concept is different. Concept is the conceiving of ideas. Everything integrated.

Thesis is the question set in the beginning and tested again. Thesis is question rather than ideas.

THESIS is the Process

CONCEPT is the Product

So when I ask a student about ‘what is your thesis?’ and ‘why you are doing this thesis’, it is to help with the process of describing and narrating your concept. Because the product is the result of the process. The Concept is the result of the Thesis.

This is one simplified way of describing.

Process precede Product.

Process happens first before the realization of the Product.

It is important to reflect on the process to explain how you got the product.

There are difficult thesis but it is because of the time taken to test it and not because it is being too ambitious. Nothing wrong about being too ambitious.

Whether it is a song, poetry, art…what’s the difference between creating these and architecture?

I find myself talking about the three main things that constitute a piece of academic writing:

Content, Structure and Format.

For example, when I review my students dissertation which is an academic piece, I am actually reviewing it at these three levels.

A good designer should be able to be a Critic of architecture. When you are a critic, you will need to know where you are coming from and you need to know what to say and when to stop (you have said enough to prove your point), so that the recipient could engage with you.

• Content = topic / subject matter;
• Structure = design / arrangement;
• Format = presentation / narrative;

SONG

Just analyse again Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” song that was recreated and sung by David Cook:

Its the same content as the original piece, but the arrangement has been changed from rock to ballad (fast to slow) and presented (performed) in the David Cook’s style.

It is the same with a good architectural design or an art piece.

ART

Some art is pure research, like this Impressionist painting by Cezanne from this link.



Cezanne was trying to explore form and space. Here Cezanne was continually experimenting with the ‘essence’ of art. In his still life paintings like this one – he is interested in formal values – space; perspective created by planes of color. As the description in the link below will tell you the fruits have no sensual qualities (we don’t want to touch, don’t get the feeling we could smell them) they are just decorative objects he makes use of to work out what interested him: the place of an object in space: how much space it takes up, the relationship between objects etc. Don’t expect to find a specific reason for this particular painting, it was just part of Cezanne’s search to find the fundamentals in painting;

“Paul Cézanne, one of the creators of modern art, was called the “solidifier of Impressionism”. And indeed he does not draw his picture before painting it: instead, he creates space and depth of perspective by means of planes of color, which are freely associated and at the same time contrasted and compared. The facets which are thus produced create not just one but many perspectives, and in this way volume comes once again to dominate the composition, no longer a product of the line but rather of the color itself. His still-life, in their simplicity and delicate tonal harmony, are a typical work and thus ideal for an understanding of Cézanne’s art…In his pursuit of the essence of art, Cézanne had to suppress earthly delights.”

http://virgo.bibl.u-szeged.hu/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/sl/

So here again Cezanne deals with content, structure and format, albeit the same process with the same topics that others before him have countlessly produced ie still life paintings. However, the structure (arrangement or more precisely, composition and technique) is different and the this includes how it was presented (format), not in the classical or romantic way of the artist before him. He was the artist of his time.

ARCHITECTURE

This Urban Mosque is a Design Thesis project by a 5th Year/Final Year student of architecture Ahmad Zuhaili. Here he had done a mosque, very much a topic that has been done before. His mosque has a different angle (design / scheme / structure / arrangement) than other mosques with a common presentation or format.

So in conclusion, I am arguing that all creative endeavours possess the same process. So we must inspire from art, music, writings and all creative endeavours apart from architecture, in order to create good architectural design and ideas.

Next time, I will attempt to discuss “The Art of Seduction in Architecture” :-p