Drive loves to eat

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This condominium should look premium due to its prime location within the center of Hong Kong Island. The facade should add more value to the condo. The color scheme or tone should be simple, not too colorful. Here are the color tone that I am interested in.

A bit of gold, grey, black but can have other light color like light green or blue.

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My "Architecture"

Many often assume that architecture is a field focused on numerous building plans and hours spent stuck in the studio designing. However, architecture is not just the process of designing, nor is it about making building plans. It is something really essential to our lives, and has a high impact on the way people live. Architecture provides one of the most important factors that help to keep humans alive; shelter. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, shelter is one of the most basic needs of humanity. Despite this, a lot of people oftentimes forget the importance of architecture, and many take it for granted.

Overtime, society has experienced rapid development, and the urban cityscape has experienced an abundance of changes. Architecture is sprawling uncontrollably over the landscape, almost as if it has a life of its own. Not only are buildings taller and more in quantity, but they have developed to the point where, unlike in the past, they are no longer limited to only functioning as shelter. As architecture developed overtime, the role architecture plays in society has transitioned from one predominately focused on shelter, into something considered symbolic of societal culture, and can even be considered works of art. Architecture can tell stories. Through the various elements and defining characteristics present in the buildings, they can provide valuable information on the history of certain eras.

During the design process, not only do architects have to take into account the solid mass of the building which they are designing, but in order to create good architecture architects must also take into consideration the surroundings and small details in the natural landscape. This would then enable the architect to create something much more monumental and significant than a mere structure. While many things are temporal and fade away over time, architecture can last for centuries. Architecture can impact the way people live, and can lead to other creations that could influence the lives of people forever.

Architecture has developed a lot over the years, although many may argue the benefits of such development. While there are those who fully encourage and even insist upon the forward development of architecture, there are others who believe the best thing to do is turn back and learn from our ancestors. Over the years many movements and styles have been created. While each style has distinct characteristics that differentiate it from others, if you take a step back and look at all the styles in a big picture, you can infer that in fact they all share certain similarities. This is due to the fact that people have looked back at the work of their Roman and Greek ancestors, and learned important lessons from the past. We have learned from the mistakes of those before us, and used those lessons to ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes, enabling us to create even better architecture. Personally I believe that this is the right way to develop. Before we jump we must first look down, before we run we must first take a step back to boost ourselves. Sometimes by taking a step back to look at the big picture and by accepting things with an open mind, it will arm us with the knowledge and tools to push and better ourselves even further.

The development of human civilization brought in new inventions that have made buildings bigger, lighter and stronger. Even more styles are getting churned out as people continue to create and inspire. There is no limit to architecture. When designing a building, it is highly important for us to know and understand the properties of the various materials we plan to utilize, as this will help make the design process more efficient. Not only is it important for us to know such things, but we must also be aware and pay careful consideration to the culture and style of the surrounding area, so that we will be able to design something that is best suited for the occupants. Architects must be aware of what is around them, and must think critically about what they do. They cannot just blindly design a building anyhow and anywhere without thinking carefully about their decisions. This is due to the fact that architectural decisions can trigger many other influences and cause many impacts on society. Furthermore, architecture has no trial and error in the real world. One cannot simply design a bridge and redo it if it fails, for lives will be lost in the process. Architecture is a complex and highly difficult field that requires a balance of both creativity and logic.

In my design class, I was tasked to choose a brand and create a flagship store for it. I had chosen Made In Candy, the first candy store of its kind in Asia. This upcoming brand of candy making has started its expansion in many Southeast Asia countries. From then, I tried to understand what the brand wants and needs that would allow the architect itself to benefit the brand. From the quote from Robert Venturi, “The Duck and Decorated shed”, Made In candy Flagship Store was designed following its concept. I took the idea of the duck in which the building shows what it really is. Therefore the shape of my flagship store would be able to tell what it is by just looking at it and the store itself became the image of this brand. The design is inspired from the shape that molten sugar stretches when it is pulled from two sides, which is similar to the way the store is positioned between two malls, Siam Center and Siam Discovery. Combining the vertical tubes and horizontal tubes, it would allow people move between each space freely. The flagship would perform as the new connections between the two malls. The unique shape of store, which look like stretched candy, would allow people to remember the store and its brand as they pass through. I tried to make the flagship not just any other normal store but to make it special, giving something for people to remember and become the “architecture”.

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Next Please

In the past, there are period of each movement which spread to many regions. New style began while the other faded away. It is the trend of the people that always change as time gone by. However there was one certain point which everything stopped.

During the late 18th century, there is the period in which there is the lack of new style or movement. Therefore there was a combination of elements from the existed style to create a new style of architecture called eclecticism. The style combines Greek, Roman and Gothic together. It spreads around very fast in the England and France region. There was this confusion where the identity was lost. Although people used this combined style, with the help of industrial revolution, building could be build larger, lighter and stronger than ever. One example of the building during this period is The House of Parliament, London, England.

There was the lost in direction during the 19th century and people was looking for the "next" movement.

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Learnt something?

History has always been the most important lessons for human. People learnt and adapted to things and changes, an ability for human to survive till today. At some point in time, there would always be minor and major changes. Although some of them affect just a few number of people, I believe that these changes still played important part in their life. People learnt from these changes and human would never stop learning and developing further.

There were protests during the 17th century that leaded to a new invention in our history. Catholic church was corrupted. Pope started collecting money and only the rich can take part in the religion. The protesters could not stood the sin and separate themselves as the protestant. The pope then invented Baroque, a new architecture style. The style uses more complex shape and geometry in the design than the past movements like gothic or renaissance which use the simpler geometry like circle or square. With a lot of decoration and ornamentation, Baroque allows buildings to be very mesmerise and memorable. The pope used this new architecture style to show the superiority over the protestant, showing that Catholic was better.

As people learnt from the past, people has created new inventions. Whether will these inventions benefit and harm us, people would learn in some point and in the end make the better for the future. Therefore we cannot deny that learning is one of the most important feature that make us human. So what do you learn? 

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See and feeling it!

VPRO, designed by MVRDV in 1997, is a building that allow people working in the space to experience unique "feelings". The organisation of the space allows the people to have interaction by going through each parts of the building which no corners look the same. The floors are connected to one another by spatial devices such as ramps, stepped floors, monumental steps and small rises, allowing connection to all the spaces where people can interact, manipulate the space for different demands of uses by the company. Uniqueness is the key in which people would feel the distinct differences in the space, yet all are connected.

When linking back to my studio project, my Made In Candy Flagship is a similar kind of space where there are unique spaces within a unique facade ,which are all have different functions of its own. However, when look from the outside, they are all look like each spaces are interconnected, blending together to form a large piece of structure within some crazy form. Not only the spaces are connected to each other internally within the store, the space also serves as a transitional space between another two buildings which sandwished my flagship store. The feeling of interconnections and uniqueness would allow my building to serve its purpose as to 'wow' the people going through my flagship store. Experience the variation of the spaces and make people enjoy through the human feelings through their five senses would be the keys to the building's form and function.

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Told or be told

‘Duck’ and ‘Decorated shed’ were first mentioned in 1972, from book named ’ Learning from Las Vegas’ by Robert Venturi. It describes two different ways in which we can differentiate types of building into two simple ways. 'Duck', represents a building that speak for itself, therefore allowing us to understand its function immediately just by looking at it. 'Decorated shed', represents a building that looks ordinary which its function can only be seen by ‘sign’ and ‘ornament’. Without the signs, there is no way people can differentiate its purposes.

My Made In Candy's Flagship store would be a space that allow people to feel different experience through the complex shape of the space, which depict the shape of the melted sugar or caramel being pulled apart from each other from two vertical planes. The shape itself becomes a very important part of the building to communicate its functions, by playing with the negative and the positive spaces within the structure.Therefore my Made In Candy would represent a 'duck' type of building which the shape speaks for its own, telling its own story.

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Function or Appearance? Both?

'International style' has nowadays became very famous as buildings of its kind are appearing in many major cities all over the world. Famous architect like Le Corbusier was one of modernist pushing the idea to the world. The principle of modernism, 'Form follows function', buildings are built using simple forms and structures, allowing them to be construct easier and faster.  The style is very receiving all over the world. However no self-identity and expression can be seen. Therefore, in the context of modernism, function is more important than appearance.

Despite its popularity, Eero Saarinen had his own way. He designed TWA Flight Center in New York. He believed that appearance does play very important role. The building has a very complex shape and structure. From outside, it looks like a butterfly or a bird, spreading its wings, ready to take off. He was trying to create a form that would associate with its function as airport. The interior of the building was designed to give special experience to the travellers when they enter the space, using curved. Unlike other buildings, it has its own very unique identity, allowing people to recognise it not only in the beauty, but also in its purpose and functions.

My Made In Candy flagship store, a candy shop, need to serve its functions as a place for people to entertain and learn at the same time. Forms that can express feelings and serve its purposes would play very important role to me as my building has to be able to allow people to experience through human five senses. Therefore the architecture, both form and function, have to work together and be able to express the brand identity.

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Mies van der Rohe in the USA

Seagram Building is one of Mies van der Rohe masterpieces in the USA that totally changed the way people look at building since. Through his architectural style, known as the International Style, he managed to design such building that today looked so plan and mundane, and similar buildings keep popping up in cities all over the world. I was wondered why people was so excited and so wow about it. However when dated back to when it first built, I totally understand why it was so. It was the first of its kind in the area which has glass curtain wall instead of normal thick concrete walls with ornaments all over. It is simply a skyscraper wrapped with glass panels. “Less is more” and “God is in the details.” were the ideas took by Mies van der Rohe. Simply just by using metal frames, glass panels and concrete or metal structure, he managed to build this magnificent building. However one very interesting feature in Seagram building that went against his rule of honesty, clean and expressional was the I beam structure. It actually serve no function at all. Yet why was it there? The truth was that Mies van der Rohe wanted to express the actual structure behind the facade inside the column, hidden away from people sight.

Mies van der Rohe expressed his style not only in the building, he also applied them in the way he managed the land use. Mies van der Rohe mentioned, building and nature or the surrounding should work together. He set the Seagram building 100 feet back from the street, created a open plaza which served as transitional space between inside and outside. He somehow managed to erase the boundary of the interior and exterior, blending with the them together.

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Arrival of Modernism

Modernism has changed how people see things as the new architectural movement had arrived in the 19 century. Things could be mass-produced with the helps of machines, faster and more precise than any men could do. People then tried to find and get something new from these machineries to make build better than before. When come to talk about names that probably came across if one talk about modernism is Frank Lloyd Wright. He is one of the features architects often refer to as the leading light towards modernism. Learning from his previous employer, Louis Sullivan, Wright developed ideas that Louis Sullivan used and created his own. He did not simply just copy them but developed the ideas further, making them better suited to his style.

His belief is that building should work with the nature. Good design should not destroy the surrounding or stand out but blended into the nature and became part of it. He called it “Organic Architecture”. Another feature of wright’s works was that it is hard to differentiate the interior and exterior because it blended in so well with the nature. An example of his ideas was Robin House. It has gotten elongated structure, built with simple geometric shapes, that blends in well to the flat landscape. Since then new buildings have been built with new techniques and ways to make it bigger, lighter and taller than ever. However, some of them simply are lacked Wright’s idea of organic and nature, making them unappealing and unappreciable.

Robin House by Frank Lloyd Wright

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Ornament is a crime?

Identity has changed over time, as the culture develops and people's ideas begin to morph. The culture flows from other regions of the world would affect and change perceptions. Creating an identity or a new style in architecture allows people to be more analytical of their surroundings, and have a higher aptitude for reasoning when it comes to observing buildings. The simple and less decorative way of design has rose in popularity. Although it takes less time and effort, it still shows genuine beauty through truth. Minimalism and straight forwardness has become the most suitable trend in the current period. Futurists believe that ornaments are unnecessary. The quote "start from zero" from Bauhaus has changed people's perceptions completely.

  Ornaments nowadays seem to be related to bad things as people change their mindsets. It is not a wrong belief, but such negativity stems from bad experiences with ornamentation. For some, ornaments serve no functions and aesthetic value. However there could be goods for someone else that treasure its value. Unlike popular modern and simple trend, ornamentation needs time and efforts, making them to some, more beautiful and valuable.