Malacca Site Visit 1/10/2009 - Day One: The Old Town and the New Town  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin




Woke up at 1 something in the morning because I slept in the evening (crazy biological clock). Did some packing and shower before heading out for the 7:30 am bus to Putrajaya Sentral. Once we arrived, we took the ERL to Bandar Tasik Selatan and from there we took LRT to Plaza Rakyat to board the express bus from Puduraya to Malacca Sentral. There was actually an easier way, which was to use the bus provided by college that costed a whooping RM70 for a return trip to Malacca. Crazy ain't it? My cost to Malacca including public transport and return bus fare was less than RM45.



I've been to Malacca many years ago but I have never really walked around the old town area. This time I was eager to explore and tried as much food as I can.

Arrived in Malacca at 11 something. We told the city bus driver about our hotel, which was Hotel Puri but ended up being dropped somewhere near the Studthuys. It was drizzling when we crossed the river and searched for the place to have some cendol. It wasn't long before we found the 88 antique shop.

It was my first visit to the shop and I couldn't wait to try the infamous cendol here. We ordered two bowls of Baba Cendol and sat in the central courtyard. The shop looked like a typical old shophouse piled with antiques badly taken care of.

The cendol was very good. The thick brown sugar tasted sweet and aromatic but not too overwhelming. It paired so well with the coconut milk and when eaten together with the grainy shredded ice and smooth cendol, everything just melts into heaven in your mouth. I personally can do without the cendol (how ironic) because the brown sugar alone was enough to make the dessert taste good.

OMG I'm drooling all over this pic now...

After the sweet welcome dessert to Malacca, we tried to find our hotel as we really had no idea where was it. Luckily we stumbled upon it without much of an effort and ended being one of the earliest to arrive.

The hotel was nice and pleasant. The entrance made it look no bigger than an other shophouses in that area but once you enter and walk from one space to another you'll start to wonder if you've gone through a portal into another realm ten times bigger. I personally have nothing to complain about this hotel during my stay, except the air conditional in the room which wasn't cold in the afternoon but became freezing in the early morning.

After checking in, we had an hour for lunch before briefing. I initially wanted to take the Indonesians to Donald and Lily Tan's Nyonya Restaurant but we couldn't find it, so in the end we went to the 88 antique shop again =.=". This time the 9 of us ordered Baba (or Nyonya?) Laksa and Chris ate the Chicken Laksa. I ordered Durian Cendol, Chris wanted Ice Kacang while the rest tried the original cendol.






When we were eating, almost everyone in the shop were coughing (including other customers). It was very funny as one person coughed after another. I didn't know what was wrong since the laksa wasn't that spicy, but still glad that I didn't cough. After I finished my food, suddenly a few coughs escaped my throat O.O.

Me: *rummaging for my sanitizer* Quick, kill the germs before it's too late!
Everyone: o.O"""

Blame the H1N1 warnings everywhere...

After lunch we had a briefing where we were told what to do for our site visit. Then it was time for us to explore the streets and the culture around.

A few shots that I took while searching for my site:

Fire Station



One of the many temples...

Famous Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, the largest outside China?


People filming there


Would love to get in this thing...maybe next time...


Just thought that this particular shop was funny because besides having the same initials, its name sounds similar to Yves Saint Laurent too o.O"


Before we crossed the bridge to the other side, Chris and me went into one Tart & Tart Bakery for some tarts (obviously).


My Peppermint and Kiwi (Mint was better, cause I like mint~...)


Chris' Mocha and Cheese sumthing...


We went further and further and eventually ended up at Taming Sari. We met the Indonesian gang and persuaded them to go for the tower.

It was fun to rotate high in the sky and you can see the whole malacca underneath.





Because I've never been to the new developed side of Malacca, we went to the Dataran Pahlawan after that. Mahkota Parade was too far for our tired legs.

Still lost and undecided on my site. Sad.

It's getting dark by then, so I sat on a bench opposite the Stadthuys and started sketching for my rendering assignment. (This sounds so somber and melancholic but it wasn't :P)

Tummy's grumbling, time for dinner. At first we thought there'll be a night market but as it turned out that there wasn't any night market from Monday to Thursday, we went to an unknown shop for dinner =.=". My food bible didn't help much at that time, most of the shops were closed and everyone was too tired to go any further. Not all good food is in Jonker Street you know.

Skip that awful dinner. Screw that coffee shop.

There was a briefing at night. Everyone was sweaty and tired. I still didn't have a site and I needed a shower.

So we all went back and bathed. Chris (the roommate) was too sleepy and slept but I still have to meet my tutor, another Chris (the evil one) =.=".

We outside the hotel with Kimberly, Emrys, and Aunty Fong and met the other classmates. They told us that they went to St Paul's Church just now (it's almost midnight) and it was CREEEPYYYY!!! We were so excited (maybe only me) and wanted to go too. But then evil Chris appeared out of nowhere (actually it was an alley) and we went to The Geographer's for some night chat.

Nightlife on Malacca was quite nice. Many tourists like to go bars or night cafes for some drinks and entertainment.

At around 1 something we returned to the hotel for some sleep. Still thinking about my site when I went to bed.

End of day one.

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Design 101: How Do You House a Client?  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

In less than 9 hours I'm going to Malacca for a site visit. I can hear my tummy rumbling now, longing for decent food outside the Cyber Hell Pit.

The purpose of this particular trip is to sketch some historical buildings and also to find a site and do a site analysis for my upcoming design project. Basically this project is about designing a dwelling (not house) for a client that we chose, or rather, drew from a box (a la lucky draw). Only that I wasn't lucky and got a guy that I didn't know of - William Randolph Hearst. But I consider it as a challenge that I would like to take. There are other clients such as designers, artists, graphic novel characters, models etc.

Of course I had to do research to find out more about him. I even watched "Citizen Kane" which is a classic movie where the story of the protagonist was actually written based on Hearst's. It's not an accurate insight into my client but since it's quite a famous movie, it wouldn't hurt. The cinematography is quite good considered it's a black and white film without the props we have today.

It's very hard to define a real man (as oppose to a graphic novel character) but Hearst was a newspaper moghul who's not afraid to expose the ugliest truth, even if he had to make the news ugly himself in order to boost circulation. He introduced the Yellow Journalism, which is a way of publishing news by sensationalism and crude exaggeration. The big headlines you see today in the newspapers and the comics might be originated from Yellow Journalism.

I know it's starting to get really boring. You can see how difficult is it to design for a guy so complicated and not so interesting (compared to The Joker, or Leonardo Da Vinci).

We had to do two a3 size posters, one is to show our understanding of our clients and another is about possible spaces and designs for them.


"The Poster today! Hearst is the Devil behind the war! Come and buy it!"

Let's see what design will come up in the end. :D

By the way, today I went out with my course mates to buy materials and I got this from McD:



Missed the pink one but feel like getting the rest o.O. The lime green and grey are pretty cool.

Looking forward to tomorrow and update is coming soon. Till then, so long!

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Badan Warisan Malaysia and Some Places  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin


It's still holiday on last Friday, and while we don't have classes, Chris and I went to the Heritage Centre for some research on our Communication Principles reports. We we talking about it few weeks ago but it's only on that day that I knew Gusti, Reza, Ami and Ryan were joining too.

It's such a hassle to go KL from Cyberjaya. But since I've been here for 2 years I'm kinda used to it already. If you were to join me on one of my journeys you'll probably throw up and die on the streets.

Image taken from flickr


The place is quite near Pavillion KL, along Jalan Conlay. There was this traditional Malay building style Hotel opposite.

I'm feeling the roof.


The heritage centre is just a small colonial bungalow that looks like a cross between a museum and a residence.

Whatever they are building behind is certainly gonna ruin the view.


There's a 60-year-old traditional Malay house at the left upon entering the gate. According to one of the staff, it was brought all the way from Kedah and reassembled here. How is cool is that!

It's a penghulu house if I'm not mistaken


Back to our main purpose here - research, research, RESEARCH! So we were brought to the Research Centre, where the staff already had our resources piled up nicely on the table. I forgot to mention that you have to inform them on your visit in advance and let them know what you need.

Entrance


Standing outside the Research Centre.


This was where we did our research.


The staff even knew some of my lecturers who always go there. At the end we had to pay for using the resources and also for photocopying some of the books.

After that we went to Pavillion for lunch and then KLCC. I even cut my hair there and it's something I've never done before (the hairstyle). I feel so unsymmetrical now, like this: 'o.O|

















What??? Gah! No pics, no! :P

Bye!!! *flipping ma hair* na~ na na na~ na~~~

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Raya Break!!!  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

A new update? Yes, and this rare "phenomena" can only happen during the holidays. My last post was written at the start of the semester, therefore you can conclude that I was too busy to update my blog. It's not that I didn't have time to blog, it's just that all the free time I had not doing my projects were used to entertain myself - movies, tv shows, and even buka puasa with my housemates(I didn't fast but I did break fast :P). All these were done to keep myself sane.

The first project for design just finished and now we are entering a critical phase, where everything collides together and interfered with each other, our lives, our time, our sanity. Chaos.

But before that, thank god it's the festive season. After all the rendang, lemang, ayam masak merah, we will have mooncakes!!! And in no time we'll be munching muruku cookies and oh boy, how I wish to gain weight soon before I disappear into a stick...

Teluk Intan has a Sushi King restaurant now! What a surprise O.O. I hope it doesn't close down, you know, when people only go there for green tea and a few plates of sushi. Went there on Sunday and wasn't too happy with the service. Anyway it's a good start. With Mc Donald's, Old Town Coffee Shop, Steak Factory, and Sushi King opening at the same place, this particular location has become the new hotspot and is always full, especially at night.

I just came back from a gathering with old friends at McD. I couldn't help but noticed that most of my friends had gained weight, and somehow I felt happy for them. And then there was a sight you probably won't see in McD for 10000 years:

A couple using umbrella in McD :D (do not attempt this at home as it's very inauspicious)

How sweet. And they do it every year, every time we celebrate the girl's birthday. Youngsters today just don't take a relationship that seriously anymore(says Kang Zi the wise, old alter ego). So please marry soon :P. Actually they are not officially a couple yet, but looking at what they've done all these years, I'm sure that they are one, in their hearts. There's no need to be official about it. I know it doesn't make any sense(the umbrella not the couple). The girl used to bring an umbrella everyday to school. One day, there's a sparkle and since then it became the symbol of love and caring for both, like the lyrics: Know that we'll still have each other, you can stand under my umbrella...by Rihanna. This is the Romance of the Couple Under the Umbrella ella ella eh eh eh...(fyi, this happened before that song came out, it's the original umbrella love)

Enough of them already, they take up too much space in my post, anymore and I'll have to charge an advertising fee. It's all about me, yes, myself, and I. (I'm starting to feel ridiculous at this ridiculous hour)

That's all for now, ciao!!!

Raya is still on, to be continued...


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It started...  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Semester just started and Drama Mama is rolling again!

This year's July break was a very well-spent, unlike the previous one. I took up an internship in GRA Architects and was very grateful for what I've experienced. I would really like to thank so many people but it's not like they'll read my petty blog anyway. One month plus was not a really long period but it certainly was MORE than 3 months rotting in the cave. I'm certainly hanging on to my tiny little uncrushed scrap fantasy before I hit the real world. Before this I couldn't wait to graduate, but now when I think of it again, why not savour what you have while you can?




The first day of class was really too bad to be true. I woke up with a groggy head got the shock of my life when I look in the mirror. I didn't sprout a tentacle out of my ear, nor did I become a Smurf. My right eyelid was swollen and I looked like I was squinting permanently with one eye, kinda like seducing myself?

How could this happen? It's like the Christmas tree being chopped off during Christmas day, or breaking your leg before the day you were supposed to participate in a marathon. So expectedly unexpected. Maybe I'm just exaggerating. But you get the idea.

I told myself it was just a puffy eye and everything will be fine. But the more I looked at it the more I freaked out, of course I didn't touch it but it felt wrong. My eye was a bad almond shape and it looked so funny that at a point I was laughing at myself.

I went to check about it on the internet and didn't really like what I read. It was a website called wrongdiagnosis.com and I should've given myself a kick for not reading the obvious.

Mr Obvious says, "Well duh it's called wrongdiagnosis.com so why are you still there?"

You can't blame me since I was half-blind, or a quarter, if you count the half squint...

Two semesters ago I had a pain in the throat and went to check online. And I thought it was a heart burn. =.="

This time it was either conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis, or other terms that made my eyes hurt more. I was hoping for a mild case of infection or maybe an insect bite at the same time though. But I had to go to the doctor (I don't have the male ego in the health department). I didn't want to go to college looking like Captain Jack Sparrow on crack.

Clinic was packed with people wearing ugly green masks, not that I was surprised. I thought I should wear an eye patch and join the club.

Fortunately it was just an infection, but I didn't know the cause, since I actually changed my pillow case the night before. And I didn't remember rubbing it, or did anything to it. I got a bottle of eye drops and a pack of antibiotic, which was what I needed. But the girl also gave me a pack painkillers.

Pharmacist (I hope she's one): Painkillersonetablethreetimesaday...
Me: *sounding totally perplexed* Okay...???

I hope I'm not being ignorant but painkillers for a small swell in the inner eyelid of my right eye? Was she trying to dig more gold?

I went to college in the afternoon anyway. It wasn't a big deal anyway since nobody realised until I pointed it out to them.

Me: Do you know what's wrong with me today?
Girl: Your hair? (I didn't have time to do it)
Me: No...
Girl: Your nose?
Me: =.="
Girl: Your shoes? Clothes?
Me: *pointing to my eyes
Girl: Your glasses!!!
Me: No, my right eye, it's swollen...
Girl: Really?

It's getting better now but I have to finish the antibiotic? It's not like I'm having a flu. There are rumours of cases in my college but I do hope they wear nicer masks since we are such a creative community...

Trust me when I say H1N1 is not the worst. I saw "The Seven Signs of The Apocalypse" in The History Channel and the disease (or diseases?) mentioned in the Book of Revelations scared the sh*t out of me.

That's all for this update. See you again!

Live LONG and prosper!!! Yea I hope you do!

It's still swollen...go twinklie!


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Tallinn Town Hall - A BIG architecture  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin



I'm not sure if I'm overusing puns or what. But this design is really nice. It was one of those designs that turns me on :P. 

The competition for a new Tallinn Town Hall in Estonia was won by Bjark Ingels Group aka BIG.

I'm not gonna write a review since +MOOD has done such an amazing job on featuring the design. Please click the link to find out more.

What I find interesting about the design is it's brilliant ideas and execution. I admit that the form was what attracted me at first. It's somewhat intriguing and has those edgy elements that I like. And trust me, you don't want to land (arse first) on a building like that. It is also one of those designs that people either like or hate. 

But after taking a closer look at the presentation boards I was interested enough to spend half of the afternoon staring at the drawings. 

Personally I think there's a level of sophistication in the thinking, considering the limited time for improvements. The particular idea of transforming the ceiling of the Democratic Tower into a giant periscope is so fantabulous. It's supposed to bring the idea of transparency in politics into the design, as citizens from outside can have a view of what's going on in the building and vice-versa. Who says literalness is a crime? Certainly not if you can handle it.

The spatial arrangement is also interesting to note. The way the squares of different sizes hinged to one another helps retain compactness and organisation while at the same time allowing the designers to play with light and angles.  

You know what to do to enlarge this


Stay tuned for more great stuff. See ya!

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What I've Done...  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Hola I'm back again!

Wonder what's with the long M.I.A? Well, as usual, I was busy and lazy to blog when I had the time to take my mind away from my assignments.

But as I sat in front of my laptop trying to compile my portfolio, I thought hey, why not do a recap on what I've been up to in my blog. It's always fun without having to think about COMPOSITION, CLARITY and CONTINUITY.

So here I am :D.

This semester has been hectic but fun. Well not really hectic for me since I took less subjects. Next semester will not be as fun anymore :P.

Let's start with the fun and funny one. A less serious assignment I think.

FLYING EGG! Not a flying egg, but rather flying an egg.

Basically we had to design and build a simple device that could fly an egg using only a few specified materials.  

final model with egg (inspired by flying saucer)


work in progress


lineup for inspection


me trying out before the real testing

Our model basically failed the test (together with some other groups, if that's supposed to make me feel better :P). 

It flipped midair, smashed into the ground and the poor egg broke. (Yea you can laugh now)

Fortunately this assignment doesn't play a major role in failing us. All I need to do is to make it look good in my portfolio. It's all about faking it, even in Architecture.


Let's move on to the last subject that I would think of as being fun - Building Technology (I'm doing this chronologically)

But it did turn out to be quite fun as well!

We did WONDER WALL for the first assignment. And it was somehow wonderful :D


laying out according to the plan


in process...


I was in charged of the huge opening


and voila!!!


I looked like crap after 7 hours of doing that...


Miss Ummi and Mr Dennis ruining our wall to check if we cheated by gluing the opening...no!!!!



No we didn't cheat :P...So yay for that :D

If you scowled at my group's uninspiring model (as compared to other groups). Let me tell you that we did exactly what the brief wanted - overall height exceeds 300mm, 25% openings with one large enough for a tennis ball to pass through, no blue-tac or gluing for openings, must be breathtaking, exaggeratingly beautiful and over the top in the overall design.

Hence the safe and boring masterpiece. Oh, and we passed ;D (No grades were told though).


The next assignment for design was THE (EXTRA) ORDINARY SPACE or simply The Container. Basically we were required to design a container for a chosen object. It was supposed to train us to be more aware of objects around us and to see things differently. We also learned the basics of dealing with an important element in Architecture - space.

The container has to reflect the essence, namely the distinguished characteristics and qualities of the object. It also has to be exclusively for that particular object ONLY, therefore we couldn't simply design a box that would fit tons of things under the sky.


My object, a pencil holder


My container looks really cool from the top



My object kept and hidden



My object being rotated out

The next project for B.tech was the TOWER OF TERROR, the name alone was enough to strike fear even in the boldest of all.  To simply put it, with balsa wood as the only material, we had to build a tower that would support a person minimum 300mm off the ground for 30 seconds, before collapsing after that within 1 minute.

Yes, it MUST collapse after that 30 seconds, after an extra 5 kg load being added (doesn't make any difference to be frank). So spending RM100 on building the toughest structure isn't gonna pass you. 

Our portfolio (click here for bigger image)

Too bad I don't have the pictures of us testing, because we were too busy supporting our group member. In case you are wondering why I'm not the one doing the testing, well, because the tower ain't gonna budge even the slightest with me on it, not in 10 days.


Moving on the the final project of B.tech. A simple but not that sweet one. The PLANE OF PAIN!!! Yea it hurt a little :'(. 

Why the cheesy names?(I can imagine someone saying The Wonder Wall!!!! The Tower of Terror!!! The Plane of Paiiiiiiiinnnnnnn!!! in a dramatic way) They're supposed to make 'construction hip and cool!' I guess.

(bigger image)

We had to support a brick and elevate it 50mm with an A4 paper (70gsm). We can manipulate the paper anyhow (folding, cutting). No other materials were allowed, no gluing, no stapling, no sticking.


Lastly, the Queen of Pain!!! (I'm not a dotA fan so fans out there I didn't mean the hero) 

This is where the surviving skills of AS 101 were put to the test. 

HABITAT

Brief: *Beep* Hi designers. For this task, throw yourselves into the harsh Cyberjaya lake area and survive for a day. As architecture students, you are each advised to use your skills to design and build a simple Habitat as shelter. You are forbidden to build a tent, yes we do not do that! We survive in style! Each of you are expected to build something that relates to yourself and to the environment, besides being cool, exceeding expectations aesthetically and functionally, light in structure, and able to dismantle. Be prepared for the unexpected such as heavy rain and lighting storm, strong winds, heat wave, and possible attacks by the lake creatures. You shall be warned that this is the first time we have attempted this. Good luck and return safely. *Beep*

Actually that was not the exact brief but that's how I interpreted it :). Let's see how I did on the mission :P.


I returned broken, used up and busted. Imagine have not enough water and having to assemble something right below the scorching hot sun. That was probably the first time I sweat that lot in a few years o.O. That site was terrible. Not really a place for relaxation or point of repose like what the lecturers wanted. Anyway, it turned out well and no harm!

That's all for now! See ya later!









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