Final Presentation 15th Sept, Saturday!

My final thesis presentation at SCI-Arc on 15th Sept 2007. There were at least 60 people total at my presentation! Quite a daunting sight I must say.

Fortunately, with God's grace and mercy, I managed to pull it off. Many thanks to my thesis adviser, Rob Ley. Also to my super dedicated helpers, without whom I would not have been able to put up such a massive presentation.

One of the comments from the panel went in my favour. The comment was(as accurate as I can remember), "The way you have orchestrated the whole presentation, using almost every media possible, is somewhat very manipulative."

Other comments are:
> This discussion can actually go on for another hour!
> What you are trying to do is actually to investigate a new methodology, marketing a new framework for critical discussion about architecture and city planning with policy makers.
> Hey! Pirate!
> ... ... (many more, but I cannot remember at this point)

Besides my main thesis adviser, Rob Ley, who believed in me and given me tremendous support during the whole thesis ordeal, there are also these wonderful individuals who have so kindly offered their intellect and advice to me from time to time >>
- Michael Speaks Architecture Critic and Writer
- Edward Keller principal of A|UM Studio & a.CHRONO
- Christian Lorenz Sheurer Established Film Concept Artist
- Jawn Lim Designer at Gehry Partners
- Gesa Buttner Designer at Gehry Partners

The jury panel consists of >>
- Tom Wiscombe Principal of Emergent
- William E. Massie (Bill) Associate Professor of Architecture at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute
- Peter Testa Principal of Peter Testa Architects
- Mark Goerner Established Film Concept Artist
- Christian Lorenz Sheurer Established Film Concept Artist
- Jawn Lim Designer at Gehry Partners
- Anthony Vidler Cooper Union Architecture Dean
- Nanako Umemoto principal of Reiser + Umemoto RUR Architecture
- Edward Keller principal of A|UM Studio & a.CHRONO
- Heather Roberge principal of Gnuform
- Rob Ley principal of Urbana
- Heather Flood principal of F Lab
- Craig Hodgetts principal of Hodgetts & Fung

My wonderful thesis helpers consists of (please forgive me if I missed out anyone by mistake. I will update the names in their full version asap) >>
- Robert Cha Rendering & Animation
- Jessie Madrid Video Editing
- Dave O'Regan Video Editing
- Lennard Ong Video Editing
- Jeffrey Ang Presentation Boards
- Yunong Chuo Physical Models
- Xuan He Physical Models
- Prabhu Sugumar 3D Modelling
- Jiwon Eom Physical Models
- Reine Wong Presentation
- Jawn Lim Concept, Ideas-Bouncer
- Sylvia Bay Presentation Boards + Super Flat Screen TV sponsor!
- Philip Ramirez Installation Construction
- Jared Poenisch Installation Construction & Presentation Montage
- Linawati Hasmy Physical Models

There are so much more that I wish to say. But I will leave those for another time. Sorry for the lag in entries. I promise to update with the final boards and also future plans for the post-SCI-Arc development of the thesis as well as details of my thesis presentations in Singapore to the government authorities, design institutions, firms and public.

Graduated! ... but thesis still lives

15th Sept 2007_final presentation setup


15th Sept 2007_resin cast(left); 3d print site model(right)


16th Sept 2007_SCI-Arc Graduation Ceremony


16th Sept 2007_SCI-Arc Graduation Ceremony

Comments from Gesa Buttner (Designer at Gehry Partners, LLP)

Sernhong,

I have looked at the pdf. I think the direction is very promising but 
needs some structuring. Each sheet shows an array of possibilities. 
Your job is now to zoom in and focus, make your argument stronger, more
 
polemic (if that is your intention). Read below for some of the ideas 
and questions that came up while reviewing your drawings.

Playing with the past and using it as guideline for possible 
developments is an interesting topic. You turn it upside down, instead 
of history you look for the inherent fiction of the city, the pasts 
untold. You extract the relevant elements by "copying" them into 
today's context. You use the past to diversify the present, by 
reintroducing rejected ideas you bring the city again into a critical 
situation in which different scenarios become valid. This forces 
society, politics and business alike to reevaluate the future. Instead 
of an inflexible monooriented planning approach based on the assumption
of continuous groth and control, you develop a matrix of possible 
scenarios that show how the city could prosper and survive even under 
the worst conditions. Your pirates are synonyms for these worst 
conditions, overcome in the past but not resolved forever.
I'm guessing all the above and would love to see something that 
sustains this argument. I see bits and pieces of it all over your 
presentation, you just have to put them together in a densified format.
 
I think you should not anything to your thesis, reduce instead and 
filter the strong points. I.e. I did not understand your pirate matrix 
at all - and this should be one of your strongest sheets. You are the 
insider of Singapore and everybody in the Jury will be dying to get 
some first hand information from you that they don't know from the 
media. The matrix could present all of this untold insider knowledge. I
recommend that you explain the idea of the pirates in more detail. What
is pirate? A player? Or an action?

Timeline: What is worth copying from the past? Name it. What were the 
keystones in Singapore's development were history and the city could 
have taken a different turn? I.e. No independence vs independence, No 
land-gain vs land gain. How about a graphic, that shows these moments 
as a timeline and and a spreadsheet that traces other possible 
combinations/ fast-forwards a missed possible future into the present.

Project: Explain the drivers that created this tentacle. What was the 
architect's leverage that you are mentioning? Why do we need an 
architect? I would prefer it if the design was an outcome of all your 
spreadsheets instead of being intentional. You need to package it, 
brand it more!

Keep going!
I truly believe this could be marvelous.
When is your presentation?

Good luck

Gesa

more work in progress

An Invite to the [Pirates] Den

Strands details (work in progress)

3d Print (at last)

The Infrastructure as Architecture Possibility


A common ground providing for ‘diverse voices’


An Un-realized Reality ... A City's Future?


Untouched by the “Believers”, operated by the “Cheaters”

for SCIArc Thesis Catalogue book

[Pirated City]

Leverage of Architectural Possibilities through Fiction

The thesis realizes the potential of augmented realities as a transformative force that interactively informs design, and aims to demonstrate the possibilities of Leveraging Changes through the diverse powers of Architecture and Urban Planning.

__Architecture & City

Traditionally, architecture and urban planning have been treated as separate entities. With the recent movements in globalization, both in the physical and cyber worlds, cities’ boundaries and growth are constantly being redefined and challenged. The thesis investigates the prospect of a city in which architecture and urbanism perform symbiotically while leveraging design that is a careful balance of the following juxtapositions:

>>>[Abstract Design Decisions vs Quantifiable Values];

>>>[Truth vs Fiction];

>>>[Nation States vs Enclaves]

__Enclaves as architectural expression

Enclaves challenge the many architectural discourses on globalization. They exist within global city systems as emerging ‘self-rule’ establishments and hybrid spaces outside normal jurisdictions. The Enclave attempts to resolve this crossroad between the complex growth of Cities and simplistic perspective of Architecture.

__[Pirates] as tool of investigation

Part of the investigation looks at the hypothetical return of [Pirates] to the city system. [Pirates] here are defined as policies, strategies and actions which were rejected in the city’s past or are yet-to-be proven successful for the city’s future. Are cities ready to accept [Pirates] into its system and acknowledge that “certain BAD(s) are not bad all the time”?

This polemic investigation of alternative pirated ‘worlds’, seen as “Un-realized Realities” is devised as a retroactive manifesto: to rethink cultural, architectural and populace development in the cities today and the future.

Thesis Abstract Poster

Advent of the [Pirates] !

The thesis investigates the potential of augmented reality as a transformative force that interactively informs architecture, thus rendering the design process no longer exclusively a conscious and intentional act.

The investigation looks at the hypothetical return of [Pirates] to the city system. [Pirates] here is defined as policies, strategies and actions which were rejected, failed or yet-to-be proven successful in the city’s past. What happens if these [pirates] re-emerge in the city at a different time era? What “other benefits” and “costs” might they bring to the city? This polemic investigation of alternative pirated ‘worlds’ is devised as a retroactive manifesto: to rethink cultural, architectural and populace development in the cities today and the future.

At the same time, the thesis will look into the overlap of City and Architecture. The thesis investigates the prospect of a city with architecture and urbanism acting together as a whole. Looking at diverse behaviors would strengthen the weak relationship of architecture with the constantly changing urban world. The thesis not only concentrates on design, but on concepts of intelligible urban form fed by constant research.

Hence, a parametric scenario simulator, The Dreammaker, is conceptualized to attempt the quantification of design strategies, which undergoes a statistical simulation involving quantified urban factors and [pirated] forces, which then lead to the qualification of the proposed design scenarios. What this ‘Fiction’ methodology does is to gather mob-like intelligence, making sense of seemingly dissimilar information, and contributing to the design of the city and architecture. Hence, the normative perception that “Fiction is False” is no longer, in fact, Fiction is the Truth!

The architectural aspect of the thesis then adapts the simulated design strategy and incorporates the concept of Enclaves which are ‘self-rule’ entities within a state of rule, performing as series of buildings of a critical mass within the site context. The impact due to the scale of the enclaves involved should be substantial enough to provoke a critical response and address possible urban visions, with the intent to empower, inspire and provoke city-dwellers and policy-makers to take responsibility and realize the value of their participation in the development of the cities they live in.

No longer is the architect reacting. He can be a visionary for the people. Taking on new approaches in the modern, fast-evolving cities, the Architect has to claim Action!

[Architecture and City]

I am interested in the Intersection of the City and Architecture.

I am also interested in the romance and promise of Utopias. I totally embrace them and they are one of my important sources of inspiration. However, I realize that they have certain disengagement with how the actual city works. (This is with reference to the sensation of utopias and how they WANT people to behave). From one volume of the series LA Now, Morphosis principal, Thom Mayne states the difficulty architects and urban designers have in the “Leap of Faith” they have to take when translating from facts, analysis findings to beautiful forms and feasible design solutions. The thesis aims at understanding the Leveraging of the design through a balanced and strategic juggle of both the Statistical and Intuitive.

While the city is a highly complex system, Architecture comparatively involves an almost simplistic perspective.

>> Architecture is Simple <<

Hence, rather than just deal in chunks of spaces like in master-plans, the focus of the thesis is on the issue of how the contemporary architect deals with City Planning and not lose the intricate spaces in Architecture.

[Enclaves]

Enclaves challenge the many architectural discourses on globalization. Instead, enclaves focus not on the blending, city and global connectivity, but rather on the emerging ‘self-rule’ establishments; hybrid spaces that exist outside the normal jurisdictions, aspiring to be worlds unto themselves. These ‘worlds’ provides new tools for practitioners to be sensitive to the political and social composition and implication of urban landscapes

The Enclave attempts to resolve this crossroad between the complexity of Cities and simplicity of Architecture. The scenario simulation design of the Enclaves takes into account several seemingly simplistic and ‘dumb’ elements that collectively create a smart holistic solution.

[Scenario & Simulation]

In terms of the method of design> Scenario Simulation

We often misunderstand that Fiction=False where in fact, Fiction=Truth --- Where the simulation becomes more real than the real and where our perceptions are very much shaped by what we see in the Fiction avenues of the world today. Hence, the Scenario Simulation (design tool) generates the Enclaves (the architecture).

Section Sketch

A playful sketch of the section of a portion of the potential design for the thesis project.

Emotional Landscapes

Woohooo .... I had Peter Cook in my crit panel !!! There is also Michael Rotondi (one of the founders of SCI-Arc) and Yael Reisner, Peter Cook's wife. Amazing, insightful and inspiring comments they gave!

Some of the comments they gave >>
- basically, i have to play up the 'pirates' in the architecture. what it means to have a type of architecture that is made of of self-rule parameters

- right now.. the architecture looks too singular

- they wanna me to work on the section(hand-drawn) which they said is most intriguing

- Using the wits & efficiency that Singapore has and need, to create an architecture that shows a certain arrogance (in a good way). An eg. would be to have the desalination proposal played up to become a national symbol of free expression, as well as the nation's high efficiency and 'full independence' from the long-time sources.

- Be very aware of the issue of scale and specify the spatial experience with the water desalination theme via research and technology.

I had fun talking to Rotondi. He began talking to me about spatial experience... how one walks and observe .. then he uses his hands like a chopper and literally lands it on my head and 'slice' it down to show the different experiences.

of Dreams & Emotions

The works below are what I have done for this workshop led by Yael Reisner, who is teaching at Bartlet. She is also the wife of Peter Cook. The workshop is about creating emotional landscapes... expressing one's own cultural and emotional identity, asking oneself 'What moves you?" and pushing one to 'dream' more...to achieve that point, the moment, when reality JUST turns fiction... where impossibilities seem possible.

I have incorporated my thesis project into the workshop. The bubble thing is a desalination plant machine that sucks in the seawater and releases steam and produces potable water. The whole design also serves as a symbol of national identity and sports enclave.

Thesis Midterm Review

Finally, the midterm is over. My review jury panel consists of Rob Ley, David Gerber, Juan Azulay and Andy Ku. Michael Rotondi was supposed to come but could not make it.

The discussions were interesting and overall very active, which was better than what I had expected. Welcome more comments! Enjoy!

MSN Feedback

Super helpful feedback from a kind friend, Yvette. Here's an excerpt from our msn conversation.

z i g g y says:

how did ur crit go?

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

went pretty well.... cleared up a lot of things, especially where to focus and develop

z i g g y says:

cool

z i g g y says:

i like ur graphical representation

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

thanks. i have to work on them to be more consistent tho. was running out of time for some and i just anyhow plant them in

z i g g y says:

how did ya concur on those figures for ur parametric scenario simulation chart?

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

pretty much based on my understanding of Singapore's history and facts..etc

z i g g y says:

so it's a personal scale/perception?

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

erm.. not entirely... there's a portion of it that has a basis on a factual database

z i g g y says:

ah, ok.

z i g g y says:

:) just questioning, so that i know how to interpret ur information

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

yeps

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

there are still loopholes and weak links... as discussed in the last review.. so i will be working them on in the next few days for my midterm next monday

z i g g y says:

wanna hear my general feeling from what i perceive of the boards?

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

yeh.. of cos

z i g g y says:

it's still quite superficial naturally, unless i study it deeper...

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

bring them on

z i g g y says:

ok well, i'd suggest that you be a little more careful with choice of words and phrasing.. each paragraph comes across as being loaded with very strong messages, one after another. and if u're not careful abt substantiating them, they seem like potential potholes that critics wld distract themselves with

z i g g y says:

your first two boards are great because they have some semblance of vision and abstract in them. but as they developed, maybe i'm not understanding them well enough yet, they seem to have lost a bit of that abstract quality in its bid to be more explicit

z i g g y says:

am i making any sense?

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

yeps.. you are. i understand. and you are dead on. it was one of the main comments for my review yesterday. the missing link that i have failed to show.. linking from the 2nd board to the final 2 boards

z i g g y says:

ok personal point of view, i found that ur key ideas of Simulation and Enclaves more enticing than "Pirated City". so i shall go on from there

z i g g y says:

i was engaged with simulation and enclaves.. made me wanna think of ur argument, loopholes etc.. BUT it got me interested

z i g g y says:

it was an architectural idea. whereas PIRATED CITY appears a bit gimmicky, and dated.

z i g g y says:

being interested by ur S & E argument, i was searching for that follow up in ur subsequent boards

z i g g y says:

i guess the question is, what is ur link? to follow up on simulation n enclaves, or ur interpretations of simulation n enclaves as the pirated city

z i g g y says:

i'm actually very curious about how you argued a few of your conceptual statements... im' sure you must have argued well to have ur tutors accept it... things like "fiction=false where in fact fiction=truth" ...

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

what 'architectural' value/potential do you see in the S & E? reason i am asking cos now i am torn between keeping and throwing out the 'S' component. cos i am finding it difficult to defend and develop the simulation part of my thesis

z i g g y says:

yeah you clearly have a lot of ideas ... each one being too loaded with meaning

z i g g y says:

hey u didnt answer my question abt how u argued the fiction=truth item

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

the fiction=truth part is argued based on the current phenomenon of hyperreality found in online 'worlds' like Second Life, Sim City, multiplayer games, etc.

z i g g y says:

and ur tutors bought it?

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

as well as movies like Children of Men.. which takes on the approach of taking a point in real events and depart from it to take on a fictitious route in order to provoke and bring awareness to a underlying issue in society

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

same goes for Gundam... a cartoon about galaxy wars between robots, and 2 races of humans.... spuned from the societal concern about the abuse of human cloning, weapon industries' involvement in 'creating wars' etc....

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

also, i am arguing that many dissimilar factors can actually contribute to a seemingly unrelated issue.... eg.... in the 1970s of wall street... economists found out by chance that the development patterns of the economy actually is very much linked and follows closely to the changes in skirts' lengths of the fashion

z i g g y says:

wait but u're starting to argue abt dissimilar factors contributing to result. causes and effect, more chaos and butterfly theory than fiction

z i g g y says:

see what i mean?

z i g g y says:

i think these are controversial statements u're making which can be very attractive.. but you gotta really tighten your argument and dont give in to loading up your concepts with more concepts...

z i g g y says:

i'm sure you are currently trying to trim down ur concepts... it's probably very very crucial

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

hmm...

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

>>>> The architectural aspect of this thesis, considers the potential of augmented reality as a transformative force that interactively informs architecture, thus rendering the design process no longer exclusively a conscious and intentional act.

Architecture as time and space shift. An overlap of virtual and real zones.

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

yeh.. i am still trying to gather and be trim my thoughts

z i g g y says:

keep at it! u're so close! it's all so exciting :)

z i g g y says:

hey if u're documenting this, send me a copy of it? maybe when i'm home and my mind isnt so tired from work i can help better

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

the fiction part , i would see as part of the creation of these 'parallel universes' , augmented realities of the same space changed by the parametric scenarios from inserted 'failed pasts' ... and though.. the final scenarios din really happen, and considered fiction ... it serves as a reality check and a point of contention and provocation of thought

SHY ...can someone give me their hours? says:

hey.. you are super helpful! i need these discussions to clear out my thought. You really got me there.. when you got me 'desperately' trying to defend and articulate the 'fiction' argument

z i g g y says:

:) yeah i cld see u fumbling a bit.. but it's ok cos this is the time isn't it, to really clear ur thoughts

z i g g y says:

try to define ur key terms... try this if u havent already:

1. thesis statement. keep this concise.

2. every loaded word you use in #1, prepare a definition for the way you're using it. again, keep this definition concise, 1 or 2 sentences max.

z i g g y says:

then if u continue to build upon this like a tree, u might come to realise a few concepts dont belong anywhere and u can trim those out

z i g g y says:

ur thesis abstract ... "Thesis deals" with City + Architecture <--via Enclaves

z i g g y says:

"Thesis investigates" Ubanism + Architecture >> giving u City

z i g g y says:

it's a bit loosely linked.. infact, seems like u're discussing two different ideas

z i g g y says:

i'm just brainstorming, ignore stuff i say that will confuse things ok

z i g g y says:

when u say INTERSECTION OF THE CITY AND ARCHITECTURE > that splits the city and architecture very clearly. is that your intention?

z i g g y says:

architecture is read by many as the Event at these intersections

z i g g y says:

by positing that there is an intersection between the city and architecture, you posit architecture as stagnent and formal, as opposed to dynamic

z i g g y says:

if that is ur intention thats cool..