Near future plans

I am working on developing and refining the thesis for publication at this moment. I welcome all comments and reviews. Thank you!

Finally... uploaded my Architecture thesis video

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.