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.