Studio Seven

Singaporeans growing up in the 80’s will be familiar with Haw Par Villa and Tang Dynasty. They were the places where families would visit during weekends. However, both places face an uncertain future and it lost it’s popularity to other spots like Downtown East. 

A recent fire at Tang Dynasty just highlights the state of disrepair the buildings are in. It is now earmarked for demolition by the end of 2008. Haw Par Villa is now surrounded by construction of the MRT circle line train station with it’s future uncertain. 

I only have a faint recollection these places in during my childhood. In Singapore, what is not successful will be replaced in the constant march for progress. Perhaps it’s time to pay these places a visit one last time before they are totally lost or changed beyond recognition.

At the School of Architecture, University of Tasmania, we have a module called Learning By Making or LBM for short. Sometimes I feel it should be called Learning By Making Mistake.

Russia during the 70’s was a quiet period for many architects. Due to the social climate of that era, architects could only design buildings that never got built. Hence, the term ‘paper architecture’ is commonly used to describe the designs of those architects as they tested their ideals and dreams in competitions abroad many of which would never get built.

To a certain extent, there can be no architecture without paper and pencil. Designers often start thinking about a problem and finding the solution through sketching. We test our ideas and learn through our mistakes for what appears to be the perfect solution often ends with nasty surprises.

The actual hands on building and construction in the module does not limit the design to become bland and practical. This process actually widens our vision and knowledge and helps us to solve future design problems creatively using the tools available at hand. At least for once during the course, students have a chance to create something tangible and not ‘digital architecture’ with the predominance of 2D and 3D CAD modelling in design.

As I make the transition from student life to the working world, the stress of getting good grades suddenly seem so immaterial as I reflect on how far I’ve come and the things I’ve still got to learn. No more paper or digital architecture for me. It’s going to get exciting and I’m looking forward to the challengers ahead. Wish me luck…

After the final submission and presentation, many friends felt lost. There were no more datelines and objectives to meet. My housemates and I, all architecture students, spent the day cleaning up the aftermath of the model making. There were many pieces of off cuts and other materials. A few of us over estimated and there were many sheets of card left over.

With the new found time on our hands, some people wanted to get away from architecture. However, something was ticking inside my brain. Before long, the pencil and sketchbook came out again and I was busy doodling my idea for a little project.

I decided to make a little light box as a souvenir for my lecturers that have helped to shape and guide my architectural education over the years.

The material of choice was 1mm gray board which had to interlock together to form the box. An energy efficient LED is used to light the inside of the box. The LED is rated at 13000MCD and runs for many hours on the 2 AAA batteries. Small holes are pierced to form tiny dots that form text and patterns. Some left over paint is used to finish off the box.

It’s amazing how much information can be stored and read in various ways from just tiny dots and pixels. Pixels are used in computing to output information onto monitors and prints while braille is a series of dots to represent the alphabets for people with visual disabilities.

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An interesting pattern is formed with a hidden message below.

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