Aug 14

Songdo City is a new (constructing) city in Incheon region of South Korea. The whole project needs around US 40 billion dollar and sits on the 1500 acres of reclaimed land. The master plan is designed by Kohn Pederson Fox.

It is the world largest private construction project and is scheduled for completion by year 2014, ten years after construction began. The workers only had ten years to build the whole city from flat ground to green city of skyscrapers and high quality living.

There are three man made marvels listed in the project, first of all the Incheon International Airport. It is among the world best and greatest airport. It is very large and built on a man made island in the middle of sea.

Next, is the new Songdo International Convention Center. The most interesting part of it is it’s engineering breakthrough. The large curved roof that resembles the traditional roof form of Korean architecture had no column supporting it from below. The load has to be transferred to the two ends of the each roof joined together and then transferred to the 30m deep foundation. The structure will be the city center and is designed by famous architectural firm; Kohn Pederson Fox.

Next, is the new Incheon Bridge. This 12km bridge (8m above water) will be linking the airport directly to Songdo City. It will be the world fifth longest cable-stayed bridge when completed. The bridge pylon stands at a staggering height of 238m. This bridge undergoes various weather constraints like strong winds, low tides, strong mist, heavy rain, etc.

There will be a Central Park in the city, similar to the Central Park in New York City. The park will symbolize the high quality of living of residents in the green city. Artificial lake, river, gardens, pavilions, gazebos, etc are all available in the park.

There will be few soaring skyscrapers around the city center, residential and office towers above 60 floors high. Northeast Asia Trade Tower is now topped out at 70 floors, with a height of 305m, the tallest building in South Korea. It is designed by KPF too; a square plan with a triangular top for helicopter landing pad. Every buildings in the city ( around 500 to 600 ) will be LEED (Leadership in Engineering Environmental Design) certified, marking the status of a green city.

Notes:

1. The pictures and information shown here are not of my own and are found from the internet.

2. This post is directly from my own site: http://vincentloy.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/man-made-marvels-songdo-city/

3. For more information regarding Songdo City, you may check it from sources like books, internet, etc.

Aug 13

The Crystal (fully named as Michael Lee-Chin Crystal) is part of the expansion and renovation project undergoing at Royal Ontario Museum located in Toronto, Canada. It is built between 2002 – 2007.

It is designed by architect, Daniel Libeskind and Bregman+Hamann Architects. This structure is the highlight of the $270 million expansion and renovation project. The Crystal comprises five interlocking, self-supporting prismatic structures that interface with, but are not attached to, the original historic Royal Ontario Museum buildings.

The design, selected from among 50 entries in international design competition, saw the award-winning Terrace Galleries torn down and replaced with a Deconstructivist crystalline-form clad in 25% glass and 75% extruded-brushed, aluminium-cladding strips in warm silver colour.

The steel beams, each unique in its design and manufacture and ranging from 1 to 25 metres in length, were lifted one by one to their specific angle, creating complicated angle joints, sloped walls, and gallery ceilings.

Approximately 3,500 tons of steel and 38 tons of bolts were used to create the skeleton, and roughly 9,000 cubic metres of concrete were poured.

The building is named after Michael Lee-Chin who donated $30 million towards its construction.

It houses the new main entrance to the museum, a gift shop, a restaurant, a cafeteria, seven additional galleries and Canada’s largest temporary exhibition hall in the lower level.

The Crystal’s canted walls do not touch the sides of the existing heritage buildings, save for where pedestrian crossing occurs and to close the envelope between the new form and the existing walls.

Although designed to conform to existing height restrictions and maintain sight lines along Bloor Street, the Crystal, at certain points, cantilevers over the setback and into the street allowance.

The building’s design is similar to some of Libeskind’s other works, notably the Jewish Museum in Berlin,

the London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre,

and the Fredric C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum.

(These structures above designed by him have the same characteristics with the Crystal, Toronto, you may want to know more about them too, but I will just explain on the latest masterpiece from Daniel Libeskind, The Crystal)

 

The overall aim of the Crystal is to provide openness and accessibility. It seeks to blur the lines between the public area of the street and the more private area of the museum. The goal is to act as an open threshold where people as well as artifacts animate the spaces.

The main lobby is a three-story high atrium, named the Hyacinth Gloria Chen Crystal Court. The lobby is overlooked by balconies and flanked by the J.P. Driscoll Family Stair of Wonders and the Spirit House, an interstitial space formed by the intersection of the east and west crystals, intended as a space of emotional and physical diversion.

What do you think of this structure?

I personally thinks that this structure has its own uniqueness, its own star of architecture (that’s why I called it as starchitecture). Very contrasting to the exisiting museum building which is designed in traditional architecture styles, this modern striking structure really stands out. It looks very agrresive to me, something expressing out of boundary. The form is cool. The exterior silver colour enhances its modern appearance while interior white colour gives purity and formality to the museum building. Anyway, I don’t like the structure to be on the place, looks very uncomfortable, but I knew the design is wanted to be  something odd out of usual.

Notes:

1. The pictures shown in this post does not belongs to me and are obtained from other sources.

2. The information in this post is also available from the internet. You may want to search for more buildings with great architecture and share it in FABESAA.

3. This post is directly from my own blog: http://vincentloy.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/starchitecture-the-crystal-toronto/

Aug 12

since the forum facility I’ve prepared for fabesaa is left unused, I think it’s time to finally close the forum down. and I’ll be deleting the forum together with the previous semester’s files this weekend.

on the other hand, I’ll be adding new contributors to fabesaa.com. and we need more contributors to write on events or even interesting architectural works. so send me a note if interested.

some small announcements for 202;

  • langkawi transportation and accomodation will be organised by ourselves, if you wish to join the class-organised group, please let Ferry know for a thorough headcount.
  • all tuesday classes will be at KLC instead or our studio 73

all the best,
yang yang
fabesaa VP

Aug 10

Before getting straight to the timetable, I would like to introduce myself, I am Vincent Loy (Loy Tuck Man). I think there is no need to introduce my full name, just state it here. i will be writing on posts on architecture, skyscrapers, architectural wonders, etc in this website in future. This is my first post in FABESAA.

A new semester has begin, and it’s Semester Two for Architecture Science 102 students.

 

This is the timetable:

Monday - Architecture and Culture 102 (2.00pm - 6.00pm) , Class 73

Tuesday - Building Technology 102 (9.00am - 1.00pm) , Class 72

              - Architecture and Design 102 (2.30pm - 6.30pm) , Class 72

Wednesday - Communication Principles 112 (9.00am - 11.00am), Class 48,50,54,56

                   - Ecological and Sustainable Design 102 (12.00pm - 3.00pm), Class 73

Thursday - Design Communication 102 + ArchiCad(9.00am - 1.00pm and 2.00pm - 6.00pm), Class 72 and ArchiLab

Friday - Communication Principles 112 (9.00am - 11.00am), Class 48,50,54,56

           - Architecture and Design 102 (2.30pm - 6.30pm), Class 72

ENJOY THE SEMESTER!!!

Aug 10
a new semester 2/2009
yangyang | Uncategorized | 08 10th, 2009| No Comments »

welcome back to a new semester 2/2009, FABE students. it has been a long holiday and results has been out in OASIS website (for curtin enrolled students). for AS201, it has been rumored numerous students broke all-time high records in design!

for those who might not have the timetable for AS202; here there are below (subject to change).

MONDAY - Building Technology 204 ( Construction/ Material )
                                      6.00pm - 9.00pm ( 76 + 17 pax )
                            Qaiss, Yan Yee, Nasir, Kamran ( Class 73 )
 TUESDAY - Architecture Design 202
                       9.00pm - 1.00pm ( Class 73 )
 WEDNESDAY - Building Science 202
                               9.00am - 10.00am ( Lecture )
                                                   10.00am - 12.00pm ( Tutorial ) 
                                      Qaiss, Alia, Siva ( Class 73 )
                        - Architecture Techniques 202
                                                   12.00pm - 2.00pm ( 40 pax ) G1/ G2
                                       2.00pm - 4.00pm ( 40 pax ) G2 / G3
                                       4.00PM - 6.00PM G4/G5
                                       6.00pm - 8.00pm G6/ G7
                                                   ( Class 73 )
 THURSDAY - Architecture Culture
                                         9.00am - 10.00am ( Lecture )
                                 10.00am - 1.00pm ( Tutorial ) - Seminar Hall 1
 FRIDAY - Architecture Design 202
                                   9.00am - 1.00pm ( Class 73 )

also, hereby I wanted to announce a new contributor for FABESAA’s blog; vincentloy from 102. anybody interested in being a contributor please dont hesitate to let us know. BTW, if anyone need to submit announcements or informations please contact respective reps.

as the new semester comes, I will be deleting previous AS resource files this weekend, so to anyone who might want to retain those files please let me know ASAP. but don’t worry fabesaa.com will always be the location to download course documents.

the FABESAA committee will continue and plan exciting events for the coming weeks. an orientation event is planned for the newcomers and further details are still being confirmed.

all the best,
yangyang
fabesaa VP,

May 16
pam convention 2009
yangyang | Uncategorized | 05 16th, 2009| 2 Comments »

more info -

Apr 29
Seminar: Peter Cook
yangyang | Uncategorized | 04 29th, 2009| No Comments »

AS students are highly encouraged to join this seminar at KLCC (6pm 11may) by peter cook. interested? find your respective class reps today! tickets are limited.

Apr 26

A FABE Students’ Gathering

Inviting all FABE Students, the TWILIGHT is coming, 30 April 2009, 6pm onwards at the Amphitheatre and Hall of Fame.

So, dress the part according to the theme ‘Luminocity’. Wear a mask or paint your face! Glow in the dark, light bulbs, glitters and bling- blings… So be creative and prizes awaits the best dress male and female. Not only that, all students from different stream shall wear the colour predetermined by the class reps.

AS- Green, ID – Red, IA – Blue, AT, Landscape, Fac Mngmt, Constr. Mngmt – Yellow. Foundation shall follow their choices of stream.

** Face painting material will be prepared on 30 April, 4pm - 6pm at Class 45.

Events includes:

Lanterns and Lights Design Competition – in groups of 2- 4, students can participate in the lantern and lights design competition. The maximum size for the lantern or lights should not be bigger than 1m x 1m x 2m (height).The lantern shall be lit by candles only. While for the Lights Design, students need to bring along extension wires.( we encourage not to use electricity as its hard to find power supply)

Please submit all the lights and lantern by 3pm, 29 April 2009 @ Class 73 to Jeremiah.

Student’s Performance Competition– You think you got the talent in performing? crack a joke, dance, sing or act? Or even magic tricks? Anything goes in this competition. The performer/s shall prepare own instruments, or props and the performance shall be within 3 - 7 minutes. Please register yourself to Farah (IA Year Leader) or Audi (AS).

Audition will be held on Wednesday, 28 April, 2pm. We will notify the participants on the audition location. Great Prize (RM 300) awaits the group / individual who had the best performance judging by all students on that night.

Creative Photography Competition – Bring your digital camera along and snap, snap, snap on that night base on the theme ‘Luminocity’ and participate in the photography competition. Submit to the counter by 9 pm. The pictures will be put into a slide show for all students to judge. The picture with the loudest cheer will win. So give your friends support and join the event.

Tickets are priced at RM 15, including dinner. Please contact your class reps for tickets and participation in the competitions.

Da Vinci Code, “Where is your ticket from?” When you got your ticket, you know what i mean.

So, let’s put our assignments aside for a night and enjoy a get-together with all FABE friends! Work hard and play hard!!!

Mar 26
Twilight 2009!
yangyang | Uncategorized | 03 26th, 2009| No Comments »

Twilight 2009 is now scheduled on 24 April, an exciting event with performances, competitions and of course, food! To those who wished to apply for Twilight performance (no limit to what you want to perform); please call:-

Kheng Wei - kwei1228@gmail.com - 0124491186
Yang Yang - yang@yangsquare.com - 0168212250
Audi - audizharif@gmail.com - 0149168131

And there is also this T-shirt design competition! So, anyone who wanted a head start please download the template and flash your photoshopping/sketching skills;

Mar 26
AS101 Wunder Wall
yangyang | Uncategorized | 03 26th, 2009| No Comments »

This year’s Wunder Wall of Building Technology 101 has come around! The brief is simple; use MDF blocks of 20mm x 10mm in size to construct a wall project that best demonstrates masonry construction. Of course, more opening means more marks to come.

Note: Images taken from facebook, anyone who wanted to contribute photos (pick up nice one please), don’t hesitate to send it up to me at blog@yangsquare.com

The courtyard is filled with glimpses of other students wondering what architecture students are up to. Spotted in limelight is Ms Ummi, the judge lecturer for Wunder Wall.

 
Ms Ummi with her tennis ball for the opening measurement test.


A close glimpse of students work.


Works of Norashikin Hidayah, Anastasia Cella, Ernieza Mohamad


Works by Jason Song, Jack Dinesh and Jonathan Teng


Works of Daniel Chin, Teo Ming Qiang Chris, Roz Zachary

By the way, to AS101 students who wished to share notes & slides, please send it up to me as a section for AS101 will be opened up soon.

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