I would like to say...

Our projects for RUS104 has come to an end as I'm writing this. Trust me when I say that these 4 months has really passed in the blink of an eye. I could say that we have all grown a lot, not just in drawing or designing skills but as a person too. We lost the clueless self we had been when we first stepped in, but now, we are all certain about the things we want for ourselves in the future. There are a few things that I owe RUS104.

However how I may seemed to appear, I'm not a confident person. Yes, that's the truth. I can't really make up decisions on my own. I always need to get approval or consent from either lecturers or my friends before I could finalized my design. In RUS 104, there were many times that my design were rejected, especially in the earlier stage. That was the time where I was always in doubt with my own ability, thinking that I could only be a good painter at the most, but not a good designer. This thought kinda hindered me back then. But as we went through all these projects, I have started to gain some confidence in myself, and starting to believe in my own designs and ideas. I have came to learn that the limits we see are all imaginary boundaries created by the human minds, trying to slow you down. If we are strong enough, to push a little harder, to try again and again even after failing for the hundredth times, we could reach achievements beyond our dreams. Be confident. You are what you want yourself to be.

Time management is another important lesson. Another problem of mine was to be over obese with perfection. Not that its a bad thing but I spent too much time trying to make little things perfect, and in turn end up short of time to complete what that is far more important. I have always stuck to my belief which is the slow and steady wins the race. But in HBP, its a different kind of case, be slow and you won't be able to finish everything on time and lets see how are you going to be steady in a night before submission with only 50% progress. Yes I understand how important the design stage is, to make everything precise so that there will be easy work from that onward. But what that I did not realize was that easy work needs time to complete too. That is why I always ends up handling in last minute work. Me and my time management, there is still a long way to go.

Through all the studio works, I also learnt to respect. Respect people from other background, respect people from other expertise, respect people different from who you are. The world is far more bigger than what we have  in mind, and we are all different people from different parts of the world, with different stories to be told. But if we stop to look through all the differences on us, and feel with an open heart, we could start to appreciate each other and to learn from each other. We are all the same, beneath us all, there is a common goal which is to achieve what we dream of  and to become who we want ourselves to be. 

I would like to voice my gratitude and appreciation to my studio master from Project 1 to Project 5, Dr. Mazran, who had been more than helpful and encouraging. He is a great man (minus all the redos given D:) with a very friendly personality plus a lot of patience. Next to all other studio masters, who had been kind in giving advises, and for giving friendly smiles when we are presenting our designs. To my friends and course mates, thank you for tolerating all my mistakes and temper at times. And also for letting me be when I get hyped at night, I know that it could be a little annoying, just a teeny-weeny, but still, thanks. And last but not least, thank you all for being awesome and a great companion all the time. 

I would like to end this with what I have written for the introduction of our exhibition:

Our main focus is to make the lines lighter than air, and to move slowly through it.

We, students of RUS104 2013 want you to know that we are united.  Just like the lines, we all connect and intersect in the most unexpected ways. You can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind. Together, we are learning and creating like the flow of lines - in an inspirational and never ending way. We may be young, we may be naïve, there may be so many things beyond us that we have yet to encounter, but we are brave, we are bold, we are full of passion, and we will show and spread our spirit to the world, just like the lines floating in the air. 

We will all continue to rise and shine. RUS104 will always be a special memory for me as It marked my first step to everything I will achieve in my career in the future years to come. So long.

Ps. Seeing how I'm posting this in the middle of the night (5.30 A.M.), I must either have a crazy obsession with sleeping late or just problem with my time management, again. 

Project 8

We were to held a RUS104 performance and award night as the ending and last project for RUS104. The theme of the night was "The Lost Kingdom" where every major represents a Nusantara kingdom. And for the Architects, we were the lost descendants of SRIVIJAYA for the night.

The flag of our Kingdom. I drew and designed this~

The same committee team from Project 7 were to handle this event, so again I was in the design team. This time, we try to minimize our expenditure and to 'recycle' the materials left from the exhibition. We wanted something really grand, so we put our focus on a grand entrance and a mural painting that would be the background for taking photos. Initially we planned something bigger than this which includes the interior decoration for the halls but then we were forced to cancelled it with a heavy due to time limitations(we only had 4 days for the decorations as it was right after the exhibition).

Backdrop in progress

On the big night, everyone was in fancy and classy costumes. For the architects, we decided to DIY our costumes which was a big relief for me as I would have no idea to how to get myself a Srivijaya costume. Again a round of applause to our designer, Fakhriah and all the part-time tailors (XD). The Archi troop marched in, as soldiers and royal servants with our very own Queen on sedan chair.

For the performance part, every major again amazed me. Even with the time limitations, everyone came up with impressive performance. It was somehow surprising and funny to see all my crazy friends, focusing so hard during their performance. My inner thoughts were 'hey, I didn't know you could do that.' They all did very well and I really liked the dance performance from QS a lot! For architects, we decided on story telling of our very own kingdom, combining body percussion, body movements along with hand-drawn pictures. We produced a very cool effect using UV fluorescent lamp. I was not involved in the performance or should I say in the cheering team, and the effect was AMAZING. I swear that I was bursting with pride and I could hardly get myself to stick to the seat when the performance was going on. And yes, it was that amazing. 

It was a pleasant surprise to be nominated as the Best Sketcher and the Mastermind(?). We got an award for The ComforTable Chair Award which is The Flow in Project 3. Furthermore, I was more than glad that our amphitheater- oXygen was awarded 2nd in the Best Amphitheater Award. Honestly, I felt very grateful that our design and concept was well received and recognized by the panel. Thank you so much! Overall, the Kingdom of Srivijaya too managed to snatch awards for The Best Banner and runner up for The Best Booth for our exhibition （Project 7), The Best Performance and The Best Kingdom for the night. There was never a moment that I felt prouder as part of the team of these awesome people.

 Designers of The Flow~

Archi Kingdom~ 

Together with the end of the night, it too marked an end to our studio projects for RUS 104.

Here endeth Project 8, but the memories and friendship gain through all these time shall be treasured and cherished. 

Project 7

Project Issued                                  : 11.00am, 9.12.2013 (Monday)

Preparation / Installation Period       : from 11.00am (9.12.2013) to 8.00am (16.12.2013) (7 days)

Exhibition Opening                          : 10.00am, 16.12.2013 (Monday)

Exhibition Closing                           : 10.00am, 20.12.2013 (Friday)

Project 7 was an exhibition to showcase selected works of students from the RUS104. The exhibition was made up of 4 booths, the Interior Designers and the Planners, the Building Surveyor and the Building Technologist, the Quantity Surveyors and Construction Managers, and finally the Architects.

I was part of the organizing committee. The committee was divided into different teams by the lecturers, and I was part of the design and decoration team, under the lead of my course mate, Putri. The committee team only needs to decorate the overall space as each major will be decorating for their respective booth.

The theme was "Floating Lines", kinda cool right? The first thing that came up to me was "LIGHTINGS"! Its a must to play with all the lightings, and the hall will be illuminating and blistering and radiant and much more BUT... the plan got cancelled as we were short in budget. And then we settled on laser lights as suggested by our lecturer but then again, it was cancelled as we could not get the right laser to produce the effect we wanted. And in the end, we settled on threads, which one something far more cheaper.

The idea was to grow a spider web maze at the open space between the ground floor and the 2nd floor. We used threads of pale yellow, red and grey to give depth. We start off with pale yellow as the bottom-est layer and then to red and finally grey. Our works just got harder as more layers were added. But yes, we managed, with the help of two additional helpers, Wen Jie and Lee Kang. Kudos to them.

The webbing process

Exhibition day~

Webby board

To highlight the theme, the whole hall was full of lines, even on the walls, the windows, the notice boards and even at the bottom of the table. We even borrowed projectors to project a video of motion lines for the opening ceremony. And our lecturers really like the effect, so... whee~~

Lines~ Lines everywhere~

As I spent most of my time on the first floor, I get to witness the development of every booth. It was very interesting, seeing how my mates are coordinating and working hard to make the best out of their booths. It was too the first time how every major gets to work as a team in a healthy competition between each other. I'm very much impressed by the outcomes of every booth. Even under time and space limitations, each major had came up with something unique and very much symbolizes themselves.

A very delicate model from the planners~

A better view

It was great fun working with awesome people. The only thing that I regretted was not being able to put in effort for our own Archi booth as I spent most of my time doing decorations as part of the committee team. They did a great job, with design beyond my imaginations. It was like an auto-cad drawing that came to life. A great applause for all the hard work guys! (Archi booth photo credit to Nana)

It lights up!

Lines on the floor too

Models from the archi students

It was a great experience, and a good and direct of telling my friends what I have been up to for all the times I couldn't show up for their outings. I hope everybody enjoyed this exhibition~

Putri~~ I enjoyed working with her a lot.

My mates from different courses~

Archi family~

Archi mates

And here endeth Project 7.

Project 6

PROJECT 6A & 6B: INTEGRATED PROJECT

Important Dates
Project Issued	OCTOBER 28, 2013
Project Submission (P6a & 6b)	NOVEMBER 22, 2013 (9.00am)

PROJECT 6C: INTEGRATED PROJECT

Important Dates
Project Issued	OCTOBER 28, 2013
Project Submission (P6c)	DECEMBER 09, 2013 (9.00am)

For this project, we were divided into groups or i rather say 'company' of 16 from all 7 majors. Each company was required to design an amphitheater and finally built an actual model of scale 1:5 in Project 6c. The suggested site is just beside our studio, with a very breathtaking view of the Penang Bridge and the sea. The only thing on the way was that the site was a slope, which increase the challenge to make our design both aesthetic with high functionality. 

Our company members were divided into different departments, according to our ability and expertise. I chose to be part of the design team and the drawing team, since I somehow figure out how me and wood work spells disaster. I actually like how our company works, so each of us get something to focus on without too many ideas intercepting.

Our organisation chart

The chart that divides our tasks

So, after progressing with the other design team members, we came up to...

CONTEMPORARY. NATURAL. MINIMALISM

Our first stage draft

Those were the three core ideas in our design stage. The main idea was for our stage to be more like a natural garden that grew in the site rather than a building that was built out of the blue. We want our stage to be a structure part of the natural, and a place that people would like to hang out at, even when it is not used for any formal function. We decided to use a green roof in our design, for the building to blend into the site. To make our concept whole and complete, and to form a connection between the stage and the audience seats, we used green pathways and concrete for the seats. It also gives a sense of serenity and peace.

A mock model made to give a clearer idea of the design

Another main feature of this design are the supporting columns located on both sides of the stage. It  originated from the thinker and it simply signifies the connection of human beings to the art world as it is in the real life. For our columns to standout, we settled on a simply design for the backdrop and the roof. Some of our members were against it, for the stage looked too simple. We finally came to an agreement to proceed for MINIMALISM was one of our core ideas. However, we decided to use more landscape furniture to make up for the simplicity of our design.

Did I mentioned that we were required to present and sell our idea in 3 A1 size boards? It wasn't as easy as it seemed to be, as it requires a lot of arranging to fit everything we need to into the boards. We organised our idea before proceeding with the drawing and writing. The drawing team were like crazy artists during the process. The table was a mess all the time. I vomited my blood and soul , I repeat, I LITERALLY VOMITED MY BLOOD AND SOUL for this project. During this project, my routine was STUDIO-HOSTEL-CAFE, it revolves around these three places ONLY. The same goes to most of the members too I supposed.

Our 'office' space

Work in progress

Me working on the drawings

My very photogenic pallet~

For the construction process, I wasn't really involve as I was only in the drawing and design team. But too I spent most of the nights in the studio with other members. I had tried my best to help in little ways like sanding the wood and buying materials. It was a joy, seeing how our design has came to life through the handiwork of the construction team. They were awesome and very professional.

Our 'pizza' stairs

Spraying and having fun at the same time

The bone structure for the roof

Construction in progress

Almost there..

I was given the task to 'grow' our green roof. And so the artificial grass carpet and the hammering... We tried our best to not show the gaps between each pieces for the best of views. And for the bottom part of the roof, we used climbers as proposed in the boards as the grass might somehow fall off over a steep angle.

So after days and nights of work, tadaaa~

First board with the plans and introduction

2nd board with the design concepts

3rd boards with the technical stuff

 The model~

Front view

A better front view

zoom in

Front stairs

A clear take at the column

Columns

Green Roof with the back stairs

Climbers zoomed in

This was really a memorable project, I get to know and work with people I had never talk to. And I learnt to respect people from different expertise. With ideas and contribution from each and every single member, we get to make our design work. And how glad I was that there were no major arguments in the process, everything was done in harmony and peace. I was really glad that our design and concept was well received by the panel. We even got 2nd in place for The Best Amphitheater Award, which was something I have not expect. At least it was a happy ending for our team.

A not-so complete group photo with some missing memebers

Exhibition day

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to our studio masters, for giving us directions during both the design and construction process. To our group leader, who put in a lot of effort in coordinating between the members, and to make sure that we are progressing according to schedule. (Thanks Amalin). To every single member in this group, without any of them, the project would not be able to run as smoothly as it had. And to all of my friends, for listening and being there right when I needed them. I love you all.



And here endeth Project 6