www.stacypeh.com

Project 2 - Atmosphere
10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 5

natural vs artificial

chosen site : abandoned railway located at Sunset Way.

As one walks along the railway tracks, there is an experience of distrust, which makes one constantly aware of what he/she is stepping on. The sense of fear and uncertainty starts to creep in as we start to wonder what is hiding in the tall grass. As compared to the manicured and well maintained landscape around us, the plants on the site just keeps growing and starts to take over the tracks and concrete slabs. We can assume that generally people are afraid or uncomfortable in wild nature.

The design intention is to help address children’s fear of nature through involvement. By bringing them close to nature, it could allow them to embrace and confront their fears, and at the same time, have a better understanding of wild nature. The program of the space is designed for the children nature society. The main focus is the circulation, whereby the teacher will guide them through a series of spaces, 1) walkthrough 2) close to nature and communities 3) story telling 4) gallery, which showcases different species of plants and insects.

The site is naturally covered with wild nature and instead of destroying the existing qualities of it, the architecture will be placed on the existing concrete slab. By opening up spaces, the gaps and cracks would allow the surrounding greens to encroach into the building. The materials employed will react over time. Concrete gets stained easily and cracks while steel rusts and corrodes in relation to the climate changes and surroundings. After a period of time, wild nature will start to encroach and creep into the building and the whole design would eventually blend and be part of the site.

Proposed design panels :

well, crit was alright. the design could definitely have been better and more into detail. two projects down, two more to go for next semester ! looking forward to it !

Louis, Hendry, Rongzi and i did a presentation for the ideas module last week. Our two objects were egg crate and aluminum drinking can. We had to analyse the physical properties and describe the emotive and associational impact of it and from there, we proposed ideas on how to undo and redo it. Our main idea was to tackle the problem of fragility of eggs and to design such that it is more portable.

Wed’s final submission for project 2. that’s damn fast, 5 weeks just zooooom past like that ! spent like 4 weeks doing site stuff and now it’s production time. will update on that soon once crit’s over. hopefully my first indv work will be go well.

overdue portrait photos taken few weeks back, ready for submission soon ! thank you Yuchen, Priscillia and friends for taking time off to be our models, really appreciate it ! i enjoyed doing these portrait shoots, though the lighting part was not easy to grasp, getting the hang of it. products next !

What is Nature ? Nature is outside, everything around us.
But Nature is also inside, who we are. Human Nature.
The result of human nature is Culture.

Bamboo is a natural material. But it is also a cultural material.
We studied about bamboo and found that it has many qualities:
soft, bendable, a grass.
The outside is hard, resistant, tough.
The inside is soft, vulnerable, destructible. Much like us.

This is not natural bamboo - selected, treated.
It has been processed.
So, we processed it further.
What is inside ? What is outside ? How are they related ?

This is outside, i am standing in an outside space.
If i have a platform to stand on, am i now inside ?
And if there is a wall, which side of the wall is inside ?
Which side is outside ?
What if there is a floor ? can the outside come inside ?
Sometimes, even though we are vulnerable inside,
it is better to let the outside in and take the risk.
Sometimes it is necessary to go outside, express yourself, to show the world who you are.

I found that nature is not static but changing, growing, dying;
It is cyclic and infinite.
I found that it is natural for man to design, to make things, to create.
I found that in the process of making things, we also destroy, waste and pollute.
We are not sustainable.
I found that it is not easy to know what is right and what is wrong.
It is not natural for humans to fly,
but it is natural for humans to want to fly.
It is natural to dreamt what we dream of is not of the natural world.
So, what happens when we make our dreams come true ?
Is that natural ?

it was interesting to see what the different studios came up with. photos i’ve taken shows the different explorations, designs and jointing methods of the different groups.

so yup, the write up above kinda sums up my studio’s focus and what we did for the first project (6 weeks). questioning the idea of nature & culture. understanding of the material itself. coming up with different possibilities - making paper, flying bamboo lantern, clean and woven joints. creating spaces - inside outside, for meditation, a canopy and dancing bamboos. final critique went quite smoothly, it was quite well received, the whole presentation was interactive and fun with the dancing bamboos and meditative space in the middle !  overall, it was a good experience, and i’ve definitely learnt a lot from my studio mates, from technical to design stuff, everything ! studio 13 : )

glad this whole bamboo thing is over man.. like finally.

totally zen !

hungry ? serving up some pasta !

i did a photoshoot for Tristan’s 2nd Birthday few weeks back ! more uploads soon after project 1.

once again, i am standing at a new starting line, running the tortoise and hare race with myself. 和龟兔赛跑, a story my coach told me when i was training as a gymnast. looking back, from primary to secondary school and to the polytechnic, from combined school to national team, the bittersweet days are over. old friends leave, new friends are here. i am grateful to the coaches, teachers, lecturers, classmates, teammates for this enriching journey i’ve walked through so far.. let’s continue to work hard together ! another 4 years of university life.. well, hope to make full use of this opportunity to learn as much, at the same time, to produce some good results as well.

have you heard of the story of the tortoise and hare race ? it’s one of the few short stories i love to read, the idea behind the story really inspires me. would you like to be the tortoise or the hare ? haha… as an architecture student, i suppose we got to be both… just like the hare, we work smart and fast to meet the datelines, while at times, we got to be like the tortoise, to slow down and think through. both is necessary i suppose.. what do you think ?

my dad always joked about not having anything for us.. but instead, he has three lenses for my brothers and i. a set of binoculars 望远镜 to look far, a magnifying glass 放大镜 to magnify and understand a problem we are unsure of, and the microscopic lens 显微镜 to do lots of research and questioning.. these are precious ‘tools’ that are brought along with me all the time. and not forgetting my camera tooo ! how it captures the moments in life. we can’t see the future through a rearview mirror.. we look forward..

we’re at the 3rd week already, next mon’s interim crit ! im really happy to be working with my studio mates, working hard… we’ve got lots of research on the nature/ culture of bamboo and the idea of zen, the joints and love stories except for a 1:5 scaled model which has to be presented soon !

I’ve been going to school for briefings and to settle some admin stuff. orientation was not too bad, more to come next week.. made new friends from different courses within the SDE faculty, met seniors who graduated from sp too.

since graduation, i’ve been reflecting on my studies in poly. having gone through the 3 years, i am sure that is what i want. i’ve learnt that it is important to be honest, and to stay true to oneself. there maybe factors that makes one change directions along the way.. no doubt architecture is a taxing course, it requires not only the passion but also more time and effort as compared to some other courses, due to the long working hours and pressure to complete an assignment. many give up halfway because they cannot commit or give excuses that it is bad for health. long way to go man… after 4 years of study to get my masters, i will have two years to build my portfolio before i take the exam and interview to become a qualified person.

architecture might seem like a ‘wow’ career to many. yes, it is a professional job, just like doctors, lawyers and accountants but it does not guarantee a high income. there are many graduates each year, but not all will eventually become architects. in fact, singapore has many graduates that end up doing drafting or becoming graphic/interior designers. there are many other career options for architecture students such as industrial/environmental design, architectural programmer, renderer, city planners, architectural photographer, engineers or even lawyers, journalists etc. It is a unique study which is the combination of art and practicality. there are architects who specializes in different fields, like teaching, writing or city planning. afterall, the main objective is to understand the needs of the clients and bring it together as a whole.

got to brush up on my software and sketching before term starts. will be bidding for classes next week, got to get the timetable planned out really soon ! hopefully yoga classes dont clash.. way to go, aje aje fighting !

The 3 day Charity Art Exhibition ended today. I was helping out with some photo shooting at the opening day, it’s definitely a good experience man ! trying to capture the moments while getting pushed away and stepped on by the other photographers. The event turned out to be a success, raising a total of $430,000 for NUS needy students.

The main objective of the Charity Art Exhibition was to help needy students studying in NUS. So far, a total of 179 students are under this bursary scheme. Students under this scheme will each receive an amount of $2500.

Guest-of-Honour, His Excellency S R Nathan, President of Republic of Singapore arrives for the opening and launch of the event.

A group photo taken of Professor Bernard Y Yeung, Dean of NUS Business School , Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, President of NUS , Dr Yeo Ning Hong and wife, Former Minister for Defence, Minister for Communication and Minister of Arts & Information, Mr & Mrs Peh Chin Hua and Mr William Cheng, NUS Business School Mandarin Alumni Chairman

The arrival of VIPs and guests, awaiting the opening speech of the event.

Together, we admire the chinese artwork done by our President SR Nathan.

The management team of Caelan & Sage was also present, Mr Terence Quek, alvin and his other colleagues. Do you recognise the mediacorp artiste Jackson Tan ? i was like … ‘ hey youre the actor ?! ‘ haha so embarrasing !

This company is a creative think tank that focuses on strategic communications through thinking designs, high profile events and impactful trainings. For more info, could visit their website Caelan & Sage

The ‘Project Happy Feet’ by Caelan & Sage, is to improve the lives of under-privileged children and youths in developing countries by supporting programmes and initiatives that empower children and youths through training and education. To make donations to the under-privileged, kindly visit Project Happy Feet

The Managing Director of Just Education Pte Ltd, Mr Desmond Peh, also made a donation of $50,000 to the NUS Business School. This company provides tuition services for all core academic subjects, as well as enrichment programmes that explores the fields of life-coaching and creativity. To know more about their tuition services do visit their website at Just Education Pte Ltd

Thank You lecturers and also my art teacher Mr & Mrs Gnani for attending this event ! Mr Gnani is a Singapore-based international artist, whose art is in the collection of the President of the Republic of Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum of the National Heritage Board. Till date he has many solo and numerous group exhibitions. A very talented artist which inspires me a lot.. his works could be viewed here  Gnani Arts

not forgetting my dearest friends, Frederick, Jaisie, Haowen, Chris and Shawn. Thanks for coming to support  : )