shyn[yi]cheah

Delicate

2010-11-17T09:26:00.001+11:00

Design

2010-06-30T14:28:00.003+11:00

A friend of mine and I have been having various discussions on design, university/academia and practice/"the real world".

He opines that the longer a time one spends on design, the better a designer he will be as will the design itself be.

I disagree. I don't believe there is a corelation between the two.

When asked about the long tenure that architecture academia is, he opines that it is absolutely necessary (at the time I was frustratedly under the opinion that it was absolute rubbish because the two worlds are so vastly different and calls of different coping mechanisms and skills) as it does take up to six years to learn how to design. I don't strongly disagree on this point, as I do think it does take time to cultivate one's "eye". Eye for detail, craft, proportion, etc. (albeit my opinion that I think aesthetic is sometimes too highly overrated).

If I ever had a chance to lead a introductory design course or class, I guess what I'd do to "teach design" is to have a series of short yet intensive design solution exercises. Not buildings, but simple product design exercises. Because a lot of design I believe comes not just from being able to execute a convincing and thorough scheme from a single concept, instead it is also a lot about being able to problem-solve creatively and quickly; and also to realise the design in the form of materials and details. Ideally the final project for that class would involve an actual client per student, and they'd have to design something that the client wants or needs according to his terms (not the tutor's or the student's).

Exhibition: Overlooking

2009-10-16T18:01:00.003+11:00

More photos of exhibited works to come.

The exhibition ran from the 5th of this month to today.
Bit of a late announcement, but nonetheless it was a good run.

Many thanks to my fellow friends from the OnScale studio (congrats on our exhibited works!) and especially to Ooi who ran the show.

House in Okuyarama

2009-10-07T00:32:00.007+11:00

A beautiful house by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA.
Many thanks to Darko Radovic.

The New Architecture Library (Masters Of Architecture Design Studio E)

2009-06-07T19:29:00.002+11:00

photo and lighting credits to Foong Chern Wong and David Yeow.
much gratitude as well to the following people who contributed one way or the other
Ooi Wei Yap
Rutger Pasman
Peng Soon Tan
Mami Sugano
Alice Dyer
Rob Gray
Melinda Chan
Wilson Tang
Michael Wu
Andy Yu
Cliff Chang
Michael Ong
Faiz Akhbar
Max Li
Pete Muhlebach
Daria Leikina
Yui Uchimura
Anna Jeffery
Sandalie Severatnie
Wei Kit Lee
Ramesh Richards

Sneak Preview

2009-05-19T08:06:00.001+11:00

Nine days left.
[ the new architectural library for the university of melbourne ]

Cadding Baldwin Spencer Building, UoM

2009-05-03T23:17:00.002+11:00

building since 1889.
cadding since 2003.

Final day of semester 21112008

2009-02-08T04:10:00.008+11:00

Chinese New Year 2009

2009-02-07T18:36:00.002+11:00

Glide: graceful ascent

2008-11-26T16:10:00.002+11:00

Two parts of a whole: a dancer lifting
into the air

Design sketch

*Photograph by Jessica Ihn Ji-Hyun (as photographed in the EYES 2008 exhibition @ University of Melbourne)
*Extra credits to the FabLab team of the University of Melbourne: Tom Frauenfelder, Matt Choot, Jas Johnston and Jessica Ihn

ABstraction FABrication: West Cork Arts Centre

2008-11-21T17:46:00.000+11:00

West Cork Arts Centre: The Bakery Hall
& The Glass Cube

A view of the "ghosted" Bakery Hall

Looking from floating feature stairs down
into the Hall

Presentation Board 1: Building Design

Presentation Board 2: Detail Design

Animation of selected projects: Brick by Chern Wong, Unravel by
Faiz Akhbar (both of WAA) & Ghost by me.

* all renders courtesy of Wei Kit Lee. Special credits to Max Cheng Li, Chern Wong, Faiz Akhbar, the AbFab group of 2008 & Eugene Cheah.
** layout of presentation boards loosely based on that of Detail Magazine.