Before I become an architecture student

Last night I flipped over my file and found some interesting pictures. There are some works I did for a design of a railway station in my hometown beside the sea. It was my A-level coursework in my high school time.  I was totally lack of professional training and education of architecture at that time but it still came out to be a quite interesting idea even now i see it. Thanks Mr Tang, my previous art teacher, for his continuous help and support in my hardest time.

 some random ideas at first

The final idea in mock-up process

model making for final presentation:

The model of my railway station in final presentation... I have to say it was a bit rushed out at the last minute and not developed completely. But it was my first architectural design worked from zero and the first time I made something out from a tiny inspiration inside my mind. I fall in love with architecture since then. When you are in love with someone, you sometimes suffer from the relationship inevitably but you learned to enjoy the different tastes it brings to your life. That was what I felt after completing my first architectural project. :P

Egg of the City

Recently, an interesting building attracted public attention in Beijing, China. The construction team was a group of young architects who just stepped into their career. They built an egg-shaped tiny building for one to live inside with necessary facilities. Haifei Dai, the leader of the team, blogged their theme of the design, 'I don't want to afford the extremely high renting fee for accommodation in Beijing. I only need a shell to sleep in, and that is the egg of the city. '

 in the 'Egg'.

The origin of the inspiration of the project came from the idea of  'Egg of the City' in Shenzhen Architecture double-year Expo. Dai decided to turn this ideal house to reality

introduction of the concept: I want a little place to live in, just like the shell of a snail

Structure of the Egg

Measuring

Building up the steel structure

Finished steel structure 

Building up the bamboo structure

Interior view of after finishing the bamboo structure

Constructing the bottom floor

Making the exterior wall 

bamboo wall

covered by PVC boards

outer cover of the wall (waterproof?)

Interior furniture of the Egg

Water supply system

Exterior grass cover

Exterior grass cover (so cute :))

Completed interior view

It catches the eyes of the media because of its contrast with the high price of accommodation in Beijing. However, what the designers focused more is not to raise the public attention of those social issues, but to be innovative and always have the courage and action to turn an idea into a real construction.  

Past time is a craft knife.

i was struggling about my habitat design for the past few weeks and almost forgot about the blog. I should have some thing about my design to show but it is still a mess. The thing keeped changing every time I met with my tutor and I am worried that I am still in the stage of lost even I will have to present my work so far to the rest. I always spend a whole day just doing one idea and waiting for it to be declined next day. Anyway I have tried a lot and it was a precious experience.

My first design proposal was a triangular block, and I drew the basic structures using sketchup. However, I gave up that idea myself. It looked very rigid and did not have any flexible property that made people inspired. Brian told me that I can do a curve if I want. Therefore, I had my second idea of the habitat. and the modified version from it. 

the first idea of curly shape habitat (front), and the modified version (behind). If the shape of the first one is rather randomly resembling shape of the site then the one behind is just like a piano...

There are some more photos of my 'piano' habitat. I love this idea a lot indeed and it was a bit sad that I cannot use it as a final proposal. However, design is a process and it should never stop changing until the last minute. 

details on the first floor

It is my sea [1]

The miracle of one looking back to its past time is fabulous in some sense. Basic pattern keeps recurring throughout life even after you grew up, took your education thousands miles away and changed your place several times abroad. Just like the sea, which has become a inherent element in my life after living beside it for more than twenty years.

My hometown is a small city beside Bohai sea in China. There was a nature path, which formed by shells, sands and stones over thousands of years, linking the seashore to an island in the middle of the sea. The path only appears during ebbing in a day. It was such a mysterious scene that fascinated my entire childhood. And do you know the most beautiful season of a sea is not summer but winter? When the cold atmosphere comes and the temperature drops to -10 ~-20 celsius, the nearer sea is frozen and cracking into pieces of thick ice.

it is a common scene: a 3-wheel motorbike driving on the frozen sea!

The cold weather of Kenmore reminded me about my hometown on Tuesday's visit. Although Jinzhou Harbour is much colder than Kenmore, the kind of coldness strike into my bone just mad me feel the same even worse. However, I miss that kind of feeling for long since I first study abroad five years ago. In Singapore, summer covers the whole year and the sea is warm, with many commercial ships parking on, and lots of black oil waste underwater or covering the sands underneath. I will mention that later and now back to my hometown. The other thing remind me was the type of house. The red house above is so much similar as one I saw in Kenmore. I think maybe the type of house built in my hometown besides the sea is also applicable in Kenmore for defending the coldness and blowing winds. 

The houses are fishers' house. They just park their boats behind. The geometric shapes are very interesting and stable at the same time. The main structure is made of concrete and wood-board-covered on the outer wall. Windows are not big, covered by steel board but can be open. The house is definitely warm enough with fire place inside for the inhabitants to spend over a long cold winter for nearly 4 mouths besides sea.

(to be continued)