14 October 2015//:
@Fourteen, Klein, here and now, signing on…
“We do not
create the work. I believe we, in fact, are discoverers.” –Glenn Murcutt
Whenever
I post a blog, I would often start it with “It’s been awhile since I last sat
down and pour my heart into this mightier virtual pen”. I’d like to sound a
different hymn now. Months took over after this project has been completed and
I feel like posting this todate is just the best time. I have sourced out
enough flowers to scent my lines, collaged enough images to document the works
and stages the project has undergone, and acted comedian hanging onto the right
timing to say his punch.
Conceptual writing, or writing on its
purest form, has been seen as my forte way back school days but narrating my
very own story in the most genuine way (without expressing too much attachment
and therefore without overly rating and then blocking what is real) is a test.
Choosing images to feature is yet another.
I was once reminded by my former boss that in preparing a presentation, we
don’t have to be all-out. We need to brew curiosity and mystically draw
interest. What you do not show, they do not know. You pay for what you say. You
don’t record in your CV that you failed the first periodical Math exam in your
fifth grade. Picking the best images when all are equally good is a challenge.
Timing. Ripping season is now, and not
during the turn-over and final acceptance period because first, my time was
honestly very much occupied with more projects then. True enough, I felt like I
need to pause for some moments and refresh. I don’t want to talk with too much
excitement since it is yet on its momentum. I’d like to talk about what I
actually remember now on this project after some time. For in the memories, lay
the sincerest experiences and learning with greatest impact.
“Whatever good things we build, end up building us.” -
Jim Rohn
Enumerating
architectural or construction knowledge and skill I have acquired in this
project is like an oral recitation. But identifying who I have become after the
project is like going on a retreat. Santiago Calatrava said, “You have
to have endurance in this profession. You start a project as a young person and
then at the end you are another person. You are ready to go for your passion.”
To most candid way, I am now single after this project. I started this project
being with someone. Hahaha! (Good thing, this is an architecture blog and I can
spare myself from a lovey dovey tell-all. Anyway,) You see, this project has
unleash the best and worst of me. I’ve discover what I can give and what I can
give away just for such sake. Aaaaah! Introduction and expression of personal thoughts
have consumed much of this article so let’s just move on the core and see for ourselves
which values have I encamped on through this work.
“Architecture is an expression of values.” –
Norman Foster
In
greens, our forefathers discover life, and in greens we shall find our
architecture. Daniel Libeskind said,
“To provide meaningful architecture is not to parody history but to articulate
it.” In this century, what more is left to inventions. Surely, you have seen a
house with the same silhouette. Ranch-type Country-style design isn’t new to
your eyes. This project is not derived from a concept of an orange peel which I
first saw while I was into the design study and then resemble the very form of
the concept. “It’s very easy to be
different, but very difficult to be better. (Jonathan Ive)” The challenge
in this project is not to alienate the design to out-stand existing works but
with all that is present, to arrive into an improved and satisfying home. “All architecture is shelter, all great
architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or
stimulates the persons in that space. (Philip Johnson)”
Venustas. Firmitas. Utilitas. We,
architects, all know these. (We should. Lol!) A Swedish Proverb would
describe it as “Beauty without virtue is
like a rose without scent”. Holistic
Design.
“Building art is a synthesis of life in materialised
form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of
thinking, but all in harmony together.” –Alvar Aalto
The project is guided by the idea of a contemporary
ranch home and modern country-charmed farmhouse. (Yah, they are technically different
which I, too, have not fully realized until I had to dig into their specifics
for accurate descriptions here in my blog.) When the client told me of where
the house will nestle, I knew right there and then, I needed to pull out my
books of these styles in the library. “Architecture
is bound to situation, and I feel like the site is a metaphysical link, a
poetic link, to what a building can be. (Steven Holl)” One time while I was invited in Holy Family Academy
to give a PEP talk on taking up architecture
and related courses to high school students. During the Q&A, a student who
seems to have potential interest on the profession asked me if “Do designers have
a reserve of ideas ready to be offer to clients?” I have discussed that
architecture is not generic. We, architects, are translators of the client
where we will concretize their aspirations and thoughts. We empathize and yet
introduce something which we shall make them realize that is subconsciously
essential to them. It is an artistic problem solving. We identify what they need,
hypothesize answers, undergo processes to validate the approaches, and assure
avowal and significance. Personally, I fall in-love easily with modern, edgy
and carefree designs, but I can’t please every client to appreciate this kind
of architecture style which I am a fan of. “You
cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see
around you, what exists on the land, and then use that knowledge along with
contemporary thinking to interpret what you see. (Tadao Ando)” Upon
collecting data, I am given with such cases: 1) it is intended as a retirement
home (therefore, deciphering a call for a comfort and calmness); 2) the site is
a city-escape and tree haven (therefore, conveying a direction to a nature-friendly
design); 3) buildable floor area is orbiting in a specific range for budget boundaries
(therefore, connecting to valuing spaces). And so I focused my attention to
these major considerations since many others pointers will be tackled herein. “I think constraints are very important.
They’re positive, because they allow you to work off something. (Charles
Gwathmey)” I am fortunate that my client has given me a platter of
guidelines so I have started on precise base marks, without having to test
waters and fires over and over again.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -
Leonardo da Vinci
On being unique without being strange.
With the intimacy of spaces, the complexity in this project is to come up with
a simple plan. This two-bedroom, two-T&B bungalow does not have the luxury
of spaces to accommodate unnecessary areas such as hallways, consequently, I
had to cling to the concept of fluidity approached through open planning. This
idea is supported with consideration of the occupants who are at their senior
years where more partitions would mean obstruction to their accessibility. Zoning
wise, all public areas such as the living, dining and party hall area were all collected
on the right side of the house facing a perceived road-right of way in the
future; and so the bedrooms were spared from the assumed public activities,
noise, etc. Elevation & façade design wise, with the irresistible fascination
of the site, conceiving a perfect backdrop for a contemporary ranch home and modern country-charmed farmhouse, I
would rest an indubitable case. C’mon, you won’t expect an Art Nouveau bungalow
in the middle of the greens, neither a classical and monumental house in a
one-storey scale nor a modern style pigeon cage-inspired house. The
American farmhouse is a country home style that highlights the simplicity of
rural living. Coming up the drive, you will notice a large veranda or wrap-around
porch with the sliding door strategically located on the center, extending the
living and dining area to the veranda. Beckoning relaxation, the spacious
veranda acts as an outdoor living and dining room for residents and guests
while enjoying overlooking the garden. The roof that flared out to cover the veranda
was an important part of the home plan not only to provide a shady spot but
also to help cool the interior of the home, as heat cannot directly penetrate
with the veranda wrapping the big parcel of the house. The high pitched roof
was intended to ensure a larger volume for warm temperature and for it not to
escape the ceiling. Moreover, considering that the house is surrounded with a
lot of trees, falling dry leaves won’t be a worry. Attic and dormer features on
the roof cut the monotony of the hip roof. Large, symmetrical windows help to
accentuate the exterior and bring the outside in (not to mention the natural
lighting and ventilation is boosted).The goal of having logs and wood cladding
on the façade was confronted with the alternative of grooves, making the equal
impression.
On the courage to label colors. “Ornamentation
has been, is, and will be polychrome. Nature does not present us with an object
in monochrome, totally uniform with respect to color – not in vegetation, not
in geology, not in topography, not in the animal kingdom. Always the contrast
of color is more or less lively, and for this reason we must color wholly or
in part every architectural element. (Antoni Gaudí)” I cannot claim an identity for a house with a vague
statement and is consistently safe or neutral. If Mario Botta said, “Architecture is the constant fight between
man and nature, the fight to overwhelm nature, to possess it. The first act of
architecture is to put a stone on the ground. That act transforms a condition
of nature into a condition of culture; it’s a holy act.”, Then let my
culture be the nature. Let the nature’s color be my palette. Bayville Green is
my prime. And then the rest of the tones and shades are yet to accent the
prime. Now, here’s the reveal. Upon reviewing my own Feng Shui, subconsciously,
the colors presented in this project are, if not my lucky colors, at least not
my unlucky colors. I am born in a year
of Metal Horse; Emerald is my stone; My KUA number is One.
On flaunting textures and patterns. “What looks like wood should also be wood. (Gunter Behnisch)” The
project’s design remains true to its creed. The exposure of the truss framework
in the attic and the trellis in the veranda flourish the idea of exemplifying
ornaments of significance. I did not conceal what is often the subject of
concealment, instead we crafted them into the house’s asset. In this way, aesthetics
was not fed with force. Also with cabinet carpentry works, I dared to brag what
is wood, exhibiting the closest to the real grain and color. I did not go to
the plain and basic. Also, the millworks such as the interior doors were
naturally varnished to enhance their authentic splendour. The
architecture of this contemporary country-style ranch
home is minimally ornamental but very efficient.
In the end, the real assessment on
my part if the design is convincing, is when I highly covet it, having those
thoughts that I should have just reserved this idea for my own contemporary country-style
ranch home. Right now, I have already turned over my first design-build
project. In the simplest way to close my lines: “It’s done”. However, Daniel Libeskind intrudes that: “In a strange way, architecture is really an
unfinished thing, because even though the building is finished, it takes on a
new life. It becomes part of a new dynamic: how people will occupy it, use it,
think about it.” I am
excited to cut my baby’s umbilical cord on the ribbon cutting. J
“I often present in vignettes because what they need to see is not the dress that will wrap the work, but the vitality & precision of the idea encompassing the nude body, the substance & air of the plan it breathes in, and the very soul it channels.” See and watch the detailed design to construction development
in this youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEXH9Kzhy40
Mentioning
above, I blog this now as I travel back and recall those experiences while
doing this complete thing. Taking this moment now, I have apprehended that what
dominates my thoughts and feelings are simply bunches of hope, passion and
love. And the fullest wishes to my clients who have abundantly trusted me, to the
people whom I have worked with in this project, and to myself too: “May the road rise to meet us. May the wind
be always at our back. May the warm rays of sun fall upon our home. And may the
hands of our friends always be near. May green be the grass we walk on. May
blue be the skies above us. May pure be the joys that surround us. May true be
the hearts that love us.” J
Klein, here and now, signing off://
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