CCTV China Central Television Headquarters

Keeping in mind that the Chinese manage to prepare themselves for the olympics in such paced time, I'm now constantly impressed by how China is developing and rising against other nations. Their open-mindedness in architectural design is further manifested by the recent CCTV Headquarters in Beijing.



Rem Koolhaas(Netherlands) and Ole Scheeren(Germany) of OMA were the architects in charge for the building, while Arup provided the complex engineering design. The building was built in two separate building and later was joint as picture shown below.



Somehow, its design reminds me of an escher illusion. Nevertheless, props to China for building an almost impossible feat of construction challenge. Read more here.

Coroflot! : An online Crative Portfolio

Interesting find this one. It's a website consist of designer from all sorts of background, expertise and prowess. It's like the Vimeo of design craft.



I love going through the site to get references and ideas. They have some very clever and creative ideas which are very intriguing.

Get there by clicking here.

World without design.

Environment. It's what we're surrounded with and live in. World without people concerned about environment makes it all dull and plain mundane. I would imagine of a world where design and art is tertiary and governments do not put a single penny on developing such an important part of any civilization. My point is, environmental design is essential to any country as it beautifies and makes a statement.

In my opinion, design reflects the overall impression of a society. I would think that China is still the ancient narrow-minded people if it's not for the recent revelation of extraordinary architectural structures they've built. Take for example, the National Grand Theater in Beijing.



Even the simplest act of decoration such as the lawn gnomes, statues and flamingo puppets makes up the essence of design and reflects concerns about the environment.



Wall Street Bull.

Dubai's Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall

The Ibn Battuta Mall is a large shopping mall on the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai.. It is named after Moroccan famous traveller and explorer Ibn Battuta. This project was completed by the Nakheel Properties group in early 2005. The names of the six courts of the mall are named after the countries and regions to which Ibn Battuta travelled.

Interestingly, this mall is divided into six main courts. There's China,India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Andalusia.



Click image for higher-res.



Read more over here.

EarthShip

Sometime ago when I was doing my secondary studies, my dad was so obsessed with Earth ship. He still does. In fact, he's still practicing this so called demeanor as he believes the earth is closing to apocalypse. Nah, I'm just joking. My dad loves the idea that recycling is part of our responsibility and what others may think that throwing gets rid of their problem, we may be able to fix and make use of it again.

So what's an Earthship?



The idea is using waste material as the base material for your building. Think of it as this way. The native Kadazans in Sabah are surrounded with Bamboo woods. So, naturally that they would use it as their construction blocks. Those living in Gaza uses clay as that's what is available to their disposal.

So why not use tires/bottles/boxes/newspapers etc. as your very own brick and mortar?
The pioneer to Earthship, Mike Reynolds wanted to create a home that would do three things;
first, it would be sustainable, using material indigenous to the entire planet as well as recycled materials wherever possible.
Second, the homes would rely on natural energy sources and be independent from the “grid”, therefore being less susceptible to natural disasters and free from the electrical and water lines that Reynolds considered unsightly and wasteful.
Finally, it would be economically feasible for the average person with no specialized construction skills to be able to create.



Read more here.

World Expo

What's a World Expo?
I've heard of this term earlier this week as my lecturer informed of us but no one really got clear of the true purpose of the event. World Expo also called the "World's Fair" is an exhibition of art & design of buildings participated by many different nations. It influences the development of design, trade relation, impression, even tourism. The event takes place annually or sometimes in gaps of 2 years (probably due to preparations and constructions). It is like the olympics of buildings in my opinion...that they would design and build their building and the lucky nation host would profit both in terms of nation relations as well as economical flow as tourism comes visit.

But the point is that each year the participating nations would out do their previous years works and with the push of competition from other countries, i think it's a win win situation as it further push the boundaries of design and produce wacky or sometimes very interesting designs.



China's Pavilion entry. At a glance you can really tell that it's China.



The Seed Cathedral. UK's entry for World Expo 2010. The whole structure is covered with fiber optic and lits up at night!



United Arabs Emirates entry. It has some sort of bio essence in its design. DNA strings?

Read more here.

Form follows Function or Function follows Form?

It's quite the chicken-egg question that it's difficult to differentiate. However, there's always an explanation for it. Form Follows Function is a principle associated with modern architecture and industrial in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose. [wikipedia]
I would say that Form follows function is more of a reversed method of designing a functional product. You see, i would imagine that a simple chair, distorted, twisted, bloated, and shaped into some wacky looking modern design, would still function as a chair. In fact, i think that's how chair designers think of how chairs are now designed. Form comes first then only the function would later be added or adapt to the form.



However, I would still doubt that Form follows function. If I were a chair designer I would think both in parallel if that's even possible. Matters such as "how the chair would look like and where is the seating placed". That's mind-boggling. But chair is a chair. Where its purpose is singular and simple. What about Function follows form? what's the difference? It's the other way round obviously. The designer would first prioritize its function before making out its form. Like a laptop for instance. It would still function as it is but later on its form; the external look of it would be designed and make it appealing to consumers.



What about this one?



I'm not so sure if it's called "The Crooked House" as officially, but this bizarre architecture can be found at Sopot, Poland. Obviously this building is "Form follows function". You may bombard it with questions and how radical its design goes. But I think that bizarre designs makes up for it. How horrendous a building looks, but still functions the way it's suppose to; that's witchcraft!

Concept Store

First post, we're given a task to identify a store with its so called unique concept and ingenious ideas. So, a group of us went for a trip to One Utama for a hunt. We were pretty much hesitant and quite timid to ask permission to take a shot of the store. But, since we're already here...what choice do we have. So, we took our chances and politely asked. Some turn us down telling us that they need approval from their high office and the lucky few were very generous to give us the green light.


My selected store is a fashion boutique.



It was pretty much self-explanatory from here on. DC Tribe has a good design concept which appeals to youngsters and adults.



Upon entering the store. It has a warehouse sort of feel to it...yet there's a shopping instinct to it too. Like going to the garage and discovering it's a huge wardrobe!



I think this attracts me most. You see, u might think that "oh this sort of arrangement is normal stuff" but hey, look closely to what sort of material they used to make out the rack!



The store used pipes and cardboards as part of its concept. I like to think of it as a garage or a warehouse or a workshop. But hey, the mix works and looks very appealing which is what's important.




So, there you have it. An adventure to a boutique and i made it out safe and not a penny less.

Introduction

My name's Brenden and this gem here is for Environmental Design MMI1013.

What's Environmental Design?
Environmental Design is a place based marketing that offers customer experiences in making contact with the brand. There are different type of 3D media in our environments such as exhibition, showrooms, window displays, information kiosks, train stations and so on. Their purpose is made for a media for advertising.