Almost done...

Here are some more process photos pre-photoshop and cleaning up magicness... 2 more days to work...

Some Pics

Studio Stuff

So our project is going really well and we still need to work out some things but I think we have a solid concept and are working towards making it work completely. Our site is an Iban village in Borneo and it faces the river which we took to get there. There are also two existing long houses on the site. We are supposed to be building a visitors center because there are a lot of people coming to visit but they have no designated space for them. This is a huge source of income for the Iban so this addition would hopefully help them. On the other hand a large amount of us don't think anything should be built on the site because it might further interfere with their culture and way of life. From this our group has taken a few stances. One being that we are not recreating a long house. We want the visitors to know the difference between our built structure and the original Iban structures. Secondly, we want to minimize the built environment that we do put on the site so that the visitor is drawn towards the rest of the village and will only be coming back to our site to sleep. Thirdly, we are not giving the visitor a 5 star accommodation space because we feel that if you drive 5 hrs and boat 1 hr to get there you want to experience the village and the culture... not a large visitors center. I will be attaching some of our basic diagrams along with initial sketchups of the site. Basically our concept stems from their tradition of weaving. By laying down a grid based on site forces we have set up a modular system so that the Iban can continually change the site and construct these modules when they have the time. The grid is based off their system of measurement called a Depa. One depa = 6 feet = about 2 m. We set up a 2 depa system although the grid can deviate for landscape, entry, etc. Hopefully the pictures help... remember we have only been working for 2 weeks!

KL Update

Full swing studio mode... we have to be done by the 4th... ahhh so yes there will be less calling home and less updating of the blog I am sorry to say :( Plus internet is crazy and we rarely get it... oh well. Our concept was approved today yay! We weren't even sure that we had a concept... haha... our studio group is doing really well and i think we will be creating an interesting yet feasible project for the Iban. Oh! my atm card got eaten! I was trying to get money out and it took my card and semi spit it out and it read "verifying account" so i was like... ok... ill let it verify... and then it ate it and said "your card has been retained"... i was like oh thanks for telling me. And it was a Sunday so I couldn't do anything. I decided to not cancel it in hopes that I could get it back from the machine this morning which luckily i did... after describing the card, handing over my id and doing a signature check... phew! Went to an insane massage the other day where I think she put me in pain each time she did anything... other than that we have been in studio a lot, fast-forwarding the design process. Haven't taken any new pictures really, I'll try to. My trek to studio each morning is basically either thru campus or thru a semi-jungle... actually our hotel, hostel residence is set within the jungle and there are tonnnnnnnnns of monkeys running around and on our balconies. Luckily I am on the not so jungle side so they don't come over to our room... at least I think so. My partner was saying that they are very smart monkeys that use straws to drink things and live on campus because there is a lot of food for them. I think we have hit every decent bar in KL that you dont have to pay to get in to... still no one there until we come... most have live bands so thats entertaining. Other than that I'll be home in less than a month! My parter asked if i missed home... and I do but I guess I'm used to being away from home... especially because someone hasn't moved to california *cough* chi parents *cough*... I've come to realize I'm a nomad and can adapt to wherever I am... especially denmark... thats my newest place to venture off to.. :) why denmark? well look at big.dk (website) and you shall see why

B-day extravaganza

some pics from my 22nd... ahh im old...

Happy b-day to me! Last night we went to the bar at the Westin for some salsa dancing and drinks at midnight… stayed out much later than expected. This morning we went for dim sum with uncle k k and tonight he is organizing a dinner party at his friend’s restaurant then maybe karaoke and club later. Some of the Malaysian students should be joining us also. Until then I think I’ll go shop for some presents  Mom reminded me that it’s the first birthday without the parentals in well 22 years… I have a surrogate family here with everyone though so it should be a good time. Hope you all are celebrating my b-day back home too! Have some cheesecake for me… still haven’t been able to find a real cheesecake in Asia. I’ll try to upload the last batch of pictures… should be a random bunch too… petronas towers, view from our hotel in borneo, orangutan pics, Malaysian dancing, our last three beds in the longhouse because we slept in, us attempting traditional dancing, boys playing soccer volleyball with the local iban, random longhouse shots, and a puppy pic that looks like teddy. They wont be in that order but I’m sure you can figure it out. Until next time ttfn… as chi dad would say.