27 Feb 2022 Sunday Spending time with Mom

we went back to an old haunt at Kpg Buntal; some things have not changed but the prices have gone up

Saturday - Sam reminds me to be gentler with Mom as she is 80 this year and she may not have many years left - though she is still quite fit physically her mind wanders and she is forgetful. She is happy when with us and is more her normal; talkative and cheerful, often chatting with strangers and joking about the people she observes - 'see that woman, I would have worn that skirt if I were as fat as her'.
 

she wanted to know where we were going. 'a job-site'. "this is quite nice, as far as construction site go"

into the twlight

26 Feb 2022 Saturday Haunted Hotel

 

25 Feb 2022 Friday Working from home

 

24 Feb 2022 Thursday today is a good day

 

23 Feb 2022 Wed Job-sites

notes after a site meeting, I drew this

Today was spent at job-sites: Cove at 10 a.m. followed by PD Residences at 2 p.m. and then the Impiana Hotel (with Freddie). 

We make it a habit to visit our project sites at least once a fortnight; not just to inspect built works, but to allow the builders an opportunity to ask questions about upcoming tasks, to show samples and mock ups. It is time consuming but it cancels the impression most consultants and builders have that once the architects come to the site it is to solve PROBLEMS. Meaning that shit has happened, bringing with it negative connotations - it is better to treat the site visit as a work session - with the builder and his sub-contractors.
 

notes after a meeting, the builder drew this (and later built it)

22 Feb 2022 Tuesday Noon on Tuesday

This is a sketch from my phone camera of the back street where Sam and I parked our car for lunch

I took a quick shot of the building with its brick tiled corner, the makeshift hoarding at street level in grey roofing sheet complete with vents; it must be an extension of the kitchen. I like how the rear of the shops turned the corner and faded from view, partially hidden by some large trees. 

It wasn't pretty but life is like that; untidy but practical, old and new sitting uncomfortablly next to each other. Someone once thought it was a good idea to highlight the chamfered corner with red brick tiles (now spoiled by the introduction of two air-cond units). 

21 Feb 2022 Monday Telling it like it is

job matrix - dividing responsibilities

 Our client had an interview with some potential consultants, and asked us to sit in. It was an online interview so quite a number of the client's team sat in, as did ours. There were 4 candidates, and after each 15-minute interview - we would re-cap and discuss our observations. For one candidate whom we have worked with before, I made it quite clear that while the director who attended the interview is an excellent Quantity Surveyor, his project QS was NOT useful and gave a few candid examples. My assessment will likely their chances, and I satisfied myself that it was for the good of the project. 

But as the day drew to a close, I thought I would ask GW and PH what they thought of my comments - one said I was a bit blunt, while the other had no such qualms and said 'but it is the truth'. Perhaps my only fault might have been speaking too bluntly in the company of so many people, especially the junior staff members. 

Telling it like it is. It is sure to divide, but ultimately I think the client would expect a honest opinion from us. And if asked by that candidate - I am sure that I would be able to repeat that same assessment. 

20 Feb 2022 Sunday Business and architecture

 

19 Feb 2022 Saturday Cardboard Therapy

 

18 Feb 2022 Friday Meeting KW and RT

Yasmin - one of our borrowed children and a delight

Fridays are often an excuse to catch with friends over a long lunch - I was early invited to have lunch with KW and I thought it would be good for him to rub shoulders with other architects. I am very fortunate as there is always an offer of a lift to the lunch venue by someone; Freddie, Si Yong, or Ivy. 

The drive was a chance to continue my chat about work collaborations; he needed continual income. 

At lunch, I spoke to a young architect who grumbled about his inability to make changes to his family's property development business. They made money developing low to medium-cost housing for the government and my young friend felt that his design ideas were not given due attention. My old self would be scolded him, my current self gave him 2 pieces of advice: ask for a small plot of land to execute as a prototype - architects need to build to test ideas and gain confidence, and to build up your portfolio of built work for others to have confidence in you. Secondly, I reminded him that the uninspiring work that his father built was responsible for putting him through a prestigious architecture school in Melbourne. And that perhaps he should consider this period as time to return the gratitude and kindness of his parents. He has only been back 3 months!

 

17 Feb 2022 Thurs Meeting JT and Sendy

this photo is not related to this blog except that it was taken by Sam the night before. Jellybean and I had a early night, we held hands and went to sleep

I had put my hand up to help JT with his profession exams and this morning we continued our conversation with him. He was in town with his wife, Sendy - Freddie had been the glue between the both of us. 

This morning, I put up my hand to help Sendy who was the business end of their young practice - with things that I now take for granted; how to start the conversation with the client at the beginning of a project and guide it towards appointment of our services and the formulation of the brief.

1. Ask for a land title (this provides details about the land category, possible usage, locality and most importantly OWNERSHIP).

2. Buy an extract of the title, and a cadastral plan (which is gives an indicative size of land, etc) Professional surveys cost money and usually at the feasibility stage, the cadastral plan would suffice.

3. Prepare a layout to start the conversation about relationship of spaces and levels, and to capture floor areas. Floor areas are important to work out indicative costs and money is a great decider (whether to have a lift and skip the Italian marble tiles, or to combine mother-in-law's room with the study).

4. Tabulate the floor areas and project cost estimate so that you can decide on the fee scale for your appointment. Use the PAM-LAM Scale of Minimum Fees. Recommend that the engineers are appointed early to assist in the design development at an early stage, and with experience, you can recommend certain folks for certain jobs.

5. Have a simple work programme so that clients know when you will provide project design updates, and when you would expect decisions and confirmation from them.

This is how we typically start our conversations with the client - we typically take two weeks to do this. Most times it leads to an actual project. Sometimes, it dies a natural death due to budget, differing design approaches and expectations, but we feel that it is necessary to draw a few lines, put a few thoughts on paper to engage with a client (especially a new one). This generosity is rewarded either with a project or if not, a design idea for the portfolio.

16 Feb 2022 Wed recessed skirting

 

15 Feb 2022 Tuesday Site notes

 

14 Feb 2022 Monday We should sell the old house

 

13 Feb 2022 Sunday A quiet dinner

Since Pa's passing last April, Mom has gone to stay with Ni and her family, Khoon has gone to NZ and many of my nieces and nephews have started their university courses. The family has grown smaller in number, but we are doing many more things together; tennis, cooking on Sundays, collecting Mom from Eldercare, Wednesday dinners with her, lunches with Rachelle. So it was strange that when we sat down for ChapGoMeh dinner, that someone was not talking at all. Sometimes we don't speak because we are pre-occupied with our thoughts, shutting down some facilities in order to focus on what's on our minds. Other times, it is because we are unhappy and rather be somewhere else. This, I think was one of those situations. 

12 Feb 2022 Saturday Sleeping a lot

 

11 Feb 2022 Friday

6 Feb 2022 Sunday 5 Thomians eat lunch together

 

In the last few years, we lost Churchill and then Vernon - there is a chat group where the same several people share their insights and opinions daily. One of them shares a daily salutation at 430 a.m; I suspect he is getting up for work around that time. He sells fried crullers (you-tiao) at the Kenyalang Market, he is a school mate whom I have no recollection of ever meeting in school. Nonetheless, he is regularly in our phones now. I share caption-free abstract black and white photos of our construction sites. Mike share cat photos, because he has 7-8 of them. Sometimes, someone makes a comment and there is a spurt of short lived conversation. Otherwise our 'fellowship' is limited to images that ping into our screens. 

Sometimes, I post an open invitation in the group to have breakfast/lunch/a quick drink and see who turns up. Last Sunday, 4 showed up for lunch, as a Chinese New Year celebration, two were class mates from Primary 1; one of them is a engineering works supervisor and has been at his job for more than 30 years. He has 3 daughters, one of whom was in the team who shot our SD video. The other is probably the wealthiest person in class, and rightly so too he was the highest achiever in Form 6. I told him that was because we were all gone; gone overseas to our year 12. He sells the raw ingredients for food manufacturing is probably the wealthiest one 

10 Feb 2022 Thursday

We got together with some former colleagues (and still friends) from DNA, for a simple vegetarian lunch. I knew that the food would not have been everyone's first choice but they showed up because they wanted to meet up with friends. We were genuinely interested in how the others are doing - when is her husband returning from China? the tea lady retiring soon, what does she do without a pension? (she gave Sam some lovely ketupats) how much are we paying our architects? is the PNG project completed? 

It was a nice break from the morning's site visits to Renna and PD - though both were fruitful and the people there motivated and keen to do a good job. 

9 Feb 2022 Wednesday