This morning, it rained but I went for a walk anyway. 6500 steps - good start to the day.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Monday, October 26, 2026
27.10.2026 Tuesday - slow jogging
I am happy with my new morning routine, this is only Day 1 but I walk / jog for an hour starting at 430 a.m. pass the park, the hospital and loop home.
At work, we meet early - each person reports their to-do list this week. Halfway through the meeting, two nice things happen; Belinda drops by with home made bread (I had earlier told them about World Architecture Day), and a client rings up with an offer of a new job. He had just signed us off on a new hotel project this week, he must be really fond of our work. After that, I felt like taking it easy but there were prior meetings arranged, so I have to attend to them.
Pity.
26.10.2026 Monday - the day is getting away from us
A lesson from the Stoics - to wake up early and prepare for the day, for what might be difficult today, for what I can do something about (what is in my control), read something (a book not a screen), to decide today's purpose.
Today I am going to listen and not say much. There is a meeting for a job handover, we will take delivery and make up our our minds. Be grateful with arrogance, and move on with the job.
This morning starts at 6 a.m. which I mark with a slow jogging (3500 steps) up and down a short incline near Mrs Eu's house.
Sunday, October 25, 2026
25.10.2026 Sunday - out of sorts until end of the day
When our young ones and some other young ones came by for dinner and drinks - I listen to their stories and learn about their childhood and schooling. One was in boarding school since she was 13, returning only on the weekends, the other maintains an almost cursory relationship with her mom - exchanging whatsapp messages and videos instead to speaking to each other. Another talked about how she was left behind in school, parents forgot to collect her and she had to walk an hour to get home, while one of our talked about how mom drove off without her after tuition class. All this while eating a home cooked meal and drinking nice whisky - a lovely way to begin the week.
Friday, October 23, 2026
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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19.10.2026 Monday - the week continued through the weekend
The weekend was part of the working week, what with the talk we had to give, and the pickleball we played and work to be done for the terrace housing scheme. But it is not a bad thing, everyone pulled their weight and there were no complaints. In fast, when Fiona and I discuss who would do the rendering, TY turns around with a big smile on her face 'are you talking about me?'. She helped with the rendering, and does a good job.
Some offices have politics; subordinates who do not take instructions, managers who are rude and over bearing - we have chat. People are constantly crossing the room to look at someone's screen, to have a chat (even if it is discuss where to have lunch). I see Calvin and LH coming to review Azrul's work regularly.
Chat is a good thing, you can look the person in the eye, and gauge how she is feeling about things. And maybe catch a smile, crack a joke.
Monday, October 19, 2026
18.10.2026 Sunday - a good work day
We have pickleball 'training' again, and Jowie gets to meet the architects' team. She will play in the friendly against the engineers in November. After lunch, I sit in the green room and patiently work through the terrace housing scheme; the results are good. In the evening, everyone sits down for dinner including SW, listening to stories about Rudy's aunties during a recent China trip.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Friday, October 16, 2026
16.10.2026 Friday - a personal observation
This is an article reviewing last week's PAMSC Design Forum.
PAMSC has been organising their Design Festival (PDF) for a
number of years now; it is a popular event with the local members. The events
start on a Friday and end on Sunday; it includes a practice seminar, a student
competition, a trade expo, a networking dinner, the Design Forum and site
visits to significant projects in town. The theme for this year’s forum was
‘Edges and Transitions – designing between worlds.’
Amongst the speakers for this year’s design forum was
renowned architect Peter Stutchbury from Australia, I have always admired his
work and he was the main reason I signed
up for the event. I have watched videos of his talks before and although his
talk last Saturday started in a familiar fashion, he expanded on it to include
recent works and some community projects. He talked about learning from nature,
from our mentors and elders, and from making – it is clear that each project is
an intimate journey for him. His lecture covered his civic buildings as well as
his houses; starting with his church building in Papua New Guinea, and ending
with his work on small pre-fab housing with DimensionX, and my personal
favourite; the Night Sky House. His deep involvement in his work means that he
is able to relate personal stories about the place, the clients, including ones
he built for in the favelas in Brazil.
There were 4 other speakers; Caleb Ong from FORMZERO (Malaysia), Nicholas Yeo from POPULOUS (Singapore), Eric Chen from ARCHIBLUR LAB (Taiwan) and Marcia Jesus from 100 ARCHITECTS (Shanghai).
Caleb Ong and Eric Chen similarly spoke from personal
involvements in their featured projects. Caleb tailored his presentation to the
Forum theme in a series of 6 stories/projects, using edges, boundaries and
transitions to frame his talk. He speaks about blurring the boundaries between
the inside and outside which was successful within the confines of the houses.
The siting of his houses within the urban fabric is less seamless; often
towering over their neighbours, the Borderless House delineates itself from the
neighbourhood with imposing concrete walls. The Canopy House is perhaps the
most successful in this case; it hugs the terrain with a steadily pitching roof
that shelters the terraced living spaces below.
Eric spoke about collaboration with other designers and architects; brief encounters which often result in a built project and lessons learned for himself and his students who are sometimes the construction work-force. He spoke from a vast portfolio; mostly temporary installations, in the city, in the forest, near the sea – a sort of architectural acupuncture that is designed to stimulate or activate a response. Although these projects are often temporary (some allowed to decay and return back to nature as part of the exhibition), he tells us that their impact is long term and continual. I would have preferred a smaller selection of projects, and for these to be presented in more depth because I am quite certain there are back stories and lessons for us in the audience as well.
For me, the forum is clearly divided into two parts – one in which the architect speaks from a personal viewpoint having executed the projects themselves with their team, while the other half sees the architect presenting what their company has done – a portfolio presentation of sorts. I was amazed by 100 ARCHITECTS’s presentation; a catalogue of playscapes of dizzying colours and contortions and impressed by the scale of POPULOUS’s projects in the US, in Japan, in China. But I am not able to recall a project of particular interest to me. Design forums are meant to cater for a wide field of attendees, but I feel that the speakers can do more research on their audience and make an effort to tailor the lectures.
There is a final chapter; the moderation/Q&A session
which was poorly handled. The questions were read from the SLIDO app which was
posted on screen without prior editing or curating. A summing up of the day’s
presentations by the moderator would have been useful to channel first questions
to the speakers. Instead, the questions from the audience were read verbatim
from the screen. Organising an event like this takes a lot of effort; I know
first-hand what it takes, and I know first-hand what it took for the organising
Chairman and his committee to make this a success. As PAMSC successfully
concludes another PDF, it would be good to see how we can all help to improve
the next one, and make it less taxing on the organiser so that he would
consider continuing his good work in this role.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
15.10.2026 Thursday - an early day
I feel better today, especially after returning home at 330 p.m. to have a nap. I must have eaten something that disagreed with me. I am cheered up by my children who arrive for dinner and gave hugs and biscuits (a brand which I first tasted on a plane to Helsinki.
14.10.2026 Wednesday - we have work to do
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| courtesy of Yoshi who is reminded of his dog by our Jellybean |
I am in no fit frame of mind for dinner, my tummy is acting up so I go to bed earlier to try and sleep it off. It does not work. But it is ok, we receive confirmation that we have a hotel project, so I treat myself with a pickleball session.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026
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