It's the water we drink...

- I tell them when asked why Sarawakian firms feature consistently at the PAM Awards.

This is an extract from my editorial in the PAM newsletter - touching on the winning entries for PAM Awards. This year, 3 out of the 16 nominated entries from Sarawak won prizes in their categories; making it 7 years in a row that local firms have won awards. DNA took gold for the Phoenix Gym.

I used the editorial to address some architects who behave as though designing stops after the schematic design stage. They are like absent fathers - there during the conception and nowhere to be found during the night-feeds and difficult adolescence. Even when they are around, they are pre-occupied with other issues of the 'practice'.

I am not an expert in design theories so I am merely sharing my observations and experiences here. Some of my readers are students - so perhaps this is directed to architecture students.

So this is a reminder that design does not end at the butter-paper stage  but continues well into the construction stage. I am reminded that Renzo Piano monitors design development and production drawings after hours by marking and making comments in distinctive green ink, while Glenn Murcutt spends entire weekends on site with builders to discuss construction details.

On that note, this set of hand sketches are completed to discuss steel joints with Kiong, the steel fabricator who in another life would have made a good product designer. All this work for a fence and car port, well - this is what wins national awards and the water we drink, in Sarawak.

Tell you about these sketches later