7.4.2025 Monday - grey Monday

We are not shortlisted for our Bagan Specialist Centre submission. We can try again next year.

She was rude, and continued to be when we speak on the phone. It seems my presence in the 'work' activities is upsetting to her. Strange, considering that I was the one who introduced the job to their company. I'll stay away, it's a small thing although I had earlier thought that this would be a good opportunity for me to see more of her.

In other news, Mark has resigned. I told Ricco my BIM plans. I told Arlene my fee share method. I told Ryan that it's ok to focus on school work now, and not to worry about office work. I will try to be kind(er) and help when it is requested.

Paddington Market. Photo by Sam 2000

ANALYSING DNA 3.0

Last Wednesday, I presented a short talk at the PAM centre - in an attempt to explain how a roomful of architects of diverse backgrounds, interests and preoccupations come together to produce a body of work that enjoyed success at the Design Awards. I say 'an attempt' because we have tried this twice before - the first time when Huat Lim of ZLG interviewed for an article called "Analysing DNA", followed by a presentation called "Re-analyzing DNA" several years later when we tried to do the same. On both occasions, we did not succeed in shedding any light.


This time, I used 15 of our PAM Awards entries to describe the common design pre-occupations to we share such as 'memory' - an interest to retain and extent the personal history of the site; to use local craft and materials in craft our buildings; challenging accepted norms and typologies to name a few.


Due to the earlier start-times of the talk, only about 40 persons attended, amongst them was Dato Dr. Kenneth Yeang - his GM spoke about their winning scheme in Singapore "Solaris Green". Mingi spoke about the Facelift and his two Showrooms.

Mingi presenting his work

The time given for the talk was 30 minutes which was rather short - I plan to revise this presentation and add more material for an hour's worth of information for my next session of architecture students.


Stay tuned.

The view from Traders Hotel

This is a belated continuation of the previous blog entry - a happy outing to KL; staying at the Traders, pampered at the executive lounge and receiving two gold medals at the PAM Awards. I enjoyed most the quiet morning at the breakfast lounge 35 floors up - finishing my sketches in watercolor.
These are two of them - I used watercolors from a Sakura Paintbox.

The meagre fruits of our labour?

Newspaper Article on our recent success at the PAM Awards 2010.

People often ask if there are any financial rewards in winning the annual PAM Awards; we tell them 'no'. 

So...., what do you win? - they are curious. We tell them - a trophy and a certificate.(visit www.designnetworkarchitects.com to see the trophy). 'That's it ?' - they are incredulous - sure that there must be more to gain than a trophy and a pat on the back by the National Institute of Architects. Well, of course there are rewards and most times, we reap them even before the winners are announced. For the past 4 years, the process of compiling project material for shortlisting is an excellent team-building exercise and an avenue for design discourse and even a little friendly competition amongst colleagues. 

Of course, the awards themselves are a form of recognition from our peers; important for a young architectural firm like ours from a 'remote' part of the country.