visiting a zaha hadid masterpiece, 18.03.2008

18th of march 2008 was special for 2 reasons.

the first reason was because someone whom i hold very dearly in my heart celebrates her 16th birthday every year for the past God knows how many years now on that particular date. as far as she is concerned, she's always gonna be 16, and every year on the 18th of March, she simply celebrates the anniversary of her turning 16 .. year after year after year ...

and so dear sis, happy sweet sixteen ... again!

the second reason is the fulfilling of personal aspiration. to those of us who are familiar with the architectural splendors of certain British Iraqi woman, we are all know what an absolute powerhouse Zaha Hadid is, presently in the design universe. we know her designs, are literally, out of this world, in which her works celebrates concepts of movement and fluidity, created around a seemingly alien inspired design vocabulary, creating structures that at once baffle and fascinate our visual senses, resulting inevitably first in awe, then astonishment and finally admiration.


Simply put, this woman's work is WOW.

just google her. you'll get the picture soon enough.

one of her simpler projects however ( that is, if there is such a thing as a simple Zaha Hadid project ) was the construction of a unique mobile structure called "The Art Container" .


she was commissioned by Chanel to design an iconic exhibitionist structure that would house some of products that Chanel has produced over the decades that would exhibited at selected venues all over the world. I'm no fashion connoisseur so I can't comment a single thing on that. what caught my eye was the container itself and not such much what was exhibited within. I'm sure that Chanel has produced wonderful pieces of fashion, much admired by all, but my interest was of course strictly architectural in nature. now, the good news was this ... it seems one of the venues this year for this traveling exhibition would be in Hong Kong and the timing for the exhibition coincided somewhat with my sis's birthday, who currently ... get this...lives in Hong Kong!

Perfect. I get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

So this is what I decided to do. I was gonna go to HK to visit this wonderful piece of work and celebrate her birthday with her husband at one go. I was excited..this was gonna happen! and so I packed up my bags, took my camera and on the 16th of March, 2008, I left for the fragrant harbour in the Far East. I was gonna see Zaha Hadid's work ...in person!

this was really thrilling and I loved the prospect of seeing her work with my own eyes, instead of some picture I would see in a magazine. while spending some time with 2 people I absolutely adore..









oh, what an adrenaline rush
this was going to be.

and so I reached HK, and finally, off I was to see this masterpiece.
and God, I was so glad i came!

it was unbelievable!
















there was this gleaming white pavilion in the distance, designed like a coiled snake ready to strike, with a smooth, uninterrupted ceramic surface, enveloped with an interlacing grid of black lines, that housed and exhibited some of the finest things Chanel has produced. the entire pavilion was placed on top of a flat roof, overlooking the glorious oceans from HK itself. it was placed at a location that took full advantage of its site, making sure there was ample space for the crowds to come, whilst enjoying 360 views of HK city, the oceans and of the opposite shoreline, where Kowloon stands. yup, perfect location.
















the pavilion itself exemplified and showcased the best of what Zaha Hadid has come to represent.
















an experimentation and exploration of forms that are curvilinear and deconstructivist, glorifying notions of fluidity, velocity and movement. her works seeks to challenge our perception of what architecture is, and pushes the boundaries of what is possible way beyond their limits. and she gets bolder and bolder with each passing design.

this art container was no exception to the rule. shaped by a curved axis, but distorted like an elegant ellipse, with a skylight in the middle of the ceiling reminiscent of lotus petals, the entire pavilion looked more like a flying saucer from another galaxy that had landed in the middle of the city, inviting people to come in, through its tantalising and intriguing gleaming ivory facade. people were drawn to this magical egg, and they couldn't help themselves by succumbing to its magnetic appeal.

small no doubt in size and structure, but undeniably colossal in appeal and presence.















once inside, we were given earpieces to get a personal narration of the significance of each exhibit. we walked in, looked around, but I was of course more interested in the pavilion itself. I loved the way the interior walls curved in and out, how they were elongated in certain places and flat in some others, how the entire hall was dark, and only in the heart of the pavilion was the area flooded with sunlight.















spaces were divided in clusters of subtle circles and unique mirror and light features were placed at random spots adding to its incomprehensible design layout. certain areas were elevated and on cantilevered platforms and others followed a spiral axis flat on the floor. it really was as if we were inside an aliens' spacecraft, our minds blown away by the presence of technology light years ahead.


dark and mysterious, intriguing and mystifying.















so we walked around following the natural curve of the exhibition pathway and eventually after it was all seen, we left. the curved spaces within were lit selectively, and nothing about this place was normal. it was as if we had walked through a looking glass, and stepped into another dimension where the accepted rules of construction were tossed aside and where the imagination of the designer was allowed to run wild and free, unconstrained by the laws of gravity or physics. I wasn't allowed to take any photographs inside and so all I have are memories, but thankfully I stayed on taking as many photographs as I can of the exterior, admiring it as much as possible before I leave, realizing of course that once I do, I won't ever have the chance to touch this breathtaking piece of work again.

I was satisfied. Content and calm.















I was happy that I made the decision to come and witness for myself the power of the human mind in designing something that was so exceptionally unconventional and radical, in actual, materialised, tangible form. Leaving a deep impression on me on the power of thinking outside the box to create something spectacular, and an even deeper admiration of this woman's work, I was awestruck as I left the venue. I just hope I'll be fortunate enough again one day to see another of her masterpieces. after all,I was lucky this time, would it be too much to pray for another round of luck again, soon in the future?

Time will tell. I just hope it'll come sooner, rather than later!

happy birthday, myself !

yes,

its my birthday, and as strange as it seems, somehow it feels right to make an entry in my blog. some close people have already wished me well on facebook, so thats kinda cool and its nice to get good wishes every once in a while.so as i write this, conan's the tonight show on astro in on, and a couple of wise cracks are in the air.of course its way too early for anything to happen, so lets just see what the day brings. i'd like to end this entry with a list of projects that i'm particularly proud of.

a church in bangsar, entitled [ The Lantern Of Peace] . i was given the chance to design a house of worship and i felt blessed that the people in church were happy with my ideas and accepted a non- Christian to design a sacred sanctuary for them.



















An office for the Legal Aid Centre, which is connected back to the Malaysian Bar Council. this is the division of the legal fraternity that helps people who cant afford lawyers and thus does mostly work on a pro-bono basis.








the beginning of my first bungalow project in shah alam, called
The House Of The Luminous Heart, where the design centres on ideas rooted in a language of the tropics, an architectural vocabulary of earthly colour schemes and materials, a sense of openness from one space to another, high ceilings and long eaves. its so cool for it all to be coming together these past 6 months or so. thank you, frank llyod wright.















a restaurant that serves pastries and dessert, that is based on a mix of an eastern - influenced appearance within a modern space. the wallpaper subtly showcases a pattern of leaves in a quite gold hue, flanked above with a wave - like form that has lights placed randomly like stars at night, and a general ambiance of warm colours and lights and calm surroundings. this one im gonna call [ The Forest Of Golden Leaves ]










the beginning of a design for a residence that incorporates a contemporary indian identity. a juxtaposition of white geometric forms with an intricately design aluminium screen filled with simplified lotus images. i'm gonna call it The Lotus Cube.









its been an interesting year, no doubt, and undeniably the best thing so far was my trip to seoul, south korea. lets see what else this interesting year brings, shall we?

seoul, south korea > part IV

so this was it.

we had finally come to end of the journey,. like i wrote in my last post, thoughts of this nature were the last to float in my mind before i finally slept the night.

i was sad.

what had been an incredible journey of discovery and delight, was pretty much at an end. so unfair ... why do all good things come to end so quickly? i got up around 630 am, with a sad feeling in my heart, whilst my shoulders were heavy, and my spirit was down. i try to always be in high spirits as much as humanly possible, but like all mere mortals, i do occasionally feel the blues.

this moment was one of them.

so all i could do, was muster the strength to get up, get dressed and get ready, and by around 7am, we were downstairs. first things first was of course breakfast. my room mate, Grey had gone down first, and i told him I'd see him there shortly. needed a moment of silence. to pray for serenity. and for gratitude for everything i had experienced here, in korea.it was the least i could to convey my thanks to the divine. pray, in silence.

i was downstairs by 7am. i met grey at the restaurant and i was surprised to see another familiar face had joined us. her name is ira, who's from indonesia, but works in singapore. great, the more the merrier. and there to join us too, sharan from taiwan. perfect. another international gathering for breakfast that morning. i loved it.

we sat there, talking to each other about how much we enjoyed everything at the Olympiad, the stuff we did, the friends we made, the work we did. and everyone pretty much felt the same way we did. bittersweet moment for everyone i guess. and after breakfast was done, the four of us took one last shot together, before we boarded the bus back to the airport. sharan didnt follow, her plane was at a later time, and so we said goodbye at the hotel. ira followed us..two guys, a girl and airport.


the bus journey was quiet, everyone dozed off for an hour or so. i was looking around, trying to visually savour as much as possible before we reached incheon international airport. i wanted to take photographs of the airport when we initially reached, but i decided that when we eventually left, i could take shots then too..i just hope i have the time. and so as soon as we reached the airport, we got out, immediately looked for out check in counters and followed procedure. mundane. nothing out of the blue there. as soon as we were in line, i took the chance to leave the grey and ira for a while, while i frantically rushed to as many places as i can in the airport complex to take as many pictures i could of this futuristic terminal.























"a humongous structural concoction of technology and space elegantly designed as a transportation hub like no other, in this part of the world. the way light filters through its glass facade, the selected usage of natural stone and timber, the clever insertion of green spaces and the high tech, 21st century look and language of this terminal. i loved everything about it. i so wished i had more time to marvel at this wonderful piece of architecture, but time unfortunately, was not on my side,"

when all was done and over, i made my way to see grey and ira at the departure hall. i checked in, and thats where when my luggage was checked, both my toothpaste and shaving cream got confiscated. my shaving cream, for God's sake! but i didnt wanna argue, cause you know, the officer was just doing his job, and i didnt want anything to sour this journey, least of all a can of shaving cream.





















i met them both at the departure point, and we made our way to our seats and start to prepare ourselves for the long, tedious and boring 7 hour journey back home. of course, we decided to just get 40 winks while we could, and for the first time in 4 days, i finally felt fatigue setting in. i finally felt my body shutting down, my systems slowing inevitably, and my eyes began to close. but guess what.

i couldnt sleep ... even after all that, i couldnt even yawn. and so what next? well, the movie The Taking Of Pelham 123 was on, and i did want to see that back home months ago, so thats exactly what i did. they showed some strange korean movie before that about a bunch of girls being trained for some major weight lifting tournament and it seems it was based on some true story. well, at least least the showed travolta and washington after that. not a bad movie and after it was over, i just tried to sleep the rest of the trip away. vaguely successful there.

after 7 hours, we finally reached home. the three of us got off together of course, and i took ira's card for safekeeping. i think she was in transit and she was gonna take another flight to singapore. i was with grey, and eventually we said our goodbyes as well. i got my luggage, went straight to KLIA express and went straight back to Sentral. as i sat in the train, i took the moments i had, sitting silently, looking out at the greenery that greeted my eyes, and the humidity that enveloped in my body coming to the realisation i was home. straight home, after i reached Sentral, took the earliest taxi i could get and i was home by around 7pm. my parents greeted me of course, but all i wanted to do was sleep.

and thats' exactly what i did.

this magical, surreal journey had come to an end, pretty soon my life would return to normal. back to work. back to society. but this is an experience i was never gonna forget. it will always be close to me, lodged in the chambers of my heart, for as long as i live.

thank you, God. thank you so much.