the night i presented my passion for work. thank you, british council.

8.20 pm. 17th of March. Dragonfly Club. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

i was part of a design movement. an international design movement.
started in japan. mushroomed everywhere else.















details ( + more visuals ) coming soon, in the meantime however, please copy and paste this link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d8OTzH4GTs

light is God's eldest daughter ... halle lujah!

finally! after months of waiting, finally!

the approval documents and drawings for the church project that i've been working on, submitted way back in october 2009, were finally attained! after months of torturous and frustrating periods of incredulous waiting, the call finally came on in early march that the approval was ready.

blessed news. literally.

and so with much joy and delight, i informed the reverend with whom i was in contact with that the approval was finally granted and that we could start construction in early april. all that's left was to choose a reliable contractor ( "mr. lee, I'm looking at you," ) to get the job moving and complete.

thank God. again, literally.

now, this project is a relatively small size project, dealing primarily with an extension of the congregation hall of about an additional 800 sq.ft. but size here doesn't matter, and the significance of this project laid in far more important aspects, namely pride and excitement.

more than anything else, i was very and deeply honoured and felt a great, immense sense of pride when i was awarded this project, after going through several rounds of creative consultation with the relevant people involved.

you see, here i was, a non Christian, selected and trusted by a church committee, a group of wonderful God-respecting people, to design the facade and extension of a serene, unassuming house of worship for their most sacred rituals, in the presence of their beloved Lord and within the sanctity of the building itself.

this was my chance to experiment with the concept of exploring and cultivating a sense of spirituality in architecture, and hopefully being able to design a structure that somehow establishes and encourages a spiritual atmosphere, and letting the sanctity of that atmosphere permeate within the walls of the church.

• after all, after much thought, the first question that ran through my mind was what was it that makes a building 'spiritual'?

• what are the key elements that set it apart from any other public buildings?

• how does one create and encourage a sense of religious and communal bond within a structured space?

• is it the walls? the structure? the materials? the congregation itself? probably all of them.
  

but the one thing that i felt was of momentous importance when designing a house of worship was how the presence of light should be incorporated and employed to create a particular kind of ambiance that encourages tacit relationships with the divine.

after all, i have read, that in architecture, light is God's eldest daughter, and she should be treated with all the respect she deserves. by the way, that's a beautiful quote isn't it?

light is God's eldest daughter.

and so with this in mind, i set out to design my first house of worship. after days of meticulous research, days of sketches and diagrams, days of mediation and discussion, resulting in 6 final concepts, the following visuals indicate the design that was unanimously agreed by all parties involved to be the approved design.

and i was happy, cause they choose the one that was my favourite too.

the concept of the design is as follows :

an elegant and rich design that unifies a cacophony of subtle yet striking eastern influences, constructed with a clearly contemporary structural vernacular of refined concrete, clear glass and white steel. the design will be set within boundaries of stone on the ground and incorporated with an arrangement of vertical and horizontal frames of light timber.

the church will also have a graceful cross that possesses a highly polished mirror like surface, conveying the notion that the cross is a reflection of the divine that's surrounds us eternally, and of the notion that you yourself are a reflection of the sacred as the sacred exists within you.

the reflective cross will be suspended at the entrance of the building, hung beneath the timber frames with a seemingly invisible cable, giving the impression that it is levitating above the earth, bathed in an aura of light in the early mornings and during the stroke of midnight.

this church is my tribute to the phrase that light is God's eldest daughter, and i hope that this holy place of worship will continue to illuminate the lives of so many as it always has through its serene architectural identity and even more so, through its wonderful teachings.








































































yes, this was my favourite too. undeniably, and i cant wait to see this design materialise.
Thank you, Lord, i won't let you down...!

rendezvous in ipoh, with a gracious leng lui

the 19th of february was a friday.

chinese new year 2010 was over. we ushered in the year of the grand and gorgeous orange cat with much fanfare nationwide, and of course everyone was still in the holiday mood. we were still sleeping in late, still partying the nights before, still catching up with friends and family every chance we got, and most importantly, as anyone would readily confess, still raking in as many angpaus as possible from as many kind and generous hands as we could.

i got one too. a big one. but i cant tell how much, you understand.
thats' privileged information.

now this is the first time in about 12 years i stayed in kayhell during the new year break. this was the time i designated to finish up a proposal for an interesting design project i was asked to review a few months back. and i gotta admit, i really enjoyed working in complete silence during that one week. i went to my office and complete solitude and solace, and i felt a wonderful and reassuring sense of calm and comfort.

no int eruptions, no hindrances, no distractions.
it was bliss.

now as much as i enjoy what i do, i was actually rushing to finish up the work as much as i could by friday. and with good reason.

when i was in korea last year, i met this wonderful young lady, lets call her yw, who was actually a malaysian studying in seoul, who joined us at the conference and whose acquaintanceship i had the pleasure of making. we kept in touch, through msn chat and she eventually told me she was coming back to ipoh for the chinese new year break.

i told her, we would meet.

and so, me being a man of my word, i arranged to meet her in ipoh, her kampung, when she was free to meet during that time. and so i made plans to yum cha with her on the 19th of feb, friday afternoon at 2pm.

and we met.
smiles erupted when we met, exchanging meaningful hellos and genuine salutations, and asking each other how things were. we were excited, and as soon as we met, we hopped into her friends car and drove around the roads in ipoh town, appreciating each other's company and catching up after meeting only once 6 months prior to that moment.

a nice surprise. an angpau.

i was glad i made the effort to see her, taking a drive from kayhell to ipoh, cause as much as i love home, its always good to get away every once in a while. the only sad thing was,my other partner in kryme who went with me to korea, lets call him mister kelabu, unfortunately couldn't join us for this really significant rendezvous. well, maybe next year. or hopefully, in october this year, when i make plans to go back to korea for about a week to participate in the conference again. mister kelabu can join us, and us three malaysians can paint seoul red.

fingers crossed.

so we got in, and of course the first thing on the agenda. lunch.

they took me to some local eatery where the first thing on the menu was char kuey teow, and nescafe. well, i was hoping for chicken rice, cause you know, that's what ipoh is allegedly famous for, but this was pretty good too. no complaints.









after all the companionship was far more important.

after this place, we went to another restaurant for some noodles and soup and another round of drinks, in an obviously old style kopitiam with blue walls and high ceilings, so reminiscent of a bygone era back in the 1970's. it was fun, to just enjoy the moment being out of kayhell, eating and letting the afternoon slip away.

i wish they could be more days like this. i really do.

when we done here, we decided to take another drive around, seeing the sights and sounds of ipoh of all the famous landmarks. the usual suspects of course ... the railway station, the court buildings, the gardens, the various educational institutions, the local houses of worship and a host of other landmarks scattered all over town.






i appreciated it.











the mixture of the historical and the modern, the incessant sounds of the vibrant city, the unavoidable noise from all the traffic, the meandering roads and pathways interposed with green lungs and everything else that creates an urban stage.

in a small town, there was a big presence.

we drove around, went to few more places, and finally about 5pm, we headed for some coffee. i desperately needed my second ( or is it third? ) cup of coffee for the day and this was gonna be a nice way to end this trip. we spend some time, talking about stuff and life in general, the three of us. this was like the perfect way to end this brief encounter.















after drinks here, yw's friend sent me and yw to the shopping mall i parked my car at, where the both of us spent a little some more time, over another round of coffee ( ! ) trying to enjoy each others company just a little bit longer before i headed back to kayhell. but alas as all good things do, this too came to an end, and we finally said goodbye about 7 pm.














we wished each other well, telling her i will do my absolute best to see her and a few other friends in korea this coming october and maybe even plan a skiing trip in korea in january 2011!

i was so happy to have met her and spend what precious little time we had. it truly was worth every moment and im waiting anxiously to see her in october 2010. lets just hope for the best.
and only time will tell, i guess.

choi kin, leng lui!