Sunday, January 22, 2006

Datai Hotel, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia, By Kerry Hill Architects

"All too often, investors disregard the opportunity to marry luxury tourism to ecological sensitivity,opting instead for easier, more cost-effective or more sensational developments. Occasionally,however, a project is ambitious enough to accommodate the needs of the most demanding clients and the most fragile environment. The Datai, a five-star hotel on a popular resort island in northern Malaysia, is an example of how far developer and architect can go to achieve a symbiosis between terrain and built form, tradition and tourism, vernacular styles and Modernism. The Australian architect, Kerry Hill, was involved from the outset in selecting the 750-hectare site, which includes a beach, untouched rainforest and a sensitive ecosystem of swamps, streams and wildlife. A further distinctive element of the terrain is a ridge that drops sharply to the waterfront. Hill sited the hotel away from the beach to minimize its impact on the waterfront, placing the complex on the ridge to provide spectacular views and leave more of the forest undisturbed. Another significant decision was to fragment the hotel into free-standing buildings, pavilions and isolated villas, reducing the mass of the complex and allowing flexibility in siting to minimize the felling of trees."
Chinese New Year is coming, I would recommend The Datai, a great place as vacation in Malaysia, the island, the beach, the breeze, the architecture in Malaysia, truely Asia.
To find out the room rate.
Image located from http://www.golfin-provence.com

HJL Book Review

Lee Hae Jee, an architect who worked 5 years in Korea, graduated from Pratt Institute in New York had a book review site that introduce architectural books and resources which you might find useful. to find out more...

Friday, January 20, 2006

online MBA

"Online MBA and distance learning MBA programs provide an alternative way of getting an MBA. There are significant differences between distance learning or online mbas and full time MBAs. The main difference is that of class contact hours, although some online mba programs do offer class contact at residential weeks. There is therefore some overlap between online mba or distance learning mba programs and executive mba programs delivered in a modular format. " To find out more...

Friday, January 13, 2006

Architecture Critics


Another interesting articles from The Architect's Newspaper introducing architecture critics.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Rain Water Down Pipe

GUTTER CAPACITY CALCULATION
Input roof catchment size for one outlet (m) 8.4m width 34.3m lenght
Roof Catchment Area(m2) 289m2
8.4m x 34.3m = 288.12m2 per RWDP

Rainfall Intensity (mm/hr) (Malaysia) 325mm/hr
Total cross section area of gutter 65790mm2

Gutter width based on structural design/site condition 300mm

Min Average gutter height including 25mm freeboard 245mm
(between lowest & highest point)

Gutter gradient 1:200
Minimum gutter girth (mm) For 1.0mm thick Zincalume gutter 814mm
Minimum gutter size = 300mm(W) x 300mm (D) 900mm

CAPACITY FOR EAVE GUTTER
Downpipe Capacity for Eave Gutter
Cross section of RWDP for EAVE gutter = 95mm2 x Roof Catchment
Based on above roof catchment,
The requierd cross section of RWDP 27455 mm2
Min Recommendation diameter for RWDP = 200mm

CAPACITY FOR INTERNAL BOX GUTTER
Cross section of RWDP for Internal Box gutter = 95mm2 x Roof Catchment
Based on above roof catchment,
The requierd cross section of RWDP 27455 mm2
Min Recommendation diameter for RWDP = 200mm

Maybe you would find the above calculations useful.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Market Design Development

The design development of the market is a big leap, starting from "creation of experience" into detail design of "layers in space". The image beside is generated from 3d max, which is a fast track 1.5 hours' job including information browsing, 3d modelling in cad, lighting, material assignment, angle choosing, test rendering and printing. The detail design of rafter holding and treatment is inspired by John Patkau, one of my favourite architect, Seabird Island Schoold for the Salish people. The intension is to create a public space extended from the market into the public bus station side. Louvers at roof end is to shield of rain and act as sun screen. Projecting columns to charactered as sub-support of large over hang, division of large scale building and focal point. However, perforated metal sheet at second layer to be removed, maybe a replacement by advertisement panels. Shielding is needed for drastic rain in philippines, therefore a skin of perforated metal sheet is added at outer layer, as protection.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

PMI Malaysian Chapter

"PMI Malaysian Chapter is a non-profit organisation set up to promote and develop project management knowledge competencies. It is financed from members' subscriptions. To find out more about PMI, visit www.pmi.org. The Construction SIG forum is a FREE service provided by PMI Malaysia Chapter to encourage and facilitate the sharing of knowledge of project management in the construction industry. Joining is easy, all you need to do is register at http://www.pmimy.org/register.php. Once you completed the FREE registration process, you can join the discussions at PMIMY SIG Construction Forum or simply tour the site to learn about PMI Malaysian Chapter activities."
To find out more...
There are online courses from PMI(Project Management Institute). A year's subscription with web-based self-study course cost only usd475 for non-members of PMI. To find out more...
The above passage is written by Dr. Yeoh from http://maverickysm.blogspot.com/

Nelson Kon Fotografias

"Nelson Kon graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has been working with urban and architectural photography since 1985. At this website you'll find a representative selection of his images on modern and contemporary Brazilian architecture. All the images are protected under international copyright laws and their use is not allowed without the photographer's permission. The website is updated on a regular basis." To find out more...
I find that the photographs taken by the Brazilian architect are really useful as daily design architectural image/concept resources. Another useful link is library of archspace I introduced previously, which can be found in [my achived]