our 2008 christmas tree

its my favorite time of the year once again...

its C H R I S T M A S T I M E ! ! !

time to share
time to shop
time to feast
time to celebrate
time to be joyful
time to be generous

everything is in the eye

jovian & gju lian (the photographer) have inspired me to save up and get myself a dsl camera i've got enlightment from the professional, "everything is in the eye..."

anyway, some amazing shot done by jovian and gju-lian

thanks heaps dude!

unveiling of arc esplanade

finally the construction is done and it was fun!

hope more project like that will be coming my way.... singapore is in desperate need for shop with more outstanding designs and its time for us to express our self as a tiny creative red dot!

we need to have more daring clients and move out of our comfort zone in order to stand out

i must say i am rather happy and relieved with the final product as this is a very experimental project and everything was done within the budget

so i hope you all like it fellow like minded

construction

construction starts soon after and everything is slowly falling into place...

however, there's still many obstacles which i am not going into details due to my inexperience

lucky enough my contractor is pretty easy going contractor. he is willing to guide me along the way

some detailed sketches i did for my own studies
















pictures of the exact site during construction, the feeling of being able to be on site seeing people erecting design is awesome!

seeing my 2d drawings slowly becoming 3 dimensional is beyond words. the sense of fulfillment is just awesome

there are many spontaneous changes in the design such as not plastering the walls and etc

after 3 months

after 3 long months of meeting up and changing, i am finally able to lock the plans and move on to construction!

there isn't drastic changes but mainly of adjusting of room size, cashier area, store room position, height of partition and etc

i am really glad with the final design i am able to stay true to my "concept" that i have set for myself right at the beginning

stripping anything not necessary to keep the boutique minimize to the max

however, paul still wants his "surprises" or "identity" of the boutique.

as a result, i proposed to him to used the re bars (engr's used them in concrete floor slabs or beams and column) to be our racks, hooks, sneakers rack

further design development

some quick sketches i did either in cafe or in between my train ride!













few quick 3d studies that i did for my own study and understanding of the space and design of the boutique with the help of the mighty sketch up





















i am trying to study on the suspended circular fluorescent tubes, and i am still loving the idea until we realized if we were to go ahead with this idea we are going to face a huge problem. we cannot control the movement of the fluorescent tube as it will sway from left to right and it might also be too bright and end up looking like a gelyang durian store!

design development

idea no.02 is chosen after another few rounds of design discussion

time for me to work out the plans as well as materials and fittings that i find intriguing

paul's idea was to use unconventional materials or lightnings to make the boutique "unique"

after researching, i manage to find some rather interesting materials that i am interested. such as rusty corrugated sheets and etc.

we both fell in love with the idea of using circular fluorescent tube image that i found and we decided to be using it as the main feature

initial design proposal

some quick sketches done by me during design discussion.

i wanted to keep the design simple n clean as we do not have the luxury of space for this unit therefore i wanted just a strong object in the boutique middle

01. a circular concrete tunnel

02. blank wall with step up

03. a raised platform with linear walls for exhibitions

04. bento box idea (original idea was to have a boutique specializing in japanese product)

beginning of the boutique esplanade - arc

i was asked by paul, the founder of actually n wooonderland. if i am keen in giving my proposal for his new shop, i see it as a rare opportunity and agreed

we went straight into designing, we met discussed brainstorm with a group of very talented and young designers.

- jovian the photographer
- dju lian the photographer
- bjorn graphic designer
- myself the architect

paul's design brief was for me to create a clean, experimental, grey or white minimize boutique, i though to myself, great! his design proposal is exactly my cup of tea.

my idea for the shop is to create a "gallery space". linear empty space with bare white walls & bright white lights exactly like a art gallery boutique

exhibiting the apparels like they are art themself!

first attempt

hey all,

i just completed my first ever to be built project in singapore art center esplanade called the arc

therefore i m using this opportunity to start a blog to showcase some of my design.

as well as anything that i find intriguing or inspirational to me

so stay tune for my update cheers