an even more abridged version of the following was produced in the Straits Times on 21st Oct 2006. the full text is floating on the net, available from William Lim apparently. Jyanzi Kong qtd in yawning bread, on the Integrated Resorts for Sentosa:
(bold and colors all mine; red for Michael Graves, blue for Frank Gehry)okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...
[...]
[Michael] Graves's project is grounded with the architecture of certainty lifted from the pages of history more akin to Singapore's own colonial architecture from the solemn façade of the high court to the pastel colors of the shop houses. It is orderly and predictable, representing an era of architecture that fed on axisymmetric orders and formulas. It was an era of prescriptive, methodological and systematical architecture.
If this becomes the project of choice, then it reflects a sector of our society, which is firmly grounded on the belief that we must adhere to our colonial traditions of law and order, Asian conformist values and respect for hierarchy. Surely there is room for this type of architecture in many other circumstances and locations.
On diametric opposing proposition is [Frank] Gehry's architecture of the "uncertain truth" which hinges upon notions of ambiguity and unpredictability. It also strives to seek the "truth" which is enigmatic and unforeseeable.
Analogically, the project at once evaporates into the atmosphere of the tropics and melts into the surrounding waters of the "islands in the sun". Metaphorically, nothing seems to be solid and there is no ground upon which one can firmly stand. Gravity seems to have ceased.
Each and every move is determined less by conceptualization but more on perceptualising spaces. No "remembrances of things past", no pages of history to lift, the visual experience disturbs our sense of being to the fullest. As it roller coasts the senses and sights, questions of where we belong and come from no longer apply. Here, we are not who we are, historically or otherwise but where we are at the moment. It has the qualities of destabilization and efflorescence urging us to fly with the music of "Brazil".
If there is an attempt for one to conceptualize this project, it may be simply "existential". This is the architecture of infinity of past as well as future as it truly represents the moment of here and now.
If, on the other hand this becomes the project of choice, then it also means that we will have evolved from the cradle of certainty and ready to take on whatever comes our way. It gambles on our state of being in ways that are beyond imagination.
Perhaps, on an inclusive speculation, the projects' opposing bi-polarity may create euphoria of "complexity and contradictions" which is so necessary and relevant to our ever-changing Global City.
we know critics, punters, news-makers, officials, et al more or less gun for our man, Uncle Frankie. we also know that we each know that Uncle Frankie's scheme is all about the iconic avant garde that moves beyond contextual restraints, etc. plus, it's supposed to look like a fish, and we all terribly enjoyed Finding Nemo (2003)! what seems unclear to us--or at the very least, to me--is the reason for the overuse of scarequotes. is SHe referencing a material that i should be informed of? or are expressions like "existential", "islands in the sun", "remembrances of things past", and *GASP* "Brazil" all very controversial?
whatever Architect Kong is on, i want double the dosage!!!
but in the event that i fail to get my hands on what i suspect is designer LSD, i might be reduced to a more plebeian argument i made to my mother, for why Gehry's winning the bid:
The man's been in town [previous] week, and he's very famous you know. And famous people don't take the time off to fly all the way down to an ulu-pandan-"you're in some part of china right?" country, mingle with your government's top people, give talks to local students and practitioners, just so that you can reject him later. You think what? He tak laku? Got nothing else better to do? He on holiday? Here to attend Biennale? Shop at Far East for Christmas? Checking out Vivocity? Here to eat chicken rice?
ETA: 02 Jan 1336 2007 Tuesday
i just found out at kit's crit that graves (or more so Genting-Star Cruises who engaged the architect) won the IR deal. guess Gehry really was here to eat chicken rice at vivocity...
3 comments:
design the software that sits inside the hardware lah.... if not it will just become just a nice fancy chasis....
vivocity has great spaces, architecturally sound, generous, excellant. but its detailing very low end contractor style, its shopping stores very painfully ordinary.
a case of users and developers with the 1990s mindset employing an avant garde 2010s architect, ending up with 1980s worksmanship.
cmon social engineers do your job!
i heard the same thing abt vivocity as well. just the other day, someone commented that they didn't have the right moulds for precast modules, so there were concrete forms that had to be shaped by construction workers themselves.
the few pictures i've seen of the project proved a bit disappointing. like oahiz says, it's "very low end contractor", and kinda too similar to other shopping malls in terms of finishing.
a few lessons to be learnt here: famous dude doesn't mean excellent design. excellent design doesn't mean excellent final if resources aren't available. expensive projects should not only be because you paid a lot of money to the architect but more so because you paid for the finishes.
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i think oahiz doesn't get it: it is meant to be "JUST a nice fancy chasis" :)
hee....
a nice empty chasis that after all the early hype in planning and design becomes a mouldy glass derelict when pple realise sentosa is fucking hard to get to.... and eventually redesigned to become a youth park where ministers go and teach hip hop lancing!
yes i would love to see that hehe....
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