The final push...and I made it!

{so after months and YEARS of slaving behind computer lab doors (that's my friend Aileen btw)...} 

{...note the coke and kfc. we're all stress-eaters. that's why we're rounder towards the end of semester}

{...and sleeping on studio room floors at 4am in the morning...}

{...honestly, no one cares about hygiene and germs when their design project gets in the way}

{...after weeks and weeks of getting high from glue-sniffing and cutting ourselves early in the morning (accidentally, of course)}

{...I present to you, my final, FINAL project in uni, EVER!}

{The project: an artist studio/gallery space within an existing building that can contain 100 artists, with emphasis on using recyclable/reusable materials}

{existing condition of chosen building in the CBD}

{proposed design of new building, with timber structure weaving throughout building, indicating routes for the public to take throughout building; remainder of the building are private artists' spaces.}

{private artist corridor, with recycled cardboard as a fit-out feature, and note the exposed ceiling to show the history of the previous building}

{recycled cardboard installation for artists - storage, seating, causeway and partition, all in one!}

{I was quite happy with the outcome of this project, and satisfied with it being my final work in my 6 years of architecture. Here's a shot of me with my panels and model, taken at my graduation exhibition up in Little Collins Street. Thank you for all those who came by, and the encouragement you gave me. It was so reassuring to have my tutor and ex-tutor come up to me, giving me a pat on my back and telling me that they liked what they saw. That was all I needed to make me go, 'yay...all that hard work was all worth it!'}

{...and my final elective EVER was a rather fun but challenging one. We were to pick up Grasshopper, a parametric tool, to design a parametric installation and gallery space... oh, and the laser cutter is the coolest machine of the year!}

{computer rendered model. The task was to create a gallery space which walls, ceilings and light modulator would be updated each time the installation was re-positioned. So in this example, the holes of the light modulator are at its largest in the centre, so that more light can be highlighted on the suspended installation}}

{final model!}

{this monster took a whole week to build and almost left me in tears! Holding all those black thread in tension was probably the hardest part of the construction process...when a bunch of thread were perfectly tied up towards one direction, the others would flop - it was so so so frustrating, but thank God it all held up in the end. 3 rolls of sticky tape and one tube of glue was used in this whole process...as well as laser-cutting/material fees which cost about the same amount you'd pay to have dinner at a fine-dining restaurant :( . I am so broke.}


{updated my online portfolio...more work can be viewed at hongyi.carbonmade.com}

It's such a good feeling to just bum around and not do anything these few weeks...I'm gonna really savour this short moment before I get a full-time job. I've got a couple of tutoring sessions lined up, where I'll be tutoring graphic software (adobe photoshop, illustrator, indesign) one-on-one...if you're interested, do drop me an email! Oh, and also, after months of thinking through this, I've decided to push through my self-doubt and shyness and will be posting a couple of videos on youtube within the next few months...won't reveal too much about what it will be about, but I'm really excited about it and am looking forward to seeing where that will lead to.

More posts to come!

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ps: a friend posted this photo of some archi students dozing off in their studio room...ohh the pains of being an archi student...if only you knew what we have to go through each semester...my mum had a glimpse of it while I was in Holland, and that really scared her off. Bottom line: pay your architects better in the future!

Oh I'm so glad I'm done with unhealthy sleeping and diet patterns for the rest.of.my.life! My six-year long prison sentence is finally overrrrrrr!