There is a perversity in the learning process: We look backward at history and tradition to go forward; we can also look downward to go upward. And withholding judgment may be used as a tool to make later judgment more sensitive. This is a way of learning from everything.
Venturi, Brown & Izenour, “Learning from Las Vegas”, revised edition, The MIT Press, 1977: 3.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Learning from Everything
I finally got my own copy of the classic “Learning from Las Vegas” and finished reading it over the break. Here’s an excerpt from the book:
Friday, October 27, 2006
Have a Branded Ied
As if holiday season has not been commercialized and transformed enough with mobile technology, here’s a text message I received from a friend that captures it all :)
Hatiku mungkin gak sebening XL atau secerah Mentari.
Banyak salah yang kubuat.
Fren, kuminta Simpati-mu.
Bebas-kan aku dengan maafmu.
Selamat Idul Fitri 1427H.
Semoga amal ibadah kita mendapat acungan Jempol di mata-Nya.
Mall Hopping
With parents and old friends coming to town, I went out entertaining people most of the time during this holiday break. And guess where we go? The malls. Where else could we Jakartans go? And guess why Jakarta’s streets seem so deserted? Its because those who are in town are in the malls. These places are literally swamped with people, I get so drained from simply being immersed in the wasted energy. Traffic aside, where else could one walk around in Jakarta without being devoured by its pollution, heat and humidity?
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Ied in/and Jakarta
The Ied is just around the corner now. Nicest time of the year to be in Jakarta: traffic-free streets and significantly reduced density. The atmosphere even feel almost eerie as you start wondering whether everyone has evacuated the city because they know something you don’t.
Holidays like the Ied here in Indonesia or Thanksgiving in America always make big impact on the density of cities, as millions of people are travelling to be with their families and relatives, or simply taking time off for a vacation away from home – wherever that may be.
In a city like Jakarta, where millions of its population are migrant workers (including myself), the impact of Ied is extremely significant. You suddenly realize how overly crowded the city is, and how inefficient it runs normally. And you start thinking how nice it would be to experience the city when your mood is not clouded by the irritation you get from being in traffic.
Enjoy it while it lasts! Happy holidays and Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1427 H.
Holidays like the Ied here in Indonesia or Thanksgiving in America always make big impact on the density of cities, as millions of people are travelling to be with their families and relatives, or simply taking time off for a vacation away from home – wherever that may be.
In a city like Jakarta, where millions of its population are migrant workers (including myself), the impact of Ied is extremely significant. You suddenly realize how overly crowded the city is, and how inefficient it runs normally. And you start thinking how nice it would be to experience the city when your mood is not clouded by the irritation you get from being in traffic.
Enjoy it while it lasts! Happy holidays and Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1427 H.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Why Architecture is Important
Having said that importance of anything is subjective in this posting, here is a posting to argue why architecture is important, objectively speaking.
Here’s a start: The study of architecture is the study of the built environment. By this definition, then anything built (be it actual, mental, virtual, or hyper, to name a few) by human is architecture. The discipline has existed as long as human has started to build on natural environment. It is one of the oldest and most developed disciplines of knowledge. Few other disciplines could pose this reason as an argument.
Altogether, the actual built environment (buildings of all kinds) creates what we know as human settlements, where cultures take form and create civilizations. All kinds of civilizations, in turn, leave behind settlements, some of which that survived enable us to understand about human history on this earth and its development over time. This bit especially explains the close relationship of architecture with cultures, sciences (hard and soft) and arts (fine and applied).
The mental built environment happens inside our minds. As we can walk through spaces in real life, we can also walk through spaces within our minds (for example, when we read description of places in literature). But, I would argue, mental built environment goes beyond walking through spaces mentally.
Mental built environment includes the creation of images we have within our minds, how we construct our thoughts, how we structure the world around us to understand it, how things fall into place. The actual built environment affects the creation of our mental built environment, and vice versa. This is why the design of actual built environment matters and why the creation of mental built environment is pertinent. This bit especially explains the close relationship of architecture with literature (of all kinds), thinking, and philosophy.
The virtual built environment refers to any computer-generated environment. This is one of the later mutations of architecture that has breached into previously unexplored frontiers. Likewise, architecture has crept into other disciplines, including computer.
The hyper built environment is also another later mutation of architecture. It entails the creation of space that is hyper-real, being described rather simply by Eco in “Travels in Hyperreality” (1986) as “… [a condition where the] [a]bsolute unreality is offered as real presence.” Makes you think of the wedding cake houses mentioned here, doesn’t it?
So you have got to admit: Few other disciplines are as fluid and as interconnected to other disciplines as architecture as they currently stand. Since human evolution has practically rendered most of us unable to survive in open nature for too long of a time, architecture is therefore indispensable to modern life.
And here’s the end of my argument: All beings exist in space. As such, what else can be as important as architecture? :) It’s all about argument, isn’t it?
Here’s a start: The study of architecture is the study of the built environment. By this definition, then anything built (be it actual, mental, virtual, or hyper, to name a few) by human is architecture. The discipline has existed as long as human has started to build on natural environment. It is one of the oldest and most developed disciplines of knowledge. Few other disciplines could pose this reason as an argument.
Altogether, the actual built environment (buildings of all kinds) creates what we know as human settlements, where cultures take form and create civilizations. All kinds of civilizations, in turn, leave behind settlements, some of which that survived enable us to understand about human history on this earth and its development over time. This bit especially explains the close relationship of architecture with cultures, sciences (hard and soft) and arts (fine and applied).
The mental built environment happens inside our minds. As we can walk through spaces in real life, we can also walk through spaces within our minds (for example, when we read description of places in literature). But, I would argue, mental built environment goes beyond walking through spaces mentally.
Mental built environment includes the creation of images we have within our minds, how we construct our thoughts, how we structure the world around us to understand it, how things fall into place. The actual built environment affects the creation of our mental built environment, and vice versa. This is why the design of actual built environment matters and why the creation of mental built environment is pertinent. This bit especially explains the close relationship of architecture with literature (of all kinds), thinking, and philosophy.
The virtual built environment refers to any computer-generated environment. This is one of the later mutations of architecture that has breached into previously unexplored frontiers. Likewise, architecture has crept into other disciplines, including computer.
The hyper built environment is also another later mutation of architecture. It entails the creation of space that is hyper-real, being described rather simply by Eco in “Travels in Hyperreality” (1986) as “… [a condition where the] [a]bsolute unreality is offered as real presence.” Makes you think of the wedding cake houses mentioned here, doesn’t it?
So you have got to admit: Few other disciplines are as fluid and as interconnected to other disciplines as architecture as they currently stand. Since human evolution has practically rendered most of us unable to survive in open nature for too long of a time, architecture is therefore indispensable to modern life.
And here’s the end of my argument: All beings exist in space. As such, what else can be as important as architecture? :) It’s all about argument, isn’t it?
Friday, October 13, 2006
Just for Fun
Take a good look at this photograph.Yup, you got that right! It’s the new BMW 116i being showcased in front of the main gate to UPH’s campus. If you think that the two image don’t seem to belong together, and the campaign seems a rather early induction for a desired life style, you may want to think again :)
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Why is Anything Important?
About two weeks ago, I stopped by a gas station. I noticed that it was a lady that helped me pump the gas into my tank. I started talking to her, because I never saw her there before. She said that she was usually there in the afternoon to late evening hours. She told me that in the morning hours, she teaches in a middle school somewhere in Pancoran (the gas station is in Kebun Jeruk area), goes home around 1pm to fresh herself up, and leaves for the gas station to work there until 10 o’clock at night. And I thought to myself: why is she teaching? Obviously the pay is not good enough for her. So what makes her work two jobs when she probably could have earned more money by working at the gas station double shifts?
During Q & A in a panel discussion mentioned in this posting, one of my ex students Amy, asked a question of “why is architecture important?” I responded that she was the only person who could answer that question for herself, because what one thinks as important may not be as important to other people.
This afternoon, she asked me a more specific question about why architecture is important to me. I told her that because when I went to school, I was fortunate enough to be able to sample different courses in the art and design field. So when I took a 3d design course taught by an architect, I fell in love with architecture. Designing architecture gave me a very different kind of satisfaction I didn’t find in any other fields. There’s something intriguing about architecture that I find mind boggling to date (I still have goose bumps when I come across something I find amazing about architecture), but I’m still trying to define how is architecture important to me, and in which area(s) I can best contribute to.
She asked again whether other than personal reasons, there were more objective reasons why architecture is important. And I said no. Architecture is the same with any other fields of knowledge: it’s how human try to make sense of the world. Some do it through the field of medicine, computer, anthropology, astrophysics, biology, economics, sociology, and so on and so forth. But of course if you happen to ask a person who is already established within the field, he or she would argue vehemently (as some architects would) that their field is the one most important discipline in the world of knowledge. Can’t blame it, we mortals want to leave a mark of our existence in this ephemeral world – and of course that mark is important.
Anyway, after that conversation with Amy, I stopped by the same gas station and saw the lady again. Obviously, earning money is not the only thing important in her life. Like many underpaid teachers in Indonesia, she sticks to her job, because it is important for her.
And does design matter? I guess it only matters for those who consider it important. And for them, design gives meaning to an otherwise indistinguishable being.
During Q & A in a panel discussion mentioned in this posting, one of my ex students Amy, asked a question of “why is architecture important?” I responded that she was the only person who could answer that question for herself, because what one thinks as important may not be as important to other people.
This afternoon, she asked me a more specific question about why architecture is important to me. I told her that because when I went to school, I was fortunate enough to be able to sample different courses in the art and design field. So when I took a 3d design course taught by an architect, I fell in love with architecture. Designing architecture gave me a very different kind of satisfaction I didn’t find in any other fields. There’s something intriguing about architecture that I find mind boggling to date (I still have goose bumps when I come across something I find amazing about architecture), but I’m still trying to define how is architecture important to me, and in which area(s) I can best contribute to.
She asked again whether other than personal reasons, there were more objective reasons why architecture is important. And I said no. Architecture is the same with any other fields of knowledge: it’s how human try to make sense of the world. Some do it through the field of medicine, computer, anthropology, astrophysics, biology, economics, sociology, and so on and so forth. But of course if you happen to ask a person who is already established within the field, he or she would argue vehemently (as some architects would) that their field is the one most important discipline in the world of knowledge. Can’t blame it, we mortals want to leave a mark of our existence in this ephemeral world – and of course that mark is important.
Anyway, after that conversation with Amy, I stopped by the same gas station and saw the lady again. Obviously, earning money is not the only thing important in her life. Like many underpaid teachers in Indonesia, she sticks to her job, because it is important for her.
And does design matter? I guess it only matters for those who consider it important. And for them, design gives meaning to an otherwise indistinguishable being.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
On (Architectural) Teaching and Learning
Yesterday I was invited to speak on a panel discussion with Albertus S. Wang, from the University of Florida about Space and the Making of Space makers, with Prof. Gunawan Tjahjono & Prof. Herman D. Sudjono as panelists. Mr. Wang presented his experiences about pedagogy, practice, and place, while I shared my experiments in teaching thinking in architectural design studio.
At the end of his presentation, Mr. Wang shared a quote from Peter Zumthor’s book “Teaching Architecture, Learning Architecture” (1998):
While exploring possibilities of space making with students, they often ask me what exactly I mean by a particular task. And when I try to explain by giving indirect examples, as mentioned in this posting, students seemed to hanging for dear life on every single word I spoke of. Mr. Wang apparently also came across this problem where his students were holding on to his words while working on an assignment, to which his response to the student was: “I already forget what I told you.”
What should become clear to all (architectural) learners is that teachers are just human beings. Although most of the time we try to be mindful about what we say, like everyone else, sometimes we would only say things in passing. Sometimes we just babble on for the sake of giving you some kind of feedback. Sometimes we would make things up just to appear intelligent and resourceful (when in reality it’s just BS). Sometimes we would actually say something opposite of what we think just to see how other people would react. Sometimes we are just being sarcastic or wanting to joke around. Or sometimes we are just having a bad day that we just want to take the easy way out. But sometimes we actually are inspired with sudden flash of brilliance that doesn’t come very often, really.
So as learners, we should all be mindful about these possibilities, so we are able to filter out the things that don’t really matter, but at the same time be alert for the times when those flashes of brilliance actually happen.
Be mindful of your own learning. There is only so much information you can take in and digest: throw out the junk you don’t need. Otherwise, if you stuff your head with junk, sooner or later you will find it choking and stop digesting. You are your own filter.
At the end of his presentation, Mr. Wang shared a quote from Peter Zumthor’s book “Teaching Architecture, Learning Architecture” (1998):
“Young people go to university with the aim of becoming architects, of finding out if they got what it takes. What is the first thing we should teach them? First of all, we must explain that the person standing in front of them is not someone who asks questions whose answers s/he already knows. Practicing architecture is asking oneself questions, finding one’s own answers with the help of the teacher, whittling down, finding solutions. The strength of a good design lies in ourselves and in our ability to perceive the world with both emotion and reason. … Students have to learn to work consciously with their experiences of architecture. Their allotted tasks are devised to set this process in motion.” [My emphasis.]
While exploring possibilities of space making with students, they often ask me what exactly I mean by a particular task. And when I try to explain by giving indirect examples, as mentioned in this posting, students seemed to hanging for dear life on every single word I spoke of. Mr. Wang apparently also came across this problem where his students were holding on to his words while working on an assignment, to which his response to the student was: “I already forget what I told you.”
What should become clear to all (architectural) learners is that teachers are just human beings. Although most of the time we try to be mindful about what we say, like everyone else, sometimes we would only say things in passing. Sometimes we just babble on for the sake of giving you some kind of feedback. Sometimes we would make things up just to appear intelligent and resourceful (when in reality it’s just BS). Sometimes we would actually say something opposite of what we think just to see how other people would react. Sometimes we are just being sarcastic or wanting to joke around. Or sometimes we are just having a bad day that we just want to take the easy way out. But sometimes we actually are inspired with sudden flash of brilliance that doesn’t come very often, really.
So as learners, we should all be mindful about these possibilities, so we are able to filter out the things that don’t really matter, but at the same time be alert for the times when those flashes of brilliance actually happen.
Be mindful of your own learning. There is only so much information you can take in and digest: throw out the junk you don’t need. Otherwise, if you stuff your head with junk, sooner or later you will find it choking and stop digesting. You are your own filter.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Design as ‘Frozen’ Patterns, Time and Constraints
This quotation from David Friedman in this posting by Arya Gaduh (sorry ‘Ry, I got to use your quotation first) has somehow got to the back of my mind:
Say for example you want to design a house. And you talk to an architect about your needs and desires for this new house. A good architect, in turn, will start asking you questions about your activities in order to get ‘patterns’ of your needs, requirements, wishes, and constraints for this new house.
But if the above quotation holds true, then it means that your constraints are only particular for certain period of time, set by the current needs projected by your current house. Once the design of your new house is done, you will encounter new sets of constraints – which will come out of the new design of your house (which, by the way, explains why not one single building is perfect).
If the above quotation holds true, buildings then tend to ‘freeze’ patterns from a particular time and a particular set of constraints – which will no longer be applicable by the time the building is constructed, or if you’re lucky enough to get good architects, for longer period of time (because s/he has taken into account of these future contraints as part of the design). If such is the case then, let me ask the same question again: does design matter? Can architecture be ‘liquid’ and adjust to new patterns and constraints? Can it be timeless?
"The fundamental mistake is in taking the patterns we observe around us as facts of nature. They are not; they are the result of rational individuals adjusting to a particular set of constraints... Change the constraints and, given a little time to adjust, the patterns change."How does this relate with architectural design? The function of buildings is first and foremost to shelter and cater for beings and/or things. In architecture, this information becomes data – which interpretations depend on whomever happen to hold the set of data – upon which design is based on. Yet, are they ‘facts of nature’? – or are they ‘set by particular contraints’?
Say for example you want to design a house. And you talk to an architect about your needs and desires for this new house. A good architect, in turn, will start asking you questions about your activities in order to get ‘patterns’ of your needs, requirements, wishes, and constraints for this new house.
But if the above quotation holds true, then it means that your constraints are only particular for certain period of time, set by the current needs projected by your current house. Once the design of your new house is done, you will encounter new sets of constraints – which will come out of the new design of your house (which, by the way, explains why not one single building is perfect).
If the above quotation holds true, buildings then tend to ‘freeze’ patterns from a particular time and a particular set of constraints – which will no longer be applicable by the time the building is constructed, or if you’re lucky enough to get good architects, for longer period of time (because s/he has taken into account of these future contraints as part of the design). If such is the case then, let me ask the same question again: does design matter? Can architecture be ‘liquid’ and adjust to new patterns and constraints? Can it be timeless?
Sunday, October 01, 2006
On Books and Walls
Herlily, a friend and a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley, forwarded me this article in The Jakarta Post, about books that are (still) barred from entering Indonesia (thanks Mbak!). Interestingly, it coincides with my recent re-reading of an unpublished article written by my professor at UC Berkeley, Jill Stoner on “Reading and the City” (1992):
Historically, the very existence of libraries raised a specter of anarchy, and the most authoritative rulers were careful to maintain close control over the production and existence of books. Much has been written about the Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti, who ordered the burning of all books that were written prior to his reign. He was also responsible for the construction of the Great Wall. Books open; and walls shut down. As Jorge Luis Borges says, “burning books and erecting fortifications is a common task of princes.” [in “The Wall and The Books,” Labyrinths, p.186.] The first instrument of control is the un-making (or books); and the second is the making (of walls). It is not surprising that the Emperor forced all those who were found to be in possession of illegal books to labor on the Great Wall.”
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