PLYSTUDIO BLOG

PLYSTUDIO has moved

2009-05-26T01:36:00.003+08:00

For those of you following our blog, we are pleased to announce the migration of PLYSTUDIO's web and blog content to here. While we are still fixing some bugs and finetuning the site, do visit and let us know what you think.

As such, this blogger site will gradually be no longer used for any PLYSTUDIO content.

Again, many thanks to our readers out there.

Saporiti Italia

2009-05-17T00:19:00.005+08:00

Recently we have been privileged and honored to be selected as one of the Singapore-based design practices to participate in the Saporiti Italia Design Award - 'The Luxury Towers' project.

This is an invited competition organised by Saporiti Italia with the scope of 'promoting the development of cultural and technical relations between the Italian and Singaporean design communities. The brief is to conceive of a collection of furniture objects aimed to contain luxury objects. The issues at hand hinges on the perceptions of the consumer mass market in the luxury goods segment and what is 'globally' perceived as luxury.

Saporiti Italia, a leading italian furniture and design company has produced some of the most advanced and leading furniture products for various illustrious clients. Saporiti Italia has a long history of working with architects and designers to develope new products and this award is no different in trying to forge a meaningful collaboration. This is the Saporiti Italia showroom in Singapore, where the competition briefing was held a few days back.

[Image by Saporiti Italia]

We will be cracking our heads on this one in due course.

May Updates

2009-05-16T23:55:00.008+08:00

Its time to catch up on the blog again after last few weeks of meetings, design presentations and site coordination works on various projects on the work front.

Things are looking really busy for us. This month, 2 more of our interior projects started on site, we got some new jobs in the pipeline (1 more residential small apartment interiors and 2 commercial food and beverage shops) and possibly, a new standalone bridge structure to be designed and built. Will try and post some images of the work soon.

Of Stars and Stripes, Flowers and What Nots

2009-04-25T16:50:00.013+08:00

I'm sure for the local readers out there, you must have seen these two buildings that were recently completed.

The top is the Iluma Shopping Center at Bugis and the bottom is Wilkie Edge at Selegie. Surfacing amidst the arts and civic district are these 2 new trendy buildings designed by the same architecture firm, and possibly one of the most successful local practices today.

We took a walk inside Wilkie Edge recently and this was what we saw.

Stripey floorsOrganically shaped ceiling cutoutsFloor and ceiling effects coming togetherCeiling ceiling everywhere

Perhaps these buildings need to be appreciated at the urban scale; we've read with interest its attempt to break out of standard building typologies, its integration of climatic considerations and greenery and its response to street level activities. At the building scale, the direction seems to be that of a firm trying to redefine its own design language, at both the formal level as well as at the level of building ornamentation albeit manifested through exquisite construction details. Though we have not been inside the Iluma yet we would be trying to make a visit soon. Can we expect more of the above? Or perhaps more flowers in the vein of another one of their creations, the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

On d+a

2009-04-25T16:13:00.006+08:00

Our projects J-Loft and the apartment at The Sail have been published on local and regional architectural and design magazine d+A, Issue 49, 2009. Entitled 'Shaped by Architectural Meaning' we think the article aptly describes what we at PLYSTUDIO are preoccupied with, the critical thoughts that define what we do, the questions on prevailing types and contexts we are operating in.

Many thanks to the editor and writer for the critical review. We can only agree with the writer on the last paragraph...'good design is never a single good answer but will always ask good questions'.

Random

2009-04-14T01:32:00.008+08:00

Apart from being a record of our ongoing work and a critical platform to share our ideas I have decided to include in this blog random samplings and observations from our urban environment that could be of any interest. It's just my critical viewpoint on things - usually those that I cannot comprehend and not concluded without any architectural reasoning. So here we go.

Taken from a visit to the local community center. Take a look at the floor plan. Really wonder what is the inspiration behind it.

Industrial landscape

2009-04-13T16:38:00.001+08:00

this is what we see each time we visit our builder's workshop in this 'flatted' factory, which is the typical  building solution offered for light to medium industries. the building may not have much architectural merit per se, but is somehow typologically successful. open courtyards and airwells, efficient circulation, dedicated service and visitor access make visits here pleasant. such is the image of our industrial landscape.

Towers and Trees

2009-04-08T16:22:00.008+08:00

just find this photo I took interesting, with the towers in the background and trees in front. working on a housing development design competition right now, one can't help but be obsessed with issues of views, scale, massing, tower placements etc. its the ultimate environmental battle between the man-made and nature.

Supergarden Revisited

2009-03-31T23:37:00.022+08:00

Stumbled upon a previous issue of local design and architecture magazine 'd+a' from late last year and was greeted by its coverage of Singapore Supergarden, which involved the participation of selected local designers and architects at the 2008 Venice Bienale.

Our installation entitled "The Picnic" is shown on the bottom left of the second image below.

Again, a great job on the curatorial effort from our friends at Farmwork. It should be back on our shores for the local exhibition soon, details to be updated.

See also our previous post on Singapore Supergarden.

A Garden in the Forest

2009-03-17T17:22:00.019+08:00

The restored barnhouse (from the previous post) is the site for an Interpretative Centre to be built by the National Parks Board at the Dairy Farm sector of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

What is interesting about the Dairy Farm Hut, as it is also known, is that not only does it sit curiously on the boundary of the nature reserve it is also very much surrounded by nature. It is connected to other similar 'installations' (red squares on the map above) and is a checkpoint along the Dairy Farm Loop, one of the main hiking trails negotiating the nature reserve.

[Image : National Parks Board]

The project brief for the Interpretative Centre called for the centre to be open not only to the public but also to nature. When we went to the site, we realised what that meant - the barnhouse did not have any doors.

Strategically this became the starting point for our proposal. Given that nature surrounds the barnhouse building in a pervasive way, in the same manner, the notion of being enveloped in nature will be critical for the experience within the Interpretative Centre. Also, we sought a position of the project as residing at the interface between man-made and nature, akin to its geological location on the boundary of the reserve. These 2 critical thoughts developed into a plan organisation and diagram of relations between the new qualities and conditions we were interested to explore.

The plan is organised into 3 concentric zones of experience. The first is a sensorial zone thought of as a conceptual forest which sees the continuation of nature from the surrounding environment taking over the ground and wall surfaces through time. The second is defined by 2 interwining ramps containing the exhibition circulation, of which the exhibition content can be similarly curated. Lastly the innermost zone houses a raised man-made garden with resting areas and seats cladded in astoturf. The garden itself is sustained by a large planter containing treated soil of depth to the level of the raised garden.

[All images by PLYSTUDIO unless otherwise stated]

Hence the title of this post. Lets hope we will get a chance to work on it further.

We will be updating our website soon with more project details and information.

A trip to nature

2009-03-11T23:10:00.014+08:00

[Image : GoogleEarth]

A recent work assignment and job pitch brought us to this place right in the heart of our city state, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Its hard to believe such nature existed amid our urbanised environment. Its 1.64 sqkm of area accounts for just 0.2% of Singapore's approximate total land area of 699.1 sqkm. Yet it is only 12 kilometres away and some 15 mins drive from the downtown core and financial district.

This is one of the largest areas of primary rainforest remaining today. Just imagine what the natural and geological characteristic of our island was more than 100 years ago. Today it is the site for popular hiking trails and considered one of the nation's 'attractions'. It is home to various spieces of flora and fauna, protected by the National Parks Act and managed by the National Parks Board.

Our impromptu site visit was obliged by the resident officer who led the way via a service road into the deep confines of the primary rainforest. Interestingly, what we experienced was none of that untouchable nature, but one that revealed the impact of urban intervention.

Arriving at the new carpark that was still under construction. Guess this place will be receiving quite a number of visitors.

Making our way into the forest in a way that we are used to.

Can't ride your motorcycle in here.

And finally arriving at the site for the project in question.

We were intriqued by what we saw to say the least. It was just amazing, a 'contemporary' styled barnhouse restored and completely modernised with new whitewashed interior walls and a brand new roof. Now all it needs is just some greenery so that it doesn't feel so out of place in the middle of a nature reserve.

Work in progress

2009-03-10T14:35:00.010+08:00

Construction work has been progressing steadily the last 2 weeks, now the apartment is already more than half way complete. Below are some work in progress photos.

Entrance view

Builtup elements : cabinets, seating, platform, ledges etc

Sleeping platform

As always, communicating with builders with 1:1 sketches on site

New reveals and extension of the bay window

Next up - timber flooring

On Blueprint Asia

2009-03-07T15:19:00.008+08:00

We are pleased to announce that J-Loft has been featured once again, this time in the latest issue of Blueprint Asia, volume 3 issue 1. Thanks to the editor and team. Do check it out at a newstand near you.

The Sail completed

2009-03-05T17:01:00.014+08:00

Finally the pics are out. Here is what it looks like before.

And after.

[Photos by Tzernstudio]

Further details will be updated onto the PLYSTUDIO website soon.

Walls come down

2009-02-26T02:01:00.005+08:00

The walls came down in the apartment this week, leaving behind a patchwork of what used to be the original flooring finishes. There is always a differentiation of tiled floors for living areas and timber for the bedrooms. Why can't there be just one finish, as if the walls did not divide enough and define what was already a relatively small space. This has always been practiced and has grown to be a standard feature of our local residential housing design.

This was what it used to be.

Something worth keeping, perhaps.

More updates on construction as we go along.

Continuity

2009-02-26T01:42:00.003+08:00

We've often admired architects and designers whose work shows a continuity through a consistency of design approach executed across a range of types and scales. Projects are subject to various constraints and to do that I guess would require a combination of critical thinking and strong direction beyond that of the visual. Of course, a little bit of luck in having a client that you can engage with always helps. As a practice and looking back at a selection of what we have done in the last half a year or so, it is interesting to reflect upon this for ourselves.

We hope we can someday achieve that.

The architectural Interior 03

2009-02-17T11:14:00.024+08:00

Another project update. This time we are working on the interiors for a 800 sqft 2-Bedroom apartment in a newly built condominium of about 30 units.

The apartment is typical of many completed condominium projects here. Each apartment comes with standard white homogeneous tiled flooring and timber strips in the bedrooms. The kitchen comes fitted with standard corian countertops and finished in artificial wood or plastic laminate finish. Bedrooms have fitted designer wardrobes and fixed shelving. Nothing much really, from an architectural point of view. Till we saw the bay windows that extended outwards to the internal facade of every room in the apartment. Which still did not get us any more excited. In fact due to the heat radiating through the large expanse of window glazing in our tropical weather, I doubt this space would be used much, what with the white wash paint and plaster rendered finish on the ledge. That extra 500mm of space was there primarily to gain extra saleable area for the developers.

[Image from Google image search]

Bay windows are not an uncommon to residential development yet it was perhaps the most apparent condition in the apartment which we could respond to. Can bay windows form not only an extension of a room's space projecting outwards, but rather be deepened internally to create and embody functions? This became the typological thinking that informed the design.

Our client wanted to remove the bedroom walls and to create an open plan arrangement. This is not the first time we have worked with enlightened clients who bought standard apartment units but want to reconfigure interior spaces to suit their needs. It is an interesting paradox, perhaps a product of our rapid urban development and building guidelines, that the private apartment has reached levels of mass production not unlike the ubiquitous public housing solutions built and offered by the HDB. Perhaps this is the reason that led many homeowners to rethink their space and lifestyle needs and also the reason why we still have a job in these times.

[Images by PLYSTUDIO]

The larger question remains : to what extent can interior elements be designed as part of the architecture? In our local context, we call this 'built-up'. In the case of these condominiums, it refers to the fixed elements that come purchased. Not that it is anything new, for as described above the apartments already come fitted, but perhaps it can be done in a more interesting way.

Construction is expected to commence soon. More updates to come.

House

2009-02-16T11:00:00.028+08:00

[Image by Couple]

Some recent works update. No, this is not a project for a house (though we wish we could be given a commision to design one), but rather, a work in progress design and fit-out for the Design for Enterprises Center (DFEC) for Design for Enterprises.

DFEC is a national business agency set up to help local businesses understand the impact design has on potential business growth through a network of design initiatives. Essentially this will be a space where business owners are 'matchmade' with respective designers to work with. The functional requirements of meeting, resource, display and temporary exhibition support the ambition of outreach.

Given that the space has a relatively small area of 1000sqft coupled with bad frontage, the most exacerbating aspect is that it is encumbered at high level by mechanical services filling up a large portion of the ceiling. Upon closer study there are several areas where ‘pockets’ of high ceilng can be exploited. Our approach was to find ways to compensate for this lack of.

On a parallel note, continuing typological thinking through our works, we took on the archetype of the house as a physical 'shelter', of which the roof - that which is an overhead covering, becomes the direct determinant of the space below it. 'House' also means to contain, which was kind of apt since it will be the new 'home' for DFEC. We were somehow inclined to think graphically as well - the only other information we had about the space when preparing for the initial design bid were the collaterals which constituted the brand identity of DFEC by Couple - cardboard boxes in the form of 130mm cubes.

[Image by Couple]

Alongside thinking about creating a new 'House' for DFEC, we devised a 'top down' approach to organising the floorplan. Instead of conventional walls, the new ceiling literally is the element that organises, defines and subdivides the required functional spaces of the DFEC. Gaps in the services zone are exploited for height; the ceiling geometry is characterised by various angular roof pitches to reach the highest apex possible, defining the overall form of the ceiling. Downhang walls and shelving units are suspended from the new ceiling structure, providing display, storage, power and lighting supply to allow clustering of smaller functions.

Working together with our Client DesignSingapore, the required functions are re-programmed into a fluid mix to reflect the feeling of openness. Staff and public mingle while you pick up and browse a product catalogue off the shelf or use the hotdesking area to get infomation off the web. These functional zones can be reconfigured should the need require by sliding the downhang shelves into position. This mobility creates a range of useful scenarios which allows for the changing nature of the center.

[All images by PLYSTUDIO unless otherwise stated]

Expected completion in April 2009. Do check our website for project description.

Catching Up

2009-02-02T00:52:00.005+08:00

The past month has been crazy with deadlines, family engagements and a trip out of town over the festive season and a couple of job pitches thrown in. I know the blog has been somewhat neglected, and our website needs some serious updating with new works too. Will be catching up with all that very soon when we are back on track.

Viewing Walls

2009-01-01T17:43:00.007+08:00

We have been busy recently with a project which got us spending some time seeing, looking and viewing at the airport. The subject of our stakeout was the viewing mall.

The viewing mall is a strange and peculiar landside phenomena created and built originally for the sole purpose of viewing aircraft. The viewing mall neither connects nor separates, leaving an ambiguous space in between you and the aircraft, between you and the projected image of flying, aviation. This is the conceptual space that the project in question attempts to address.

I don't know whether this is the case in other countries, but to many locals in Singapore the viewing mall in Changi Airport is viewed as a sort of destination in itself, a place to eat, shop, view, rest, even study or simply to enjoy the air-conditioning - a kind of public space away from the city, a getaway from the tropical heat. According to CAAS (the airport authority) the airport is Singapore's largest shopping mall in terms of sales. Shopping and dining are inexplicably tied in with the experience of the viewing mall. In all of Changi Airport's 3 terminals, shops and restaurants line both sides of the corridors leading to the viewing malls. Airport management suitably figured it would be profitable to tap into traffic generated by a desire to see and be close to aircraft. 'Dine, Shop, View', the tagline used by the airport, rightly proclaimed. Yet despite these, the current state of the viewing malls does quite live up to its expectations.

The design brief called for the design of an exhibition (on civil aviation history) with the viewing malls at Terminal 2 and 3 as the site. Our design began on the premise that 'viewing' is a condition intrinsic in the experience of the viewing mall as well as the exhibition. It follows then that the viewing of aircraft and the viewing of exhibition will inevitably become intertwined.

Our proposal seeks to redefine both individual experiences by emphasizing the dual presence of each program, by making a collision in such a way that the simultaneous experience of one becomes unique and enhanced through the presence of the other. As a two-fold iterative framework, the visitor's experience oscillates between both entities - the viewing mall with the backdrop of aircraft landing and taking off becomes the contextual reference for the exhibition. The exhibition in itself became a kind of typological construct designed in reference to and arising out of the airport's layout and organisational plan, one in which all of us would be familiar with. Viewers literally move through a series of layers resembling the various spatial zones experienced pre-flight, from arrival to check-in, the transit lounge and eventually to the aircraft, all played alongside the real context of the viewing mall. These layers are 'viewing walls' that defines and organises the functions for viewing, exhibition, rest/seating and interactivity.

[All images and photographs from PLYSTUDIO]

Do check our website soon for the detailed project descriptions.

Sail in the New Year

2009-01-01T00:30:00.011+08:00

Well, its by no means finished but here are some of the latest photos taken of the new apartment project we are working on at the moment.

[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

We would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers, colleagues and friends a very Happy New Year for 2009. Stay tuned for more updates.

Bedok Court : residential avant garde or ?

2008-12-18T17:04:00.047+08:00

[Image : thanks to amorphity from here.]

Any endeavor on residential design in the post modern discourse of architecture inevitably begins with the perennial question of how to manifest the relationship between the living spaces of a dwelling unit and that of its environment. A dwelling cannot be seen in isolation to its own interior space containing insular functions but rather in relation to changes in environmental qualities of time, light and shadow, greenery, views and open spaces that in turn contribute to the overall qualities of the living space. This is especially so in a highrise, high density context where the conditions for relief are very much determined by the provision of voids within the building massing.

[Images of I:I Island Book by PLYSTUDIO]

Bedok Court is a residential condominium development in Singapore comprising of 3 linear medium to high-rise blocks arranged around a central space. It is an example of a residential development that provides generous relief spaces in the form of balconies and terraces as part of the private spaces of apartment units on a large scale. The floor plan is organised by single loaded vertical circulation cores with horizontal circulation in the form of corridors serving 280 apartment units. Each apartment has access to a double volume garden space, sometimes open to sky, from the entrance corridor side. Typically, the entrance of each apartment unit is from this garden space, bringing the notion of 'landed housing' upwards to a high-rise situation. The units are organised in clusters with vertical slits in between for added ventilation which appear as gaps to break the massing from the Living Room side.

[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

In Bedok Court, the relationship between the interior and exterior spaces are exemplified in a typological experiment of finding relieve in high density housing through the adaptation of the organisational arrangement and social network of public spaces of a malay cultural village (kampong), where "streets have been translated into vertically-stacked walkways and common corridors, and garden compounds into staggered private open terraces and courtyards." [extract from Singapore 1:1 (Island)]

[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

If you are familiar with designing in the Singaporean residential context, you will most definately be familiar with Gross Floor Area (GFA) computations. With the development and refinement of the GFA computation as a mechanism to control and measure the physical mass and built-up quality of developments invariably leads to the lack of developments such as Bedok Court in recent years. As circulation ways, large terraces, covered yet open spaces and other forms of relief spaces have come under the need to be accountable as GFA, local urban and physical fabric of residential buildings has also ceased to the embody the very qualities that characterised Bedok Court.

Are these relief spaces successful? Do they serve to enhance the quality of the interior units and contribute to the exterior building form through the proliferation of greenery? Do they allow the building to become more breathable by pulling apart, lengthening corridors, enlarging service and circulation cores, all at the expense of incurred GFA? Would commercial developers trade off the potential to sell say 5 to 10 more residential units translating to thousands of square footage and amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars (when property prices peaked in 2007) in return for these external luxuries which, no doubt can be designed as saleable spaces, but run the risk of being well received by buyers?

Inside Singapore 1:1

2008-12-17T23:24:00.016+08:00

[Image : URA]

We recently picked up a copy of the box set containing the 2 volumes Singapore 1:1 (City) and Singapore 1:1 (Island). Singapore 1:1 (City) is a catalogue of the exhibition of the same name which was held at the URA Center between Nov 2005 to Mar 2006. The exhibition "features a selection of significant architecture and urban design of the city built over the last 40 years". As a follow up, Singapore 1:1 (Island) brings together further architectural projects of merit across the same timeframe completed island-wide, outside of the city centre.

The result is a vast collection of information and knowledge that brings awareness to the buildings that shape our physical environment. Old buildings of significant interest are given a new lease of life in these 2 volumes which are graphically coded in red and green to reflect our national colour (red) and our national obsession (green).

Perhaps what got us excited most were not so much the photographs of the buildings themselves but rather the rare plans, sectional drawings and the odd sketch that accompanied them. For they capture the true modes of production and the fact that they never left the architectural office that produced them, meant that we, the general public could get inside them.

[Images : URA]

Punggol Waterway

2008-12-13T00:37:00.022+08:00

In September this year we worked on the Punggol Waterway landscape masterplan competition for the design of a 4.2km length of waterway. The waterway will serve as an ecological lifeline of greenery and activities, cutting through several housing parcels providing a rich resource for public housing in Punggol, Singapore's 'Waterfront Town of the 21st century'. 3 months later today the HDB (Housing and Development Board) announced the long awaited results. Read about it here in the press release.

Here are the winning schemes :

[1st Prize]

[Merit Prize]
[Merit Prize]

[Images : HDB]

For our own entry, we were concerned and confronted with the immensity and over-whelming linearity of the 4.2km long waterway within its 10m width : how to create varied conditions that will promote and induce diverse occupation yet remain a largely continuous experience as a recreational and social space? We started by looking at ways in which to displace the defined conditions of planting, walkway and water of a conventional waterway. This led to an evolution of a form that was in direct relation with how a redefined waterfront promenade would perform. The nature of the proposal was more infrastructural, as a systemic propagation of sinusoidal forms that gradually organised movement, program and spatial qualities between adjacent waterway and land parcels.

Here's some images of our entry to share :

[Overall Boards]

[Aerial View]
[Promenade View]
[Undulating Promenade]
[Topographical variation and negotiation]
[Elevational experience]
[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

Do visit our website soon for the full description and images.

Sustain/Ability

2008-12-11T16:45:00.018+08:00

[Image : NUS]

Extract from Lecture Series header :

What is sustainability?

What are we sustaining?

Who is being sustained?

Can architecture be sustainable?

Probing into nature, density, tectonics, environment, growth, urbanism, and craft, architecture’s complex relationship with its ability to sustain is brought to bear. Four distinct lectures will open up, challenge, and enrich the way we think through sustainability, to challenge our assumptions of architecture and its seeming ability to change our environment.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Architecture recently organised the 'Sustain/Ability' lecture series which aims to steer the discussion away from more feature-related notions of sustainability. Current industry practices of accrediting green and energy consciousness with a meritocratic system of rewards are given new insights towards developing more strategic and critical thought processes to redefine sustainability's long term goals i.e. the ability to sustain.

[Image : NUS]

The terminal lecture in the series was delivered by Winy Maas of MVRDV. Maas started the lecture by aptly positioning the notion of sustainability amid the gloomy backdrop of the looming economic crisis and global recession.

To Maas, sustainability starts with the first production of space, advocating density and spatial efficiencies at the forefront of any conceptual thought. Architects are seen as agents of space - our contribution is to rethink space as a viable tool to drive and to initiate economic, cultural and social agendas. He refers to MVRDV's book KM3, describing various formal strategies (stacking, bending, lifting etc) employed in their projects and manipulating parameters of form, coupled with comprehehsive research and information gathered through the collaborative efforts of research institutes like T?F (The Why Factory). MVRDV showed how generic design ideas can be applied to specific contexts globally and how projects are constantly moulded to suit new situations. Many of the projects involved the decision making of influential stakeholders, clients and politicians, and MVRDV describes these negotiations with as much ease as one might think of their formal experimentations.

On a larger note, he ended the lecture by strongly encouraging the audience and local community of architects, designers and other professionals to rise above the norm, to challenge the existing. As a prolific architect himself, perhaps his most significant contribution has been a redefination of the role of the architect, not as mere creators of buildings, but as active politicians of space and urban development, able to dream and construct new manifestos of change. Only then can architecture be sustainable, where the creation of a new role beckons an increasingly contentious global outlook.

Where are our own spacefighters?

On iSh

2008-12-11T00:59:00.012+08:00

The recently completed J-Loft project has just been reviewed by iSh magazine. This time we are extremely excited as this is a critical review of the work as a complete, three-dimensional space. You can locate the article in the latest Issue 9.5 of iSh.

iSh, one of Singapore's foremost architectural, interiors and design publications prides itself as reporting "fragments from an urbanscape" combining news and features ranging from art to fashion to design from around the world. We are grateful to Kelley and Chris, and to J, our Client for allowing the work to be published.

[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

On dezeen.com

2008-11-19T22:54:00.012+08:00

Hot off the press is another coverage of J-Loft this time on dezeen.com. Read about it here.

dezeen.com recently hit a milestone high by getting over one million readers during the month of October 2008. Read about it here. That's quite an audience, and it certainly looks like its climbing. Find out more about dezeen here. Thanks to the editors!

On www.architecturephoto.net

2008-11-17T22:25:00.009+08:00

PLYSTUDIO's recently completed project J-Loft is featured on architecturephoto.net. Read about it here. We are extremely honored to have our work published.

Architecturephoto.net is a Japanese online magazine showcasing new works of architecture, design and art. Visit here for more design inspiration and news.

Plywood

2008-11-09T13:54:00.035+08:00

On the subject of ply, here's some recent work with plywood which was done with the 2nd year design studio that I teach at the University of Singapore's architecture school. The module was about experimenting with plywood as a constructional material. In 6 weeks, students had to build a 1:1 scale construct that resulted from studio investigations into plywood's material, structural and aesthetic properties. Each studio was given 10 sheets of 4ft x 8ft sheet of 12mm plywood. The construction and fabrication processes were deliberately made analogue without the aid of cnc nor cadcam technology.

For both years the studio's focus of investigation was informed by the notion of a 'limit'. Students observed what was a perceivable limit of plywood and challenged that directly.

Plywood Tower

Dry-Laying off site [Image : Studio 8 2007/2008 Students ]

[Images : Victor Lee ]

The investigation focused on pushing the acceptable limits of plywood in testing its ability to be arranged as a self-supporting structure and in the maximisation of the given 10 nos. of 4ft x 8ft plywood sheets to ensure minimal wastage.

Centered around the theme of verticality, the design of structure is primarily based on a single plywood module of 600mm x 200mm which is repeated and interlocked at 22.5 degrees with other similar modules in a circular form, spiraling upwards. The result is a vertically woven structure of ‘jig-saw’ like plywood pieces which lends structural rigidity as a whole. The final diameter and height of the structure was constrained by the templating of 200 modules of interlocking pieces that could be cut out from the given 10 sheets with minimum wastage. The final structure rose to a height of 6m and has a diameter of 1m.

The design and geometry of the plywood modules were done through theoretical calculations and repeated tries to devise the optimum dimensions, interlocking angle and strength of the interlocking joint in relation to shear stress and torsional forces.

Victor Lee Studio 8 2007/2008 Students : Jeffrey Goh, Toh Chong Ji, Ren Tian, Deng Yong Zi, Joanna Han, Lim Wei Ling, Tan Yi Wei, Tan Shu Jun, Lim Wei Lun, Yong Mei Ling, Tan Suat Hui

Plywood Ornament

Investigative Drawings [Image : Studio 10 2008/2009 Students ]

Fabrication Process [Image : Studio 10 2008/2009 Students ]

[Images : Studio 10 2008/2009 Students ]

This time the students' investigation of the limit of plywood was positioned between the aesthetic and the structural, a redefination of the constituent material properties of plywood. The observation began from the premise that plywood possess strength only in 2 axial directions, of which its corresponding grains would not be completely revealed. As such, the project sought to develop increased structural strength in the 3rd axis.

The reconstitution process started with the reduction of the plywood sheet into its smallest particle - a 12mm x 12mm x 12mm cube, then reassembling 27 nos. of these cubes into a basic building block of 36mm cube, with its cross grains arranged tri-axially. Theoretically, assuming no wastage, 740 such cubes could be obtained from a single sheet, giving rise to 7400 cubes from 10 sheets - an immense amount.

During the fabrication process, it was astonishing to see a direct transformation in scale, size and proportion of the plywood - from 10 nos. of 4ft x 8ft planar sheets to potentially a single super dense block of 3ft cube in size. The density of plywood at such a scale would not have been possible without a transferrence of mass and volume from one form to another.

The final proposal explored how the cubes could be stacked and glued in place. The final form was derived from how each minute 36mm cube basic building block, through minimum surface of contact with another, achieve the largest overall physical size. The actual act of fabrication was itself an act of monumentality, the final structure became an ornamental gesture which embodied the labours involved.

Victor Lee Studio 10 2008/2009 Students : Ian Tan, Sara Chan, Lynette Lim, Edmond Khoo, Wang Bin, Kelly Cheah, Winnie Wong, Chen Zheng Yuan, Jeremy Pan, Jiang Yi Wei, Low Lai Mei, Poh Hui Min, Sim Yun Hak

A final word of thanks goes out to all students from both studios whom without your effort this would not be possible.

What's in a name

2008-11-09T12:17:00.017+08:00

We've been asked many a time why PLY?

Before we started up the practice and were dreaming about names there were many names floating around in our minds. A few years back any name that had the word 'Urban' was fashionable. Then there was 'Office for' and 'Office of' etc. There were also names that suggested or were derivative of the word 'architecture' - hence all the 'archi-something' names that were popular of the previous generation of architects (well, at least here locally) emerged. Or a name that reflects a firm's work culture or interest, a methodology it believed in, its ethos, modus operandi. Traditionally of course, people have long used their names for their professional business. Either in full, or of late in acronyms like ABCD Architects which was convenient too.

So, why PLY?

Practice of Lee and Yeo (our last names). Not quite what we were thinking of all these while but simple enough for us. Not quite the ubiquitous building material known in short for plywood, although we do like working with it. Nor is it so much to 'ply' the trade although we inevitably do it. Perhaps its about layers, which we do like to create in the meaning of our work, and definately not anything to do with the mathematical equivalent.

And Studio because its not office, atelier, collective, collaborative, laboratory, workshop, architects, design etc.

The architectural Interior 02

2008-11-02T14:41:00.025+08:00

Continuing the architectural interior discourse. Recent work under construction.

The architectural Interior 01

2008-10-20T00:13:00.033+08:00

I say 'Interior' with a capital 'I' as this is afterall an interior work confined within the 1,200 sqft shell of an existing loft apartment. More and more we are getting ourselves into this field of work and finding opportunities within the typology to intervene. But I say it is 'architectural' not because we are architects - for, architects are supposed to conceive of a space differently from say, how an interior designer/stylist would anyway - but rather - a mode of thinking. We see plan layouts as typological constructs to interrogate, cabinets and storage as space defining, furniture as built-up elements to organise program and we tend to limit the quintessential interior designer's palette of materials to only a colour or two at our disposal. Perhaps it is about setting ourselves a kind of constraint to innovate out of, a kind of working method and approach?

Some pictures of the recently completed apartment :

The entire apartment interior is gutted out, revealing the existing attic structure.

Completed.

[Photos : Jeremy San/Stzernstudio]

I just realised that the photos do not have furniture in them. Guess we are just not cut out to be interior designers. Visit the project on our website for full description.

3 Months

2008-10-15T23:58:00.010+08:00

Its been hectic and a busy 3 months now since we started out on our own. On the work front there's been a couple of interior projects to work on, we took part in one competition, completed the design for a 500 unit residential development overseas and got to know a few potential clients with whom we are pitching for a varied spectrum of work, from conceptualisation of a shopping mall's spatial identity to exhibition design, amongst other things. Although there were times where we worked stretches on end, of which we must have spent a record least number of hours with our kids, I must say its been a very fulfilling experience. Sometimes we wonder why we have not done this earlier.

Now that we have our own little practice going something that has kept us constantly thinking of is how we are defining our practice in terms of its direction and approach to design. But more importantly - what we are doing to reach that ideal with each project that comes our way, or at least to set the trajectory right. Its no easy task as it is largely a result of what projects you get to work on, whatever comes our way.

Supergarden

2008-09-15T16:30:00.005+08:00

[Image : Design Singapore]

PLYSTUDIO was chosen as one of 10 architectural practices amongst the final 22 design creatives selected to represent Singapore at the recent 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2008. The Venice Biennale is an international showcase of architecture and design ideas at the intersection of contemporary culture and discourse.

View of the Exhibition [Image : Design Singapore]

Drawing of the Exhibition [Image : Design Singapore]

SUPERGARDEN is the title of the exhibition/installation at the Singapore Pavilion. As a SUPERGARDEN Presenter, PLYSTUDIO was required to submit an Object which best reflects the firm’s design culture, interests and way of working. Collectively, all 22 objects will be exhibited in a curated landscape, each created by Singapore’s very own design creatives. The notion of 'Conversations' is the chosen platform for engaging the exhibition in which an audio installation of sound domes will form and make the conceptual connections between the exhibitors.

PLYSTUDIO's The Picnic [Image : PLYSTUDIO]

PLYSTUDIO's The Picnic [Image : Jing/SuperHyperreal]

Our object, entitled ‘The Picnic’, is a site-specific installation that embodies our interest in redefining ‘type’ through contextual readings. This is manifested in the transformation of an earlier work into 3 further typological constructs. A full description of the work can be found in our website.

Do visit www.supergarden.sg to view the exhibition and listen to the conversations. You can even download the accompanying book. Here's the section on us :

Excerpt from Book [Image : Design Singapore]

SUPERGARDEN will run from 14 September to 23 November 2008 in Venice after which it is scheduled to travel to Torino and return at a later date to Singapore.

Just want to add that we at PLYSTUDIO are very honored and pleased to present at Supergarden. Thank You curators and organisers for this. In the process we have got to know more of our own local creatives too.

[Image : PLYSTUDIO]

1st Post

2008-08-15T14:44:00.005+08:00

The word is out - we are finally in. We have now officially joined the ranks of owning a company. Our first task was to get our name, identity and the object we had to present for SUPERGARDEN up. It was created in just under a week in time for the submission. What seemed like a long and indecisive process on our part to start up this practice together seemed to materialise in just so short a time.

Just a bit of history....we were 2 of the 3 founding members of Multiply Architects in 2007. After some years of collaboration prior to that, we decided to go our own ways. Some of the works shown in this website were developed during that time, of which we were responsible for the design efforts.

We will be updating this blog as often as we can. Its our first time building a website thanks to iWeb - yes, no coding, scripts, flash animation whatsoever just plain idiot-proof D-I-Y. The website is still undergoing construction so do bear with us while we try to get as much of our work and ideas uploaded to share.

Meanwhile, do visit the rest of our website and feel free to leave a comment or contact us.