Jury Review "Title : Viewing and the Art of Being Viewed"

Nik, Nik Ariff Azmee (2009) Jury Review "Title : Viewing and the Art of Being Viewed". Sustainable Tropical Environmental Design Exhibition (STEDex’09), 1. p. 38. ISSN 2180-0685

Abstract

The works I have selected are primarily based on the homogeneity of their designs and are apparent throughout their respective presentations. The trait is recognised when there is consistency and continuity from the plans onwards to the final realised form of the displayed work. When there are no plans, as in the Habitable Sculpture, it is the singleness in the execution of an idea that I give my preference to. This is firmly illustrated in B1 for its articulation of spatio-form textures from a single gesture. It is to be the normal practice at a relative early stage of the students’ architectural development that they are introduced to design systems as a method for cognizance of various rational and parameters that go into the design process. However, it is students who could extrapolate such systems without compromising creativity and produce the more interesting designs; rather than mere extrusions of Euclidean bubble diagrams with gratuitous forms thrown over it to avoid ‘flat’ elevations. The latter are commonly betrayed by dry rectilinear plan forms that nestle uncomfortably within more expressive physical shells. These homogenous schemes could successfully go further to display continuity into the spatial qualities within their forms as illustrated from the delineation of their interior as in, B14. Although the interior quality does seem to be a little too incidental –probably because it usually gets done in the last stages of presentation documentation-it denotes the students’ potential to further articulate the interior should they chose to develop it much earlier in their design process. Another quality commendable among a few of these selections is, I found the students not settling with the unfortunate assumption that function excludes creativity. For instance, galleries only function as walls to stick artifacts onto and floors to put sculptures on. A noteworthy scheme here is that of B21 which displays creative functionality. The author illustrates various ways in which art pieces could be displayed such as, suspended within a space rather than merely tacked along the boundaries of the space. In a similar vein, Lat’s Gallery of B15 illustrates the simple yet delightful idea of building facades being used as a canvas for display and is craftily executed for additional impact to that effect. The general impression of the whole 2nd year is one of a promising anticipation of things to come. The selected examples do not indicate exclusivity from the rest but only denote the more successful attempts where the others do not measure up to. It is the overall approach that these few selections epitomises as the better amongst them. In general, the development skills will need further technical inputs such as structures and to a lesser extent, services. If the attitude of never compromising on creativity when faced with such matters is maintained, the students will have no difficulty in producing design works much richer in content during their formative years ahead.

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