It’s finally here!

Hi peeps!

I will be hosting the blog and portfolio on themamak.com, sharing the server with a couple of friends. We’re still not-so-done with setting it up yet, but do go ahead to click around if you wish… I’m planning on upgrading LBA’s layout and my design portfolio, so please be patient as I work my wonders!

So there! LBA’s finally migrated. It will no longer be accessible via the WordPress URL in a couple of days.

So if you guys are still accessing LBA via the WordPress address, please update your links now: http://blog.liveebyarchitecture.com.

Thanks thanks! Have a great week!

Dateline urbanism

Like all other hosts, Beijing became a gigantic stage on Friday — a spectacle for one of the most celebrated triumphs of humanity, the Olympic Games. There has been a high-profile race, a rush, in the urban development of Beijing: “the auspicious 08/08/08″ became the dateline for the completion of new spectacular architectural icons, the subway system, and even for the urban experiment to clear up the hazy Beijing skies.

And it was indeed exciting, with all these developments as the backdrop for the fireworks on the opening night. How could it not be?! These are the projects that flanked the spreads of archimags over and over and over again in the past year. This dateline saw every inch of Herzog de Meuron’s Birds’ Nest finally complete and fully manipulated for show effects; the Water Cube grandly, but unfortunately not-so-tastefully, lit during the Opening Ceremony; OMA’s CCTV glass facade finally complete…

The GoogleMaps have been updated, go play with it!

View Larger Map

What’s next? Sure the event has changed the face of Beijing forever. The buildings look great on TV, and perhaps even on GoogleEarth. But what will happen after the Games? How can these developments contribute to the city and the country after the Olympic traffic is gone?

Preparations for the Olympic Games in Sydney eight years ago created a whole new suburb, major sports village with sports/expo facilities, and upgraded the city centre as well as many tourist sites. The main Olympic site — Homebush Bay — which once attracted hundreds of thousands of people during the Games, now falls short in its integration with the daily urban life of Sydneysiders.

It will definitely be interesting to see the post-Olympic effects of the Beijing sites in five to ten years time.

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P/s: Oh, the new Google Street View is worth trying out too!

Free Autodesk software downloads

Just the other day, at the architectural conference CV08, Rhun Ing and I stumbled across the Autodesk booth during one of the short breaks in between talks. The Autodesk lady asked for our uni email address and told us that we could all have free Autodesk software downloads by just joining the Autodesk Student Community.

You have to be a student, that is.

Click on banner to go to sign-up page!

Among the free softwares they have (that are relevant to me ;P) are AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Revit… Go check the rest out for yourselves.

I have just received this link in my Unimail last week. And being the great friend that I have always been, I am sharing the link with you.
So thank me now and go sign up!

You will have to provide your uni email address, or otherwise read the instructions they have there!

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Ciao for now, am still EXTREMELY busy.

Sorry.

No updates because i have no internet connection at home. The Streamyx guys refused to come to my place to check if my modem isn’t working because everyone’s blaming everything on the Taiwan earthquake. Promise will update soon, even if it will cost me a cup of Starbucks coffee each time I come online >.<

 PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!

Hydropolis in Dubai

Since every Malaysian architect (rethink: no, every single living architect) seem to be hoping to get their big break in Dubai – the Las Vegas of the Middle East, here’s a short one on one of the mega-projects under development there.

This one is called Hydropolis, a luxury underwater hotel. (Hmmm, I have a special fondness for water if you didn’t know) I doubt this is the first underwater hotel, having heard about a smaller one in Florida but I am not sure on how true that is.

“Hydropolis is not a project; it’s a passion,” enthuses Joachim Hauser, the developer and designer of the hotel. I like what he is saying - passion is indeed what is lacking in many Malaysian architects.

“There have been many visions of colonising the sea – Jules Verne, Jean Gusto and several Japanese architects – but no one has ever managed to realise this dream. Despite being a dream of mankind for centuries, nobody has ever been able to make living underwater possible.”

Visitors begin at the land station to enter this surreal space. The semicircular cylinder will arch over a multi-storey building. On the lowest level passengers board a train into Hydropolis.  

So now we’re creating a living space in the sea. I’m sure that soon, architects and town planners would be looking into the future of underwater city planning. So maybe someday, you could come visit me in my underwater home..? Whooo, how cool is that!

Anyway, this is how it would look like from the top. The land belongs to the Crown Prince of Dubai, and this is his last free beach property on this stretch of coast. (Just thought you might want to know)

This thing costs about €550 million and is scheduled launch on December 2006. So if you can’t swim or dive, this would be a great option to get an underwater experience.. but be warned, you’d better be uber-loaded!

Welcome!

Hello, welcome to my new blogsite. It will be the last time i am shifting my stuff, promise! Everything’s still under construction right now, so please come back later! Thank you!