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Attending my very first architecture convention, the previous weekend has to be the most architekchooraly enlightening, in more ways than one. Already out of placed in terms of dressing, being a bunch of kids among an overwhelming crowd of 1800+ can be intimidating. But one could really care less as we were there to witness starchitects from all around the world flaunt their opus of sorts, presenting on the theme of distinction in architecture.
Having 9 reputable architects and 1 design-led structural engineer present their ideas and products of structural design, one has a renewed philosophy of what architecture is, was, and suppose to be. Whether it's the state of architecture in M'sia, sustainable and environmental issues, the whole lotta 'whatt?' when it came to tectonics, fabrications, materials and aggregations, and even career paths within the career of architecture, I came out of Datum:KL 2008 a different archeeetek than before.
rynn's inscriptions i believe. my handwriting's far worse.
Comparing and contrasting, it doesn't take an expert to see the difference in terms of quality and style when it comes to the work of our local architects against the international ones. Whether it's the private firms that serve personal clients in redefining residential houses for living, or those that work on a larger scale such as towering skyscrapers that ridiculously mimic fortresses of evil in Middle-earth, local architects simply could not match that of the architects overseas who have been recognised and awarded internationally.
gosh, kijun, show some respect.
The question is, why is it so? Maybe it's the difference in landscape, or in creative freedom limited by local clients. Or simply our intricate state of affair in terms of vernacular and social context. But then again, it would simply be foolish to address the situation to be one that only occurs in our country.
With all that running thru one's diminutive knowledge in architecture, one has an impression that the problem addressed above was born from another problem, which when further pondered, might not be a problem at all, rather a predicament that we as citizens of the world have created for ourselves over the years. A situation where there's a constant struggle of prerogative, between a class of architects who designs buildings solely for it's purpose, utilizing the space of the building to allow 100% performance of it's function (the boring old box), and a group of architects with artistic dreams and ideas, some that stretch beyond logic to an extent that it is no longer practical in any sense of the word. 
Would the circumstances be different and change for the good, if architecture is truly practiced; where the function of the structure is optimized 110% by the form when designed creatively and aesthetically, will architecture then progress to be appreciated more, especially in our country? Perhaps that union has been achieved before. Nonetheless, such architecture can perhaps be seen in the work of Bjarke Ingels, BIG. (excuse my humour, but i cant stop laughing at the url, rofl.)
 indeed, archeeteks are camwhores.
 ren
Maybe I'm being bias, since he was the solitary architect among starchitects during the talk that truly blew me away. Don't get me wrong, one was indeed pleased with the presentations of the other 9 speakers. None, however, came close to his charisma and the dynamicity of his creations, the fact that he literally took us on a roller coaster ride. Whether it's the explanation in his designs from scratch to development to completion, or his uproarious style of presentation, I can safely say that the 0801 batch of SABD had their jaws dropped in admiration.
 leonardo dicaprio's balcony. rofl.
Him being the youngest speaker amongst the 10 could be another reason how one such as yours truly could relate to him and his work so effectively. Heck, all the twisting n turning he does to a simple geometric shape into an architecture marvel makes our work look so simple that it's almost child's play.
 freakin lego. now that's model-making. lol.
Although, I do contradict some of his work, in a sense that certain structures seem almost impossible engineeringly and illogical against gravity, not to mention certain aspects of safety. Nevertheless, kijun will leave it to the heroic engineers to sort out them calculations as one have presented during the 2 day convention.
 can sit so high meh.
 vision getting blurrier due to engineering crap..
More importantly, in all sense of realism, I have this conception (hopefully, false) that one could either dream big, labour creatively overseas, and work on ingenious projects reinventing modern architecture such as the examples of BIG; or stay low in profile, employ to projects on a smaller scale for clients that pay the bills satisfactorily, clients who want swimming pools the size of a football field in a plot of land the size of a ping-pong table. Although that may sound pessimistic, I am still very much excited by the prospect of physically designing an actual building rather than it being in a state of imagination, to be respected by peers and have people be in awe of your brainchild. One would be surprised how the architects were treated, it was as if they were rockstars. People scrambling for autographs, politely awaiting their turn to have a picture taken with the rockstar. Perhaps a situation that can only be seen in an architecture convention, but hey, I wasn't that animated. As cited by Donald,
"I'm a fan, but I'm not a girl."
..we're hypocrites. haha. Of course we had to take a pic with Hou Liang, the guy who's design for a building intended to commemorate a Pope was inspired by literally seeing into the light.
 And Nader Tehrani, who speaks as if he has a PhD in all things that I do not understand about architecture.
Sadly, Bjarke left almost instantly after his presentation. No pics with him. And so, we called it 2 days well spent, of waking up ridiculously early and getting stuck in kl traffic.
 0801. We don't whisper. We shout. Anyone embarassed or annoyed can myob.
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