A journey of my theory of architecture. MY blog. Mei Yin's blog.
P04: Remembering the Home
As what i can understand from the essay, Mies was eventually influenced by the 1:1 canvas model that affected the entire architectural style with the invention of tectonics of disappearance, dissolution and floating which he made history.
I do believed that childhood played an important role in our life. It may affect our perception of life and hence, it brings us to get through our life with what have we gone through during the past. Similarly to Mies, Ar. Lok Wooi's architectural style of using mostly timber for his design is also influenced by his childhood life where he used to lived in a 'kampung' when he was younger. According to an interview by The Star, he stated that: "I had a happy childhood living amidst nature in a Malay village. To me, the crude bricks, concrete beams and terrazzo flooring are beautiful in their unique textures and patterns. These bits of nature are imperfect and irregular – they are a diversity coming together to form a house. Don’t you think this resembles what Malaysia is?" (source: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/2/5/lifeliving/13247997&sec=lifeliving)
For me, the memories of my childhood is the most favorable memory that i would like to treasure. Same as most Malaysians, i grew up staying in a storey house which actually facing a really huge field that equipped with playground where i spent most of my time during my younger time. It is not the material or style of the house that give the strong influences on me but the feeling of home and the surrounding environment which made up the whole neighborhood :)
The huge field, the market and 'kopitiam' nearby, the kindergarten at the same row of houses, the neighbors, the people, the air, the sky and the most importantly; the family members. These elements that we often neglected, are those that influenced our life the most but we just don't realize.
In front of my house, there's a huge Christmas tree and it's real, opposite, there is a huge field as i mentioned earlier. This, actually influenced me of how i would to like to arrange/decorate the space given when designing. As you can see from my previous design projects if you did, greenery scene is what i always wanted to create for my clients because i believe that this scene can bring people closer to nature as how it did during my childhood.
The arrangement of space which i think, i always create spaces that linked to each other. This is strongly influenced by the surroundings of my house. Storey houses are houses that linked to each other and therefore, relationship between neighborhood is built. Neighbors of mine are nice especially when they bring us food during festival as different races of them would bring different type of food. Other than festival period, they are kind too!
Most importantly, i think; a house should be able to bring family members together. For me, a house is not a home when there's no love within family members. It is not about the materials, not about the cost, and even not about how big the place is. What i have mentioned above is the house that i stayed previously before i moved to my current house. Neither it was big nor it was luxurious but it was warm. The space inside was sufficient enough for five of us to stay closer to each other which i liked the most. The surroundings were suit enough for three of us to grow in. Although i have moved to a bigger house which i looked forward during younger time but i found out that the feeling of home is not longer there. I missed my home. The home that we stayed closer and shared with each other.
I think, the feeling of unite influenced me a lot in terms of choosing form while designing. As i observed on my previous projects, i tend to chose circle instead of square or triangle because circle represent unite. For me, circle connects everyone inside the line; similarly to a fort that protects its people inside. Circle gives a feeling of unite, bringing people closer to each other. And from what i have gone through, i strongly agree that; a home is where the heart is. Therefore, in order to capture the 'heart', a house must be equip with the elements that can make the house warm, warmness within the heart and the environment.
Yet Another Day ; Monday, July 05, 2010
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