Talk Architecture

Send us Fan Mail

This is an interlude to discuss about the recent tweet by the Malaysian Prime Minister on community projects. If we are not clear on what is a community project and how it will benefit the neighbourhood and community, there will be conflicts and would not serve the purpose on sharing resources using common land and property that is governed by the local authority and Government. It’s all about urban planning and rights to access public spaces as the basic human need of wanting to be healthy in nature. 

©️Talk Architecture 2022, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob. Photo (artwork): "Talk Architecture" by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob; Bus Stop drawing by Kamelia Jambari

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

A two-part conversation featuring two fresh graduates, Ee Von and Afaf, on Public Housing and Spaces Plus Architecture Education, starts with discussions on:
[Part 1]

• The recent inaugural Public Housing Liveability Conference under the Rights to the City Programme (16 June 2022) in  Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, and what they feel about the event and the role of ThinkCity;
• How do they think housing and public spaces are addressed in their own work and elsewhere;
• How the teaching of housing in architecture schools' design studio curriculum is done and what their feelings about this.

Cheah Ee Von tutor at UCSI in Kuala Lumpur, graduated from Taylor's and the AA School, whereby Siti Nurafaf Ismail is a recent graduate from Universiti Malaya and a recipient of the thirteenth RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship.

© 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
Photo (artwork): edited photos of Ee Von and Afaf (Naziaty Mohd Yaacob)

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

Teaser Alert! 
Introducing two fresh graduates, Ee Von and Afaf, who will be interviewed and featured in the next two podcast episodes, coming soon! The duo will be discussing:

Part 1 episode

• The recent inaugural Public Housing Liveability Conference under the Rights to the City Programme (16 June 2022) in  Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, and what they feel about the event and the role of ThinkCity;
• How do you think housing and public spaces are addressed in their own work and elsewhere;
• Teaching housing in architecture schools' design studio curriculum.

Part 2 episode

• Architecture education approaches and methods;
• Other issues that are increasingly being emerging in architecture education and;
• The future of architecture education.

Cheah Ee Von tutor at UCSI in Kuala Lumpur, graduated from Taylor's and the AA School, whereby Siti Nurafaf Ismail is a recent graduate from Universiti Malaya and a recipient of the thirteenth RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship.

© 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
Photo (artwork): Poster by Saifull Yusop showing the concept of Urban Farm for his design thesis project 'Habitable Waste Infrastructure' for a housing prototype in Kampung Kerinchi (2018-19)

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

"Design is the Conversation Between Creativity and Context" (Kevin Mark Low, 2014). The quote under Context Specificity from the book published in 2014, called "Small Projects" is used to explain Form + Context, defining further with quotes from Christopher Alexander's "Notes on the Synthesis of Form". Taken from the Architecture Theory lecture here: https://youtu.be/LEZUSAb49VA
This podcast episode concentrates on the first few slides of the lecture, focusing on the quote.

© 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
Photo (artwork): The winged seed, blowing in the wind. in Bangsar taken by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is Optional" (Murakami, 2008).
There will be challenges. Such as when a critic gives feedback to the student or the company director comments on the designer's work. There could be 'pain' inflicted, perhaps of the emotional kind. And there could be many of these. However, that is part of the process of learning. How does one take it? Give up on the challenge or keep on going? 

 © 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
 Photo (artwork): Cheryl Yew and the critics during interim crit in 2018-19 session by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

The main protagonists in the architecture design studio are the master (tutor) and apprentice (student). The tutor needs to take time to coach the student so that the latter work on their "learning brain rather than the survival brain". When left unattended the student falls back to bad habits or previous ways of designing that may not be enough for the level that he or she is in and needed to progress further. In order to develop the skills to a greater extent, if not taught in the first year (where it is usually to do with artistic process rather than architecture design process) or lack the quality of teaching-learning necessary to discover the important learning such as tectonics and technical aspects of architecture. We often call this detailed design or design development stage. This episode went further into why the survival brain ( not growing and just designing by relying on SketchUp and other 3D digital software) is "cheating" and needs to be addressed. 

 © 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
 Photo (artwork): Luis, the Year 3 coordinator regarding the FAUP studio curriculum in 2015 taken by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

A sequel to the previous podcast - "SketchUp & other 3D Design Software is not the answer to architecture design skills", focused on why fewer and fewer architecture students end up being an architect and went into more detail about the problem; (1) The poor design of the architecture curriculum affects the students to have lack of confidence in being an architect, and not wanting to pursue architecture; (2) Students not mastered being able to read plans in 3D or lack their imagination, conceptualization, and manual drawing skills because schools place emphasis on digital tools mastery, and; (3) The accreditation body not able to inform schools this problem and have not done enough on the problem. This is merely the opinion of the host of this podcast who is a civil service retiree who served 28 years in academia.

© 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
 Photo (artwork): FAUP's portfolio review in 2015 taken by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

SketchUp & other 3D Design Software is not the answer to architecture design skills. The underlying message proposed in this podcast on why fewer and fewer architecture students end up being an architect is:
1. The poor design of the architecture curriculum affects the students to have lack of confidence in being an architect, and not wanting to pursue architecture;
2.  Schools not providing the right sort of training for students of architecture, forcing them to do digital applications and software such as SketchUp too early, when they have not mastered being able to read plans in 3D or lack their imagination and manual drawing skills.
3. The accreditation body does not identify precisely, get 'real' feedback and deal with how schools of architecture should be conducted in terms of curbing the lack of interest students have and lack of confidence in wanting to be an architect and also the subsequent fall-out after they graduated.
This episode is a straight-up criticism of the state of Malaysian architecture schools from the personal perspective of someone who had taught architecture for 28 years.

© 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
 Photo (artwork): Site Visit PJ Old Town (batch 2019-2020) taken by a student (tbc)

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

A brief explanation of what happened before the few years of the architecture studio program leading to the Site Context Specificity units 2016-17, 2018-19 & 2019-20, with sites at Kampung Baru, Bukit Ceylon, Kampung Kerinchi, and Petaling Jaya old town. However, one year earlier 2015-16 batch, I was working with GDP architects, and I learned what was not working. It is all to do with how we design the program and run it.  Then for 2016-17, I mentioned 'gentrification'', but it was not about that, as later Kevin referred to 'context specificity' (refer to his book in 2014) ... I did not get it at first, thinking of 'site issues-driven context'... but it's really a difference in the teaching philosophy.

Those 3 years after were very experimental (in my opinion) in the history of University of Malaya's design thesis philosophy. Working with all the challenges around us, led by Kevin Mark Low, Lisa Foo, and I, Naziaty, we managed to plan, design, and facilitate a studio program that compelled students to engage with and gain confidence through the emphasis on detail design. Looking back on the podcast episodes we did earlier in 2020, you may recall this tremendous effort of trying to provide the best design thesis experience for the graduate. I am happy and proud that we managed to do this despite a lot of challenges and personal sacrifices.

 © 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
 Photo (artwork): Street Market design thesis analysis by Low Joo Yin (batch 2018-19 on Kampung Kerinchi)

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere! 

Send us Fan Mail

The second part discussion on why everything is personal, in your work and what you do, because professionalism is not a form of detachment from feelings, inspiration, and motivation. 
 
 Inspired by comments that I got from Facebook on Part 1, I will explain what and how it was done ( my role ) in the architecture design studio programme at the university. The reason why it was important that I take my work personally.
 
 © 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob
 Photo (artwork): Online crit on the UM Campus Masterplan Special Semester August 2020 (screenshot by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob)

Support the show

Do subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere!