100 Happy Days Challenge: First Quarter

Hey Everyone,

My friend introduced me to the "100 Happy Days" challenge.

Our lives have revolved around schedules, the next deadline and often we forget to take a moment and breathe. There seems to be less and less time to enjoy life and appreciate the moments that help get us through the day. According to 100happydays.com 71% of the people who attempt this challenge are not able to complete it, failing because of the lack of time. Well, I'm an architecture student. I'm here to say that despite the fact that I lack sleep, and sometimes resemble a walking zombie without my caffeine, that it is still possible to find the little things that make us smile.

Enjoy the first quarter of my 100 happy days :)

Day 01

Bought cherries from the grocery store today.
They were very sweet.

Day 02

Went for dinner and dessert with friends.
French toast/Bread Pudding topped with Vanilla Ice cream

Day 03

Remembered when and where I got this key chain:
from Dawn at Cancercare Manitoba in 2006

"You have power over your mind - not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength"
~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Day 04

A fresh lemon for my hot cup of lemon honey
to start off the day.

Day 05

It was cold enough to wear a scarf.
(Can't help it, I'm a scarf fanatic)

Day 06

Early Birthday Present from Bowie
Nepalese handmade notebook

Day 07

Found place that satisfies my burger craving.

Day 08

Received a quick good morning skype chat with CZ.

Day 09

Climbed onto a roof of an industrial building with my studio

Day 10

Received an early birthday present from CZ

Day 11

The sun finally came out after 8 dreary days

Day 12

Celebrated my birthday with friends

Day 13

Celebrated my birthday with family
with Aunt P, Cousin NC and AK

Day 14

A friend sent me a picture of my return to Wpg in Jan 2014

Day 15

Treated to a midnight snack

Day 16

30 minutes of sunshine and a coffee
 a much needed break to save my sanity

Day 17

Snapshot taken by a friend when I said I missed snow.

Day 18

 A day spent with my cousin A and her family at Disneyland Hotel
 and Disneyland Inspiration Lake

Day 19

Saw Carravaggio's Supper at Emmaus

 Day 20

Lemonade Green Tea, Shades, and Sunlight
The only way to read.

Day 21

The Album that has been getting me through a Working day.

Image from:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/groundctrl/clients/barenaked
_ladies/media/11/09/ckeditor/pictures/data/content.mbeqepvo
viven6iqkamk4tkyfsg77a78jilgxfua8k4.jpg

Day 22

Snack time!

Day 23

Fruit Street Vendor threw in a few kumquats
because he remembered me
(probably to get me to come back more often
 but they were super sweet)

Day 24

Nothing like Congee and a Chinese doughnut on a rainy day 

Day 25

Studio is coming along and I finally get to go home
after the Black Rain warning came down!

Reading Week- Kwun Tong and Belcher Bay

Hey Everyone,

This week was Hong Kong University's Reading Week. Roughly translated from anyone taking architecture, this is the week we hope to catch up, and get some sleep. At least, that's what I thought reading week was. In HKU reading week for architecture students is the equivalent to field trips, workshops, working, and another week of sleepless nights.

Over the last couple of days, my studio, which was Hong Kong based, had the pleasure of sitting through multiple workshops, films, and walking A LOT. The past Tuesday consisted of arriving at school for a 10:00 am presentation and being dismissed at 11:45pm in Kwun Tong. It was a good thing that I had completed my analysis of selected readings the night prior, but either way, everyone at one point in time had only a few hours of sleep. The workshops were interesting and with the intensive two day workshop, I think as a studio group we got to know each other a little better.

Image taken by Joey

There were a lot of new experiences and places that I hadn't been, so the following is a snap shot of a couple of the places we went to:

Kwun Tong is located in the eastern area of the Kowloon Peninsula. As one of the first "New Towns" in Hong Kong, it was and still is an industrial town. Kwun Tong aka. Koon Tong was suspected to be named after the Koon Fu salt yards and established to prevent unauthorised trading by the government. Koon roughly translated, means official or government, but in the 1950's local residents petitioned the government to change the name to Kwun Tong which now translates to "viewing the pond".

The roof of one of the industrial buildings

Light well

Belcher Bay is the bay outside Kennedy Town on the northwest shore of Hong Kong. Belcher Bay was named after Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877), a Nova Scotian Bristish naval officiee, who surveyed the area in the 1840's. Currently, it is a docking area for ships to load and unload their goods. The space is also where construction materials are kept before being carted off to the site.

A Landscape of Bamboo

Bamboo Supports

Until next time, take care!

Wan Chai- Blue House

Hey Everyone,

This studio term I am working within Wan Chai, a metropolitan area on the northern shore of Hong Kong.  The area is one of Hong Kong's busiest commercial spaces with a variety of architectural typologies such as office towers, parks, hotels, residential towers, and exhibition centre, to name a few. A unique characteristic of Wan Chai is that it is a collage of old and new buildings within close proximity of one another. Urban renewal projects in recent years have made Wan Chai a distinctive area rich in development, full of history, and controversial in its preservation of
old buildings and new development.

Not being familiar with the history of the site, a local family friend offered to give me a walking tour, which I found very insightful. So I would like to share with you one
of Wan Chai's gems.

Today, I would like to introduce to you to Blue House, one of Hong Kong's historical buildings in Wan Chai. Located on Stone Nulllah Lane, the Blue House proudly stands
as a remaining example of a Tong Lau that still has a balcony typology. It has been classified as a Grade I historic building and has been preserved with its
original elements intact and maintained.

Blue House

The physical structure is not the only thing that is being saved, the proposal from the government goes beyond the saving of the building, but also includes the plan to support local businesses such as an old fashioned medical centre and dessert shop.The four story Lingnan-style building was built in the 1920's and is a fusion of Chinese and Western architectural features. According to the museum dedicated to the site, the
colouring was not a deliberate aesthetic choice but rather coincidence as the decorators only had blue paint.

The very steep wooden staircase
almost 60 degrees

Despite the fact that the structure has many inconveniences, such as the lack of plumbing, residents still live within the structure. If the residents need to use the bathroom or shower, they have to walk down the flight of stairs and use the public toilets. Residents are categorized into three types: the traditional craftsmen, professionals and people who have experience running social enterprises. They are expected to participate in the entire revitalization project whether it is to giving public tours or providing publicity.The goal of this revitalization was to consciously build and nurture the traditional community and preservation of Hong Kong's heritage.

Benches on display at the Living Containers Art Stories Exhibition
Located in the Blue House

I found this building to be strange, and inspiring. Imagine, a living time capsule of a building and its residents. If you manage to make it out to Hong Kong, I would advise visiting the Blue House and taking a look back towards the past.

Until next time, take care!

Chinese New Years: Dinner/Flower Market/Fireworks

Happy New Years Everyone!
May All Your Wishes Come True, and Your Year be Filled with Happiness,
Prosperity, and Longevity.

I'm very excited to say that I had the opportunity to spend Chinese/Lunar New Year in Hong Kong. There were a lot of new things that I had the pleasure of experiencing, and I would love to share them with you.

Before New Years, I was invited to a dinner with my Aunt P, Cousins, and their families, on my Dad's side. Aunt P had prepared a delicious meal of crab, various pork cuttings, escargot, shrimp, jellyfish, abalone, fish, and veggies.

This was what was on the table when we started eating
and then came the soup, another veggie platter,
steamed fish, and abalone.

FYI:
Abalone: a common name for any group of large/small edible sea snails
(wiki)

The food was amazing and the company was great. During the dinner I was asked if I had been to the Flower Market in Victoria Park. When I said that I hadn't, my cousins strongly suggested that I walk around at least once. So I planned to go visit
Victoria park the next day.

A few friends and I went to explore the Flower market. As we approached the stalls of trinkets, baubles, and food, this is what we saw: LOTS OF PEOPLE! (at 1pm!)

I thought this was a lot of people.
 My cousins said that if I had enough room to take a picture
 it wasn't THAT crowded

Although, there were indications as to which direction we were supposed to head toward, this was one of those moments where I've had the pleasure of feeling herded like sheep, to who knows where. The experience would be very hard to replicated if you've never been in large crowds, but imagine yourself being funnelled into an aisle of people, bordered by toy stands, and having the merchants yell into microphones trying to get you to look at their wares, while hoping to be louder than the stalls beside them doing the exact same thing. The trinket/toy section of the Lunar Market over stimulates one's senses that there's nothing you can do but move forward to save yourself from straining your neck trying to see everything. Heaven forbid that you should stay in one place!

Frozen strawberries on a stick,
drizzled/dipped in sugar

There were a lot of interesting treats for sale. Among them, as seen above, were berries on a stick. There were a lot of other fruits on a stick, but I thought that strawberries were the safest things to try. Who doesn't like strawberries anyway? Well, the snack was great, albeit a little sweet and a little dangerous. My friends and I had to navigate our way out of the crowd before I even attempted eating one. There just wasn't enough room. Pointy sticks in a crowd did not seem like the best idea in the world.

Orchids, one of the many flowers
available for sale at the Lunar Market

On the less crazed side of the market was where a lot of the plants could be found. The stalls were lined with orchids, cherry blossoms, pussy willows, and many other weird looking plants. One of the plants that we found everywhere looked like a cross between lemons, oranges, and pumpkins. We had no idea what they were, but they definitely were cheery.

One of the examples of weird plants
Solanum mammosum aka. Nipplefruit/Cow's Udder/Apple of Sodom

Some of the potted elements we found were quite adorable. This ornament was no larger than a softball, but the detail and living sceneries were amazing.

Plant ornamentation

On one of the evenings, a display of fireworks between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon was set to celebrate the new year. I was told that many people went to Tsim Sha Tsui or Central to watch the fireworks, but A and I decided to hike up to The Peak and watch them there. The view was beautiful. We managed to see an overall view of the fireworks display and the rest of Kong Kong's night-scape.

View of the fireworks form the Peak

Hiking up to The Peak was great. It was peaceful and less crowded. We found the best spot to watch by situating ourselves right behind the row of guys with huge cameras. All in all New Years was a blast and I can't wait for next year.

Me and A at The Peak. 

All the best!

Shopping Mis-Adventure

Hey Everyone,

Have you ever had a moment where time just passes and you have no idea where you've gone? Well, this short incident really did have us going.

Second term had already started and my classmates and I found that we had quite a bit of time on our hands. Today, we decided to go shopping. I'd been procrastinating since the formal wear episode and needed to purchase a white blouse, or else risk repeating another wardrobe experience. (no thanks!)

Anyway, C and I stumbled upon this shop called Dark Art in Causeway Bay. This tiny shop was about 5'x8' but carried the most amazing custom made wedding-esque dresses. I'm not saying I'm looking for wedding dresses or anything of the sort but WOW. They were gorgeous, lots of lace, chiffon, tulle, and bodices that would have been fun to breathe in. We were so amazed at the quality and originality of the designs that the next thing we knew we had wandered out of the store and further into the maze of shops.

The thing about these shopping areas (when they are not actually located in a mall) is like a series of small glass boxes set within levels of a building. Each level separated by an escalator or staircase houses 30-40 glass boxes, each displaying their products and their doors not always facing the same direction. C was looking for skirts today and had decided to go back and purchase one that she had seen beside Dark Art, so we backtracked.

...and backtracked

... and backtracked.

We couldn't find the shop.

We walked the floor five times! I'm sure the shop keepers were eyeing us and counting the times we walked passed their door. Because the shops were set up in rows and many shop dead ends (being staircases), we were afraid that we had missed the shop. So, we kept searching. By the time we figured out the general layout (minus the illusion of added hallways from the many mirrors used to make the space larger) we delegated aisles, to make sure we didn't miss it.

Still, we couldn't find it... and then it hit us.

We vaguely recall taking the escalator...Maybe?

We found the store on the level below us.

C and I were so enchanted by these dresses that we had managed to walk through a level and a half of the shops and not notice any merchandise landmarks... that says something.

If you ever get the chance to walk these type of malls, bring bread crumbs because you'll need them to find out where you've been.

Only one of the dresses but the ones on the rack
were much more flowy and artistic, absolutely gorgeous

PS: I did find my blouse, and am now set for blending in with HK students' "Formal Attire"... Bring It!

Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been a while since my last post but I would just like to say.... Happy New Year!This past month I've had a wonderfully restful, albeit cold winter break in Winnipeg. I would just like to thank all my friends and family who found the time to welcome me back, and kept me busy over the break. I am sorry that I was not able to spend time with all of you individually.

These last few days I've been catching up on my sleep and surprisingly stepping foot outside my apartment. Today, I was invited by a few of my HKU studio friends to visit the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen. It all started this morning when I messaged my friends B and K around 10:30 asking what plans did they have today. They quickly messaged me back letting me know their plans to go to Shenzhen and invited me along. I had never been to Shenzhen and seeing as I had a visa to re-enter HK I found this to be the perfect opportunity to explore a new place.

After transiting for approximately 1.5 hours, we (there were six of us) made our way towards the border. May I just say, that being the only "foreigner" I had the lovely privilege of waiting in the longest lines possible. If that wasn't frustrating enough, I was pulled over by the Immigration Dept because my presence in HK was not documented on my passport but recorded on my HKID. Thankfully, they were able to let me through after a few minutes of questioning and checking their computers. I'm so grateful that everyone was willing to wait for me and not leave me behind. I don't think this trip would have been possible if I did not have my trusty tour guides.

Before we headed out to catch another train, all of us had to use the bathroom. The only reason I mention this is because going to the bathroom was a feat in itself. I am not joking. The washroom was less than ideal, but what choice do you have when they're going to be a lot worse somewhere else...

Try holding your purse and jacket,
 keeping the door from opening
and making sure you don't drop anything
 while going to the bathroom.... It's fun

Transiting to the warehouse where the pieces were displayed took approximately 45 minutes. We did a lot of travelling today. Upon entering the space we were greeted by exhibits provided by different architecture firms as well as universities.

The first display we saw upon arrival which consisted of a variety
of urban typologies and where they were located as well as
who first developed them.

A series of proposed high-rise mixed used buildings

The BBUA was divided into two locations. The second location was situated inside an old glass factory. This venue had three levels, each housing several displays. 

The view of the factory from one of the walkways

Not all of the displays were board based. One of the workshops housed in the glass factory demonstrated the art of traditional wood temple construction using foam. Such workshops encouraged visitors to learn about Chinese culture and participate.

The foam cutting and build workshop

All in all, I had a wonderful time walking through the Biennale and look forward to another adventure outside of Hong Kong.

Until next time, take care!

Attempt #1

Hey Everyone,

For the last couple of months, I've been taking a course called Digital Media and Methods. It's required of all Arch students who are new to HKU. So far, we have been introduced to Rhino and Grasshopper, which are 3D modeling programs. Last week, we had our midterm reviews. Our assignment was to 3D print one of our Rhino files and deliver it to class on Friday in one piece. It was my first time trying the 3D printer, and I could tell that everyone else was nervous as well. There are two types of 3D printers available in HKU, plastic and starch printing. The technician D was very nice, and very helpful. She spent hours helping students clean up files, and taught us how to clean up our models once they were complete. 

My first 3D print in starch!

My model was one of the heftier ones in the class, but at least it didn't break. This lovely thing cost me almost 500 HK$ to print. Painful, I know, but when you think about it, it could have broken and cost me double, which some of my classmates had happen to them. Overall, I'm quite pleased with my first attempt, but after seeing what everyone produced, I now know that I can print more delicate forms. Bring it on! Well, until next time, take care!

Some of the 3D models shown in class