Saturday, August 16, 2008

052_line dance


According to Wikipedia, a line dance is choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines, all facing the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_dance) Line dancing has a wild-wild-west image because it was danced predominantly to country-western music in its early days. To date, line dancing has become more popular with a wider range of music. There are several groups of line dancing society (or association or whatever) in Singapore. All you have to do are to browse their websites, download dance step sheets, practice a bit, check the venue for the next gathering and you are good to go. In May 2002, Singapore held a Guinness World Records as World’s Largest Country Line Dance with 11,967 line dancers. The record was broken in December of the same year by Hong Kong.

051_tunnel tv


More and more of space are being utilised for commercial purpose. (See 046_commercialisation of urban space) SMRT, a train service provider in Singapore, has offered a new media called Tunnel TV during a ride between Newton and Orchard MRT stations. Tunnel TV composes of 360 LED panels mounted on the tunnel wall synchronising with the train speed to create moving images. (Read more about Tunnel TV at http://www.smrtmedia.com.sg/enews/Feb/index.htm)

050_the colonnade


The late American architect Paul Rudolph designed a few buildings in Singapore. Among them is the Colonnade, one of a handful of buildings with interesting design here in Singapore. Completed in the year 1988, the 28-storey apartment block still looks contemporary, as if it was just designed by some young architects with program/data-driven design approach.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

049_tower bridge


This pedestrian bridge in front of the Central Fire Station appears to be overstructured comparing to any other ordinary bridges found in Singapore and elsewhere. Its excessive four-column structure is actually part of a former building that the bridge once connected to. The building was later demolished leaving a portion of its structure and foundation to support the bridge that still being used until today.

048_condensing city_02


Since the surface of the rear façade of a shophouse, after excluding doors and windows, is limited. A/C condensers sometimes take precedence over existing elements on the façade regardless of their importance.

047_a/c façade


Conversion of function in an old shophouse can result in a great amount of air conditioning required as we have already seen on post no.020_condensing city. Some shophouses have impressive collection of condensers covering almost the entire rear façade. Could aircon condensers play a part in architectural design if they are strategically placed on the building facade?