“设计是好玩的吧！  爱玩的总是搞设计。” 大家都这么说。

“Design must be fun!  The one who loves fun always ends up doing design.”  That’s what everyone says.

 

到底鸡和鸡蛋谁先来到这世界这个问题难答。 许多人也在想到底爱玩是设计人的先决条件， 还是读设计久了就要变得爱玩了呢？

I am not too sure if loving fun are pre-requisites to become a designer, or is it the environment we are in turns us into such interesting characters?  It is almost as difficult to answer this question as to trying to figure out if the egg or chicken came first.

 

可是有一点倒是我很肯定的， 读建筑的很多时候就是因为爱画画， 才走上这一条不归路。虽然听来有点儿戏， 可是这确实是我们读建筑的基本功。  我们总是无时无刻的画画， 也因为这样常让普罗大众觉得我们似乎是靠涂鸦过日子， 有点混饭吃的感觉， 也就常常要我们做免费服务， 或者和我们讨价还价的让我们伤感。 

However, we all started because we are so much in love for sketching and doodling, as childish as it sounds, it has been our essential skill and our habit to doodle whenever we can.  Thus, the public assumes that our profession is an easy and casual job, and often asked for free service, or trying to bargain on our fees.

(Our friend would pay for bread from a baker’s friend but expecting us to design their home for free.)

 

可是这一些画着看来轻松的速写， 其实背后每一笔都有我们过去受训的基础， 也有我们脑海里千丝万缕的思绪考量， 比如用草图记录场地的环境， 器材的配对安置。

May we protest, yes we should.  These sketches or childish doodles we have, seemingly careless, is filled with all the thoughts we have around the project with our professional training in the field.  We sketch to document the site physical environment, site context, fitting and fixtures layout and appropriateness. 

 

看来是抽象画的那幅对你毫无意义的一张图， 是观察环境和自己交谈后， 对建筑项目的理解和美学表现， 这一张代表了建筑人许汉基对于一所旅馆的印象， 并借着草图观察和记录这相关的设计符号， 希望从这里找到灵感.

The abstract drawings you read are the blueprints of our mind maps, recording the impression of a hotel to the architect, David Khoo, and his attempt to interpret the design symbols into inspiration and eventually develop them into a building.

 

后来到底会怎么样， 就需要更多的细节安排， 我们要考虑建筑结构，人流路径的铺陈， 空间的设定， 家具的摆放， 阳光空气的流动。  这一切都要通过画画来完成， 所以看来简单好玩的这些小动作， 都是我们建筑人用来思考沟通的工具，并不是我们天马行空的随手两笔。

As we progress, we looked into details; we consider the building structures, traffic flow, spatial planning, the sun, air and water.  We visualize and communicate them with sketches. 

 

建筑人许汉基和我两人坐在他76号的房子里， 聊着的就是我们的郁闷和不被了解的慨叹。  我选择了教育这一条路， 想快乐一点的继续我的画画思考的日子。   建筑人许汉基呢， 决定为8位女生打造这一座女生宿舍， 彻底实现设计的梦想。

David Khoo and I were sitting in his little house of No.76, we were sharing our frustration of the misunderstandings in our profession.  I chose to continue my dream and satisfaction of sketching and designing in the academic field, David Khoo chose to realize his statement in a female hostel for 8 UCSI students.

 

他从一贯最爱的草图开始， 唤来了一批年轻才毕业不知天高地厚的毕业生， 在工地上贴上了白纸， 一批人满腔热情地讨论着设计， 到处去寻找别人丢弃的材料， 用货盘 (palette)做起桌子、椅子、床板， 到宜家买下组合式衣橱， 却要磨去表板， 让它返朴归真。 

It always starts off with a sketch, this time with an addition of fresh graduates. With papers on the wall, they were discussing about the design, collecting materials from someone’s garbage, using palettes to construct the tables, chairs, and bed carcasses.  With modular cabinet purchased from Ikea, they sand it down to its original surface, and brought it back to its basics.  

 

最好商量的或者也是最严格的客户就是自己，建筑人许汉基最想完成的是一个让画画开始， 让年轻人参与， 点燃热情也发挥想象的设计工坊， 这里像是一个大伙一块学习做脑激荡的地方， 等待混沌天开。

The best and the stingiest client is as you are to yourself, architect David Khoo would like to provide a platform for design to develop from scratch and sketch, to involve the young blood, to light up their passion and to allow us to dream big.  This is a place where chaos leads to clarity. 

 

这么爱画画的建筑人， 保留着赤子之心， 一再的告诉我：”要让大家知道， 建筑人不是混饭吃的， 我们看来轻松的表面背后是数之不尽的再思量。“  

An architect who loves to sketch, who still holds his very dream of designing, told me: “We must let them know, we are professionals, the seemingly casual impression we gave to this world with our sketches and doodles, is the fruit of thoughts, consideration and all sorts of complex processes we went through.”

 

Chaos Lab, as he calls his design team, is his interpretation of his idea of design.

 

“As the chaos theory suggest of the phenomena of uncertainty in result, due to the sensitivity of every variable to the outside factors.  It is the best state of design.”

 

We love design because we just don’t know where it will bring us and we are just too excited and would not want to miss it.