Yesterday attended a very interesting lunch event “RIBA and Hong Kong Business of Design Week 2019”. Speakers included: 1/ Lucy Tilley of Adjaye Associates, who spoke about working internationally and understanding local culture and contexts (only 20% of their work is in the UK and the rest abroad), 2/ Jevan Chowdhury of Wind and Foster …
Are there any Benefits of Having A Penpal in this Digital Age?
Recently I tweeted a memory I had of my penpal when I was 12 and I was astonished when today it’s so far had 80 likes. I know it’s not viral, humour me. I had two penpals. The one from the Philippines is in the tweet: To this day I cannot bring myself to open …
Importance of written agreement and brief: Architect to pay damages over project gone wrong
In a job that has gone out of control over the last few years in a nightmarish scenario, the architect, Daniel Marcal, has to pay £500K worth of damages to the clients for professional negligence said the judge yesterday for home cinema works to £7M mansion in North London. The clients, Mr and Mrs Freeborn, say: …
FUTURE STATE Pop-Up Shop and Retail Cube
This is a cute pop-up shop made of pallets, upcycled and repurposed softwood offcuts, storage crates, ply and cling film and other packaging paraphernalia, for the young and hipster South-east Asian boutique. (Sandwiches not included). The attraction of these “temporary structures” are due to the following reasons: modern, innovative, budget-friendly, eco-friendly, transportable, modular, retail solutions.
IKEA Hack: Hollywood style lighting up vanity makeup mirror easy DIY project
As an interior designer, I find DIY challenges even more challenging than a layperson, as I strongly adhere to repurposing, upcycling, reusing and recycling principles in my practice and my designs. At home and professionally, I would say I am gung ho with a can-do attitude, girl-with-a-gun, all-round practical person. I find pragmatism cathartic. I am problem-solving by …
Money, job, marriage: you happy now?
Behavioural scientist Paul Dolan in his new book Happy Ever After: Escaping the Myth of the Perfect Life by Paul Dolan (out 17 January 2019) challenges the ‘success’ indicators of modern myths as narratives and narrative traps: Myth: expectation to be ambitious, wealthy, successful and well educated, married, monogamous and have kids. These are guidelines …
University Challenge: Five universities have doubled their borrowings
University Challenge. Five universities have doubled their borrowings in the last academic year. Southampton, UCL, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt and Imperial (the last being the biggest borrower with GBP470M loans). Traditionally South East Asian and Far Eastern campuses (and more recently Middle Eastern) help fund home campuses. The University of Sheffield has a South East Asian Office …
Museum of Architecture Gingerbread City on 2018 New Year’s Eve
Museum of Architecture is a charity that helps the public engage with architecture and architects. It also supports architects to be more entrepreneurial, collaborative and informed on design for places and people through cultural projects like The Gingerbread City Masterplan – Imagining Cities of the Future. Cities should be inclusive, sustainable, healthy and easy to …
5 Top Tips on How to Recover from Christmas Spending
It’s beginning to cost a lot like Christmas. Caveat 1: Add up your receipts. Aim for 10% less than this amount next year. Caveat 2: This “How to Survive Christmas” leaflet makes me smile. I feel fed up in December (expensive, extensive, exhausting, manic, hoodie-wearing, hopeless, cold, grey, no money, no work, no exercise, irritated, fat, unfit). And now …
Top 5 reasons to attend your office Christmas party
1/ Play NSSS (not so secret Santa) 2/ Catch up on what’s the plan for next year 3/ Show that you are a team player 4/ Talk about the big themes, architecture, life, dreams. Mundane work conversations should be for everyday use only and may actually kill the big themes 5/ Drink cocktails 🍸 SoHo …