Mr. James Lim 's talk - Chin Yi Hong 1001542729

Mr. James Lim , a Malaysian architect and also a lecturer in UCSI University , has worked under two companies which are ZLG Design and RSP Architects . In his design , natural and environmental purposes play an important role . He mentions that he likes random shape or facade which can reduce the boredom instead of creating stereotyped form . In the talk , he shared some of his projects to us and it is useful for me in experiencing how he works with his concept and idea .

Point 92 

Point 92 is one of the project shown by Mr . James Lim . It was completed in 2012 as a green building surrounding by trees . He plays creatively on daylighting , external ambience and materiality of the façade . During daytime the random shape openings will reflect the sunlight and the artificial lighting will play an important role at night . 

The random shape openings enhance the visual effect of the facade . The facade is using cement as the material and with the purpose of surrounding by trees , he mentioned that they want the building to be fluid from the nature and also floated on the basement .

The volumetric shapes carved from inside give variation in terms of spatial organisation and exterior views . He mentioned they want people to come out from the space and walk up to the view . Thus , it is like a resting area for the occupants .

The ongoing part is the lobby . As the special design asked by the client , the floor is designed in polished way and the ceiling is constructed by plywood to make the space look more stylish . Besides , they grow a lot of trees in the lobby to buffer off the sun as the building is located at a high-rise . Not only the purpose of sun , it is also influenced by the noise . Thus , a relaxing space has been created .

Overall the analysis of Point 92 , i am quite attracted by its random form and design strategies within the building . I like how he solved the environmental impact on the use of materials and spatial design , it would be the purpose too for me to enhance my design in the future .

Competition building in Jalan Gurney 

This is the building in Jalan Gurney designed by him for a competition . It is a residential building which is an apartment . The building is floating and cantilevered off from the basement . It is same as Point 92 by using the random facade . He wanted it to be natural too so he used the raw material .

This building gives me a feeling that the facade is kind of wall attached on the building with random design which focuses on the visual effect too .

Office tower at Jalan Sultan Islam 

The next project is an office tower located at Jalan Sultan Islam which is beside a beach club . It is designed as a sculpture . He calls it as an onyx because it is black in color and looks sharp in shape . However , the interior of this building is different that it is in white color . 

I like the concept of this building being used such as the onyx stone . It is a fresh idea to appear as a concept . Besides , the building plays with black and white color which is simple but quite attractive in vision .

Others 

Old Age Home , Kolkata , India

Cup house

Cafe

Questions 

After briefing his projects , he allowed us to ask questions . There are several questions been asked by students :

Novi                : From all of the design, is there any issue with the end user feedback?

Mr. James        : There are feedback received like its too iconic even thou its not in a big scale, but                                  mostly, the main point of the feedback from the end user is that they liked it and                                    enjoy using the space.

Pang Shi han    : Comparing Malaysia and Singapore, do you think Singapore is a better platform for                            architects to explore and be given more opportunities in terms of exposure and                                      experiences?

Mr. James        : Yes, as Singapore is a small country, it becomes a design hub where architects from                             Singapore will receive various projects from other countries around south east Asia.

                          Architect will be given more exposure toward international projects and be able to                               work with people from all around the world.

Yap yen ling     : In your opinion, do you think the architect still following the theories of architecture                            in terms of designing rather than just follow the clients’ needs?

Mr.James         : Of course, we still follow those theories somehow but when architects design also                                need to refer back to the client's requirement and as I mentioned just now the project                            Point 92, we do pursuit and try to educate them with our typology and design sense.                            If you talk about theories in term of philosophy kind I think this seldom happens in                              Malaysia and it is too individualism to practice in Malaysia too.

Logeish           : Your (mr. James) designs speaks a lot about random openings and allow natural                                   phenomenon penetrate thru building. What if the client likes the idea, but with neat                               and less opening on the facade?

Mr. James       : Convincing the client is hard but work smart with what you can substitute with                                    clients needs with a proposed cost.

The talk and briefs performed by Mr. James Lim have shown the creativity and passion of him in architecture . I have learnt that every design must have purposes or concepts which related to the project itself . It should be functional also to minimize the impact influenced by environment or artificial . In a nutshell , it was such an useful talk for me to enhance my design with all the purposes supposed to be considered within the building .