ON SITE

18 April 2007 , Wednesday

Today is my first site visit since my employment in UK. Firstly, a brief induction on Health and Safety procedure was given as a guide to keep you safe at the site. A couple of days before the site visit, I collected my very first architect white safety protective helmet and safety vest. I should have also got a new pair of safety boots, unfortunately the boots would only be available by next week. So I borrowed my colleague’s safety boots.

I know that I'm not going to be serious in site supervision, but an exposure of on-site development would give me better perspective of design. It will enrich the understanding of design detail. You’ll get to experience the real SCALE, actual PROPORTION and the FEEL created by your design.

At the site, I observed the way those people on site usually observe. They observe for the DETAIL. And the solution for inappropriate detail is not as simple as deleting line in drawings. Therefore it is vital for the site supervisor to possess good sense of looking at detail especially before the design is constructed.

This is a part of the architect’s responsibility. I guess it’s not exaggerating to say that no one else on the site that day was feeling as happy and excited as I did. I can smell the woodwork, hear the sound of machine and touch the actual material. It reminded me those good old memories when my late uncle (tok ngah) showed me how he built a house. But I guess I'm not going to be just a builder, I want to be an architect who could build dreams.

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution."Albert Einstein

My note:

Inhabiting the site
Visiting a site before construction is also important to get the feel and sense of the site. By getting it right it could make the design process flow smoothly.