NON-DOMESTIC ENERGY PERFORMANCE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Performance_Certificate

http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/theenvironment/energyperformance/publiccommercialbuildings/energyperformancecertificates/

JUWITA CITRA TERINDAH

bagaimanakah aku gambarkan
rasa yang membakar jiwaku
tiada kata yang tak klise
bagai habis bahasa bermutu

sedang engkau
teristimewa buat diriku
ilham tugu Taj Mahal didirikan

barangkali kita perlu
melihat di sebalik materi
kau wanita aku lelaki
ayuhlah kita mengikat janji

yang kau juwita
menolak segala dusta
citra yang terindah
cerita yang sakti

ku serahkan nasibku pada cinta murni
juga ku rasakan bukti
patahkan ku hancurkan badanku
kau tetap menjadi

oooh oooh pujaan
oooh oooh juwita
kau segala-segalanya

kau juwita
menghidupkan jiwa yang lara
menggoncang kalbu
yang lama membeku

ku serahkan nasibku pada cinta murni
juga ku rasakan bukti
patahkan ku hancurkan badanku ini
kau tetap menjadi

oooh oooh pujaan
oooh oooh juwita
oooh oooh pujaan
oooh oooh juwita
sempurnakan cintaku

Title: Juwita Citra Terindah
Artist: M.Nasir

Juwita Citra Terindah - M. Nasir

"Acapkali dalam hidup kita akan tempuh kepayahan dan kesukaran. Biar apa pun kesukarannya, selagi kita dicintai dan mencintai (tuhan, manusia, makhluk lain). Hati yang dipenuhi kegembiraan kasih-sayang akan menyakinkan harapan esok pasti ada..dan mendung ini akan pergi. Kerna mentari sedang menanti disebalik awan. Cahayanya sinari kehidupan." Fadzlan Rizan Johani

BENEFITS AND ADVICE ON BLOCK PAVING & LARGE ELEMENT PAVING

http://www.tobermore.co.uk/index.cfm/website_type/2

http://www.acheson-glover.com/documents/pdfs/enviroperm.pdf

MEDAN PASAR

1. Option A1

This one of the projects that I had on during my stay in MOCA and Quill back in 2004. I was assisting one of the Directors to design a new facade for an existing building. It would be transformed and given a fresh contemporary facade appearance. The interior of the building would also be re-designed to meet new needs.

2. Existing Site Photo

The original intention is to apply similar architecture profile that we had used in other completed building and re-applied it again in different composition. Perhaps, it would create a new look and at the same time, keeping it as an "economical" architecture. Because by using the same profile you could re-produce some unique design shapes without creating a new mould or set of production line to make it.

Personally, I didn't have the opportunity to meet with the client. I simply designed the facade under the directors' supervisions. While assuming that the contemporary style is the theme for the client, I was carrying out several options within design approach.

3. Early design
4. Rendering study

By then, I was assuming that the design I made was the right approach for the client as in the next stage I was instructed to refine the initial design and superimpose the visuals into its existing urban environment photo. This project had pushed my skill up a notch towards advance level in using 3D Vectorworks. Thus, with a little fine-tuning on the design and refining the quality of visuals I believed it would be the ultimate solution for the client.

5. Option B1

6. Option C1

7. Option D1

I was wrong! I didn't know what exactly happened but the next thing I know a totally different approach was introduced. A more traditional approach of post-modernism. This a massive re-design exercise as it didn't adapt any of the previous contemporary design. A clear signal that the client had never intended to change the typical taste for building design but just to refine that typical look.

8. New design option

So, what went wrong here? If we had listened to the client's needs in the first place, the next design development should had only been refining the design not to re-design. Or did the client just change their mind? If the client doesn't really know what they want (usually they do) it is obvious that the project would be a chaotic one when only one design approach (contemporary) is presented for them to choose. These are the crucial questions that we need to ask and seek answers for to indicate whether we are able to lead our client for better or worst.

Perhaps we need to listen to the the story of Piano's unique interview: LINK

I might not had been given the privilege to deal with client during those early years (maybe because of inexperience), but I still had the opportunity to learn something out of it. The most important thing is to be initiative by constantly learning from any resources within our reach even when we could only participate in the project from behind the scenes.

the story of Piano's unique interview

Sketch courtesy Renzo Piano Building Workshop

the story of Piano's unique interview will live on in architectural lore for, well, probably forever. In either an act of brazen hubris or absolute humility, the story goes as follows:

"...the final architect to interview, Renzo Piano, arrived with one ­associate—his daughter, Lia—and took just ten minutes to set up. When the committee members entered the room, they were surprised to see that he had no presentation materials with him. He had used the ten minutes to pull a table from the corner and rearrange all the chairs into a circle around it. Piano told them that he didn’t know how he would design a new California Academy of Sciences. He would need to hear from them before he could answer that question. “If you go into a meeting and you already know everything,” Piano says, “you lose the capacity to understand."

http://www.calacademy.org/

RGP- CDM Design Manual

A CUP OF MY LIFE

"We drink in a different cup every day, but we still drink the same thing...water." Fadzlan Rizan Johani still life sketch on dining table 07/12/08

THE ASCENT OF MONEY

The Ascent of Money adalah antara siri TV yang aku dok layan sekarang nie. Bukan cerita fiksyen tapi dokumentari sejarah institusi kewangan.

“In this six-part series, historian Niall Ferguson tells the story of money and the rise of global finance. Bringing context and understanding to the current economic crisis, he reveals how the history of finance has been punctuated by gut-wrenching crashes. Each episode shows how a big bang in the ascent of money has changed the course of history.”

LINK: http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/A/ascent-of-money/index.html

Walaupun ia hanyalah sebuah dokumentari, namun cara olahan dan penyampaian yang jelas serta padat menjadikan dokumentari ini berbaloi untuk ditontoni. Ia memberikan penerangan tentang sejarah kewujudan bebeberapa instrumen kewangan (duit kertas, emas, bond, saham, insurance, dll). Menceritakan tentang kejayaan dan kegagalan instrumen tersebut di masa lampau. Kemudian beliau membuat perbandingan dan analisa dengan senario instrumen tersebut di dalam ekonomi semasa.

Secara kebetulan kebanyakan kegawatan ekonomi kini merupakan kegagalan yang sama dihadapi berulangkali tetapi didalam versi yang berbeza. Ternyata kita gagal mengambil pengajaran dari sejarah bagi “menyediakan payung sebelum hujan”.

Sepanjang siri ini ia telah membuka ruang minda yang lebih jelas tentang apa sebenarnya wang. Nilai dan persepsi terhadap semua instrumen kewangan ini berubah sama sekali. “Money is about trust” hinggakan emas pun sebenarnya bukanlah instrumen yang selamat seperti yang diwar-warkan jika hilang kepercayaan terhadap nilai sebenarnya. Begitu juga dengan membeli saham ketika harga murah juga tidak memastikan pulangan yang besar.

Aku dah mula faham serba sedikit agenda disebalik instrumen kewangan ini. Dan bagaimana dengan mempelajari sejarah dapat membantu kita dari membuat kesilapan yang sama di masa depan. Selepas menonton siri ini, tidaklah pulak membuatkan aku pakar macam mereka yang benar-benar mendalami ilmu kewangan. Tetapi cukuplah sekadar menambah panduan dalam pengurusan kewangan diri sendiri.

Antara panduan kewangan diri yang aku dapat simpulkan setakat ini adalah (banyak lagi sebenarnya):

1. Mempelbagaikan portfolio kewangan bagi menangani pelbagai kemungkinan.

2. Pada masa sama perlu mengimbangi simpanan/pelaburan di dalam pelbagai portfolio.

3. Elakkan terlalu fokuskan hanya satu jenis portfolio kewangan sahaja seperti membeli terlalu banyak rumah atau terlalu banyak simpanan di dalam sesebuah bank.

4. Sentiasa berhati-hati dan tidak hanya mengikut nafsu dan trend semasa dalam membuat keputusan.

5. Semua instrumen kewangan ini bersangkut-paut secara tidak langsung. Kesan terhadap satu instrumen mungkin membawa kesan kepada yang lain.

6. Mempercepatkan pembayaran hutang (loan rumah, kereta, pendidikan dll) atau elak dari berhutang.

7. Menyediakan simpanan tunai yang mencukupi.

8. Mendapatkan maklumat yang betul dan sahih tentang struktur perniagaan/saham sebelum membuat pelaburan.

9. Sentiasa mengemaskini perbelanjaan semasa bagi mengimbangi inflasi dan keperluan semasa.

10. Janganlah kita menjadi orang yang tamak kerana pastinya bukan sahaja “orang tamak selalu rugi” malah merugikan orang lain.

11. Lebih utama dari itu adalah penting bagi kita berjimat-cermat dalam berbelanja mengikut kemampuan diri tanpa mengorbankan keperluan asas.

Mungkin ilmu ini tidak dianggap penting bagi kebanyakan orang. Hanyalah masalah orang yang kaya dan banyak duit saja. Tapi kebijaksanaan menguruskan kewangan peribadi (biarpun sedikit) merupakan perkara asas dalam menguruskan kewangan yang lebih rumit dan besar. Setidaknya ia dapat digunakan dalam menguruskan kewangan rumahtangga.

Jika jumlah yang kecil kita gagal menguruskannya apatah lagi dengan nilai yang lebih besar dari itu.

Masih teringang-ingang cerita dari seorang kawan; “Ada sebuah keluarga datang ke UK untuk belajar. Tetapi kerana terlalu mahukan kereta mewah untuk dibawa balik ke Malaysia, beliau sanggup mencatu makanan keluarga dengan hanya makan telur (hanya kekadang makan ayam) serta menambah air kosong di dalam susu cair anak-anak”

Alangkah bagus jika pengorbanan berjimat–cermat tersebut digunakan untuk simpanan pendidikan anak-anak di masa depan.

Sesungguhnya wang sukar dicari, menghabiskannya mudah sekali.

Nota: dialu-alukan kawan-kawan yang pakar dalam kewangan untuk memberikan panduan dan pandangan dalam pengurusan kewangan.

INCLUSIVE DESIGN

The main topics covered in this RIBA Assessed CPD are:

• DDA Part III - the aims, requirements and scope
• AD M 2004/BS8300 - the difference between compliance and best practice
• Implications - the duty owed by specifiers and service providers
• Architectural Hardware - innovative solutions towards Inclusive Design