Soh Design Studio

The Design Blog


Featured, On Site, Teach & Learn
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Real & surreal… really?

Finally I uploaded three main projects completed in 2012 – see under Projects. The proposed car park building is still undergoing a major master planning reconsideration while two other refurbishment projects will start on site next month. Apart from running around from site to site, I was entirely absorbed by ‘Erotic’ installations performed by my second year students last week. At the end of the day, boundary between real and surreal projects begins to blur and switch. This is merely the beginning!

Http://eroticsofarchitecture.blogspot.com/

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Featured, Teach & Learn
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What has been happening

Yes, it is my fault to blame how busy I have been since my self-congratulatory blog in February. I have been so busy with two major projects running in parallel to each other. One of them unfortunately is now on hold since August just before tender began. The second project luckily is still on going despite of unforeseen delays. Site is located at Sathorn, a prime financial district where we will conserve and re-fit an existing 2-storey house built in the late 70s. As it will soon go into tender and submit to a competition, I will no longer hide it in my closet! Further than that, my latest adventure includes a part time teaching career at Year II Design Course for INDA at beginning of fall. INDA stands for International Program at Design Architecture, a wing of Chulalongkorn University Architecture Department. I found it enormously challenging and a probable most openly forward thinking architecture schools in the region. I will soon blog about my teaching and working experiences and how those two learning curves deviate and overlap simultaneously.


Events, Featured
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An Exciting New Partnership

Year 2012 is an exciting new year as we strengthen our presence in Thailand via a new partnership with Tomaryk Design Office, a local practice with over ten-year establishment in Thailand. Working closely with Krys Tomaryk and his team, we are able to deliver top quality design with greater efficiency. Happy New Year!


Featured
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B House to start after Monsoon rain

B house will start on site after Monsoon season by end of this year. Thailand is experiencing her worst monsoon rainy season and many provinces are flooded. Our hearts go out to the victims.

 


Featured, On Site
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Multidisciplinary Collaboration for Wine Cellar Interior Design

HHH Wine Cellar is currently in the final completion stage. The interior construction is nearly completed as we are now collaborating with videographer and graphics illustrator to fill the ‘white space’. The concept (as explained under ’Projects: HHH WIne Cellar & Bar) is to take the interior as a canvass to tell the story of wine making and wine appreciation. We encouraged the client to engage a young videographer who will shoot a 5 minute short clip of the vineyard from sun rise to sun set. His video will be the very first thing that will capture attention of the customer. Then we also asked client to engage a young talented illustrator who will turn walls, floors, ceilings and furniture into her storyboard. We can’t wait to see their finish products in the next two months.


Media
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B1 December 2010 Writeup of Sala

B1, an architecture publication from Thailand, featured Sala in the December 2010 issue.


Featured
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SALA Visitor Center Wins World Architecture Awards

World Architecture Award

World Architecture Award

We are proud to announce that Sala Visitor Center is one of the winners for 7th World Architecture Awards. More than 1000 projects were submitted from all over the world.

World Architecture Organization is a free and open platform where any architect is free to exhibit his or her works, be it built or conceptual, from any spot on earth. I m incredibly encouraged by such platform whereby a designer will not be judged by nationality or location of the project. Most of the so-called prestigious awards are either too expensive for young practice to participate or it is limited to nationality/locality. For someone like me where nationality, practice location, project location do not coincide, I am very much grateful of the opportunities given by WA.

Design spirit can only be real when shared.

http://www.worldarchitecture.org/winners.asp


Events
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Attending ASA Architecture Conference

28-29 May 2010. It was a huge surprise on the first day when all 3 speakers turned up at the last-minute set-up venue despite of the political situations. Luckily they did not wear red. The next day, half of the speakers, even as near as Malaysia, decided not to come. Nevertheless, I had architects from NYC, Seoul, Sydney and Mumbai telling their stories. The Mumbai architect, Bijoy Jain searched his root by practicing design in the remotest Indian village where there is no electricity or water supply. So we can forget about CAD and 3D printing there. He worked with his team made up carpenters and construction workers. I was completely taken away when he showed so much faith and pride to his team workers.


Natural Building
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Building with Bare Hands

Handmade Mud Bricks

Handmade Mud Bricks

There is a local farmer in a remote village of Thailand building the most ecological houses using handmade clay bricks and recycled wine bottles as ‘glass-blocks’, with his bare hands. I found out that he will be engaged to build a small library facility for the community project and I was asked to look at his sketches – which was close to none. It has always been one of my wildest dreams that one day I will also go to one of the furthest village and help to build schools or playgrounds (like a superhero architect) and perhaps with my bare hands.

So I decided to put his design into CAD drawings. But honestly, he probably does not really need one… but I feel somehow nearer to my dream…