My Thinking Style

Your Dominant Thinking Style:

Modifying Super logical and rational, you consider every fact available to you. You don't make rash decisions and are rarely moved by emotion. You prefer what's known and proven - to the new and untested. You tend to ground those around you and add stability.

Your Secondary Thinking Style:

Exploring You thrive on the unknown and unpredictable. Novelty is your middle name. You are a challenger. You tend to challenge common assumptions and beliefs. An expert inventor and problem solver, you approach everything from new angles. You show people how to question their models of the world.

Rote Memorization vs. Common Sense and Good Design + some Biblical application

An officemate asked me for help with a
sideline project, the owner wants it to be a 3-unit apartment building, and
this officemate was asking me for ideas on how to go about the design of the
structure. I decided to skip lunch so I could think of solutions for the
problem, besides, I think it would be a good way to save money… and lose some
weight in the process. So anyway, I came up with something that was different
and that wasn’t exactly conventionally accepted. I brought home the work and
tried to clean it up some more and settle the finer details of the solution.

 

The following morning I presented my ideas
to my officemate (around 35 years old, hasn’t passed the board yet, and extremely
diligent and trustworthy when it comes to jobsite coordination). I was
frustrated to see the look on his face and to hear the succession of questions
and protests… “Eh diba sa Building Code dapat minimum ganito, eh diba dapat
standard height ganito, eh diba dapat ganito yung ruling diyan?”

 

            I felt irritated and annoyed at his
rote adherence to the rules, because as far as I was concerned, I did not break
any, and in fact, enhanced the project by going beyond the rules. I felt an
uneasy combination of pity and guilt because I thought that maybe that’s
exactly the reason why this guy won’t be designing anything of importance or
impact.

 

            In the first place, those rules were
instituted in order to provide bare minimums for good, safe design. Now, even
if you don’t fully memorize those rules, but you know what the basics for good
and safe design are, along with a basic understanding of human dimensions, how
can you go wrong? Common sense!

 

            The same situation goes with my
classmates and my instructor in Microcadd, where I’m taking up ADT, as if every
window has to be a casement window, every sill has to be 900mm above the floor
line, every main door is 900mm x 2100mm, and every roof has to have a
Spanish-molded gutter.

 

            Do you tell Frank Gehry that he
needs to square off all his buildings because its cheaper to do it that way? Do
you tell Ken Yeang to remove all his roof gardens because they are going to
leak? Heck no! Of course I’m no Gehry or Yeang for that matter, but I’d like to
think that, based on my training, I can solve problems and design.

 

            Shucks, if anyone wants a definition
of our true vernacular language of architecture, you don’t have to talk to
Bobby Manosa, you just take a look at our building code, because it has
virtually dictated how the rest of the rote population design their houses.
True enough, if you visit the village I live in, almost all the new houses look
the same.

 

            Whatever happened to thinking out of
the box? Whatever happened to pushing the envelope and actually designing
something unique? So anyway, he takes the sheets of paper I worked on, and goes
home and does his own thing, the following morning, voila, he shows me his
work, and what do we end up with? Exactly what I was imagining, a 3-door
apartment building with the units side-by-side, and their firewalls jutting
out.

            I realize he didn’t ask me for my
design opinion because he valued it, he asked me for my design opinion so that
he could point out that he knew the rules much better than I did. An
architectural Pharisee!

 

            Doesn’t it go the same with the Ten
Commandments? Didn’t the Israelites get too stuck up with the law, that they
eventually forgot what God’s point was? Didn’t God have to send His Son to come
over and teach us what God really needed? As my friend would say, it’s a heart
issue. Are you good because you adhere to the rules and do nothing to break
them, or are you good because you love God and realize Christ’s sacrifice so
much that you do not break these rules and go beyond them out of love for God?

 

            Do we follow the rules and
regulations instituted in the Building Code because we know that our plans
won’t be approved by the Building Official? Do we stick to the rules because
we’ve run out of good ideas? Or do we follow these rules and go beyond them
because we know what good design is? I guess that’s the distinction that
defines an off-site project coordinator and a project designer.

 

            But then again, at the end of the
day, I still have to memorize the rules, because I still have to take and pass
the board. Arggh!

ASEAN - Apec Practice for Local Architects

I visited UST the other day to take a break
from work and to have some paperwork and certifications done. I dropped by the
college to check the Best Thesis exhibit, I saw some of the works of my
batchmates last year, most of which, curiously, had Sir Noche as their adviser,
hmmm… anyway, hindi ko naisama yung trabaho ko, kasi hindi ako nainform na
kailangan pala dalhin dun. So… maiba… I went upstairs para makibalita kay Dean
Ponce, so here is the basic list of issues discussed:

 

1.      Congrats to Roy Mendoza, for winning the
NUS-Asean scholarship, nice work bro, sana
magqualify ako sa November.

2.      Congrats to Mac Ong a.k.a Nakanamamboogie,
for graduating from the NUS Urban Design Program – top of his batch ah!
Luhfeht! Actually matagal ko na to alam… pero inaanounce ko narin.

3.      Congrats to my batchmate… si Gops… este
Gopuansuy for winning the scholarship to Milan… talaga naman ah… tindi talaga
ng batch namin.

4.      I found out that a lot of professors are
starting to become antagonistic against Dean Ponce, I think that’s the case
naman talaga, kahit former faculty member din yung Dean.

5.      And the most important and promising piece
of news… The 2 year post-date requirement for us to take the board exams,
instituted in the new Architecture Law Implementing Rules and Regulations, is
being implemented not just to make life difficult for kids or relatives of
architects, but also to prepare the succeeding batch of graduates to be able to
take the ASEAN Architecture Registration Examinations. Hopefully daw, by 2007
we can take the board, pass it, and be registered professionally not just here
in the Philippines, but also in all ASEAN nations. Plus… we also get to have the
opportunity to take the Architecture Registration exams in other APEC countries
like the USA,
even if we haven’t taken Arki units in that country. Astig! Kaya pala the Board
of Architecture has been phasing in new subjects into the exam syllabus. The
APEC din is also trying to implement a universal building code, para unified na
lahat ng building standards among its member nations. This is really great
news. I’ve been a bit dejected kasi I couldn’t take the board, samantalang I’ve
completed more than the required apprenticeship hours. This gives me something
to look forward to and plan for. Galeng talaga ni Lord, yung akala mong
problema, opportunity and positional advantage pala.

Raul Roco

I would have voted for Raul Roco, because
aside from sharing the 3 ¾ letters of his family name, I also shared in his
ideals. In fact I was the only one of voting age, in my household to actually
express this during the last elections. My mom didn’t like him, because
according to her, he was a primadonna who made life difficult for PAL employees
(His office was located in the 5^th floor of the PAL ticket office
that my mom used to work in). My dad didn’t like him, mainly because of the
usual Pinoy tribal/regional reasons, Roco is Bicolano, my dad is
Pangasinense-Ilokano, and according to him, if Roco wins the election, most of
government funding and development would go south, instead of north to his
beloved Lingayen. Plus the fact that my dad thinks he’s too smart for his own
good. Talk about skewed logic!

  

        Anyway, I know that Roco was human, and as such,
he isn’t free from fault, but I really thought that he was leading somewhere.
He would have actually won, had GMA not run for president. For all you know, GMA’s
decision to run for president might have actually triggered intense stress in
Roco’s body, along with the rigors of the campaign, pushing his dormant cells
into their cancerous state. Whatever it is, bilib ako dito kay Roco, he is
proof that, maski-paano, there is a meritocracy in the Philippines. He shouldn’t worry,
because marami parin namang idealistic dito sa Pilipinas. Every year, we
turn-out a fresh batch of young, idealistic individuals ready to change the
world, this year, I’m one of them. Yes, youth is wasted on the young, ideals
are wasted on people who have little or no absolute, direct impact on the
nation, but I know that there will be a few good individuals who will have
their ideals survive the rigors of making a living and paying the bills. I hope
to be one of them.

Fully Booked, Rockwell - A critique

Kudos to Arch. Joey Yupangco on his work
with the Fully Booked branch at Rockwell’s 3^rd floor. Very well
designed, well thought off and well executed. 
He starts off by continuing lines of sight on plan, extending the
octagonal grid of the mall’s atrium well into the store. He creates intriguing
processional spaces and unique niches of space within the store by playing
around with levels. Of course, this also creates volumes of storage space
underneath the elevated platforms, this just goes to show that you can create a
lot of space by thinking in 3 dimensions, instead of the normal 2d plan view.

 

He makes the books the centerpiece of the
design, by showcasing them, just as a museum would. It is technically, a museum
of commercial knowledge, wherein people can literally lose themselves for
hours, because of the disorienting grids, but I guess that’s the point. You
rarely walk into a bookstore knowing what you want, so this layout allows you
to browse through the books in a spiraling storyline of A to Z. My dad first
pointed the shop out as an example of good design by an architect dabbling into
interiors, and I totally agree, and the thing is, we both tend to be very
kuripot with our design compliments. Galeng! Luhfeht! Asteeg!

 

Oh… and by the way, the design execution
isn’t as expensive as it may seem, in terms of costing and construction, the
shelves are very basic, with seemingly randomly painted or varnished intervals,
almost everything is painted in FWE white, the lights and the steel elevated
platforms, along with the granite floors would probably amount to the largest
chunk of the expense. The aluminum screening walls are also a nice touch, but
the workmanship tends to be a bit rough, and the design of the screen although
unique in the local setting, is too Libeskindish. Aside from a few highlight
sculptural ceiling forms, which by the way, are done in basic furring and
gypsum, the rest of the “up-space” is composed of the shop’s exposed,
white-painted utilities. The ceiling forms also play a great role as an
orientational device, silently and subversively gliding you from one node to
another.

 

All-in-all, this shop is a great example of
what a good architect can do to your business – save you money, create a buzz,
make things more efficient, showcase your product, and give you and your
customers a feel-good kind of environment; nothing chop-suey here, its puro,
everything was pinag-isipan at pinag-tiyagaan. Its good that real designers
like him are given the chance by clients to execute their thoughts in the way
they want. I can’t wait to get to work on a shop myself, sana in the future, ganun din magiging
clients ko.

Continuation of Mac's tag

Three names you go by:

1. Lean

2. Pox

3. Leandro



Three Screen Names you have had:

1. haha... DrScholl

2. p0x

3. saarinen



Three physical things you like about yourself:

1. I'm tall...

2. Siguro... I'm relatively agile/nimble given my size

3. ?



Three physical things you don't like about yourself:
1. I gain weight quickly

2. I'm slightly portly... ahehehehe actually... fat!

3. I lack stamina...



Three parts of your heritage:

1. Chinese

2. Ilokano/Pangasinense

3. Spanish

hahaha... Kuripot na nga, magulang pa, tapos bolero pa! yari!



Three things that scare you:

1. Scary movies

2. Failure

3. Haha... extremely beautiful women?



Three of your everyday essentials:

1. Food

2. Music

3. Laughter



Three of your favorite musical artists:

1. U2

2. Coldplay

3. John Mayer...

dami pa eh... Maroon 5, Rivermaya, etc. etc.



Three of your favorite songs:
1. John Mayer's  Bigger than my body

2. U2's Vertigo

3. Coldplay's Fix You



Three things you want in a relationship:

1. Compatibility

2. Trust

3. Passion



Three lies and truths in no particular order:
1. I can open car doors with a piece of wire.

2. I used to have a "model airport" when I was 8.

3. I'm colordumb.





Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to you:

hard to pin down, I focus on the brains, breeding and depth kasi eh...

Tagged by Nakanamamboogie

Three of your favorite hobbies:

1. Looking for patterns in whatever I see... hahaha... feeling John Nash

2. Read (Currently Reading... Whats so Amazing About Grace, and of course... The Bible)

3. Sing (and headbang during traffic) while driving



Three things you want to do really badly now:

1. Be independent... which is predicated on:

2. making/saving/investing enough money in order for me to move out

3. Go to the gym... I feel like a slob... last week pa kasi last workout ko.



Three careers you're considering/you've considered:

1. Aircraft Designer/Pilot/Adventurer - mala Burt Rutan/Steve Fossett

2. Lier... este Lawyer (peace to all the Attys)

3. Rock Star (I LOVE YOU MANILA!!!! haha... just had to do that)



Three places you want to go on vacation:

1. Go back to Paris...

2. Easter Island

3. Tasmania



Three kid's names you like:

1. Francisco

2. Luis

3. Maximus?

Three things you want to do before you die:
1. Have a happy family- be a great father/husband
2. Maging liwanag sa dilim? - influence/affect positive change... kahit dito lang sa Philippines

3. Serve the Lord

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy:
1. I'm an NFL fan... nufsaid... GO 49ers!
2. I know the range of the AIM9M Sidewinder Missile (9km effective range, 15km max)

3. I ogle... hahaha guilty!

Three celeb crushes:
1. Natalie Portman
2. Jennifer Connelly
3. Claire Forlani

Three people I'm Tagging:
1. JM
2. EJ
3. EL (hahahaha... alphabet soup names)