By

KONG XHIANG LYNN

ARCHITECTBuilding team:

Understanding an Architect - - -

Interview with Wallace ONG - - -

Fun Facts - - - 5

CONTENTS

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Profession requirementsMost of the world’s architects are required to register with the appropriate jurisdiction, where they have to meet the three common requirements which are, education, experience, and examination.

Education consist of a university degree in architecture. The experience requirement for the degree candidates are usually fulfilled by a practicum or internship (two to three years). Finally, a Registration Examination or a series of exams is required prior to licensure.

The formal study of architecture in academic institutions played a pivotal role in the development of the profession as a whole, serving as a focal point for advances in architectural technology and

Understanding

Who is an architect?An architect is a person trained and licensed to plan, design, and oversee the

What do they do?They provide services in connection with the design, construction of buildings and the space within the site where their purpose are mostly for human residence and or for the usage in commercial.

The architect hired by the client is responsible in creating a design concept that meets the client’s requirement and also to provide facilities that are suitable for the building. In which, the architect is need to comply with the brief (guide for architect in generating idea concept) provided by the client.

Architects also deal with local and federal authority about regulations and building codes, such as, the local planning, land use, height limitation, and etc.

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WITH WALLACE ONG INTERVIEW Design Director of designstyle. A 30 years experienced Architect and Interior

Designer.

allace Ong, an Architect and also an Interior Designer for the last 30 years. He owns a studio called Design Style which is located at Damansara Damai, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. He’s been traveling between New Zealand and Malaysia a lot for his work during the past few years.

What inspires him to be an architect is that he loves drawing when he was young. He likes creating pictures of the buildings of the surroundings during his leisure time back in his younger days. “It all started from my love for drawings, and eventually, it lead me to be an architect and an interior designer which is also a part of my love” said Wallace Ong.

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Who do you work with?Normally, an architect work directly with the client, be it a private home or a hotel project. Apart from the client, the architect also need to work with a lot of consultant, which are one of the part and parcel of a good design. The Project managers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers and exacta are important as well, but all in all the main person in a project would be the client.

What does the client expect you to provide?During a project, the architect would need to comply with the brief that the client provides. But the expectations of the client is more than just the brief that we have to comply with, the buildings would have to look not only good, but modern enough in keeping with the time, and the material used during the construction process of the building is also important. These are

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“The

PHILOSOPHY of the design need to be

RIGHT from the start“

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How do you establish the fees?In terms of the fees, there is a certain structure of fees that we are proposed to use, which is about 10% of the total construction costs. Some architects tend to charge more if the project is small, like a bungalow house, and as for big projects, the fees could be slightly lesser. It varies between projects, the bigger the project, the lower would be the percentage and vice versa. Other than that, it also depends on how famous you are in the architectural field, if you are well-known in the field, you can command a higher fee.

Do you have your own design philosophy?Design have changed a lot since the past 5-10 years, unlike many years ago, where the designs tend to be similar all the way through. For whatever changes that comes into our way or life time, I think that the philosophy of the design has to be functional. Green has been the ‘trend’ lately as people are getting more aware of the environmental issues the earth is facing now, so the buildings need to be green and the orientation of the buildings are extremely important too. If you design a building that is west facing for example, it would create a lot of problem in the future. The first thing that we need to ensure is the philosophy of the design has to be right from the start, the main point is that it has to be functional, apart from that, you can play with a lot of features that is contemporary to our time. So whatever nice or beautiful building that we see today, if the philosophy is not correct, it may not look right in the next 5-10 years’ time.

How do you manage your personal time and working time?From time to time, personal time and working time do overlap a little. Sometimes, we are very passionate towards our work to the extent that we even think about work during our private time. When you are passionate about things, you will always be aware of it. Even when you are walking in the jungle, you will think and look at the trees and say, “Wow, maybe I can design a nice tree house on the tree!” But also, there comes a time when you need to switch off between works. Try to make weekend your personal time and weekdays as your working time. At times, you can take a few holiday off in between, which I think it would help a lot.

What are the responsibilities of the architect?As an architect, we are responsible for the safety of the building. Apart from that, we as an architect would also have to be very cautious about the environment. Whatever we do or specify in our project has to be eco-friendly, which is the main thing for me, as I think that ‘think green’ will be a way to go in the future. Other than that, we also have to comply with everything that is in the brief or documentation provided by the client.

Do you enjoy being an architect?Yes I do, I have been in this job for 30 years. It is a good job and an ever changing job as it is never static. The building design is always evolving throughout the years in which it inspires us to move forward.

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What are the biggest challenges of this job?The biggest challenges for most architect is the cost, as the architect or the client have a set of fee or a certain amount that they want to spend for the house. This is one of the key challenges, if you have a 2 million dollars for a house, most of us (architect) would like to design a bit more than that. Also, lands are getting smaller these days, because of that, the architects have to be very good in his design to utilize the space well. If a small piece of land is well designed, it can also have a view of a bigger space. For example, the apartment in Kuala Lumpur is getting smaller and smaller these days, and the client would request a lot with 2 bedrooms or so when the space is only 800 square foot. So to do that, our biggest challenges is to create a space and utilize it to its maximum.

Is there any advice that you would like to give?Yes. Firstly, you got to work really hard and have passion in what you do. You got to love what you do and push the boundaries. If you believe what is right, you got to push forward to it and go for it. Also, try to be a progressive architect so that things are never static. Whatever is right today might not be the way it is in the next 5-10 years’ time. So be progressive and forward looking.

“ Be

PROGRESSIVE and

FORWARD LOOKING “

FUN

The word Architecture

comes from the Greek word arkhitekton,

meaning “chief builder”

Sustainable architecture is increasingly used for

energy conscious designs, incorporating

aspects for solar electric, solar thermal,

geothermal, wind power, energy conservation

techniques, and using sustainable building

materials.

Famous historical works of architecture include the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italy), St. Basil’s

Cathdral (Moscow), the Colosseum (Rome),

Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Pyramids (Egypt), or Machu Picchu (Peru)

Building materials have evolved from

brush, ice, mud, clay, sand, stone and

timber to cement composites, concrete, glass, gypcrete metal

and plastics

SOURCES: HTTP://BLOG.ODYSEN.COM/2013/11/19/10-INTERESTING-FACTS-ABOUT-ARCHITECTURE/

Sand

Tower of Pisa

Solar Panel

Concrete