After the dicussion... finally finished the essay.
This essay was combined and edited by Foong You Sheng.
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Why the birds fly In such a huge flock above me? They are pretty but they seem scared. There are rats all around, teamed up like military, and they ran to the same direction in packs. And what is the loud sound behind? And why the people around me scattered?
They are not running towards the same direction either, they are like broken pieces of glass, carrying on their own feet. Where goes unity? Aren’t we a colony?
I live in a world where humans keep on pursuing advance technology and constantly racing with each other. It happens around me as a teenager. And I know it happens around the people who they think they are matured enough and are always right, the so-called adults. Everywhere I see, I see selfish.
Walking along a city street, i see eye-feeding skyscrapers, congested traffics, and black fumes escaping from the bottom of the cars to the blue skies. Where goes the cooling breeze under the twelve o’clock bright sky? It changed into dusty winds which smell bad. Where goes those with smiles all the time? They are now stingy and self-centered reckless driver. I see no more close ties between neighbours and friends. I am alone. We are together living alone.
The world, as I see, is going too far. I was told that thousand and thousand years ago, we used to live together. We share the food we hunt. We drink the same water, breathe the same clean air. How about now? You tear apart my home, and build your own shelter. Builders are competing, who build the tallest building? Too much till I forget. Everyday I see new buildings being erected. They look like boomerangs, punishing the flesh and soil underneath. The city looks like a cage, in which we are the prisoners. Money matters. They get an A in making profit, but a C for human relationships and environment preservation. I feel hotter day after day. Disasters happen everywhere and I wonder that’s natural or man-made. Nobody listens.
I dream a dream. A new way of life where the sky has no limits, the sea has no boundaries, where there is no box to frame, to capture our minds. I see a future of freedom. To achieve that kind of life, the only way I see of achieving that is by driving with no fear. Driving here does not have to necessarily mean being in a car, with your palms clinched on the steering wheel. Its more about driving your imagination , your mindset, your inner black box to the maximum. Its about speeding when you have to for survival, to reach that extra mile, to achieve that ultimate ideal dream of ours.
Yet driving is not everything about reaching the destination. Its also about the path, the process of arrival. Its not the end product that only matters in this case. The whole journey too plays great significance. Likewise, our environment either built environment and natural environment too exists this way. When a project is initiated, a lot of thought process is the put into it. The environmental factors, the way humans react to such changes , the influence of architecture on the social interaction-the way we talk, eat, sleep are key points along the thought process. Throughout the whole process, it is thus our main priority to keep the whole ecosystem , environment balanced, not interrupting the whole flow of Mother Nature. The end product maybe creme de le crème, but if architecture kills, if we cant support or sustain our environment, of what purpose the intention to build comes in the first place? When we drive and when passengers are on board, safety must too not be ignored. The whole thought process should be developed with too careful consideration as lives of the children of the future are at stake at the same time.
My approach is to live architecture through the language of music-raw, natural sounds. So many words can be used to consider the quality of music: tone, texture, density, vibration architecture is music in space, as it is a frozen music. Writing about music is like dancing with architecture. Imagine a world in which we can translate classical music to an architecture form. Listen carefully. Listen to the flowing streams gushing through from stone to stone, listen with your heart to the chirping of a sparrow. Listen to the calling of Mother Nature. Musician’s express themselves through music; likewise, architects show their colours through their inspiration by organic forms.
Stop talking alone! Stop walking alone. Single voice alone can’t push things to move forward . Ideas, voices from everyone is needed to figure out a better solution, for a brighter future. It just like an orchestra. Only with the combination of every single tune, thus only we can create beautiful music, which can trigger audiences’ senses. Similar to architects, we should share together, integrate our thoughts , combining our voices, being ONE and thus convince others that we are the future and we can change the world together.
It is the moment for us to reflect and thus wake up. Waiting is no longer an option. Waiting would only bring us nowhere-just like stagnant water. Getting up, thinking, and action is key to survival to any global fiasco. Let it be rain or shine, we just have to get up and move.
Wake up from your box. Keep your eyes wide-opened. Now stretch your arms and try to lift the door trapping you in your casket. It might be heavy, you might find yourself weak, not strong enough for such a task. Yet, do not let fear and failure prevail. Try harder, use your strength and push, lift harder than you even had. Do not give up, and surrender. It might take time for you to push the lid out from the box, but when you do so, you will be enlightened. You will see light. You will then see the world in a manner you have never been able to do so.
I am here to serve the people, to use architecture as a medium in reaching way deeper into the human psychic than any other art form. If we manage to do that, architecture can be the one solution that soothes the soul, stimulates the mind, stirs the heart or even bring joy in a life.
Even a simple design can transform the thinking or even worldview of others if it contains insights and revelations which are helpful to the journey of another. We all are each others’ teachers.
I believe it is time to meet the challenges of our time with gusto. We will have to develop universal responsibility. ‘I’ should be replaced with ‘we’. Each of us must learn to work not only for his benefit but also for the sake of mankind. Universal responsibility is the best foundation to human survival-world peace.
God gave us a voice. Each an individual, distinct, personal gift, so beautiful, so delicate, so light like a feather. So, here we are to voice out our thoughts, opinions. To use these voices as One. To unite, to start anew. Science has shown us that the ant family is the oldest surviving species. The question is how a creature so small, so soft, so weak survive for such a long transition of time? Ants somehow have their own duties well delegated. Each has a role, a part to play. One alone , they are weak, but together, there are strong. Likewise, standing alone, we are nothing more minute, insignificant like sand. But staying united, even a minute sand can transform into a sandstorm. I hear random voices, sounds to be heard.
The sound of a classic musician.
Somehow he can hear the sound of awakening, the sound of salvation. The repertoire of struggle, sad and frustration keep flashing through his mind.
He sees the young generation, as the future crusaders, and needs to unload all the abandoned thinking and start to talk about oneness. He sees us as the saviour to melt the frozen salvation.
/ Jonathan Tin Yuan Jong
This is a letter from the boy who holds the camera.
He hopes that this will never be a teenage talk. Broken pieces shall they fix. He wants to start anew. He wants to plant a timeless tree, listens attentively to what she says, and return the monochromic world some RGBs.
/ Teh Weng Jen
This is the way an exotic, mystical creature Sews silk with fantasy and reality.
He dreams to search for truth, enlightenment, constructing surprises on the way.. To walk this spiritual walk, he shuts down gloomy skies, slips into a rabbit hole of creative madness. He never tends to steal the spotlight from nature.
/ Foong You Sheng
This is a voice from Iban tribe, originating from Rejang River of Sarawak.
To him nature is a form of catalyst that awakes him from a deep sleep inside a box. A box chaining his mind. By synchronizing with nature, he will try to unlock his mind.
/ Mackartney Jampung
The Whistle King decided to start a journey now, a spiritual journey.
He tried to listen to his soul, his real sound. He unveils the mist covering him. He realises that the answer has always been within his heart. Unity, sharing and transformation……
/ Shew Chin Teck
We share different visions, serve different life purposes. One thing we believe brought us together, the urge to see change.
No man is an island, and no man stands alone.
I want to see a day where the children of the future breathes life into the earth, where they allow their imagination run wild like the gazelles at the wild plains of Africa. A place where you can see girls double dutch on the concrete pathway, where laughter and joy prevails. A new sanctuary where all new homes are virtually built from raw candy. A new wonderland where we can explore, a place almost like Neverland-where children never grow up. Growing up here does not refer to a pure life or childhood innocence. Its more like a place where we can all unite as one, awaken as one. A sanctuary in which we can share , serve and see a brighter future. A new platform we can all combine our thoughts, imagination, creativity and moulding these ‘ingredients’ into ONE.
