Design Concept...设计概念

My Warsaw's project: Spatial & programatic stage

Today, a friend from Malaysia architecture school asking me a design concept for his hotel project, the brief of the hotel was 'Green Hotel'. Concept is a heavy term for architecture students, we have to come out a new idea or concept in every project. We don't have a book which ready for us to read and find an answer;Ours books is a blank book, we are the one who write the question and answer in. In Malaysia architecture school, we always say our concept is about  'green' and 'ecological' and properly Malaysia's school keen to ask student to design in 'green' way. However, I think 'green' is just an approach and an application, it is not a concept indeed. Here, the education actually more keen to Rem Koolhaas and Bernard Tsunami's concept, which the design idea is started from the city' spacial, events, and movement, finally come out a series of programs.

In 4th year, we do not have any particular site anymore, every one has their interest to looking the site, and the 'site' is not mean an area that defined by boundary. 'Site' can be anyway, for instance underground, between buildings, on the river or even inside a building.  And we don't design only a building, we can use varies strategy to build a 'space' in a city. A space mean related to the city program and the form might be responded to the city fabric or movement. As I know this is the trend that applied in the academic and properly it consider as an architecture manifesto in this era, this is how the deconstruction style developed. Base on this idea, a design concept is started from knowing the city well. It is a shame if most of our local school still doing site analysis on drainage system, manholes, lamp poles, buildings height, electricity tower and so on. How can we produce a good work if we spend so much time in this kind of technical stuffs but not doing an architectural research? Our local students done very well in practical works but lacking in thinking and creativity. 

It is why I face a lot of hardships here in term of finding idea and concept, and we have to admit that this is our weakness and lacking. It is the time for us to change!

在设计概念里，我们东方人都比较保守和谨慎，但会比较实际，但是西方人比较开放和敢于尝试，但有时会不切实际。这可能是因为社会经济的影响：东方许多人还在为生活基本需求打拼，所以在建筑上也只讲求经济效益；但西方社会，基本上都‘吃饱’了，所以可以比较写意地去探讨建筑的艺术和概念， 这是真的吗？请有兴趣的朋友去想想这个问题咯。