31 July, 2007

Marina Bay- Singapore

Construction in Marina Bay, Singapore is running day and night now. Integrated Resort under Las Vegas Sand who is cash rich, is pushing hard to make an opening of resort cum casino business in 2010. There are very rare you can see a scene of so many high rig machineries standing up in one construction site.

Marina bay photo shooting from opposite side. Future resort will have sea view and city view option.

City view will be facing this concrete jungle. Marina Bay Development maybe a mirror imagine of these splendid buildings or ever a greater view.

Result will be seen in 2010. Count down has started..

23 July, 2007

No Balcony - Clothes Hanging

When i walked by a residential building, i notice there are some pipes come down the window, uniformly protrude out from wall. Wondering what is the purpose of such pipe.


Few steps forward, the answer reveal right in front of me.

This is for clothes hanging purpose. Surprisingly, this is the method of resident to hang their clothes under the sun. There is no balcony for such apartment to hang their clothes. all space has been fully utilized. Maximize the usage area and make a cantilever stick form to extend their spaces. But the appearance of building , in term of aesthetic is completely spoilt. Yes, apartment is selling in a few hundred per sq ft. This is not an encouraging method of cost saving by reduce balcony and display your rainbow clothing externally.


Other than "rainbow decoration", the major problem of such hanger is No overhead protection at the walkway. Water may dripping down to the pedestrians. Some clothes or underwear,etc. may "flying" down and landed on your head if the resident does not secure properly.


The possible is definitely high as there is a high rise residential building. What if an old folk who accidentally slip the stick/ or wooden stick from his hand while hanging the clothes. What is going to happen for those who walk underneath?

For sure, I wont walk underneath here. How about you?

Shall architect take a look to balance the cost and aesthetic, of course including safety of pedestrian? i urge at least a yard is required to replace balcony if balcony is omitted.

22 July, 2007

Development - Mexico City

This is a pictures that forwarded by a friend of mine show the scene of Mexico City.

The flat terrain is fully filled up with all building. A glimpse of this city can hardly find the edge of the city.

Even a hill side is also mushrooming like houses spread out the entire land.



One thing i notice there is no high rise building in this city. why? land is cheap? citizen scare of Height?


New residential building is simplified into "Copy N Paste" concept. Neat and tidy! Save cost and time in repetitive building.

21 July, 2007

Concrete Lego Puzzle - Static Load Test

Concrete Puzzle!!! Modern Pyramid!!
For those who are not in the construction industry may wonder what is this concrete hill. Most of the time, this hill is keep shifting from one point to another. The picture shows about 4 blocks height of concrete pyramid.

This is so-called static load test. In a nutshell, this is a test to check the design loading capacity. This is normally being done at those heavy structure buildings or those ground condition which the loading capacity was in doubt .



The hidden secret underneath the "concrete pyramid" is this powerful hydraulic jack(s). The selected hydraulic is jacking up to create a force pushing down the test pile/ ground. Then, the settlement of pile is collected for further analysis to correlate with the design criteria. Usually this test takes a few days as it need time for it to settle.


In real site, this static load test is very messy and it need few hundred number of block and how troublesome to get the logistic done on mobilization of concrete block as it may involve 30-80 or above, trips of trailer.

Pyramid has been transform in construction for a load test purpose. Is this notion come from pyramid?

19 July, 2007

Cordon Off with New Development

Once you take a look at the surrounding development in City Center. You can easily find out that the new development are expending at the edge of the city. This property is targeted on upper market and majority is landed property development.

Northern face, Kepong & Damansara are boosting with their new development launching. It can be seen in the newspaper.


Bandar Utama Development goes upmarket

THE recent launch of the Megaria link houses in Bandar Utama is likely to be the last, as the developer Bandar Utama Development Sdn Bhd plans to build semi-detached houses and bungalows. (Selling
RM800,000 and above)


Property prices in Kepong expected to go up

KEPONG: Reputed to be the last frontier of landed property development in Kuala Lumpur, Kepong is an area ripe for price appreciation. .......(Selling RM420,000 and above)



Furthermore, the other face of City, like Cheras,
Cheras in for some change

PETALING JAYA: The Cheras property market is in for a “makeover”, according to developer Glomac Bhd. .... (Selling RM688,,000 and above)

These developments have cordoned off the existing landed property. What is the impact to the secondary market of the existing landed property? Believe that some of the strategic property will appreciate in a higher rate and foresee that those extra old building will demolish for a new development.


Those middle class fraternity who interested to landed property shall quickly hunt one regardless of new or old.

17 July, 2007

Water Seepage

Rain water seep into building is a very common defect and most of the residents are very headache to stop it. Water always seep and flow in from window or any opening along the wall side and come into building.

Other than mopping the wet floor after the rainy day, nothing much we can do on it. But i found the following which is quite useful method. It is a simple and effective method to stop water seepage. What can you detect from the picture below?

The screening sheet?.. This is the edge of a perimeter beam/slab. Still cannot see?

Ok Let me tell you,


A simple form of groove line is a good method to stop the water seepage. It stops the capillary action of water to submerse into building. Imagine how irritating to see the water dripping from the top and where you have to put a pail underneath the dripping point or keep mopping the wet floor.

Building Architect shall take a look into this matter as a small issue over the opening or window has always being ignored and cause restless problem to the end user. As if we are the end user, when buying a house, this is a simple but important point that we shall check on it.

16 July, 2007

Theme Park - Spiral Staircase

At first, i thought it is a theme park..


This is an old back face of an old building.


Seldom see this kind of Spiral Staircase now. Spiral staircase is very common take as an escape route. Astonishingly, it can be so colourful.


Creativity has made alive of the old building. Impose Creativity in construction, as it is not a purely dead element as concrete and cement, ok?