Journal

character

how you treat people and how you make people feel will be remembered for life

although humans grow, mistakes are made, and apologies may be given, certain damage will no longer be curable

there is no excuse for ignorance, adolescence, or innocence that makes certain actions forgivable

actions speak of one’s character

a good character treats people equally and with respect

a good character does not abuse their power when they have power at hand

a good character protects with their knives from the stronghold, not one who uses the knives against the weak

a good character understands the responsibility of their power and knowledge, and serves the people who grant them their power

a good character would stand strong at the front during a crisis and is willing to lead when they are being called for

a bad character bullies and intentionally harms others

a bad character gains pleasure from others’ dismay

a bad character shows a good facade, yet stabs at one another behind their back

be a good character

past

1992 - age 1 - born

1994 - age 3 - fell in love with sketching. vivid memory of the first sketch being a slipper. enjoyed producing sketches to entertain his dad. trace, draw, and sketch nonstop from here on

2000 - age 8 - persuaded dad to allow taking proper art class, forced to take ballet dance lessons, start being a class rep, self-motivated to get into the top class

2002 - age 10 - top science student, setting record of the highest science score in school history (99.5 score), started being a prefect

2003 - age 11 - finally got into the top class, gotten 4th place representing the school in state volleyball competition (first time for the school). Produced manga comic books to circulate around classmates, decided to destroy the books at the end

2004 - age 12 - within the top class and achieve full-7As in UPSR, participated mainly on art & Chinese calligraphy competition, storytelling, public speaking, and …singing competition

2006 - age 14 - stopped taking ballet class after getting grade 5 in ballet, started taking breakdance/pop dance/social dance/traditional dance class instead. Top student in the private art school, decided to stop taking the art class (not mature enough to handle the art progression, maybe)

2007 - age 15 - got 8As for PMR, enjoying life loitering around having fun, not studying, and always sketching or sleeping in class, started becoming prefect in school, mixing around with all bad and good students, playing sports and skipping schools hopping around mamak and cyber cafes daily (it’s a pretty wild and bad SMK high school)

2008 - age 16 - active in various drama and performance activities, worked out daily and frequently at the gym, taekwondo on the weekend, and obtained 4th place in state volleyball competition representing the school (again)

2009 - age 17 - being head prefect in charge of overall school discipline, choreographed waltz performance and awarded as prom king, got only 2As for SPM, and being the only science stream student who took Art in SPM (one of the two A's)

2010 - age 18 - took a few part-time jobs as a graphic print worker, McDonald voucher distributor, homedeco exhibition promoter, Hokkien porridge food server, and enrolled at TAR College and started Diploma in Architecture

2011 - age 19 - Gave up going to the gym to focus on studies. Got 4th place representing the school again in Volley Ball competition (yes again. I know). Met my wife in the volleyball club, but only as a friend

2012 - age 20 - Interned 6 months at T. R. Hamzah & Yeang, and graduated with a Diploma in Architecture. did overtime work of 160 hours within the span of the 6-months internship. Started a relationship with my wife

2013 - age 21 - Enrolled at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus for Bachelor’s Science of Architecture, got even more introverted, trying to fit into the school as I entered halfway into the curriculum (exempted 1.5 semesters with my diploma)

2015 - age 23 - Interned another 3 months at T. R. Hamzah & Yeang to complete my Bachelor's Science of Architecture. Ranked 1/18 in design among the top student groups. Regretted being too introverted and not mixing enough with my coursemate

2016 - age 24 - Worked another 8 months after Part 1. Enrolled for Master's in Architecture back at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus

2018 - age 26 - Graduated from Taylor's University with a Master's in Architecture. Nominated as the student with the best overall performance by the University. Started sole proprietor of Caleb Ong Design to assist architects in doing work

2019-2021 - age 27-29 - Enjoy and questions about working. Constantly learning and risking

2022 - age 30 - Married to my wife. bought first house as a home

2023 - age 31 - Continue taking architectural learning classes. attempted professional architect examination

2024 - age 32 - Gotten my Architect license under Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia. Joined as a partner under Formzero Architecture and Axial Design Architects

Future - age xx - Looking to still be myself, as Caleb Ong

….




chronos & creativity

Today while working at FormZero I was listening to the OST music of a game called KatanaZero. (a fantastic 5/5stars platform game by the way)

The similarity between FormZero and KatanaZero is not only in the name. In the game, the protagonist is injected with Chronos, where he is empowered with the power to control time, in return the protagonist is addicted to Chronos and is reliant on serving his Employer to continually have Chronos supplied to him. The powerful samurai is controlled by his source of power.

Our job as architects and designers allows us to enjoy consuming our creativity, granting us the power of creation. The taste of the power to consume creativity, making abstract thoughts into real objects is addictive. The more we use it, the more pleasure we gain, the more powerful we feel, the better we are at it, and the more addicted we become. The infinite positive feedback loop has been established.

There may be a point where we become immune and desensitized to other pleasurable activities or events. When one gets addicted to immense pleasures all the time, the mundane and normal ways of life become more and more boring and insufferable. Without consuming this addictive creativity, the strong sensation of withdrawal gets heavier and heavier. It compounds and looms over the sky. By consuming creativity, it became so fulfilling that one may endlessly pursue this pleasure of creation and, in return, get enslaved by the act of creation.

Do we control our creativity to create?

or does our need to create control us?

Architectural Groove Lines

What I learned about craftsmanship, is that the simpler the design, the more difficult it is to make it good.
The simpler it is, the more it will stand out when it is not done right.

Groove lines

There are several ways to make a groove line on an architectural element. It could be by omission and addition of the actual groove line material. The actual groove line material itself may be left behind on the wall, or it may be the trait left behind by the material on the flat surface that becomes the groove line.

In the example below, we constructed a Mock-up with 5 types of groove lines, each with a different type of method or material.

This Mock-up is a collaboration between the Architect and the Main Contractor. What’s good about a design detail, or a design intention, if the contractor is unable to construct it well?

The five types of groove lines in this Mock-up are as follows:
A) Masking Tape
B) Selected UPVC Channel
C) Aluminium strip
D) Timber Strip
E) Cutter

In this Mock-up, we assess the groove lines based on a few factors:

1) How straight is the groove line?
2) How is the groove line edging? Is the groove line neat?
3) How is the recess of the groove line? Is it nice?
4) How easy is the method of making the groove line?
5) How much time and cost are required for the groove line to be constructed?
6) When the groove line run straight over a long length, how likely would the groove line not be straight? Which method has the lowest room for error?

In another project consisting of multiple bare-faced reinforced concrete walls, one of the main design features is to have groove lines running around the walls.

The making of the wall groove lines in this project needs to be done differently. It is because the wall is constructed differently, in a totally different material. Besides, unlike brick walls, there is no opportunity to add any further finishes on top of the constructed concrete wall. Everything has to be precise and to be planned right at the beginning.

We discovered that the groove line edging is often damaged in the process of removing the aluminium profile away from the concrete wall. The damage is worst, especially in the area where there is concrete seepage into the gap between the aluminium strip, and the formwork.

Therefore, we scout and manage to find pre-made timber strips with slanted chamfer edging that we think is perfect for forming groove lines. The slanted edging allows much easier removal of the groove line material, thus reducing the chances of having damaged groove line edging.

Mistake?

Work done on any off-form bare-faced concrete walls is truthfully and entirely exposed, as there are no further finishes that could be applied to the wall to improve or amend the appearance. The craftsmanship and effort to make it right start from the very beginning.

As compared with brick walls with plaster and paint, the groove line with mistakes could be redone and amended until it is right, and the wall could be touched up until the whole wall is even and flat.

As an Architect, would you instruct to tear down the entire concrete wall, because of the mistakes and imperfections of the groove line? How much of this is a mistake, or a feature?

How much should an Architect care about the difficulty of the actual making of the design detail?

How to design RC planter

The following is documentation of what I’ve learned from proposing and supervising the making of typical Reinforced Concrete (RC) planter boxes. It shall be continually updated accordingly.


Open Planter = Planter with soil mix directly connecting to the earth
Closed Planter = Planter with Slab underneath the soil mix (like a pot)


You may learn how to design a RC planter box from the following scenario and case studies:
(Do correct me if I am wrong on any aspect)

Scenario 1: Raised Open Planter with Seating Ledge

Scenario 2: Small Closed Planter

Scenario 3: Raised Open Planter for Bathroom

Planter is raised so there will be a difference of 450mm soil level in height, in order to allow the planting of short and dense shrub to provide privacy to the Open Bathroom.

Scenario 4: Large Open Planter as Garden

Scenario 5: Small Open Roadside Curb Planter

With the examples of 5 scenarios above, I believe you would have sufficient info to customize the way of designing planters that suit the specific context of your project

here are some questions you may ask when designing a planter:

1. What’s the planter box for? does it have more function beyond housing plants? (seating, privacy, shading, etc)

2. what type of plant is to be in the planter box? shrubs or big trees with huge roots? how much water does the planter box need to contain?

3. should the planter box be raised, sunken, open, or closed?

4. how would the planter box discharge its internal water?

5. Do we need to worry about the planter box getting overflowing with rainwater? How fast should the water within the planter be discharged away?

6. Do we need to planter box to be waterproofed? from within or from outside?

7. whats the finishes on top of the planter box and its surrounding?

8. Is there any lighting design to integrated with the planter box or with the plants themselves?

9. how would the plants get irrigated? automated sprinkler, garden tap, or manual pale watering?

14Nov2018 #1

I guess I will start writing as much (hopefully daily) here, to document some of the thoughts I had in the presence, past, future, while also as a writing and thinking exercise.