On the verandah it looks like rain but I doubt it. I’ve run out of ink and I wanted to do some more trees and maybe a bit more of the verandah. I’m prepared because I have an oil pencil or two with me. Someone told me not to stray too far from the house in flip flops because of the snakes.
The last drawing of 2018...
Ink on paper circa pre-2019.
A few of my favourite things can now be yours...
At the local tip, I was given insight into the hidden sophistication of the community in which I’m living. Fine paintings and opera records littered the site. Actually, someone has decided that these things belong in the tip, delivered them and chucked them into a metal skip. But then, an employee of the council has chosen them to be rescued and has salvaged them by placing them on a table beneath a sign saying ‘treasure’. That’s a powerful position to hold.
I’d like to think that stuff I considered worthless was reclassified by someone behind my back and placed on the treasure table, to be reinstated into our cluttered society.
Photography forbidden…
The wedding was magnificent. It’s not easy wearing white suits in this heat.
No iron, no starch.
Government Printing Office designed in record time…
When I worked in an engineering office print room, I learned a lot about how printing worked, especially photocopying which is like printing. Years later, when I was commissioned to design the new Government Printing Office on the corner of Mary Street, I knew it would be a quick and easy job because of my background in printing and photocopying.
The brief was for a building that would house printing machines and photocopiers in long rows and other floors that had lots of wooden desks and chairs on wheels. I started work on the design in the morning and 30 minutes or so later it was entirely complete. I could hardly believe it took me that long. Of course, I employed some time-saving techniques. All the employees car parking is situated underground which meant there was no need to draw hundreds of cars parked around the foot of the building. And I didn’t draw the vertical and horizontal cross pieces on all of the windows. That would have taken forever and pushed the project over budget. Finally, all the photocopiers I put on the fourth level are black and white copiers because colour is far more expensive.
To celebrate how fast I designed this project, I included an atomic clock that virtually never loses time. The clock face took a lot of time to install, but I designed it in black which meant I didn’t need to buy extra paint and all that business.
I’m happy to say that the Government Printing Office came in well within budget and many months before the due date. Needless to say, the government saved millions because of this. Money that can be spent on much needed services like the Lottery and dog toilets in parks.
Clockface is visible toward the top of the southern wall facing Mary Street.
Gems Tower on Mary Street delayed by unforeseen circumstances…
On a recent airline flight, I found myself seated next to a woman who engaged me in conversation as we were served the first meal of the flight. I’m not usually talkative when flying, but she caught my attention when she explained that she was travelling to a symposium in an Asian city where she was due to speak on the subject of town planning.
As we waited for our trays to be collected, my neighbour described the dearth of talented building designers she can call upon to realise new structures throughout the world, let alone in her own city. I had revealed that I had designed award-winning buildings and before the coffee was refilled, I had agreed a commission to design another award-winning office building on a narrow site on the corner of Mary Street.
On my flight home, I tore a page from the inflight magazine and on the blank side I began to sketch my design for the Gems Tower and Apartments. And before I knew it, I had designed the entire building in the time it took to land and collect my luggage. I was astounded at the time it took to do this, but I admit I employed some timesaving engineering and design elements. Firstly, I designed 100 high speed lifts to serve the 35 floors, which were much quicker to draw. Externally, I defined a ‘no standing anytime’ zone that stretched around the front and side of the building on Mary Street which dispensed with the need to draw time-consuming stationary cars. And there’s no street furniture in sight. That takes ages to do. As a result, my design came in under budget and weeks ahead of time which would save the developers millions.
My design was accepted immediately and I looked forward to the the groundbreaking ceremony in November. Then I received the heartbreaking news that the tower would be delayed because of a disagreement between the developers and the neighbouring buildings about what colour would be best to paint the tower. It’s supposed to be yellow.
No roof access after 7pm.
I wish I could draw that...
Old World Hotel commission complete…
On a sightseeing tour of a major capital city, on the metro, I struck up a conversation with a man who happened to be the city’s Town Planner. By the end of our train journey, I had been given the honour of being commissioned to design a new hotel on one of the city’s beautiful boulevards. As the train doors closed, I retrieved my leather-bound travel notebook from the side pocket of my rucksack and with my clutch pencil began to design the structure on a clean page.
The site for this hotel was on the corner of Mary Street and was a rather awkward area to work within, with buildings towering over it on two sides. But before I knew it (I think I heard the train doors open four or maybe five times as I was drawing) the hotel had been completely designed and I am happy to say that the whole thing came in under budget and 12 months ahead of time.
I saved a remarkable amount of money by drawing the design using a very slow shutter speed so it was unnecessary to spend time drawing cars and other traffic. This meant all the design time was used on the architectural detail on the building’s facade. I chose an antiquated design (palladian windows, faux arcadian columns, attic windows, belvederes and short balconies) in order to avoid the exorbitant costs of brand new, modern building features (evident in the surrounding buildings). The hotel is ordered around a central courtyard with internal floors illuminated by a 40 square metre skylight which floods the lower floors with natural light. Wooden ladders do away with the need for lifts, another cost saving feature of my design.
I returned my notebook – with the new design safely inside – to my rucksack and got off at the next station to buy a return ticket to where the Town Planner had explained his offices were located. I submitted my design and hurried to another office in that same building to collect my remittance which was soon locked away in the room safe at my pensione.
Loading zone on Mary Street between 9am and 5pm.
Fleas...
Letter follows...
Singapore S.