Various Buildings of Putrajaya Malaysia - Part 2

Various Buildings of Putrajaya, Malaysia - Part 1

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Must a Church Look Like a Church?

By Nathaniel Rhine

Recently, I was fortunate enough to have received a wonderful email from an old friend of mine back in The United States, whom I shall call Yvette H, for confidentiality reasons. She informed me that her church congregation is in the process of designing a new church. At the moment there is a design proposal that has been prepared; however, she isn’t pleased with it. Therefore, she has asked if I could offer a design proposal for her congregation.

I have not seen the design proposal prepared by the architect that the church congregation is contemplating on engaging. However, I am confident that the church design that was proposed is your typical run of the mill church design. Perhaps it has a steep gabled roof, the main entrance at one end and the pulpit at the other. And let’s not forget the huge cross behind the pulpit. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not poking fun at what most people, including architects may picture in their heads when the word church is uttered.

Does a church have to look like a church? Does a church have to be rectangular in plan? Does an emblem of a cross have to be present in the design of a church? Is it necessary that the pulpit be located at the end of a church? Does a church have to have a front and a back?

We may all have seen movies where there is a scene with a church congregation listening to a sermon by a preacher or spiritual leader. The people are places in rows all facing the preacher. There are pews that look and are very uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time. Most people can not see the preacher due to the obstruction of heads of people in the rows in front of them. There is nothing “wrong” with this visual description; however, I challenge us to have a different perspective of what a church is, and not what it should be.

The design of a church, irrespective of one’s religious beliefs, should be directed and guided by both the practical aspects of architecture and the spiritual. Architecture helps to create moods, feelings, states of being. It may even enhance one’s emotional stability or lack there of.

Allow me to give an example of how architecture may enhance one’s emotional stability or lack there of. As a student, has there ever been a time where you dreaded to go to the library to study and/or to do research on a subject matter that really didn’t excite you? A group of your friends got together after class to go to the library. Each step towards the library was a dreadful one. But once you entered through the large doors of the library what did you see and experience? You may have experienced the brightness of the interiors, saw the many rows of book shelves which houses various sized books each having its own design, the many tables and chairs at which students appeared to be studying and having a good time at it. The quietness. The seriousness of study.

Shortly after having found a desk, you pulled out your books. You began to have a different mindset, a different perspective of studying. Why? Perhaps because of the environment that you have subjected yourself to; an environment for learning, a library.

Moreover, the goal of a church, the physical building, is not limited to being a place where the congregation of a church gathers, to protect the congregation from the elements of nature. It’s more than that. Its ultimate goal is to provide a place in which the occupants of the church may have the sense of oneness with God, or their higher being. A place in which one may perhaps feel a sense of peace and security. A place of serenity. A place of bliss.

The architecture of a church may create the essence of the above mentioned feelings or states. In order to achieve that and more, one may find it rather difficult to settle for the typical design of a church as I’ve described at the outset of this article.

As architects, we must throw away the shackles on our brain which hinders creativity. We can not and should not design based upon what the vast majority of people think a particular building type should look like and its functionality. A building type that is a by-product of spirituality as that of a church, it would behove one to experience what it is like to be in a church, to experience the feelings of a church. I am not referring to the spatial perspective only, but inclusive of the spiritual enlightenment was well.

One need not change your beliefs or religion in order to get a feel for what a church is. It only requires an open mind, which will enhance one’s ability to design a church, or any building type for that matter.

Thank you Evette H for giving me the opportunity to present a design proposal for a church for your congregation in The United States. Those who may be interested in utilizing my services as an architect and would like to know more about me, please contact me directly at the following email address: nathanielrhine@gmail.com.

You are most welcomed to share this article with your friends. If you have comments that you would like to share with me, please feel free to do so. Have a great day ahead and thank you for your support and for reading this article.

Please note that all photographs in this article are not my own. They are from Google.

Show Units: Misuse of the Building Budget

By Nathaniel Rhine

It is interesting to note that almost every property developer and architect would like to build a sample unit, or show unit of the project that they are in the process of developing. From the outset it appears to be a wise decision to produce a show unit for it may assist in the sales of the units, be they townhouses, semi-detached houses, terrace house or even bungalows. But in reality, is that truly the case?

First, one must ask what is the purpose of building a show unit? Is it to encourage potential buyers/investors to part with their hard earned money and place it in owning a building?

I am of the school of thought, shared with an associate of mine, who share the view that show units are dead end exhibits. Yes, they serve the purpose of displaying what the finish product will look like, but in reality it is not your unit, if you were to purchase one. Usually, the show unit is well decorated with the latest furnishings, carpets, paintings, light fixtures and the list goes on. Nine times out of ten, it may not even be the styles of interiors that you may fancy.

The grand launching of the project may take place on the weekend simply because that is the time most people are available to view the show units. After the viewing, how many people actually would come again to view the same show unit? Not many if any at all. Dead end exhibit. End of the show.

Why not do away with the show unit concept all together. Why not invite the public to view the unit while it is under construction. Crazy idea? Due to the nature of any construction, be it a house, a school or any building type, construction takes place slowly and gradually. For example, the first phase of construction may be the digging of the foundation. Yes, it is a messy phase of construction but yet it is a process that could be viewed by potential buyers. Still it could be viewed. Why not provide a clean area not too far away from the construction site where potential buyers could actually view the earthworks process. A few weeks later, invite the same potential buyers and others to view the next phase of construction, which may be the pouring of the ground floor concrete slab. A few weeks later the next construction phase and so on and so on. Get my point?

By inviting potential buyers to actually view and eyewitness the various construction stages, it will not only educated one of the construction process, but it will further enhance the desire of wanting to buy a unit or two. They can anticipate the spaces of the unit as they are being built. While the units are being constructed, the once potential buyer became a buyer and is now in a better position to think of how they want to do the interiors ect.

At the end of the day, isn’t that what the developer wants? To sell all of their units so that they may make a profit faster? To sell the units in the easier manner possible? To invest less money and time in engaging a sales team, which actually contributes very little to the closing of sales anyways.

When one is to look at larger developments such as high rise condominiums, usually the show unit is not on the actually site of the project. The show unit is a small building in itself, in the vicinity of the project site. Once the show unit has served its purpose and the actual construction of the building has progressed, the show unit would be destroyed to make room for the parking lot, the garden or whatever area that the overall development may require. So here is an example where money has been misused and wasted. Another dead end exhibit.

Like an exhibit at a museum, people tend to return due to the fact that the exhibit is always changing. That is the key word here; changing. A show unit once it is ready for the grand opening or launching of a development, it will never change again. The interiors are complete. The wardrobes are complete. Everthing is complete. So once a visitor has visited the show unit, he has seen everything that has been offered. Therefore, there would be no need to return to visit the show unit ever again. On the contrary, the construction of the project is always changing, which creates a sense of dynamics. It encourages one to want to pay another visit to the project to see the progression of the project.

In conclusion, why not make a change for the better. It will save the developer time and money, increase their sales, encourage more potential buyers to view the property and as an architect, one will be encouraged by the responses from potential buyers to have the end user in mind more when designing. Thank you for your time.

The Power of Small - Little Things Make All the Difference

By Nathaniel Rhine

Today we are told to think big and look at the bigger picture. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being ambitious. Unfortunately, we have lost the value of little things.

Have you had the opportunity to open a door for a woman and she said,”Thank you”? How did you feel? Have you ever been sick at home for a few days and an associate of yours gave you a call to see how you were doing? How did you feel? Those simple yet small gestures meant a great deal.

When it comes to our business, there’s no difference. A doctor wrote an article in a medical journal and it was later brought to his attention that the word medicine, which is the correct spelling, was spelled: m-e-d-e-c-i-n-e. What impression did the readers of that article have? Perhaps the reader would think twice before allowing that doctor to perform a surgery on him. Surely because of a small spelling mistake, the doctor’s potential patients may have lost trust and confidence in him.

If the doctor had taken an extra minute to proofread his article, he perhaps could have left a better impression on the readers. It only required a small amount of time and effort.

As an architect, I must pay close attention to every detail of my designs. It literally could mean someone’s life or death. A detail could be a small nut and bolt that may cost only a few cents each. However, if I failed to pay attention to such a detail, and omitted the nut and bolt, I could possibly jeopardize the safety of an occupant of that building.

At The Rhine Organization, we separate ourselves from other architecture firms by focusing on the details, no matter how big or small they may be. Our aim is to be the best at what we do, not the biggest or the best known. By being small and focused on the details, we are in a better position to satisfy our clients. When our clients are satisfied with our service they will proudly tell others about our firm. Ultimately, we will become better known.

Yes, at times we had to decline offers to design for potential clients. Not because we didn’t want to do it and didn’t think the projects were challenging enough. Rather, we had declined some offers because we felt we would be spreading ourselves too thin. If we were to have taken on additional projects that were too much for us to handle, we would be providing less quality service to our existing clients, which is both unprofessional and eventually unprofitable. We can not afford to lose our current clients who are valuable to our practice.

Therefore, by our firm being small, we are in a better position to do many other small things that do make a lot of difference.

In conclusion, the power of small things really does make all the difference. Today, everyone is sending emails and text messages because it’s convenient and fast. Very impersonal as well. However, to prove that small things do make a difference, why not spent a small amount of time and send a hand written letter thanking someone today. See the results. Whatever they are, let me know. Thank you for your time and have a great day ahead. A simple house can be a beautiful home. A beautiful home will encourage peace and tranquillity, calmness and a sense security. It all begins with the architecture of the house.

The architecture of the house must be simple as well. The architecture mustn’t be a collage of many styles, whims and fancies. It must have a goal in mind and it must speak that to the occupants and visitors of the house. A simple house does not have to be big and/or expensive. Nor does it have to be boring and uninviting. A simple house is a building type that is made up of walls and openings such as windows and doors to help create a space for living. To live freely, peacefully, and calmly. One can not and will not achieve and experience such wonderful states of being in a cluttered house. Change it with minimalist architecture, an architecture that may be simple yet very beautiful.

A Simple House Can be a Beautiful Home - Part II

By Nathaniel Rhine

A simple house can be a beautiful home. A beautiful home will encourage peace and tranquillity, calmness and a sense security. It all begins with the architecture of the house. The architecture of the house must be simple as well. The architecture mustn’t be a collage of many styles, whims and fancies. It must have a goal in mind and it must speak that to the occupants and visitors of the house.

A simple house does not have to be big and/or expensive. Nor does it have to be boring and uninviting. A simple house is a building type that is made up of walls and openings such as windows and doors to help create a space for living. To live freely, peacefully, and calmly. One can not and will not achieve and experience such wonderful states of being in a cluttered house. Change it with minimalist architecture, an architecture that may be simple yet very beautiful.

A Simple House Can be a Beautiful Home - Part I

By Nathaniel Rhine

A simple house, a simple home, is a beautiful home on so many levels. In this paper I will very briefly, help you to understand and appreciate the importance of a simple home.

A simple house is less stressful to live in. Clutter is a form of visual distraction, and everything in our vision pulls at our attention. The less clutter, the less visual stress we have. A simple house / home is calming. When I mention clutter, you may very well be thinking about books, magazines and toys, all over the place. Well, yes and no. The clutter that I am referring to is not necessarily the items in the house, but the house itself.

Clutter may mean too many bedrooms in a house. For an example there may be a family consisting of four people, the mother and father and two children, one male and one female. Ideally, this family would like to have a house with three bedrooms; a bedroom for the parents, (I would like to refrain from using the word “master bedroom”, for slavery has been abolished decades ago, therefore, as freed people, I rather not refer to an old term.) and two separate bedrooms for each of the two children. That is wonderful; however, because we live in a world where we believe more is better, we tend to want more bedrooms in our homes than what is needed.

It would be more appropriate to have three bedrooms in a house for the needs of that particular family, not the family’s wants. There is a great difference between needs and wants.

A simple home is more appealing. Think about photos of homes that are cluttered and photos of simple homes. The ones with almost nothing in them accept some beautiful furniture, some nice artwork, and a very few splashes of color are the ones that appeals to most of us. You can make your home more appealing by “de-cluttering” it.

One way of “de-cluttering” a home would be to get rid of some of the furniture. Ask yourself, how many living room sets do you need to have in one living room? Naturally we would say that the answer is one, but in actual fact, some households have at least two living room sets in one living room. Maybe it is because they think the more furniture the better. Or maybe, they love one living room set so much that they can not get rid of it. So they would buy a new one because they like the design or the color of it, yet they would hang on to the old one. The possible solution to “de-clutter” that house would be to get rid of it of the old living room set or do not buy a new one.

Think about it, with two living room sets in the space of one living room, where could one possibly walk? There’s no space. With less furniture, in most cases, junk, one will find that their home could be more appealing.

A simple home is much easier to clean and to stay clean. It’s hard to clean a whole bunch of objects, or to sweep or vacuum around a bunch of furniture. The more things you have, the more you have to keep clean and the more difficult it is to clean. Think about how easy it is to clean an empty room compared to one with fifty objects in it.

Unfortunately, there are many homes that aren’t really homes. Rather they are more like museums, housing junk. Most homes are buildings which house and collect junk. Everything one buys or finds, it will come to the house and stay there forever. Even if that particular thing is no longer useful, one will treasure it. The fewer things in the house the easier it will be to clean it and to keep it clean.

How many of you have a shelf or a table which is covered with literally dozens if not more of picture frames? Many of you will answer yes. Now the next question is, for those of you who answered yes to my first question, how many of you enjoy dusting off that shelf or table that holds all those picture frames? And don’t tell me that your maid does it either. Not many of you enjoy moving every picture frame, wiping the table or shelf and then place the picture frames back, hopefully in the original arrangement prior to your moving them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you did not have to do that? It would also save valuable time.

I suggest that you place a few of the most meaningful photos in a wonderful frame and hang it on the wall in a strategic location. One, it will add live and character to the space and the wall, two, but most importantly, it will be much easier to keep your home clean. A few simple wipes over the picture frame(s) with a feather duster and you’re done.

Please make note that I said a few of the most meaningful photos. With only a few photo frames on the wall, one will be encouraged to view only those few photos. One would be able to appreciate more of those few photos rather than competing with dozens of photos.

Take for an example a museum of art. One would never go into a museum of standard and find dozens of paintings or photographs cluttered in one place. On the contrary, one would see many paintings or photographs on a wall, but they would be spaced far apart from each other in an organized manner. Why? So that the viewer could stop in front of each painting or photograph and “listen” to what is being spoken by that painting or photograph. The viewer / listeners want to absorb everything possible from the painting. Once he has been satisfied, he would then move on to the next painting. Our homes are no different. We want or family, friends and guests in our homes to absorb the content of our homes. That can not be achieved with clutter.

Green Architecture 101

By Nathaniel Rhine

Sustainable architecture or green architecture is the design of sustainable buildings, be they residential, commercial, religious or others. Sustainable architecture attempts to reduce the collective environmental impacts during the production of building components, during the construction process, as well as during the lifecycle of the building (i.e. heating, electrical use, carpet cleaning etc).

This design practice emphasizes efficiency of heating and cooling systems, alternative energy sources such as solar hot water, appropriate building siting, reused or recycled building materials, on-site power generation, such as solar technology, ground source heat pumps, wind power, rainwater harvesting for gardening and washing, and on-site waste management such as green roofs that filter and control storm water runoff.

The architects today who have sustainable design in mind are termed Green architects. Their objective is to provide wonderful designs for their clients, however, with a focus on achieving great design without causing harm to the planet and other living creatures.

In the future postings, I intend to write more about this subject matter for it is something that is being talked about as of late. Many people think that it is a fad or a phase that the world is going trough, however, many, including myself believe that it is the beginning of a relatively new philosophy that will bear fruits, worldwide. Once those fruits have been harvested, no longer will green design be a fad or a phase. Rather, it will become a way of life.

Principles of Green Design

By Nathaniel Rhine

While the practical application varies among disciplines, some common principles are as follows:

1. Low-impact materials. Choose non-toxic, sustainably-produced or recycled materials which require little energy to process.

2. Energy efficiency: Use manufacturing processes and produce products which require less energy.

3. Quality and durability: Longer-lasting and better functioning products will have to be replaced less frequently, reducing the impacts of producing replacements.

4. Design fro reuse and recycling: Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial “afterlife.”

5. Sustainable design standards and project design guides are also increasingly available and are vigorously being developed by a wide array of private organizations and individuals. There is also a large body of new methods emerging from the rapid development of what has become known as “sustainability science” promoted by a wide variety of educational and governmental institutions.

6. Biomimicry: Redesigning industrial systems on biological lines enabling the constant reuse of materials in continuous closed cycles.

7. Healthy buildings: Sustainable building design aims to create buildings that are not harmful to their occupants or to the larger environment. An important emphasis is on indoor environmental quality, especially indoor air quality.

In the future postings, I intend to write more about this subject matter for it is something that is being talked about as of late. Many people think that it is a fad or a phase that the world is going trough, however, many, including myself believe that it is the beginning of a relatively new philosophy that will bear fruits, worldwide. Once those fruits have been harvested, no longer will green design be a fad or a phase. Rather, it will become a way of life.

Green Design. What is it?

By Nathaniel Rhine

Green design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, or the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. The intention of sustainable design is to eliminate negative environmental impact completely though skilful, sensitive designs. The manifestations of sustainable designs require no non-renewable resources, impacts on the environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment.

Applications of this philosophy range from the small objects for everyday use, through to the buildings, cities, and the earth’s physical surface. It is a philosophy that can be applied in the field of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design and fashion design. Green design is also known as sustainable design which is mostly a general reaction to global environmental crisis, the rapid growth of economical activity and human population, depletion of natural resources, damage to the ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity.

In the future postings, I intend to write more about this subject matter for it is something that is being talked about as of late. Many people think that it is a fad or a phase that the world is going trough, however, many, including myself believe that it is the beginning of a relatively new philosophy that will bear fruits, worldwide. Once those fruits have been harvested, no longer will green design be a fad or a phase. Rather, it will become a way of life.

An Analytical Study of the Terraced House - Part 1

By Nathaniel Rhine

At the beginning of the 19th century, a new building type was introduced to Malaysia by the British. It was a building type that many thought would help provide a solution to the housing problems and shortage in the world. It was a building type that allowed for mass construction techniques to be employed and the list of benefits goes on.

For almost a century, the terraced house building type has played a significant role in the Malaysian context. It was a new building type that has changed the way Malaysians live. At one time Malaysian lived in an area called the kampong, village. Due to the modernization of Malaysia, the vast majority of people have migrated to the urban areas to seek better employment, education and other aspects of living. With the migration to urban areas came the implementation of terraced housing.

The terraced house is comprised of either one or two storeys. The living spaces of the house are usually on the ground and first floors, leaving the kitchen on the ground floor at the rear of the house. In actual fact, the houses share a common wall in between, load bearing wall, which supports the structure of the houses. In other words, all of the houses are placed side by side, allowing for no openings on either side. Openings such as doors and windows were found only at the ends of each house.

The terraced houses within the city limits were slightly different in their design as compared to terraced houses further away from the city limits. The terraced houses in the city had to change or be adaptive in design due to business concerns. The ground floor was mostly used for commercial purposes whereas the first floor and occasional second floors had residential uses. They were appropriately named shop houses. The structure of such shop house was the same as terraced house as described earlier.

Furthermore, inner city terraced house design tended to lack any frontal yard at all, with narrow street frontages, hence the building's structure directly erected in front of the road. A five foot way porch was usually laid out at the ground floor for use by both the residents and pedestrians. Such designs became less common after the 1960s.

Terraced houses located on the outskirts of city centers were somewhat less restrictive, although the design of the building itself was not unlike those in the city. Certain homes tend to feature longer front yards, enough to accommodate cars. Others strictly serve as a small garden. This design remained in demand throughout the twentieth century, and a construction boom of the house design occurred in Malaysia since the 1940s, with numerous housing estates consisting of terraced homes sprouting in and around cities and towns. In the process, the design of the building began to diversify, with various refinements and style changes. Generally, the building's floor space and yards become larger and more elaborate through time, as is the modernisation of exterior construction and facade.

Moreover, the terraced houses which were and are still being used today primarily as residences are not what the Malaysians truly desire. With the advent of modern architectural designs, technological advancements and the greater appreciation for the finer things in life, I am compelled to discuss where the terraced house has failed to advance with the times. In the next few articles, I will supply supporting evidence as to why the terraced house in Malaysia has lost its appeal to the general population.