Post Exhibition – A Retrospect/Looking back
Published in REVUE2, Dept of Architecture and Planning UITM, 2004.
Published in REVUE2, Dept of Architecture and Planning UITM, 2004.
A personal account on the process of taking part in an international sculpture competition
The design of the work was initially intended to be built within the compound of Rimbun Dahan, the residence of architect Hijjas Kasturi in Kuang, Selangor. However, when there was a call for entry for ‘The 6th Oita Asian Sculpture Exhibition 2001 Open Competition’, the maquette, which was already made, was submitted rather spontaneously. The result at the national level came out in July 2001, in which the design was one of four chosen to represent Malaysia in this prestigious competition in Japan. This was followed by the preliminary selection process in Oita, where 33 maquettes were chosen out of 355 entries. The following November, the first stage selection was carried out and the work was one out of five that was nominated for the final full-scale reproduction. The other four finalists were Japan (3) and China (1). Each nominee was given an outright grant of 2,000,000 Yen (about RM60,000) for construction, transportation, and installation of the final work at the exhibition site.
When the announcement was made that the work has been selected for full-scale reproduction there were roughly 6 months to complete the work. This does not include the one month required for shipment, and about another month to install the work in Oita. In addition to this the annual Rimbun Dahan Residency exhibition in which I was to take part in, was set to go on in March 2002, followed by the Oita Exhibition later in June. The Rimbun Dahan exhibition required at least 10 works, which means about 15 sculptures had to be made for selection purposes. Taking all into consideration, logistic and timely execution were the critical factors if both exhibitions were to be successfully completed.
Works for these major events had to be carried out simultaneously, which was very difficult since the two exhibitions were distinct not only in terms of scale, but also the venue of one of the exhibition, which was to be in Japan. This brings about further complications that need to be addressed beforehand. For instance, the work for Oita has to be built in components and parts for shipping requirements. Also, because the sculpture needs to be assembled on site, anticipation of the different construction and labor system than to what we are accustomed to here in Malaysia, needs to be taken into consideration. Hence, the work was designed to be adaptable in its installation considering the many variables and problems which might be encountered in a foreign country that can hardly communicate in English.
For someone whom has never actually executed works of this nature, this was an attempt in doing an architectural project like no other. Basically, the mental preparation was immense and no architectural studies could have prepared one for the momentous undertaking of this nature, especially if you are a fresh undergraduate with no prior working experience.
The work began with a few humble construction drawings and 3D computer generated renderings to study the spatial qualities and material finishing of the work. As the design stage progresses however, it was apparent that a conventional step-by–step design development process cannot be adapted for this type of work. The highly artistic nature of the design and the fact that the final work cannot be altered from the original maquette submission, coupled with the complexity of the structural system, are only among the initial problems that need to be resolved and reassessed at an ongoing basis.
By this time, the geographical information of the site in Oita concerning wind speeds, rain downfall, seismic conditions, temperature, precipitation, and humidity needed to be addressed. A factor that was overlooked was that the work had to be highly durable and can withstand the harsh outdoor conditions in Oita. Hence, the initial proposal to use mild steel had to be reconsidered so aluminum, stainless steel, or some composite materials had to be looked into as an alternative.
After numerous discussions with engineers, manufacturers and builders, the choice was rather obvious that the sculpture had to be constructed purely in stainless steel. Initial consultations with renowned artists and designers such as Redza Peyadasa, Hijjas Kasturi and Ramlan Abdullah has already indicated that stainless steel was the better choice. At one stage, even the Oita Organizing Committee advised that stainless steel be used even though the winning maquette was proposed as high quality timber. However, working purely in stainless steel means that the cost would be about 8 times higher than mild steel, and twice as much if stainless steel cladding was applied on mild steel structure. One reason for this was the fact that the 30 columns of the sculpture are comprised of 3mm thick rectangular hollow sections, which is not your typical construction material. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to acquire the required quantity of material for a small-scale project such as this, especially when the only preferred quality of stainless steel was manufactured in Japan.
As tempting as it may sound to cut costs by using mild steel, the design went ahead with the more permanent characteristics that can only be achieved through stainless steel. Before the actual work was carried out, a 1:1 scale mock-up was constructed for a portion of the sculpture to study the different aspects of the design, structurally and aesthetically. Deliberations went on between other designers, engineers, and builders. Following some minor changes, the fins were the first component to be constructed. The 6mm thick plates were shaped exactly to profile using water-jet cutting technology. Each fin was then fixed to a single column member. They were then packed into crates and were off on their way to Japan.
In Japan, construction went without a glitch. There were some problems initially with the base construction, but the Japanese seems to be very resilient with their technical know-how. The reinforced concrete base were constructed with a slightly different mixture, and cured in less the time than the specifications provided by the engineers. However, this was because the method they had was more efficient and the builders there were more like craftsman in their own right, rather than as contractors that simply builds according to directions. Since virtually every part of the assembly was rehearsed, welding and putting together the sculpture was relatively a straight-forward procedure. The assembly work in Japan took about 3 days to complete, with a few more days for polishing and cleaning up.
The following people were instrumental in the materialization of this work: Angela Hijjas and Hijjas Kasturi, Azhar Ariff, Azizul Sulaiman, Bambang Gunawan Mohyani, Fairul Zahri Mohd Abas, Mohd Saharuddin Supar, Wan Marhafidz Wan Mohd Omar, Zainal Mohamad, and Zainol Abidin Kasim.
