Erik L’Heureux , ''Hot and Wet''

Erik L'Heureux , the person we met at publika black box , who is an American architect and educator , had giving us a very memorable talk about the topic ' Hot and Wet ' .

Other than that , he is now settle down in singapore and as a Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore where he researches both the impact of hot and wet envelopes as well as the architecture of the Singapore Metropolitan Region. A former boat builder, he practiced architecture in New York City while teaching at the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union.

For those who do not know about Erik L'Heureux , here is some information about him.

-He migrated to Singapore from New York in 2003.

-He is a registered architect in the USA, a member of the American Institute of Architects, NCARB certified, and a LEED accredited professional.

-He has won several design awards through his design practice Pencil Office including the 2013 WAF Category Design Award, 2013 FuturArc Green Leadership Architecture Merit Award, 2012 AIA New York City Design Merit Award, 2011 President’s Design Award from Singapore, and two AIA New York State Design Awards in 2009 and 2007 respectively.

-In 2015, he co-curated the updated exhibition, “1000 Singapores: Eight Points of the Compact City”, at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, France; an expansion of the exhibition “1000 Singapores: A Model of the Compact City” held at the Architecture Venice Biennale, in Italy from 2010.

‘Hot and wet’ is the concept or study and research in Erik’s every designs in South East Asia and Singapore . It was great that we can have that apportunity to know about how he using sun shading device to counter the hot weather and how he combine with the concepture ideas with tecnical to solve the ' wet ' problem in tropical circles . For him , he also always think that atmosphere is also one of the important key to create a wonderful architecture art piece .

During the talk , he had explain to us about how his ' hot and wet ' concept came across with both climate and problems in South East Asia and how he solved them in a very excellent way . After that , he also show us some of his wonderful work . So below is some of the work that he show us on that day .

Stereoscopic house , singapore .

''Flanked on both sides by neighbouring structures, the house opens up towards the front and the back with continuous spans of floor-to-ceiling glass. a series of perforated shutters on the street facade enable the inhabitants to control both privacy and level of sunlight entering the interior. wrapped in a dynamic wooden skin finished in a herringbone pattern, the roof and upper volume is rendered as a monolithic form that hovers above a translucent base. '' he said.

This is the first work that he had shown us. The house is basically built for a 3 old sisters in singapore , who wants to have a very nice view and environment to settle down.

''Located on the flat reclaimed landscape of Sentosa Island in the Singapore Straits, the Stereoscopic House is sandwiched between a natural ocean view, an artificial golf course view and two neighboring units two meters left and right. A dramatic combination of overhanging volume and structure reconfigure the relationship between environment, landscape, and view.''

So , what is the special about this building is , the owner can have a very nice view at the top floor towards to the sea , but he also adding some blinding to give the owner have the privacy , so they can have their own privacy and the beautiful view.

The house itself plus a basment total is a four storeies building. One thing that really impress me is he punch a deep hole to the basement to let the sunlight goes in and create a very misterious kind of enviroment and atmostphere inside the basement.

Here goes another work that he show us.

‘a simple factory building’ by pencil office in singapore

Conceived as a 4 double-story block, the design is visually defined by a lightweight dryvit and galv metal skin that wraps around the front, top and rear facades of the building. the subtly shifting density in the trellis pattern creates the illusion of a much taller structure, drawing eyes vertically towards the sky. coated in photo calaytic titanium dioxide, the screen self-cleans and assists in substantially reducing concentrations of airborne pollutants in the area. the facade composite, aluminum window walls and reinforced concrete construction allows the building to be fully recyclable at the end of the 33 year leasehold.

With its deep profile, the veil produces significant shading and deflects rain from the building proper. The pattern tightens at the lower levels to minimize views onto the industrial activities of the street below. A covered entry leads to an open cross-ventilated ground floor; together, these operate as an atmospheric funnel, bringing ventilation, smells, and sounds from the surrounding city into to the vertical courtyard at the building’s core, linking exterior to interior, street to foyer, sun to shade.

I like the facade that he create for this building , it somehow shows that a very beautiful environment , giving the people who work in this factory another level of the felling toward this building.

this is the sectional diagram of natural ventilation

All the projects above are the porjects that i personal like the most . During the Q and A section , some of us had ask some question that we prepared before we went to the talk. The Q and A section go like this :

(We) : So sir , you studied in the States and worked initially in New York. How did you come to land in Singapore?

(Erik L'Heureux) : The story is twofold , i was introduced to Asia through graduate work at Prinveton , under the tutelage of Mario Gandelsonas , traveling to singapore in 1997 . This sparked my curiosity in urban architecture isues in this fast-developing region. Then 911 came crashing into my life in 2001 and the subsequent challenges to the New York economy created an opportunity to come to Asia . At that time The National University of Singapore offered me a fellowship.

Originally i planned to stay 6 months , it's been 13 years now since i first arrived Singapore. First and foremost , i am an educator , practice as a design consultant is , in many ways , the twin to education. The nexus between practice and academic is what i am interested in , with the belief that there is positive feedback between both , making me a more articulate and focused educator , and at the same time , a more refined , thoughtful and ambitious practitioner , i try to bring both domains as close together as possible . Thinking , teaching , writing , speaking , and designing are the part of the same continuum for me.

After i left New York , i really tried to counter the '' practice everywhere '' approach and inter grate as much as possible into where i am based . Gennerally , i don't believe in global practice , rather i believe in dedication to where one practices. Claming numerous offices or temporary teaching position around the world seems a dubious notion , a tendency of internationalism or globalism at is worst . In many ways Singapore has generally been very receptive to me in this regard.

(We) : Thank you very much , it is a very wonderful and inspirational talk for us . Hope to see you again in any of your talk , perhaps !