A man on steel cable - Design Inspiration
Site - Dewan Orang Ramai Sungai Buloh Settlement.
Inspiration could be a complex idea, you wouldn’t tell when you’re inspired. I always drop down those flashy ideas in my mind on my sketchbook and reviews whenever i can. It might sounds ridiculous but sometimes silly ideas might just turned out as an interesting inspiration for suitable project. It might sounds like an unrelevant attempt from me but I try to creating spaces inspired from a lyrics.
Before things flash into my mind, I had a difficult time looking for inspirations on what story to tell. It is very easy when we can think from a more logical perspective such as massing, space planning, but when comes to telling a story, it’s wasn’t that easy. I tried on writing my own poem, or just producing conceptual drawings by imagining from the place, but there’s always a little bit of things is missing. It’s the soul that is missing. While the music playlist on youtube keep playing, I came across a song and I was so inspired that I want to develop my spaces from that lyrics. Every lines of that lyrics was just so coincide with what I felt while understanding the story of sungai buloh settlement.
The lyrics goes :
“走在半空中 要人命的風
就快要把我吹落
你在那一頭 說你不愛我
我掛在風裡顫抖”
Walking in the air, the winds are thrilling,
soon I might fall.
You are at the other side, saying you don’t love me,
I’m shivering in the air.
走鋼索的人 不害怕犧牲
只求你一句 愛我
往前是解脫 後退是自由
我應不應該回頭
A man on steel cable, have no fear to sacrifice,
only for you, to say love me.
you’ll be relief if you go forward, and you’ll be free if you walk backward.
should I be looking back.
風吹痛我雙眼 我看不清楚
我平衡不了 躲在我心裡的苦
我要給你幸福 你蠻不在乎
你愛不愛我 會決定我 下一步
Blowing wind soar my eyes, I cant see what before my eyes,
I cant balance myself, hiding the pain in my heart.
I would love to makes you happy, but you didn’t care.
Whether do you love me, decide my next steps.
往前是冷漠 後退是寂寞
乾脆我墜落
回憶在左手 未來在右手
誰又會同情我
you’ll be distant if you go forward, and you’ll be lonely if you walk backward,
why not just fall instead.
Memories on my left, future on my right.
Who empathise with me?
A man on cable - Cover by Yoga lin, a more jazzy version
This song were written and sang by Li Quan, there’s especially two lines that inspired me which are “you’ll be relief if you go forward, and you’ll be free if you walk backward” and “you’ll be distant if you go forward, and you’ll be lonely if you walk backward”. Are the exact exmotion I would love to capture in my design to exhibit the emotion of leprosy patients. I would like people to experience the inner change of the leprosy patients from innocent to acceptance of life.
An early sketches of the concept as if the leprosy patients are man on cable in an isolated island.
Therefore, I intentionally created 4 elevated spaces representing innocent, logical, dark and acceptances. The entrance is switched to the back while utilizing an abandon slab on the back. The first space “innocent” are completely outdoor but mainly enclosed from four sides without a ceiling. Instead, the ceiling level are structure with creepers distributed around, which portray the atmospheres like, you are still like a child and have fun without any other concerns, when you feel bad, you can always look at the skys. Next you walk through a narrow suspension bridge into the building where you were caged in a enclosed but bright spaces. It’s time for them to think logical when they realize they had a serious problem with their body, they have to make up decisions to leave their home and came to this segregated place, but there’s still still hope. This space are like the beginning of the lyrics, the loved one hasn’t said anything, but when we walk forward, what they say are going to decide our journey ahead.
Conceptual space planning where different atmosphere of space are divided.
Later, you leave the cage space and walk on a 5meter high suspension bridge as there’s no other way out. You goes into a black metal box with many holes punched for display outside. There space are intentionally designed for one person to go through at one times, so to say that, to go through these hardships, all of us have to work together, corporate with each other. When you are in this space, you have no choice to walk forward or go backward, just like a man on a steel cable. You want go go home, or stay here to fight with everyone that is on the same side of you?
Study of how the concept are able to drive the space relationships.
Scientific approaches are necessary for us designer to understand the relationship between human and spaces, but aren’t experiences, memories and inspiration something we lived for? Im deeply appreciated that I could have a deeper understanding on design inspiration no matter from design or theories classes. If there’s a word to summarise what I have learnt this semester, that would be “soul”.
