Premium graffiti canvas

Thought I'd share with you some pics from a recent visit to an amazing site in Perth. It is probably really really old news for those who follow graffiti art but this site has become a premium graffiti canvas. The stuff on the walls were really good. Look at the layer upon layer of colour. Simply breath taking!

These are some of my favourites.

have i fallen off the face of the earth?

Well, kinda. To be honest, I have jumped right back into work and after having a month away meant a lot of adjusting back to normal life. My break seems so far away now!

I haven't shown you pictures of my holiday yet have I? I had a packed little month away. We spent much time in KL. Most of the time was spent repainting and putting my parents' extensive library into some visual order. We did the best we could since they live in a little tiny apartment BURSTING with books. There were lots of sorting out and throwing away. I wonder if Ma is making good headway into the pile we leftover in what is now the library. The best part of it all was the fact that the apartment's main room had a new coat of paint and my favorite bit is the photo wall that now graces one wall of the apartment. Ma loves her collection of family photos!


Khoa and I took a little trip, just the two of us, to visit his relatives in Ho Chi Minh City. I haven't been back for about 4 years and was surprised at how different it all felt. It felt relatively safer than before and looked cleaner too. It was needless to say, I was in shopping heaven with the Australian dollar so strong. Here are some pics:

The quintessential motorbike and the tree-lined boulevards of Ho Chi Minh City

Quan An Ngon is probably my most favourite places to eat in Ho Chi Minh City. They recently moved into a newly restored and adapted historic French villa. Lovely! The restaurant boasts the best cooks from all the regions of Vietnam and let me tell you, it's true! YUM.

My quang (pronounced "mee wang") is Khoa's favourite which we ALWAYS have when we visit the restaurant.

And a visit to Vietnam is not complete without having some sea snails. I'm not a big fan but I enjoy the odd one or two.

I really should mention the fruits and the mangosteen in particular. Another big YUM!

We did also take a road trip down from KL to Singapore and thanks to my brother, we got to stay at Marina Bay Sands Resort. Look at the view from our balcony. Yes, we did have a balcony we could walk out onto!

View of the unfinished resort and the port area of Singapore.

That's it there in the background, Marina Bay Sands Resort. That almost ugly monumental looking tri-tower with the ship like structure on top of it. The ship like structure houses the sky park that has the largest infinity pool in the sky. In the foreground is the double helix bridge.

It was definitely an amazing experience swimming to the edge of the pool. The kids LOVED it! Okay, I loved it. Skypark is amazing. If you ever get a chance to go to Singapore, definitely grab your swim stuff, make a visit to Skypark. Swim to the edge of the pool and then after the swim walk to the end of the ship structure and stand right at the tip of it with only the glass balustrade holding you back from falling. As you can tell, I absolutely LOVED it.

Oh a visit to Singapore during the Christmas season means a mandatory visit to see the Orchard Road lights. We did a super quick tour in my brother's car.

So, as you can see, I've had a packed November AND December and to tell you the truth, I am still a little pooped. It's no wonder I haven't had much time to do any crafting. Maybe I should go on holiday to get over my holiday. What say you?

all you need is some openness and creativity

This post is for all those who work in the conservation of built heritage and the often feeling of frustration and loss.

Check this one out! The Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus in Philadelphia's Navy Yard designed by Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle. The completed work saw four dilapidated buildings turned into these really light filled spaces full of creative energy. Notice the bright industrial yellow!

This is another to add to that list that you show people with little imagination for large open warehouse/powerhouse type spaces.

All images below from Arch Daily.

Extraordinary Wednesday

Last night, I sat proudly next to Khoa at the Perth Town Hall as he waited to receive his award for teaching excellence in tertiary education. I beamed even more brighter when he walked up to the stage to get his certificate from the Chair of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), Professor Hay. All those late nights and one way conversations when he obviously was thinking about work has paid off! He won the national tertiary teaching award for his initiatives in architectural education. Go to the ALTC website for more information.

Congratulations, babe! I'm so happy that there is finally recognition.

Extraordinary Mondays - Point clouds!!

At the start of this year, I was introduced to the wonders of 3D laser scanners and its associated terminology. I was impressed to say the least that a 3D scan could record the most intricate details of a building to a negligible error margin. Can you imagine how much this would change the architecture conservation with such technology if it was readily available? (It is expensive for the time being.) It would be easy peasy to reconstruct a ceiling rose or a delicate column capital if a 3D scan existed for the building.

Anyway, so I was browsing YouTube and chanced upon Radiohead's House of Cards video and immediately, the voice inside my head screamed, "Point clouds!!" (That's what the data is called from a 3D scan.) Take a look.

Extraordinary mondays - Another one done!

Happy Easter to all! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. I've had another one full of re-decorating. This time there were lots of painting (not of the canvas kind) which is lots of hard work but look how it all turned out. The living area walls were a pukey yellow with splashes of red. One bedroom was a horrendous shade of blue and the other a purple beyond words! We did keep the red but painted everything else off-white. Before shots ...






... and after shots.

I did do a new painting to adorn one of the walls but it was just a little difficult to capture as it was the wall of the stairwell.


I hope you have enjoyed this little sojourn of mine. I've enjoyed it tremendously and am kinda sad that I'm not in the property development business. I'd love the chance to buy the worst house on the best street and do it up for sale. Wouldn't you? It is almost immediate creative gratification with the added bonus of fiscal success. Anyone need a business partner?

My very late Extraordinary Mondays post

So I was going to post this last Monday but due to the storm in Perth (which made international news by the way!) and the lack of electricity supply to my house, I had to postpone it. Anyway, things are back to normal and here I am.

It was two weekends ago now that Khoa and I spent a frantic few days redecorating an apartment and getting it ready for the rental market. Here's what it looked like before we started on it.

And after about four full days work with loads of help from rellies and many turns of the Allen key, the apartment now looks like this!


Did you notice my paintings? I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag so I kept rather quiet about the reason why I was doing so much painting suddenly. I wanted to unveil it once the apartment was done. It was great using the empty apartment walls as impetus for painting. I never would have done so many in such a short space of time. If you were really sharp, you may have also noticed that there was one artwork I hadn't introduced to you.


I feel like I've achieved greatness in my own little world and am proud to say that I kinda like how they look on the walls. I must say that I was nervous. I was anxious that the paintings weren't good enough or people would think they were crap. But in all these worries, I got to a point and said to myself that it didn't matter what other people thought. It mattered if the painting mattered to me. Full stop. And if other people appreciate and like my art, that's a bonus and a pat on the back.

Did I tell you...

... that I bought myself a pair of pink steel cap boots? They are my oh-so-offbeat Canberra souvenirs!

I can't wait to wear them on a site visit but haven't had a chance yet. Don't they just look so good? There's pink on the undersole too. I'm going to be a trendsetter! Why would you want to wear boring men's steel caps when you could make a statement that women can equally thrive in the building industry and still be fashionable?

Architecture series in Lego

Image taken from Architecture.lego.com

Wow! I want the series! I played with Lego bricks since I could remember. I much preferred my Lego bricks than my dolls. I would build houses and buildings and would dream up fantastical worlds. I dare say that Lego was the reason why I trained in architecture!

Anyway, back to this architecture Lego. The designs in the series are designed by Adam Reed Tucker. Head over to Lego.com and check it out!

Incredible Hong Kong

For those who haven't had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong, I offer you a little pictorial taste of the vibrant city. I must qualify this by saying that I hardly ventured beyond the city's boundary except to visit Macau. I am sure there is much more to explore and I shall be doing that when I am next in Hong Kong.

First stop, the Peak. The view of the city from the Peak is breath taking. The more iconic buildings are the Bank of China by IM Pei (the building to with the criss cross on it) and Hong Kong Shanghai Bank by Sir Norman Foster (two buildings to the left of Bank of China). I must warn you: to get this view, you actually have to pay to access the viewing deck. I'm a little too commercialised for me but I did so want to see the view!

Next stop, Hong Kong by night. This is a definite must: take a tram down the main street and enjoy the sights. You will pass Wan Chai district, which is famous for its illuminated signs that hang over the street vying for attention.


Third stop, the laser light show. Every night at 8pm, the city puts on a laser light show that last approximately 15 minutes. Check out the details of the show here. The night we were there with the kids, they were having a dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the East Asian Games. The laser show was complete with junks, boats representing the participating countries and fireworks!

Another must is the yummy seafood in all the colours of the weird and wonderful. We were taken by a good friend to the most famous seafood restaurant in Sai Kung, Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant. This is the place where most of the Hong Kong stars go to eat if they want seafood. For more pictures and information, visit Foodnut's review of it here.

To order much of your dishes, you stand before the array of aquariums as you can see below and you pick out what you'd like to eat and tell the staff how you would like to have it cooked. A little barbaric for the vegetarians but definitely an experience. The range of seafood is the largest I have ever seen!

Another must see is Disneyland, even if you don't have kids. The park is the smaller of the Disneylands and it makes a perfect one day outing. Amelia and Zach absolutely loved the rides and us adults really enjoyed the shows. (Okay, I admit, I loved the rides too!) Oh, did I mention that there is a fireworks display every night at Sleeping Beauty Castle?

Oh and of course when in between these attractions, you shop Shop SHOP! But the best thing of all was the time spent together having fun as a family. There are loads to do in Hong Kong for family with kids. Amelia and Zach are at the age where they are quite transportable in prams and having my parents with us on the trip was definitely an added blessing!