IndiE-Venture Week
(from the vjc blog)
My Blog v1.05.08.29

Heh well, Indie-venture week rocked!! (A cliche?)

Ohwells so I was assigned the Language Arts and Physics project (titled (In Parenthesis)), and it required us to design and construct a postmodern art gallery, taking into consideration the thermal transfer values as well as the cost of maintaining it (air-conditioning, among other things). We had two locations to choose from, Speakers Corner and the Sook Ching memorial, and we had to consider the historical context of the locations and include them in the theme of our gallery. By Friday, we had to submit a report and a model, as well as a present them via powerpoint.

Needed inspiration. We were given a list of postmodern buildings/areas (from Chinatown to the Loft), and my group chose to only visit the Gallery Hotel (superfunky) and Bugis Village. Since my group were too lazy did not have the time to visit the other places, we dragged ourselves to the National Library, taking pride in the fact that we went to THREE postmodern places =)

Flip flip flip. Lots of nice postmodern buildings, one problem. The books were all for reference, thank you very much. Hmm... can't bring home the book? Take pictures of it =D (Is that against the law or something? Oops sorry too late). Apologies, we can't help but have creative minds.
Then within the next few days we touched up on our design, got rid of all things too tacky or were whoa-this-has-no-relevance-whatsoever-to-postmodernism. Added some colour and ornaments here and there. Had sleepless nights calculating the Envelope and Roof Thermal Transfer Values as well as the net rate of heat flow into the bulding *cough cough looks at physics teachers*. Which fifteen-year-old wouldn't freak out upon the sight of

ETTV = 11.9(1-WWR)Uw + 3.37(WWR)Uf + 210.9(WWR)(CF)(SC) ?

I had seen that formula so many times that night, I have succesfully memorised it and can recite it for your entertainment and pleasure. (Actually, that formula only looks scary. The only thing I had to do was insert the values =D )

The night before the presentation was not too pleasant either. On the bus ride home from tuition around sunset, I got a call from a dearest group member.

, come to my house now we're still not done with the model yet!!
Whaat? You live in Buona Vista and by the time I arrive it'd be eight plus!
Never mind, just come just come...

So I did take a cab, and it did cost me $15. And I did arrive at 8+. So I spent the whole night with the rest of the group chionging the powerpoint, report and model. Stacks of graph paper everywhere, scraps of cardboard here and there, styrofoam bits all over. Not to mention the aura of STRESS. Soon came the time when we had to leave or we would not make the last train/bus home, although we were not done with the model and powerpoint.

Thus I would like to take this opportunity to thank MSN for their creation of Messenger as well as the Internet and E-mail. Thank you guys very much this one goes out to you.

Well, unfortunately there was no fairytale ending. We did not make it to the top three. I'd sigh, but really, I couldn't care less. (wait, let me explain) We had a blast meeting up, researching, having our project discussions at Bugis, running around Bugis in the rain, staying up late to complete the project, psyching each other up to stay awake, visiting the postmodern places around the country. And we did our best, so no regrets there. The best Helmsman Week of the year? I think so. But then again all the Helmsman Weeks have rocked. Tough call.

Ah but we have successfully developed an obsession sixth sense for postmodern architecture. There were lots of leadership opportunities for us, as we each had our niche area in this project. Art, physics and architecture. I'm surprised we were able to fuse all of that into our project which I quite honestly feel rocked. The fun aside, like any other Helmsman Weeks, we had the opportunity to venture more into the working world as well as developed other interpersonal, communication and character-building skills. This Helmsman Week's my favourite (so far) as we got into the world of architecture. My dearest architecture...

I'd think Helmsman Week cannot be any more fun than this one, but i might be wrong.

- thevictorian

note
er duh im blogging at the vj blog of course i had to brag a bit. and lie a bit. and it had to be slightly longer than usual. tweak here, tweak there, the final story was around the same lar huh.

So Long...

Nil Sine Labore