A Matter of Simultaneity and Spontaneity

A Matter of Simultaneity and Spontaneity

by Jeremy Tew
Kuala Lumpur, September 3, 2014

THE SKETCH AS A DESIGN APPROACH

A sketch is to communicate a primeval idea. It is an infographic dialogue. If executed in precise manner, in clearly summarizing some essential instructions to follow, a sketch can be taken as a full fledge procedure. Infographic in this case is a professional manual with relevant ingredients for all to read, to comprehend, and to follow through some chronological procedures. In the architectural profession, it is aimed to communicate ideas, to build up developmental components as in site planning, functional configuration, environmental context, structural detailing and interior ambience.

A sketch is, therefore, the fundamental infographic to communicate thoughts and on how an idea becomes reality. Designer speaks through infographic; a sketch is definitively a personal signature.

There are two distinct characteristics – simultaneity and spontaneity – emanating from sketch pages in David Koo’s sketch volumes. With years of professional commitment and accumulating experience, the infographic projected through his sketches take on simultaneous and spontaneous characteristics.

David did his sketches on palm sized sketch pads; his stacks of sketch pads depict his passion in design. The sketches reflect his encompassing integrity in executing drawings. Within the defined physical page boundary or across into the next page, the characteristic of simultaneity shows up in organizing the pictorial and diagram, graphic and labeling. It is his meticulous thought process in keeping drawings in order. Spontaneity, whereas, reveals an inner momentum via his casual impulse to translate idea into visuals. It is his natural dynamic in generating drawings.

When these two ingredients, simultaneity and spontaneity, at work concurrently, a lay person’s sketch tends to be muddled and in disarrayed manner. For David, pages after pages of his sketch volumes are graced with gorgeous sketches. It is an exhilarating pleasure to view, to overview and to review his sketches.

SKETCH WORKS OF DAVID KOO

David’s sketches reveal his extemporaneous manner in approaching the pages to sketch: bold and confident in strokes, broad brush and slap dash, freewill crossing onto the facing pages. Line works are uninhibited in tremor state and heedlessly drifting in direction, planes in warping form and perspective quite restrained in view, but all visually well-proportioned in outcome. The compositional layout is always smattering and spattering but holistic; text and labeling naturally find their respective location to narrate or describe. Each sketch is a complete drawing by itself or some conclusive story. Compositional pages appear not preconceived, predetermined or preplanned. If flipping through pages from before, he would be slap happy to sprinkle colors on some older sketches he thinks not so adequate in appearance or in ideas. Somehow, it is still an enhancing process to embellish the original into another look.

David willingly shares his fresh from the oven sketch online and posting always congregates much attention from his faithful followers. He quips that his doodling at times gone haywire poses difficulty for his office support to interpret. He would loathe if he could. He playfully fantasizes his world of developing ideas and converting thoughts into modeling as a world oblivious to dimension, measurement and quantity. He burrows into his very personal amusement of sketching miniature. The sketch page is at times inserted some animistic caricatures – a big headed bird, an inflated dog, some hammer-head goats, aerobic human figures, and yes, an elephant – revealing his climatic joy in doodling away and momentary response to the peripheral context.

PERSONAL BELIEFS

Usually a project never goes through for many reasons; David still treasures his project sketches as a piece of nostalgic memorabilia. He upholds that sketching is an art form. It is an art form that keeps him going all these years in the highly disciplined architectural practice. Ironically, sketching is pretty much a close to deceased art form in the mechanistic arena of rules, regulations, ordinances and bureaucratic others. Sketching to him is to transmit the variables of design process. It is to experiment via scribbling and making notes. It is to inspire possibilities. It is what he described as to scribble with meaning.

Where skill or talent not actually naturally bestowed but personally groomed via diligence and perseverance over time, he confidently flexes his design virtuosity and earnestly markets perception to his clients upfront. He shows his clients what he can do for the client. He firmly believes that sketching directly gets idea manifested, optimizes time, and not to be steered wayward by just digitizing onto the computer aided screen. David, however, survives indulging in this primeval art form in the computerizing era. With due acknowledgment from the client, confirmation noted and dated on the sketch itself, he would transcribe the sketch into a modeling, and soon a reality.

Reference
Part of the review is based on David Koo’s commentary posted on his Facebook page.

NB
All sketch pictures courtesy of David Koo.
No one shall use, adapt and/or republish in whole or in part any format this essay and pictures without the prior written permission from both the author and David Koo.

SKETCHING EXPERIENCES

Sketching is David’s mode of recording and tracking info in the form of visuals. At a design meeting, he doodled about the meeting scenario in aerial perspective. When scooting into the role of a site architect, David mentioned, he would issue directive on the spot or on site regarding construction method or schedule. He would execute a sketch or two to show detailing or scheduling of works, of course, with his signature affirmatively scribbled onto the sketch, displaying onto the wall on site, as a form of design directive or change order to proceed work accordingly and timely. Also, he treasures the leisure moment in between lunch hours to doodle or to sketch the design requirements during permissible respite.

Over the years of sketching and archiving, his sketch volumes finally amount to an impressive body of work, and work of art indeed. He has built up this immense wealth of invaluable artifact. The entire body of sketch work defines a body of design knowledge. It is a treasure trove reflecting his years of getting involved with various design projects. It is a stylistic landscape chronicling a worker quarter, a bungalow, a SOHO suite, a brick house, a woman hostel, a hotel, a townhouse, etc.