ACQUIRE understanding-PAM Lecture Series
Attended the PAM lecture series, held at the Black Box Public, having Mohd Hatta Ismail to share on the topic of “ACQUIRE understanding”. ACQUIRE understanding is the process of increasing our sensitivity towards the spaces and object, having consciousness to have greater insight and appreciate the art, spaces, objects and lines of the objects being drawn.
Hatta not only involve in the field of architecture, he is also an artist who love to explore in doing sculpture and paintings. He started the lecture by introducing a series of paper bowl made of kind of Japanese paper. A lot of materials such as polymer, plastics and metallic paint are experimented in the bowl making process. Detailing is emphasized and studied, for instance, texture and colour are further explored.
“Do you think there is perfection (in his sculpture)?”
The answer to this question is yes. Hatta believe in the concept of wabi-sabi which is defined as the acceptance of transience and imperfection and aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. In layman term, wabi-sabi means finding perfection in imperfection.
Left: bowl experimented with plastic and polymers
Right : bowl experimented with black metallic paint
Besides producing sculpture, Hatta later is interested in paintings. Sharing to us regarding different style of his paintings. From an eye-catching painting with two women (Title: Duo), to a painting mainly playing with lines and grids (Title: Consciousness), to a painting with contrast colour (Title: Horizon) and lastly a more dull and simpler window painting (Title: Space). Moving on into paintings, he limits himself in using form and mainly expressed his feeling of thought through the paintings.
To me, the sculpture seems to be an abstract model and the painting to be the abstract drawing which are implemented as a warming up project at the beginning of our design studio. In the process, we could focus more on deep philosophical thoughts and the fine detailing of a concept or object.
Three projects by Hatta was also shared and discussed in the lecture. Buildings discussed are Sultan Abu Bakar Museum, Sulalima house and lastly the NR Next House.
Sultan Abu Bakar Museum, located at Pekan, Pahang
He mentioned that the lembing exhibition idea is inspired from the artist named Aman. Besides, to have the floating concept exhibition and trying not to distract the viewers’ attention from the objects exhibited, glass pedestal is used to store and exhibit the antique such as keris, tanjak and pingat kebesaran.
Silalima Guesthouse, Kuantan
To bring in the concept of nature into Silalima Guusthouse, Hatta insists to have a pond as an approach to the building. Although initially the client refused on this idea, probably because it is costly and the pond need high maintenance to keep its aesthetic, Hatta did not fall back but stand firm on his opinion and finally succeed to convince the client.
“How do you convince your client on the spaces from the designer’s perspective?”
“Showing progress to the client”, Hatta answered.
Instead of using the standard doors available in the market, Hatta designed a pivot door which could allow full width access through the opening, and elegantly slicing the spaces. Unlike the common sliding door, one half of the width of the opening could be used, as for other type of the door, there is a limit on the size.
Besides from slicing the spaces at the public spaces, Hatta also applies this concept to the bedroom and even the bathroom by introducing greenery and skylight (courtyard) into it. We could also see this similarity in the NR Next House discussed in his lecture.
Hatta preferred a more architectural column instead of a structural one. In this case, Hatta blends in the column that supports the first floor to the bar at the ground floor. For material choice, Hatta mentioned that he is indulge with plywood and he prefers rough surfaces. Hence, plywood and raw finish concrete are the main material for both Silalima and the NR Nest House.
To conclude the lecture, Hatta is a humour designer with strong personality and style of design. He designs something that looks common but it is different, where each of the building have its own characteristic which others do not possess.
