Of typical shirt and branded signature tee...

“I’ve never received a brief from my Clients before. Most of them just leave it to me to figure out what they would like…”

You have no idea how bonkers we went inside when these words were uttered by the architect at our first meeting. He was very pleasantly pleased and impressed that we had prepared a typed and bound 11-paged brief detailing what we want from the house.

The brief content (Apple iPhone 4s)

But it was a totally different feeling moments before the fateful meet on 19 January 2008. Sure by then we had been communicating via email numerous times (a select few has been posted) but to meet him in person was something else. Nerve-wrecking would probably be best to describe it.

The venue agreed was D’lish, a nice little café at Bangsar Village I. We had arrived there way before good time, partly to get ourselves acclimatized to the atmosphere but more due to nervousness. We wanted to wait, ever at the ready for him, rather than the other way round. I ordered myself a cup of latte and cappuccino was my other half’s choice.

Proof of meeting. He did not order anything for himself (Apple iPhone 4s)

15 minutes past the appointment our eyes were still roving all over the place for him. Please bear in mind that we did not know how he looked like. Thus, we would eyeball every guy that walked in, every guy that was seated alone and every guy that looked the part: we imagined him in smart khaki pants and a checked short sleeve shirt, wearing a pair of nicely weathered Timberland topsider. But then again, he could also be wearing a blue Bermuda shorts and an American grey Banana Republic signature tee and flip-flops. He could be any of these guys. Our eyes kept looking. No one looked the part.

It’s passed the half and hour mark and still no sign of him. My other half urged me to ring him but I reminded her the reason why we sent the postcards. By now, the eatery was receiving more and more people, either for breakfast or brunch, to each their own. Our seats were on the outside and although it’s only mid-morning, the heat was increasing and making us perspire. We waited for him faithfully without much complaint, which was quite uncharacteristic of us, especially when someone’s way behind time. Usually, a string of emails would have been blasted out, (maybe) containing some strong remarks, if the wait has been severe.

Then suddenly out of nowhere he appeared in front of us, checked our names and introduced himself quickly while grabbing a chair at the same time. No pleasantries, no warming up conversation. He then instructed both of us to sit flanking him so that he could spread open the thumbnail drawing and explain to us the concept. All these in less than 12 seconds, I promise.

The thumbnail in question was first sent to us through our inbox. I remember us asking ourselves is that it. What’s more, it was cropped at the other end, meaning it was not in its entirety. Although it managed to stoke our interest, it was still just a thumbnail so we could not help ourselves to doubt his seriousness. 

'Shouldn't it look, I don't know, a little bit more 'finished'?, we pondered. 

The initial thumbnail (Apple iPhone 4s)

  

So having the creator himself talked us through it was needless to say, thrilling. After ending his swift presentation, which I think took less than 15 minutes, he opened the floor for us to ask questions. What followed was a deadening silence. It felt like time stopped. Din seemed the order of the day in the café just seconds ago but it had somehow made itself scarce all of a sudden. I don’t remember who breached the dead air.

After warming up to him for a while more we gathered the guts to seek clarifications on his design. It clearly showed that we were amateurs when he expertly tackled all questions posed. I was sure he had seen that but he continued to play along to save our face. To be perfectly honest, we did not really know where to start. We were just shooting in the dark. The questions could either sound stupid and uninformed or worse still, insulting to the architect. Either way, it would be bad for both parties. So we stuck with the safe ones like ‘wow, this is fantastic!’ and ‘I like the L-shaped corridor’ which you and I know are not questions by the strictest definition. In hindsight, looking again at the thumbnail again, it was a really bold and cut-through floor plan albeit one that was only answering to the initial brief.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, we had prepared a more detailed statement for his perusal and it contained every bit of information we imagine an architect would find useful. He was appreciative of it and could not get enough poring over the document and so he promised to read it at home. And with that, we felt a load off our shoulder had been lifted. Our job was done. For now, we should expect that he’d review the thumbnail to take into account the brand-spanking new brief.

An excerpt from the brief (Apple iPhone 4s)

And another... (Apple iPhone 4s)

I might, just might, show you the entire document (Apple iPhone 4s)

The architect was unassuming and down-to-earth but at the same time a no-nonsense person and stuck to his guns pretty much. He’s brainy and you’d feel the pressure to keep up but he doesn’t really expect you to. One would be easily intimidated and perhaps found him aloof but that’s because he’s just intense and passionate about the subject matter. And forget the checked shirt or the grey signature tee, he was impressive enough in his white long-sleeve round-neck.