Mayakovsky's career as a poet was born in 1912, as the result of a late-night conversation with David Burliuk. Burliuk, a fellow student at the Moscow Institute for the Study of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, had recognized the need for organization and unification in achieving a complete cultural revolution, and established a group of literary Futurists under the name of "Hylaea." Composed of individuals committed to creating new forms in art and literature, Hylaea issued illustrated publications and manifestos which inspired the gravitation of other Russian artists towards Futurism, and set the tone for the awakening of the Russian avant-garde. Having introduced Mayakovsky to his friends as "The famous poet Mayakovksy," (despite Mayakovsky's never having written a line of verse), Burliuk provided him with a role and a purpose which Mayakovsky would strive to fulfill forever.

On July 15, 1915, an event occurred which would ultimately inspire a great deal of pain and passion into the poet's life: Mayakovsky was introduced to Osip and Lili Brik. Having been invited to the Brik's apartment as a guest of Lili's sister, Mayakovsky broke into an unrequested recitation of his poem, "The Cloud in Trousers." Touched and stunned, Osip responded by offering to pay for the poem's publication, and Lili, casting away a preconceived aversion to the poet, fell in love. From that evening on, Lili and Mayakovsky enjoyed a life-long affair - an affair condoned and encouraged by Osip, and characterized by periods of great tragedy and turmoil. Osip published many of Mayakovsky's poems thereafter, and worked together with Mayakovsky as co-editors of LEF (Left Front for the Arts), the landmark literary and cultural journal of the Russian avant-garde. Lili became the inspiration behind the bulk of Mayakovsky's ensuing works, and it was to her that he dedicated nearly all of his books and poems. Her wide-eyed visage graces the cover of Mayakovsky's Pro eto. Ei i mne. (About this. To her and to me.), and her image appears throughout the text in a series of Dada-esque photomontages created by Alexander Rodchenko.

Quote from Howard Schickler Fine Art Online Exhibit.

Letter to Editor at Going Places, Malaysia Airlines:

"I refer to your question, the answer is yes, but several; the Malayan Railway, the Old CourtHouses etc, however if we can define your reference to mean not so much colonial buildings as building built of the colonial period, emanating the spirit of that period, I would immediately include colonial 'influenced' buildings [may I?], so then it would be more easily decided that my favourite building would be Masjid Negara or The Parliament Building or indeed Angkasa Puri, all of which have very similar features in their facade designs, I refer to as tropical skins, or LIGHT FILTERS and present what I consider to be truly tropical examples of good buildings, at least as far as their facade or BUILDING ENVELOPE designs are concerned. Not only are these excellent in terms of their BIOCLIMATIC responses, they are perpetually modern even by todays standards, particularly now with energy and sustainability concerns taken as measure of appropriate designs.

Masjid Negara by far remains flawless in the way it filters light, a superb resource for design and an element that remains potentially powerful device to give buildings a sense of place, and context. Ugly buildings give about issues with glare, their very high energy consumption for artificially lit interiors due to lack on daylight penetration, and plan depths not in harmony with the narrow or shortened apertures that do not allow natural light to penetrate inside them. Not with Masjid Negara though, and the other buildings I mentioned. Imagine the play of shadows and patterns on the floor, a very eastern characteristic, and also a feature that is strikingly modern at the same time. [some of herzog de mueron's buildings play on this theme]

Later buildings borrowing from the same philosophy and approach, we must quote DayaBumi, a modern day example of skins and perforated envelopes delighting in the use of daylight to inform the pattern of the facade. Such timeless principles has brought about sustainable and durable designs, the other example I quote the much ignored Angkasa Raya building closer to the iconic KLCC Towers. Compare the skins and we can assess and evaluate the energy criteria for daylighting and response to climate by the designers.

Last but not least, my favourite 'colonial' building has to be the Bangunan Lembaga Getah Malaysia, a gem, probably the only truly naturally ventilated commercial building, with roof that is lifted high off the supporting columns, the sides are left open to allow natural air to circulate freely and therefore cool the atrium that serve to provide air changes without forced mechanical means. Below this, a sizeable pool of water helps give very effective convective cooling, further reducing energy levels required to keep the interior naturally ventilated. For many years it has survived demolition, we hope this will remain true for many years to come."

©2008.huatlim

©2006.huatlim
plywoodhouse-basic elements adorn the living room

One of the most intriguing possibilities with interiors lies in the composite arrangement of simple furniture placed in a naturally finished environment, here we have the rattan lamp, and a old fashioned sofa composed with large plywood doors and sliding panels of a renovated house, mostly with exposed cemnt floor and walls, and raw concrete columns.

zlgdesign | designmatters

©2008.huatlim
tree bark, taken in carcosa kuala lumpur

Tree bark detail, deadwood found amongst gardens and open fileds in Carcosa Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

designmatters | zlgdesign

@2008.huatlimbranches
taken in bukit tinggi

Most of the photos I've taken over the years of trees have been about their infinitely inspiring structure, and composition, this black and white image I find shows great depth, and the contrast between the trunk and the leaf as background element.

designmatters | zlgdesign

Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory.

One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain's cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. "We showed for the first time that you don't have to do it all day for similar results," says Lazar. What's more, her research suggests that meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age.

The forms of meditation Lazar and other scientists are studying involve focusing on an image or sound or on one's breathing. Though deceptively simple, the practice seems to exercise the parts of the brain that help us pay attention. "Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it," says Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1992, he has collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study the brains of Tibetan monks, whom he calls "the Olympic athletes of meditation." Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the monks' heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness.

article on TIME by Liza Cullen