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A Schematic Design Project
I started a design studio in Shanghai in 2010. China was fast growing at the time. I was trying to catch the tail of the building boom. Since I am a US citizen, my studio can only take schematic/conceptual design jobs. We had to associate with a local design institute(LDI) and let them carry the project through the design development and construction drawing phase. There were many foreign firms like mine in Shanghai. Large or small, we all have to bond with an LDI. The schematic design phase is the most creative and fun part of the entire architectural design process. You get to make up something out of the…
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Bulgari Resort Bali and the Buffet in Mulia Resort
Disclaim: Not a paid advertisement My girlfriend and I were both in our 40s when we made the trip to Bali. Our purpose of the trip was to have some girl time and to catch up. If you are young and restless, Bulgari Resort may not be your best choice; and if you have young children, Bulgari is definitely not for you. The individual villa concept fits the ocean cliff site perfectly. Instead of building an all-in-one hotel, the architect chose to arrange villas along the coast. The small footprint of a villa requires less cut-and-fill grading, reducing the amount of difficult site work on the cliff. Each villa was…
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Bulgari Resort Bali (3)
Disclaimer: Not a paid advertisement. The hotel buffet was excellent and western. No. I think they had Chinese. The staff was very nice. My girlfriend doesn’t speak much English. In jealousy, she watched me having fun talking with handsome young guys. LOL. We went back to our villa. The staff had reset our suite. We found out in the next few days that every time we left and came back, the interior was reorganized to perfection. I wonder how they knew we were out. In the next few days, we explored the resort and the surrounding areas. The resort has all the amenities a regular hotel has. The spa treatment…
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Bulgari Resort Bali (2)
Disclaimer: Not a paid advertisement. Promptly waking up the next morning, we found ourselves looking into the ocean over the luscious green. Coming from a maga metropolitan, here, it was surreal. Driven by our occupation, we survey the villa. The one-bedroom villa had a relatively small bedroom with a huge bathroom, which was twice the size of the bedroom, and a separated toilet room, powder area, and lots of closet space. Even the bathroom was enclosed and private, it felt as if you were in the wild. The moss-covered privacy wall next to the glass offered a shield but also a connection to nature. The open living area had a…
