SILA night

Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects (SILA) held the biannual design awards night on 18 Jan 2010.  attendance was dismal, with some notable landscape architect firms missing from action.  there weren't many submissions this year and few awards were given out.  the general feeling was a lack of support of the event from the practitioners.  some of us felt an immediate impetus to join SILA and give it our support so that the organization will not be such a bad reflection of the landscape architecture profession in singapore.  all singapore landscape architects - let's stand up and be counted! 

2010

the year started on a surprisingly relaxed tone, giving some spare time to start a new blog.  the previous blog, Yayapapaya, on projects done as part of the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture course, has been crushed and thrown into the cyberspace trash can.  appropriately, since the course was completed and had started work as a landscape architect since march 2008.

2008 had been a rollercoaster ride, marked by many late nights, or i should say early mornings, cos we worked past midnight several nights when rushing for deadlines.  the latest was round the clock till 8am in the morning, home to snooze for an hour, then back at work, attending meetings with bleary eyes.

the pace didn't slow down in 2009, even when the economic crisis came and we suffered a 15% pay cut.  the workload was maddening, even though some projects had stalled or slowed down.  during times like these, the clients tend to nitpick more and that generates a lot of additional work for us.  maybe landscape architects should charge by hour, just like lawyers, with exorbitant fees.  then the clients will think twice before making comments on the designs.

2010 shall be a year of restful increase.  increase in rest + increase in $$ for all the deserving landscape architects.  we ought to get more recognition for the value that we create for the living environment.