breaking the box

RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects, if you didn't know) are in school this week for a visit to decide whether to continue accreditting the NUS architecture degree for another 5 years. It's a remnant of Singapore colonial past but it's really not such a bad thing for us as we will be able to get acreditted by an instituion with a worldwide benchmark. And for this the school planned a series of staged school activities.

One of the acitivites was the opening of the pavillion designed by the 2nd year studios. Well, there is nothing wrong with that , in fact I am very much in favour of student design being built with the support of the school. The thing about this is that it was technically not built by the students. The school had hired a construction company to build the pavillion. The students merely marked out where the pavillion should be and (so I was told) had cut some of the wood used. I had little objections to the things happening up till this point. The project had to be completed in time for RIBA's visit and the students could not have finished in time. So hiring workers could be justified. But the whole thing became somewhat nauseating when the students started claiming to have built the pavillion, first in the email invitation for the opening and then in a loud proclaimation during the opening ceremony. It was just revolting. And the awful "hip-hop" dance that followed after the official opening. It was reminiscent of the mass dance that many of us had to go through during our JC years. Mildly juvenile and inherently meaningless.And Don't get me started on the cringe-inducing name given to the whole project,"breaking the box". *shudders* Why did they have to choose something that sounds like some cliche management terms and does not fit the project literally or figuratively.


People along the buffet table watching the show.