Place: Dublin, Ireland
Date: June 11th 1998
Time: 3:00pm (local time)
Started search using Fusion
Query: "I. M. Pei" buildings Singapore
Clicked on #5 "Pei, I.M."
Short bio, no information on buildings in Singapore
Clicked on #11 "pei.html"
Lists buildings. Ones in Singapore: Gateway Tower, Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corporation Centre. Last updated 1995.
Place: Aberdeen, Scotland
Date: 12. June 1998
Time: 2:30PM (local time)
www.singapore.com
singapore online page.
could find no information regarding architecture in singapore.
Iowa City, Iowa, USA
8 hours for 10 queries over 2 afternoons
o Submit the query: "+Singapore +Pei +design +building"
o The first hit is a pointer to "The Gateway"
(http://www.singland.com.sg/gateway.htm) which is a building in
Singapore that was designed by I. M. Pei.
Tokyo, Japan
June 12nd, 1998 Local time
By default, search on Altavista
6:35 pm
Query : Pei firm
clicked on 9:
9. I.M. Pei
[URL:http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/pei.html]
www links on I.M.Pei : Pei Cobb Freed & partners
Result :
- The Gateway
- Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC)
- Raffles City
Ottawa, Canada
Assume to find more information from architecture collections than from
travel-oriented collections - so issue following query to Alta Vista:
(3:00) +pei +architect architecture singapore
Hits are a bit disappointing - no apparent hits to
biographies/portfolios of this architect - solely to individual projects
(3:06) change query to +pei architect architecture design building
+singapore
Found that Pei's firm is called Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
site http://www.ocbcproperty.com.sg/ocbc.html lists that Pei designed
the OCBC Centre, OCBC Centre South and OCBC Centre East (one complex
though).
(3:16) AltaVista query -> Pei Cobb Freed +singapore
lists an online chonology about this firm at
http://www.algonet.se/~pwh/peicobbf.htm and this seems to be the golden
page for this question. Further Pei buildings in Singapore are listed
here: Raffles City and The Gateway
(3:20) case closed.
Using a custom front-end tool AltaGCL
Waterloo, 15 June 18:21
altagcl "I M Pei" and "singapore" ... lots of Pei buildings in Singapore,
but aren't we looking for a *list*
altagcl "I M Pei" and "singapore" and "buildings" ... this Pei guy is
impressive ... world's tallest buildings and lots of
references including singapore. Lots of I.M. Pei fan pages.
altagcl "Pei Cobb" ... more about the firm
altagcl "I M Pei" and "singapore" and "archi*" ... read lots of excerpts ...
found a CV of IM Pei including a list of buildings:
http://www.noogenesis.com/family/pei/pei.html
I didn't like this question at all. What sort of answer was it expecting?
I could easily find a handful of pages about Pei buildings in Singapore,
but no page listing them.
Total time: 28 minutes
Waterloo, Canada
Using a custom front-end tool AltaGCL
June 16, 01:14am
All kinds of queries that didn't get anything specific about his
Singapore works. I think I was getting tired at this point and
should given up long before I actually did...
query: "singapore" and "Pei" and "designer"
query: "singapore" and "Pei" and "designer" and "touri*"
query: "singapore" and "Pei" and "architect" and "touri*"
query: "architectur*" and "singapore"
Found a link to the school of architecture at singapore university
Navigated this for a few minutes hoping that they would have a section
explaining local buildings. No such luck.
query: "singapore" and "Pei" and "famous"
query: "pei" and "singapore" and "to.see"
query: "pei" and "singapore" and "designed" and "architect*"
Elapsed time: 45 minutes
June 16, 7:48am
query: "pei" and "architect*" and "design*" and "visit"
query: "pei" and "architect*" and "design*" and "works"
query: "pei" and "architect*" and "louvre" and "singapore"
followed visible link to
www.algonet.se/~pwh/peicobb75.htm#Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation
and then back to a table of contents of Pei's work:
http://www.algonet.se/~pwh/peicobbf.htm
which includes the following buildings:
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Raffles City, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
The Gateway, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Using Fusion2 - a metasearch engine with marking of relevant documents and query expansion.
Place: Dublin - home internet connection
Date: 14 June, evening
Use Fusion2 "building design Pei"
rank=1 - find Pei has won the archiectural firm award
rank=2 - magazine article about I M Pei - a biography
rank=3 - singapore science park research facilities - dead end
rank=13 - history of archictural development in Singapore - dead end
I need a search which insists on Pei, Singapore and Architect
so I use ALtaVista with +pei +singapore + architect
rank=7 tells me Pei has built a 33 story office tower with 220,000
sq foot but no name
rank=13 is a long document, a personal page of famous Pei buildings
and I do a F search to find 4 buildings: OCBC, The Gateway,
Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp and Raffles City. Bingo.
Time = 13 minutes
At a university in Glasgow, Scotland
search " I M Pei buildings" with Altavista (2074600!)
visited first and fourth sites:
http://www1.ced.berkeley.edu:8001/cedr/vitalsigns/main/messages/1018.html
http://www.artifice.com/cgi-bin/gbc-architect.cgi/I._M._Pei.html from which
we got the full name and reformulated the query:
search "Ieogh Ming Pei bibliography" with Yahoo, 1 category and 3 hits
first hit: http://www.mit.edu/people/bei/www/page4.html
link to his works:
http://www.noogenesis.com/family/pei/pei.html
which lists all his buildings.
Answer:
Gateway Towers, Singapore;
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Centre, Singapore.
Australia
Using a query re-formulation tool, the Hyperindex Browser (HiB)
HiB + AltaVista
o enter "pei architecture"
o no refinements, so beam down using "pei architecture"
o choose second one "The Architecture of I.M.Pei Review"
http://194.177.165.5/votepage.arc$250026
o go to link at the top "The Architecture of I M Pei"
http://www.mit.edu/people/bei/www/page4.html
o go to the bottom and choose "A list of IMPei's works"
http://www.noogenesis.com/family/pei/pei.html
Answer:
Gateway Towers, Singapore
Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Centre, Singapore
At a university in Toronto, Canada
Metacrawler query: architecture singapore
Clicking on #10: "Singapore Polytechnic Library - Architecture"
Links to architecture sites. Nothing useful.
Metacrawler query: architect singapore pei
Clicking on #1: "History of Architectural Development in Singapore"
(http://www.arch.nus.sg/Architects/archhistory.html)
404 Not Found
Truncating URL to www.arch.nus.sg/Architects
403 Forbidden
Truncating URL to www.arch.nus.sg
Home page of the School of Architecture, National University of Singapore
Clicking on "About... The School of Architecture".
Various links. Nothing looks good.
Clicking on "About... Singapore"
Unable to connect to server. Returning to query results.
Clicking on #2: "1975-1979"
(http://www.algonet.se/~pwh/peicobb75.htm)
Part of "Pei Cobb Freed & Partners - A Chronology 1949-1999".
Is this I. M. Pei's firm? In any case, they were the architects
for the OCBC building in Singapore.
Clicking back to "introduction, references and table of contents"
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is I. M. Pei's firm, but a chronology is not
what I need. Going back to the query results.
Result #3 is the table of contents page for the chronology.
Clicking on #4: "Excite Travel: Singapore - Where to Stay"
Sorry! There is no information for the destination you requested.
Clicking on #11: "I. M. Pei"
(http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hapr/pei.html)
An interview with Pei. Searching the page for "Singapore". The only
building in Singapore specifically mentioned is the OCBC building.
Clicking on #9: "1985-1989"
Raffles City, Singapore, was also designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
Clicking on #18: "I.M. Pei"
(http://www.pritzkerprize.com/pei.htm)
A biography.
His more prominent commissions have included...the Overseas Chinese
Banking Corporation Centre (OCBC) and Raffles City in Singapore
At another university in Glasgow, Scotland
Started AltaVista search: +Singapore +Pei
After 3 pages of mixed rubbish tried revised query:
+Singapore +Pei architect designer buildings
Tried link 7. City.Net Singapore - Where to Stay Singapore
http://city.net/countries/singapore/essentials/wheretostay.html
But it failed to load...
Aha -- follow link 17. I. M. Pei -- Personalities -- I. M. Pei. Finding
Roots. When time stops... http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hapr/pei.html
Very helpful page.
He did the OCBC Building but the article focussed on China. But gives his
company name - so back to AV
Query: +"Pei Cobb Freed" +Singapore
Follow link 1
Answer: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporationz Building, The Gateway, and
Raffles City (which I'm not sure was designed by IM Pei or just his
company).
Elsewhere in Ottawa, Canada, using AltaVista ...
ANSWER: Raffles City (complex/hotel)
Queries: 2 to find Raffles City, 3 more to see if there are
more buildings.
Links: ~4 to find Raffles City, 6 more to find others
Time: 20 minutes to find (20 more minutes to look for more)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Query: Singapore Pei architect building*
no obvious matches
maybe we want a page summarizing Pei's work
or maybe we want a Singapore architecture page
Let's find out about Pei
Followed: http://www.trincoll.edu/~tj/tj12.11.97/menu.html
-> http://www.trincoll.edu/~tj/tj12.11.97/articles/cover.html
Pei buildings:
Hancock
National Gallery
kennedy library
Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Louvre
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Query: Pei Hancock "kennedy library" "Atmospheric Research" NCAR Louvre "national gallery"
Followed: http://rockhall.com/facts/bios/peiieoh.html
Other buildings:
Miho Museum
Meyerson Symphony Center
Bank of China
Raffles City (Singapore!)
Fragrant Hill
Followed: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/pritzkerprize/pei.htm
East Building of the National Gallery of Art
Le Grand Louvre
Bank of China
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Dallas City Hall
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
Society Hill development
Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation Centre (OCBC)
Raffles City
West Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts
Fragrant Hill Hotel
Creative Artists Agency Headquarters
Jacob K. Javits Center
IBM Office Complex
Everson Museum of Art
Texas Commerce Tower
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Query: Pei "Raffles City" Singapore
Let's find out about Raffles City and see if any other
buildings are mentioned in the same breath.
Followed: http://www.hr-net.com.sg/hr/Raffles.htm
Followed: http://www.ssyenc.co.kr/english/fields/living/pic02_01.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Query: +Pei "Raffles City" Singapore
nothing new
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Query: +singapore +architect*
Anything we missed?
Followed: http://www.gov.sg/istana/main.html
Followed: http://www.weatherhill.com/docs/books/sel981-00-0683-7.html
Followed: http://www.flynwa.com/wg/places/Singapore/Singapore/ATACHAFS.htm
Followed: http://www.architectureasia.com/Singapore/
Apparently nothing else.
France
Metacrawler: Pei Singapore
--> 29 results:
--> 9th:
http://www.noogenesis.com/family/pei/pei.html
A list of buidings built by Pei. The ones in Singapore:
Gateway Towers, Singapore
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Centre, Singapore
(3 Minutes)
Another searcher in France
On altavista keywords : Singapore Lei
Clicked on
http://www.tbsn.org/ebooks/plethora/chap2.htm
got an answer : "In Singapore, I stayed at the Stanford hotel in the
Raffles City Designed by the famed I.M. Pei"
Then clicked on selection 4 of Altavista, http://www.mit.edu/people/bei/www/page4.html
Clicked on the list of work and got more answers:
Gateway Towers, Singapore;
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Centre, Singapore;
Another Australian searcher...
[7:50am Aus EST]
Type in www.altavista.com. Ooops
That's not www.altavista.digital.com, but wait...there's a link
to "City Guide" (serendipity?).
-=> City Guide -=> Asia -=> Singapore: Nothing useful.
Type in www.altavista.digital.com.
Search for "+Pei +Singapore +host:sg building architecture design"
"2. The Gateway ...The Gateway Designed by the reowned I M Pei"
-=> ...Yup, "The Gateway" is a match.
(brief wander around site.) Dead end.
"28. History of The Architectural Development in Singapore"
-=> "404 Not Found"...
fiddle with URL manually
-=> ah-ha,home page of NUS School of Architecture.
-=> "Other Web Sites". Pop up two new windows:
-=>"Archinet" -=> members/P. nothing
-=>"Singapore Institute of Architects"
-=> [wander]. nothing
-=> "About Singapore"
-=> "Singapore Infomap"
Try search: nothing.
-=> "Singapore Information Resources Online"
-=> Search SG Web
[query: "+Pei design buildings architecture"
Various hits, including:
-=> Yahoo.
Search
Top:Regional:Countries:Singapore category: nothing.
-=> "NUS/School of Building and Real Estate"
-=> "Staff Directory" Nothing.
-=> "Singapore Online Guide"
Click on "Singapore Online Guide" icon. Not a link!
-=> "Surfing Around": nothing.
Try an Excite search (no way to constrain it to a country!)
Great... several appropriate sites:
-=> "The Architecture of I. M. Pei"
-=> "A List of I. M. Pei's Works"
Bingo. Complete listing of buildings by Pei.
"The Gateway" is listed in Singapore, as is
the "Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Centre,"
Right. I didn't realize that Pei was a big enough name to warrant
international attention and web sites devoted to his work!
[8:30am Aus EST]
Saarbrucken, Germany
22 June 1998, 19:20-21:20 p.m.
AltaVista: "I. M. Pei" building Singapore
- 6th result tatlin.arc.co.uk/250026.arc (The Architecture of I M Pei
Review) contains just a quote by I.M. Pei
- second result
http://www.ssyenc.co.kr/english/fields/living/pic06_01.html
(Sogo Department Store - Raffles City Complex) shows a bldg in
sg by I.M. Pei
- first result
http://www.ssyenc.co.kr/english/fields/living/pic02_01.html
(Westin Stamford Hotel) shows bldg in sg by I.M. Pei
- 13th result
http://www.artifice.com/cgi-bin/gbc-architect.cgi/I._M._Pei.html#works
(Artifice Great Buildings - I.M. Pei) lists the works of
I.M. Pei, but none in SG.
