The bids are reportedly being assessed based on four criteria: (1) 45% on tourism appeal, (2) 25% on design merits, (3) 20% on bidder's investments, and (4) 10% on strength of the consortium. While these are tangible aspects that will eventually determine the outcome, I dream of another subliminal aspect playing a stealthy part in the finals. An aspect I affectionately call, the meta-architectonics.
One of the trump cards presented by the bidders is the 'designer', which in the case of Genting International is 'Michael Graves', Kerzner International is 'Frank Gehry', while Eighth Wonder ropes in a surprise, designer of food 'Alain Ducasse'. They are all iconic figures, creating iconic products in their respective fields. The question is: who stands a better chance in producing the winning scheme?
Much as I personally can't quite appreciate Michael Graves' postmodernist architecture, his use of signifiers in design can be rather amusing at times. It delights me even more from a meta-architectonic perspective.
Graves is a Xin (yin metal) person, born in the 6th, yin earth solar month. The presence of earth element is further accentuated by his year of birth, the Dog (yang earth), and the earthly branch of his day pillar, the Snake (yin fire). Earth for a metal person means resources or memory, and in the case of Graves, a return to historical antiquity for architectural expressions!
If not for the yang wood in the year pillar, this birth chart will have been a typical case of "strong earth burying metal", where achievements can only be imagined. Fortunately for Graves, his macro-luck cycles before 65 years old were also mostly favourable, which probably explained his success in the profession. His 5-year macro-luck cycles from 65-69, 70-74 years old are strong in earth, which is an unfavourable element. Hence in 2003, a Goat (yin earth) year, the last year before he transited into another unfavourable 5-year cycle (70-74), he contracted a spinal infection that left him paralyzed from waist down.
Now aged 72, Graves is still under the influence of the unfavourable 5-year cycle. To make matter worse, 2006 is a fire Dog year, hence extremely strong in earth. Can Graves break out of the earth burden? Can the combination of 2006's Bing fire and his Xin metal bring about the water element in his favour? I doubt so, unless his birth hour supports the transformation.
BaZi (birth chart) of Frank Gehry, w/o time pillar, 1929-02-28
Frank Gehry's BaZi presents a much stronger contender. His life element is Jia (yang wood), born in the 1st, yang wood solar month. He is therefore a very strong wood person, very opioniated, strong willed, principled, and no less hot-tempered. Fire represents his creativity, whilst earth his wealth. 2006 is simply Gehry's year of capitalizing on his creativity to gain wealth, especially when his current macro-luck cycle is also his favourable earth element!
BaZi (birth chart) of Alain Ducasse, w/o time pillar, 1956-09-13
It bemuses me why Eighth Wonder chooses a chef instead of an architect as the fore-front figure for their scheme. Is it a strategic move, surprise wild card of sort? Irregardless, I find it interesting to see how gastronomy fare in this supposed war of architectures.
Alain Ducasse is apparently the youngest of the trio. He is a Gui (yin water) person, born in the 8th, yin metal solar month. 2006-branch, the Dog, combines with the Monkey (year-branch) and Rooster (month-branch) in his BaZi to form very strong metal. It will have been an unfavourable condition, resulting in a bottle-neck impeding the flow of water. The saving grace however is his current yang water macro-luck cycle, which may help resolve the shortcoming. Nonetheless, his overall luck still can't surpass that of Frank Gehry.
If the IR @ Sentosa bid has been a pure architectural competition, I bet Frank Gehry will beat the rest flat. However, there may be more at stake than the 'designers'' individual luck quotient...
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