Talk Architecture

Send us Fan Mail Paul Nickson Atia, a full time artist and part time architectural designer and educator, seems to embody the very notion of an "architect who is an artist". From his early formative years to his current projects, the interview and dialogue evolved seamlessly from art to architecture and back to art. In a personal and engaging manner, Paul touched on design philosophy of...

Send us Fan Mail "One forms and reforms, affirms and reaffirms; perpetually, cerebrating over one’s hope, desire, and faith of being - what gives?"  Paul Nickson Atia (b. 1992), quoting the above statement, is a young artist from Kuching, Sarawak and currently based in Kuala Lumpur. Upon completing his degree in Bsc. Architecture at University of Malaya (UM), Paul went on to practice at...

Send us Fan Mail Amna A Emir, designer, architect and mother, and a director at Neuformation, discusses her time at architectural schools UTM and the AA, on the importance of architectural education and practice and how the architect need to realise the importance of creating meaning in their works, like what artists do. The inter-disciplinary discourse at the AA school of architecture, as the pla...

Send us Fan Mail Architect's are Artists: Teaser on an Interview with Amna A Emir, architect, designer, mother. We will discuss on this topic  with Amna who shared the following quote, by Jasper Johns: "Make something, a kind of object, which as it changes or falls apart (dies as it were) or increases in its parts (grows as it were) offers no clue as to what its state or form or nature w...

Send us Fan Mail During these times of pandemic strife, we are beset with the conundrum of wanting to embrace online teaching for studio based learning but the essential ingredient of informal studio interaction (problem of social distancing) such as lack of peer review activities is being felt as a crucial missing ingredient in the architectural education experience for the students especially in...

Send us Fan Mail We revisit the diagram that could be applied to any project that deals with a real site rather than hypothetical site or issue, which we introduced in April 27 2020 podcast, where the idea behind the diagram was done in an introductory manner. Now we explained how this design process can work in both the lower years and in the final year, comparing our current second year project...

Send us Fan Mail We proposed a study on whether Malaysian architects, urban designers and planners refer to precedents of urban shophouses in the inner city streets of Malacca and George Town when coming up with concept and ideas in their work. Based on Michael Gibert's doctoral thesis, Kisho Kurokawa said that: "the difference between Western and Japanese concepts of space is the differ...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast marks a new series on the investigation on architecture design processes in 'design thinking' starting with the concept of 'spatial awareness' in the architecture discipline and finding similarities in psychological meditative technique relating to mindfulness or being mindful. Emphasis is on the importance of "doing the thinking" and und...

Send us Fan Mail Is designing and producing architecture a political act? Or are architects merely serving the client and the building they had done has nothing to do with politics.  (That is what Patrik Schumacher, a star architect suggested). When architects and urban planners and other professionals need to deal with issues on sustainability together, are they collaborating to create a better s...

Send us Fan Mail A brainstorming session based on the outline we set out for the book on the proposed working title of: "Re-examining community architecture: site specific issues in local context situations", we discussed on the points we started with and how the podcast contents will help us greatly on writing this book. We relate this to the audience (our listeners) in anticipation to...

Send us Fan Mail Architecture should enable and strengthen human connections – a key condition in creating resilient communities to face the 21st century catastrophes. How should we translate our concerns in the work that we do as studio tutors in the architecture design studio projects? This is the central thesis for the Unit 2 studio of the Master of Architecture (M Arch) design thesis studio pr...

Send us Fan Mail There are four aspects that is needed in order to create the architect that possesses social-consciousness and it starts at architectural school. In conjunction with the upcoming international webinar on "Reclaim the City" on Friday, 20th November 2020 which is the second in a series jointly organized by USM and DSLU, I will speak on the architect's role in righting...

Send us Fan Mail The use of 'sketch-up' digital software by architecture students short-cutting the skills development, rushing it from 2D to 3D, due to the lack of time to design, is the "one of the crucial problems" in architecture education. The 2D (plan) need to be read and design together with 3D every step of the design process. Skills of manually drawing axonometric from...

Send us Fan Mail Readings from Gottfried Semper on "ornament and pattern making" and Christopher Alexander on "form and context", together with learning from vernacular architecture and the ideas that shaped our private realm can actually give ideas on how to solve the design problems in the public spaces and put together a better fit and more harmonious designs for urban desig...

Send us Fan Mail The Architect has a role to play in righting and designing with empathy for all and creating inclusive open space in the cities. That is the premise for the talk that will be given in an upcoming international webinar on "Reclaim the City", the second in a series jointly organized by USM and DSLU, which I will deliver for 15 minutes. This is a preview of that talk in whi...

Send us Fan Mail Why did we create a collaborative learning environment where the architecture students need to be challenged comprehensively, covering all bases including be able to read the whole building from the plan. You cannot do this by teaching students to design from software. Students are builders of architecture not merely design a building and wrap it with green. As early as possible,...

Send us Fan Mail I would like to argue that Architects are Artists, ‘artists with a background of science’ (Pandikar, 1959). I take some theories from Ismail Faruqi's 'Cultural Atlas of Islam', Gottfried Semper (19th century philosopher), Christopher Alexander's 'Notes on the Synthesis of Form' and Colin Davies' book on 'Introduction to architectural theory&...

Send us Fan Mail The debate arose in India, when Professor Paknikar in a 1959 seminar on architecture practice said: With the increasing influence of science and technology, they (architects) are termed as ‘scientists with a background of art’ rather than ‘artists with a background of science’. This sets off the discourse on the importance of architectural theory and how there is a difference betw...

Send us Fan Mail This discussion focused on Chapter 1 on "Representation" from Colin Davies' book called "Thinking about Architecture: An Introduction to Architectural Theory". It's that time of year again when we have to prepare for our classes before the semester starts. I was also thinking about the 'Artistic Process vs Architectural Design Process' at th...

Send us Fan Mail If you are an examiner and you need to evaluate an architecture studio curriculum of a school of architecture, how would you go about it? Should you evaluate the poor (just passed) student, the average student or the best student? And how do you benchmark the performance of that school of architecture compared to other schools? This is an opinion piece on what to look for when you...

Send us Fan Mail Further discussion on the issues of the social responsibility of an architectural educator or an academic that teaches architecture design, reflections based on the article by Kimberley Kramer on the topic of "Social Responsibility in Architecture Education" (2012) . This discussion focused on the policy and implementation by a country's architect board (on accredit...

Send us Fan Mail The concluding episode on the future of education and the changing role of universities. What is the pace of learning and how we perceived learning, that could make universities as what we see now, obsolete. Reflecting on being a Part 1 graduate doing practical training in London in an office, 5 minutes walk away from the AA school's evening lectures, and how that is a simila...

Send us Fan Mail I quote Mr Tan Eng Chye, the President of the National University of Singapore: The pandemic has brought a crystal clarity to the role that universities play. To find solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems, we need talented individuals who have the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills, the ability to synthesise and think across conceptual and technical boundaries, and...

Send us Fan Mail What is "beyond architecture"? Why was the Part 1 architecture degree important for a person who undertook it? Low Pey Sien felt that her experience studying architecture in Part 1 (BSc in Architecture) course was essential in her current growth and development although she is taking her time to decide whether to do the Part 2 course. She is currently working with Kongsi...

Send us Fan Mail A brief teaser before the big interview with Low Pey Sien, University of Malaya's Bachelor of Science in Architecture Part 1 Graduate who is now an Art and Craft Manager at KongsiKL. I asked her "why aren't you continuing your architecture course for Part 2?". One of our best students, gave a "teaser" answer with promise to tell all in a future interv...