Talk Architecture

Send us Fan Mail Teaser on an upcoming interview on "Architects are Artists" by a well-known artist, NOOR MAHNUN MOHAMED who studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig, Germany and graduated with a Masters in Fine Art (1996). In 2000 she was the Malaysian artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Selangor. She was awarded the Italian Government Scholarship in 2003 to...

Send us Fan Mail An Interview with Low Pey Sien, an art curator at Kongsi KL and freelancer, trained as an architect, graduated with a B.Sc. in Architecture from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, with interests in making film documentaries and photography, shares her view in this first part of the afternoon chat on "Architects are Artists", which meanders to "Architects are Scient...

Send us Fan Mail The second part and conclusion of the interview, with Low Pey Sien, an art curator at Kongsi KL and freelancer, trained as an architect, graduated with a B.Sc. in Architecture from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, with interests in making film documentaries and photography, shares her view in this first part of the afternoon chat on "Architects are Artists", which mea...

Send us Fan Mail I was at the student's project site today and wondered: Do we build communities around the place or build the place around communities? Is 'space' a too generic a word, and 'place' the better word, providing more context specificity? What is the fundamental characteristics of a place? I would argue for 'nature' and it's essential presence, t...

Send us Fan Mail Kevin Mark Low speaks on: Liberal Arts education, "Problem-solving is about 'relationships'", 'Open system thinking' rather than just 'system thinking' (which is more on production related), that relates more to 'nature relationships' (natural eco-systems), "whole idea of learning", using metaphors of the viruses, 'C...

Send us Fan Mail Coming from the Clubhouse discussion on: "Architecture School - was it useful? " Summarizing the two important points of: 1. Humanities (the lack of it ), which leads to,  Liberal Arts education, and; 2. Learning relationships - the importance of mentorship, peer learning and networking, etc. We will ask these questions to Kevin Mark Low in the upcoming interview, very s...

Send us Fan Mail "Social Enterprise for Universal Design Solutions" is the topic for our upcoming Clubhouse event starting at 8 pm, Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021, to be hosted by Naziaty Yaacob. An introduction on what is a 'social entrepreneur' or social enterprise, exploring the subject of 'problems in society', becoming a social entrepreneur, particularly for academic...

Send us Fan Mail We discussed this topic on 24 February 2021 at 8 to 10 pm, at a Clubhouse app event: "Architecture School - was it useful?", and as I mentioned, the intention was to find topics for further discussion, and the following summary, which I expanded in the podcast, and based on the quotes from the participants (speakers) were mainly;  1. Humanities study in university, and, ...

Send us Fan Mail You are welcome to join a discussion at 8:00 PM (Malaysian Time) on 24 February 2021 via the Clubhouse app. I am moderating and hosting the discussion on: Architecture School - was it useful? The purpose is to find out: 1. Content for my future podcast; 2. The questions that we need to ask regarding architecture school. This podcast is broadcasting on the upcoming event via the Cl...

Send us Fan Mail Since the last discussion on this topic on 24 January 2021, we had the opportunity to attend the NUS Design Pedagogy Lecture Series - "Enhancing feedback for students' learning: An evaluation of feedback methods used within the design" and a lecture by Dr Charlie Smith of Liverpool John Moores University.  Peer review needs to be moderated and done in a formal way r...

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...