Architects need to be better agents of change
Published on: Monday, April 20, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: It is good of the Embassy of Denmark to bring the Copenhagen Solution exhibition to Sabah next month since Daily Express wrote about it and spoke to its ambassador at the European Film Festival two years ago.The embassy had held its exhibition in Kuala Lumpur with the Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) and the event in Kota Kinabalu will be in conjunction with Sabah PAM's IPEX 2015.Sabah's architects need to play a role to educate the public, politicians and especially developers some of whom Sabah's Minister of Environment had decried as too profit oriented without much sense of responsibility for the environment.
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"One of the biggest challenges of my ministry is how to manage and check human greed," Datuk Masidi Manjun said at a recent workshop on the environment. "It is not wrong to be profit-oriented, but it must come with a high sense of responsibility for the environment and society."It is sad that one of the most important aspects of our public life – our architecture – has been sacrificed to the private interests of the market, and the short-sighted economies of public officials. Star City is an example where the developer leader is also the certifying architect for progress payment.
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"What has PAM got to say about this (alleged) conflict of interest and fraud?" lamented some Star City retail lot buyers.Our society must learn from the mistake of the past and not repeat or allow repetition of professional delinquency.
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Buckminster Fuller, perhaps the most brilliant environmental philosopher and engineer of the last century wrote: 'Hope in the future is rooted in the memory of the past, for without memory there is no history and no knowledge.No projection of the future can be formed without reference to the past.Past, present and future, memory and prophecy are woven together into one continuous whole. In clear understanding of the past lies the hope of our future.Decision makers, and the public who should hold them accountable for public office results, should show exemplary leadership and assertive involvement in public life.Many architects have been too ready to collude with their clients in the view that architecture is just another profitable business with no bearing on the public at large.Blaming architects who have designed the second-rate developments conceals the extent to which the large corporation, the developers and the government are deeply implicated.A developer encapsulated the attitude of most contemporary clients: 'you will deliver service to us, the way we want, or we will take the business elsewhere. Only in this way will you survive and thrive.'If clients view the commissioning of an architect exclusively on these terms – as nothing more than a business venture – then the public clamour for architects to improve their standards is bound to be futile.The problem concerns the standard of demand rather than supply.There has been much talk of improving architectural education, but this type of measure is likely to fall at the same hurdle.It does not matter how well trained architects are, if the client chooses the one most willing to design for profit rather than beauty.The stuff of the best modern architecture has been entirely given over to the maximisation of rentable or saleable space.The public realm is being eroded by individual greed. The problem is not style but quality, not aesthetics but ethics.By blaming architects alone, critics have avoided finding any fault with the political and financial reality, the fact that architectural patronage and urban planning are in the hands of commercial and political bodies for whom quality appears to be a very low priority.It should be that with introduction of social media, particularly Facebook which has played an important role and affected the way developers and professionals react to the general public, could drive improvement.Negative feedback on product quality can be amplified much more to reach a wider audience. Hence, it has become important for developers and their professionals to maintain their product quality and ensure it is of the highest level.Currently in Sabah or Malaysia, properties in good locations are still expected to sell well due to the limited availability of such properties.The same basic principles for the success of any property development are to have a good location, good-quality products and design, the right type of property for the demographics of a location with a right pricing.Prices of properties in strategically high-value and high demand areas will not drop.Architects cannot work in a vacuum; unlike other artists they are totally dependent on a site, a brief and finance.Good architecture, in this age as in any other, is born of an enlightened client, generous financing and a public-minded brief.Most contemporary architecture is therefore the product of stark economic forces rather than the work of a designer; it represents the logical product of a society which sees the environment in terms of profit.'Form follows profit' is the aesthetic principle of our times.Thus, design skill is measured today by the architect's ability to build the largest possible enclosure for the smallest investment in the quickest time.To be fair, Masidi also commended good developers who brought or introduce good standards and products.Sabah's architects have also been responsible for many of the improvements in our public life and contributed to the betterment of building legislation.The public hope that previous PAM President Victor Wong's drive to manage traffic woes plaguing some parts of Likas during school days would be adopted by the authorities.Leaner time has descended for some architects as public funds for government projects are drying up. Some architects in West Malaysia are resisting the liberalisation while others are prepared to compete with the best in the world.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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