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Kota Kinabalu: A local architect and his team recently grabbed a Silver award in the International Architecture and Design Award Competition 2023.

Competing with various companies worldwide, Tan Young and his team won the award for their Kota Kinabalu Parking Complex conceptual design project in the competition’s Public Building Architecture Design Category.

The competition was organised by the Architecture Design Community (ADC) – an international architectural organisation created and registered in Poland in 2019 by creative professionals worldwide.

Rather than expecting to win anything from their entry, Young and his team wanted to create iconic and representative architecture for their beloved Kota Kinabalu City. 

“We hope our design concept could impact the public and the society of their city, as well as share the roots and the stories of their city to people from all over the world,” he said in a statement recently.

“Due to lack of implementation of the public transportation system, the city is facing perennial traffic flow problems daily, which could get worse especially during food markets among other festive activities being spilt into the public realm.” 

He said they had chosen a project site between the existing City Hall and the former Kota Kinabalu Courthouse to develop their design concept for the project. 

“Our design team sees the opportunity to propose a conceptual parking complex for the convenience of civil servants and local citizens. 

“We want to propose a conceptual parking complex related to the surrounding area built next to it. 

“We want to design the conceptual parking complex to mark the Kota Kinabalu central business district’s entrance and be interpreted as a gateway to its neighbourhood.

He added that the conceptual parking complex comprises two stories of car parking, which could accommodate at least double the number of car park provisions above one level of commercial retails. 

“The commercial floor is provided indicatively to relate to the nearby context of Gaya Street and to interlink the existing centre of business. 

“At roof level, an urban garden oasis is being inserted with the provisions of leisure amenities such as a natural pond, walk path, sitting benches, mini amphitheatre, timber deck, and exercise area, to improve people’s mental health by producing a more relaxing environment that could help to reduce anxiety and aggression.”

By shaping the conceptual parking complex within the civic and business area, he said a lively urban-oriented building façade design is being applied to the skin of the conceptual building to create a sense of colloquial landmark quality for the City. 

“As the word ‘Kinabalu’ is derived from the indigenous language, the individual building façade panel is carved with representative indigenous art patterns to not only pay tribute and respect to the native community who firstly inhabited the State from the earliest times but also to function as natural light and shadow art projections for the interior space of car parking.

In detail, he said, the art pattern of the building façade design is used by the ethnic groups in making linangkit patterns – a form of needlework made by women from several native tribes in Sabah, and it is used as ornaments on traditional attires worn during festivals.

Young is the founder and Principal of Tan Young Architect (TYA) and the director of Arkitek TYA Sdn Bhd.

Since the beginning of his architectural journey, Young has been undertaking various project types 

He has been striving to explore and produce more creativity, efficiency, and sustainability in his firm’s architectural works.