KSYW
KUALA LUMPUR ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL
20TH JULY 2016
First of all, it’s the first time ever that I’ve been to Archidex exhibition. Was really excited that lecturers actually included Archidex as part of our lecture and asked us to attend the public lecture. It is a live-lecture talk by Mochamad Ridwan Kamil, mayor of Bandung, Indonesia. But unfortunately we weren’t able to get in because we weren’t registered and it’s full. We’re quite disappointed because of that but we had fun and enjoyed touring the exhibition.
So here goes my Archidex 2016 experience......journal style.
Registered for Archidex 2016 right after we reached. Everything was so formal and official, we even got our own name tag printed out on the spot. The first hall we went to is all about interior, interesting interesting interior designs and ideas. Were so blown away by all the stuff in there, it feels like they are all from outer space, futuristic, unique and things I’ve never seen before.
There’s this booth about different types of hardwood where we were all so fascinated by. We got to know where these beautiful wood come from and how there are made in pieces. And then there’s one booth about flexible furniture. We tried out their flexible chair which is made of layers of cardboards and it’s totally flexible where it can be shaped according to the way you wanted it to be. The other furniture in that particular booth are all flexible and most importantly brilliant in saving space. There are foldable table, sofa that can be extended to become a double decker bed. *crazy* I know these are not all the newest idea but I think it’s a new way of living using flexible and space saving furniture as there are a lot of people couldn’t afford big living spaces nowadays.
Flexible chair made from layers of cardboard that can be shaped to accomodate the space.
The exhibition booths are all creatively and beautifully designed. One of the booth are made of bamboo and surprisingly the connections are done in architectural way, only using wires. One of my favourite booths is Bauhaus which showcased recycled cement & concrete furniture. In my opinion I think it’s a brilliant idea to use recycled construction waste to make all these furniture that helps to reduce harmful gas released from concrete that’d been drastically reducing air quality, in this case Sulfate ions will eventually convert into hydrogen sulphide. The furniture not only is strong but also aesthetically pleasing which gives out raw and hipster feeling :D So it’s really a good innovative approach to be a part in making the world a better place to live.
Bamboo connections are shown in one of the booths.
Table made from recycled cement that incorporate a small planter box.
We also got the chance to appreciate the presentation boards of fellow PAM competition winners. The boards are all professionally done and the design are all very mature and innovative. What attracts us the most is that they are all beautifully rendered and composed. I wonder when can we acquire digital rendering and composition skill with such quality. From what I see is that all these years, there are mostly winners from Taylor's and other universities. It makes me wonder why aren't there any from UCSI, is it because UCSI are practising manual rendering all these while? Or is it our students are not creative and professional enough?
Hmmm food of thoughts......
One thing I’m most satisfied of Archidex 2016 is that we got to shop for architectural books and magazine at discounted price. We were lucky enough to notice the booth which most of our friends missed it and it definitely made this trip to Archidex a worthy one.
All in all, in my opinion, Archidex is not quite suitable for us students to visit because it’s like going to a furniture fair, but only fancier. The booths are all targeting for grown ups and solely for business purposes until the extend of the salesman ignored our questions once they know we’re just students. Not being able to attend the public lecture this time is really the buzzkiller. Hopefully we wouldn’t miss it next year. Maybe the organiser can include an architecture student sharing session where architecture students from all over Malaysia or even from all around the world to share their experience and voice out the problem that we faced all along. Or maybe a workshop that we can share our skills and the way how each of us come out with ideas and designs. With these additional sessions, I think KLAF would be more successful in a comprehensive way where it would benefit students more.
:D