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Mika on re:ACT at 7th mAAN Conference, New Delhi (23-25 Feb)
I don’t know if this is a coincidence, in fact there is a tribe in India called Maan.
They belong to the Majha belt in Punjab and generally around Amritsar
Sernhong on re:ACT at 7th mAAN Conference, New Delhi (23-25 Feb)
There were a total of about 80-100 people at the whole conference. Very interesting meeting eveyone.
France on re:ACT at 7th mAAN Conference, New Delhi (23-25 Feb)
Looks very interesting. How many people were there?
The Time Is Now!
Joshua Teo on Thu, June 18, 2009
“It’s I, It’s You, It’s We, who build Community”, a song that we all used to sing in kindergarten and perhaps a mindset that has slipped off our mind as we have marched into a modernized world. Really Ar? 3 held at the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Theatrette, brought together about 50 people to discuss how architects could play a bigger role in building community by actively engaging the public in the design and making of our built environment.
re:ACT invited 3 speakers with different backgrounds and diverse professional engagements to share their perspectives and details on some of the projects. The evening kicked off with Mr. Yong Teck Meng, National Director, Habitat for Humanity Singapore, sharing with the audience the “pass it on” spirit of having neighbourhoods in poor and disaster-stricken places being built up together by volunteers and the local community themselves. Ms. Ong Swee Hong, Lecturer, Temasek Polytechnic, and her students Damien and Noel, (participants at the recent CUBE workshop organised by URA and ran by re:ACT), shared their understanding of participatory design and how education is able to equip and empower the public to be more involved in the physical building and growing of their neighbourhoods. Mr. Khoo Peng Beng, Principal, Arc Studio revealed to the crowd his first-hand experience of permaculture during his field trips to the rural areas in Malaysia. Mr. Lee Siang, Director, DP Architects was the moderator for the evening and led the lively discussion after the three presentations.
To sum up re:ACT's third design sharing session, this first collaboration between re:ACT and SIA, has hopefully set the tone for future discussions and critical thinking regarding the role of architects in modern times. The open dialogue between the audience and presenters suggested that times are changing and that by creating more platforms to facilitate channels for the community's voices to be heard, we could truly look forward to designing spaces in a way that is interactive, participatory and impactful and meaningful to the larger community. That, together with the current openness and encouragement from the various government and private bodies, suggest that the time is NOW! All that is required, is the initiative and motivation of just a few active voices in the architecture field to rouse up an awareness and create small ripples of change. Would you be one to be counted for that? Like I said, the time is NOW.
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