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canvas print on Operation Void Deck
Impressive blog. Thanks for writing
Conrad McKee on Wishing all our friends a Blessed Christmas!
Same to you
waiting room furniture on Operation Void Deck
Thanks for sharing this Joshua, good job.
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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