Every day, we are surrounded by countless advertisements, magazine covers show perfect photoshopped models, our food packages depict perfectly yummy salads while containing grey slush and consumers buy expensive lotions that promise a more "radiant skin". However, this situation is no different from any industry in the world, including construction field.
Here, we often see advert marketing their urban master plan design about living with nature, being one with nature. Without a doubt, my home country is the densest populated urban city in its region, with an estimated population growth to 4.8 million in 2050.
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| Eco-city, The city of tomorrow Source : http://www.klecocity.com.my/default.asp#.Vy6_ZoR95D8 |
Marketing Video <- ( Video of the marketing campaign can be accessed here )
As urban sprawl started in early 2000, building high-rise residentials into the suburban area seem to be a common trend in Malaysia to solve the limitation of available land in the city. The ironic situation whereby hills, open agricultural lands are being cleared to make way for these "living with nature development". Upon looking into the development and projects, it saddens me to an extent, where mother nature is being stripped away at the same time being used as a marketing tool to attract consumers. It questions my role as a designer, where do our architectural voice stand in the developing economy where "How much will I (developer) gain in the project instead of "What will my "developer or architect" project give back to the community and nature?" The ecological footprint of humanity has far exceeded our earth's capacity !
We are using more than we should as well as we are damaging more than we replace !
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| Source : http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/property-news/land-clearing-activities-in-selangor-stripping-away-precious-greenery/ |
The picture above is the reality of what is left of once a natural hill at the suburbs of Rawang due to development, 45mins away from the capital of Kuala Lumpur. Although policies and framework have been developed by the former prime minister to keep 50% of Malaysia's land area under forest cover at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, however, studies and survey today showed only 30% is left. (Lim, n.d cited by Yip,2013) In my opinion, the project managers or architects should keep a close monitor of the site clearing process, in order to keep the damage to a bare minimum.
With a series of apartments, commercial or offices design like this, I would certainly take caution unless a fundamental reassessment of design is made such as compliance to green rating tools , even the developers will soon be left with nothing to sell their "eco blink" advertisements. More importantly, question my ideology of my architectural position in the sustainable development of the country.
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| Source: google maps |
The actual development of the "concept master plan" today.
Resources :
http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/property-news/land-clearing-activities-in-selangor-stripping-away-precious-greenery/
http://www.klecocity.com.my/default.asp#.Vy6_ZoR95D8
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