For almost 7 years as an architecture student, I
have been passionately in tuned to the idea of “Architecture for Humanity”. By
using architecture as an instrument, I have always believed that man is capable
to rejuvenate humanity that appears to be undermined due to the current social,
economic and cultural conflicts of our time.
Prior to attending the Singapore Vertical City
Asia (VCA) symposium, what I understood about the urban issues in Asia is
that they are constantly related to the rapid urbanisation that promotes rural
exodus into the Asian city centres. As a result, the social, cultural and
economic gaps between communities continue to widen and severely neglect those
who couldn’t keep up with this civilizational configuration. My enthusiasm was
well-facilitated with the hope to understand how the participants and the
juries of the international competition held by the NUS School of Design and
Environment addressed these issues.
The subject of the competition was a one square
kilometre territory which is located in Mumbai. Although I had little knowledge
on the current issues that are encountered by India, I was mildly aware of its infrastructural
failure in accommodating its rapid population growth and the socio-economic
disparity that is resulted from its rapid urbanisation. My thoughts on Mumbai
and the design approaches that I imagined would be discussed in the symposium
were very focused and narrowed down towards very specific issues that relate to
its urban density.
As I went into the hall where the participants’
design products are exhibited, I was astonished to see the variety of
approaches that they’ve developed. The approaches that I found most revealing
are the ones that addressed nature and ecology, social structure as well as density
and verticality. They did not leave out any investigation that ranged from
urban density, domesticity and infrastructure, all the way to food, culture and
work.
It was astonishing to see how receptive the
participants are towards the regional issues of Mumbai in order to successfully
develop their urban design products. I admire the undertakings that they upheld
in undergoing the researches needed and the syntheses they had come up with within
the given time. It humbles me to observe the standards that they’ve set and how
far I am as a student to be at par with the rest of them.
After attending the VCA symposium, I am now more aware
of the importance of being exposed with these levels of architecture events. I understood
now what it means to be a master student of architecture, the responsibility
that I have and the effort that I need to go through to be able to contribute to
the idea of “Architecture for Humanity”.
(450 words)
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