A Decade of Architecture Education in
Universiti Sains Malaysia: Preparation for Asian Renaissance.
1.1 Globalization, expressed in many ways, is
at best Eurocentric.
Contemporay discourses are built on almost a single ideology identified
by Edward Said as Orientalism, an idea rooted in Eurocentrism, whose
nature is extremely divisive.
Architecture education (hence practice) is no exception. The overall challenge
in architecture education now is to understand and switch to an alternative
ideology which shall enable it to sail through the waves of globalization pre
and post Renaissance of Asia. |
| The globe is typically
represented as shown in Figure 1. Europe is centered, East and West on its
right and left respectively. The east is further fragmented by having the
Middle, Near and Far which does not really fit in the dictum “West Is Best”,
hence the need for North-South dialogs to legitimate discourses on First-Third
worlds or Developed-Developing countries, fragmentation maintained.
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Figure 1: Typical representation of the world.
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| More recently the Pacific Rim was coined in this already fragmented geo-graphics adding to the collection of
disinformation, perhaps the impetus for the term “challenges” in this
conference. |
| Taking a different
vantage point, centralizing the Pacific Ocean, we get quite a different
perspective of the world as the Pacific Rim gets to be more unified hence clearly
defined (Figure 2). |
Figure 2: Pacific-Centered World.
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| It may just be a good base
map to tell us different stories, for example, the European Renaissance “Gold,
Gospel & Glory” exercise (Figure 3) which has been embedded in many
cultures. |
Figure 3: Eurocentric Pacific-Splitting Spree.
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| More popular readings
such as encyclopedia entries add to this disinformation library. One example
is the rendering of “Asian Empires” within which the Islamic Empire is
located (Figure 4). |
Figure 4: Exclusive map of Islamic Empire in Asia.
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| Excluded from this
entry is an empire around MaLaKa (Figure 5), reduced by historians to a mere
city whose name was purportedly derived from the Malaka tree, a tall story
for an empire, MuLK (Kingdom) derived from the divine word
MaLiK (King). |
Figure 5: Excluded is the Islamic Empire of
Malaka.
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Globalization is really an age-old phenomenon
described in Al-Quran as shown in Figure 6. |
| “He has ordained for
you the diin which He commended unto Prophet Nuh, and that
which We revealed to you [Muhammad], and that which We commended unto
prophets Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, saying, Establish
the diin, and be not divided therein...” AlQuran, 42:13. |
Figure 6: Part
of 42:13, AlQuran.
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| Ordained so, Nuh,
Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Muhammad did what they were told (Figure 7), while
“you” (i.e. us) have been told the same. |
Figure 7: Doing
what was instructed.
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| The fact that all the
apostles could establish The (one and same) Diin was primarily because it
was preceded by its downfall, the result of doing what was prohibited, i.e.
“being divided” (Figure 8). |
Figure 8: Continuum in establishing The Diin.
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| Remnants of this
“division” can still be seen today from the groups of people “rejoicing in
what they have with them” (Figure 9). |
Figure 9: Division
of Islam.
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| When Nuh established The
Diin, there was a civilization it displaced, that destroyed by the Great
Flood. That civilization was however reestablished during the downfall of
Nuh’s governance only to crash again during the destruction of the Tower of Babel (Figure 10).
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Figure 10: Natural cycle of global governance.
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The
cycle repeated to witness the Drowning of Pharaoh, the Fall of Rome and the
Fall of World Order (Global Governance) and may even be extrapolated to
anticipate the natural and inevitable fall of the New World Order and the
Renaissance of Asia.
Using this schema to
look at explanations of History of World Architecture or World History of
Architecture it seems that a predominantly Orientalist/ Eurocentric ideology is
revealed. |
| History of architecture
chooses to begin after Ibrahim, zooming in the periods other than the periods
of Governance by People of The Book, viz. Egyptian, Graeco-Roman, Christian/ Byzantine
and Renaissance/ Modern or contemporary architecture (Figure 11).
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Figure 11: Linear history of world
architecture.
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Islamic architecture (by implication Islam) is
disinformatively appropriated the Post-Muhammad period, far from the holistic
Islam, a term coined by Ibrahim. From the location of the Renaissance/ Modern
period following the Dark Ages (“bright” for the Governance of People Of The
Book), the eurocentricity of this linear narrative is obvious. History of
architecture is therefore a narrative of the downfall of the Governance of
People Of The Book. It is within this Eurocentric ideological construct that
Islamic architecture lost its substance, reduced to merely form (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Architecture of the dead.
And
this is just one example of the of a eurocentric deconstructive exercise making
up the basis of our ideologies today and should be debunked. This constitute
the single main challenge of a series of challenges we face today.
2. First Challenge: Developing
and Adopting the Model of Production
Whatever the situation Asia and the world would
be in time to come, the asset of any program of architecture is its ideology
which must depart from its Eurocentric relatives. What is needed is a concerted
effort to understand and develop an alternative ideological seed so that all
actors in the production of architecture shall be accommodated and not excluded.
To do this we need to look at what eurocentrism diametrically opposes, i.e. the
authority of The Book, The Reading, The Differentiator (and 50 other
lesser known titles).
In
Chapter 114, Mankind, Allah defines Himself as Ruler, King and Master of
Mankind (Figure 13),
Figure 13: Allah as Ruler, King, Master.
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| As Ruler He outlines
His RULES; as King He sets the requisites of His KINGDOM, as
Master he defines the criteria of His SERVANTS. While servants are actors,
the kingdom is a site on which His rules apply; this is
expressed in Figure 14. |
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Ruler
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King
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Master
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Rules
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Kingdom
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Servants
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RULE
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SITE
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ACTOR
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Figure 14: Basic Elements of Production 1.
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It is narrated on the authority of Amirul
Mu'minin, Abu Hafs 'Umar bin al-Khattab who said, “I heard the Messenger of
Allah said, ‘Actions are (judged) by niyyah (intention).’” |
| This may be summed up
as follows: a niyyah (INTENTION) is judged to determine the value (ACT)
of an action (PRODUCT) hence the basic element of production, intention,
act, product (Figure 15). |
Figure 15: Basic Elements of Production 2.
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Refining the basic models further, we find that
an intention must belong to an Actor (student, teacher, architect,
client, community, authority); Rules (law, regulation, canon,
convention, custom, rite, ritual) govern the Act (learn, unlearn, build,
supervise, manage, enable, inhabit, experiment); this produces on the Site (earth,
town, kampung, board, paper, web), a Product (idea, model, schema,
building, community, kampung, state, order).
Production must therefore involve all the six
elements derived from the trinary of Actor (with Intention), Rule
(that defines an Act), and Site (Product location). This
is the Basic Production Model (Figure 16).
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Actor
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Rule
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Site
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Intention
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Act
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Product
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Figure 16:
Basic Production Model.
2.3 Adopting the Basic Production
Model as the Model of Architecture Production:
Understanding
the basic Production Model, it may then be reworded - an Actor (with Intention)
Acts (by the Rules) to produce a Product (on Site).
The model /paradigm (Figure 17) may thus be stated as follows:
Figure 17: Production Model.
an architecture production is the making of a product
(located on a site somewhere) by an actor, acting (and going
by the rules) on an intention.
3. Second Challenge: Deploying &
Monitoring Model of Architecture Production
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| This conference may be
summed up as shown in Figure 18. Actors (architects/ architectural
educators and educationists) with their intentions (theories and
models of education) act (function in architecture programs using
methodologies and techniques) based on specific rules (culture,
economy, technology) to generate products (practice, experience) which
would be used on a site (rapidly changing Asia). All would be useful
in the production of the Asian Renaissance. |
Figure 18: Conference Framework.
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3.1.2
Student Activitism: Penang Declaration of Architecture, 1997. |
| As opposed to using
the Renaissance anthropocentricity, students of architecture from ten
institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, and guests from Singapore and
Thailand, experiencing the pressure of the globalization, agreed to shift
direction by formalizing it in the Penang Declaration of Architecture for
Millennium 3 in 1997 (Figure 19). This was held during the annual national
architecture workshop (Minggu Alam Bina), themed “1, 2, 3… Univers” suggesting
the quantum leap necessary to adopt a universal model of architecture
production. |
Figure 19: Penang Declaration of Architecture,
1997.
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An analysis of the Declaration
is shown in Figure 20.
Subsequent workshops
explored this mode of production. The forthcoming workshop in 2008, again to
be hosted by USM would hopefully be taking Architecture Production into yet
another area closer to the model.
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Figure 20: Analysis of Penang Declaration.
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3.1.3 Courses:
Introduction to the Built-Environment, 1997-2007.
| The Production Model
is also deployed to underlay the freshmen course, Introduction to the Built
Environment and Human Settlement. Minus the nano and extra-terrestrial scales
on both extremes, the Production Model provides an overall map of the realm
of the production of the built environment (Figure 21) from which students
may then choose their profession, well-aware of the overall context of
environmental production. |
Figure 21:
Course Schema.
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While some students may just study for their examinations,
some who went beyond only to came back after their graduation to exchange ideas
on the practicality of the Production Model in architecture practice, education
and networking.
Three years after the Penang
Declaration of Architecture, the Ministry of Education of Malaysia in 2000 mustered representatives from all architecture programs in the state universities
to work out a strategy to address the UIA Accord’s Recommended International Standards of
Professionalism in Architectural Practice (the Accord) which
had seemingly threatened the authority. One of the statements of concern is
“That courses must be accredited/validated/recognized by an
independent relevant authority, external to the university at reasonable time
intervals (usually no more than 5-years), and that the UIA, in association with
the relevant national organizations of higher education, develop standards for
the content of an architect's professional education that are academically
structured, intellectually coherent, performance-based and outcome-oriented,
with procedures that are guided by good practice.” |
| USM took a different
stand from the Ministry as UIA’s expressed intention to legitimate
architecture education programs in Malaysia seemed to have fitted into the
Production Model (Figure 18) except for one component; the rule, specified as
“procedures that are guided by good practice”.What would constitute
“procedures guided by good practice”? |
Figure 18: UIA Accord for Accreditation of
Architect’s Education
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Perhaps this is best answered with a question,
Do they
then seek the law of the jahiliyah? And who is better than Allah for a people
who have firm Faith. Al-Maidah
5:50.
After several discussions and submission of
proposals from all universities, the issue was frozen. It seems that “The
Council for Architectural Education Malaysia (CAEM) have adopted the Accord in
evaluating architectural syllabus for the Institutes of Higher Learning in Malaysia”;
the production of yet another Eurocentric hegemony.
3.1.5 USM
Architecture Program
Niche: Ekotektur, 2004
Under the guidelines of the Union of
International Architects now, the Ministry of Education of Malaysia, in 2004, instructed each faculty of architecture program in Malaysia to define its niche,
its specialty, forté. Again the Production Model was used to map out areas that
each staff member was working on in Teaching, Research and Consultancy. As the
predominant rule was agreed to be Natural Law, keywords were suggested, and
finally ECOTECTURE was adopted to best represent USM’s niche.
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| Gary Chen (USM Class of 99), after
having set up his own practice, realized the limits of building jobs in Malaysia. He left for Singapore to take on jewellery design projects when he remembered the
Production Model and Year 2 projects, and started his blog (Figure 22). If at
all, the Production Model has enabled GC to take control over the overall
production, sad or otherwise. |
Figure 22:
GC Atelier Blog.
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Iskandar Shah (USM Class of 98) chooses not to practice architecture
but maintains his intention to design by setting up his own design enterprise
which implicitly adopts the Production Model in the integration of architecture
with media, film, animation and the internet (Figure 23) to produce various
proposals in various localities including the Middle East.
Figure 23:
Right
Hand Fingers Creations
Deploying the Production Model has allowed Right Hand
Fingers to state that “his employees are all university dropouts” whose
intentions differ substantially from existing architecture institutions and
would generate substantially different products.
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| David Yek (USM Class of 00) runs a
one-man office and contributes to the Taylor’s College Architecture program
as a studio-master which keeps generating controversial projects. Having
examined the studio projects, it was found that David had used the Production
Model within or without the studio. The intention to explore/ experiment
produced products which are not within the norms of conventional
architecture. |
Figure 24:
Studio, Taylor’s College, 2005.
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That seems to be
the nature of the Production Model.
4.1 Intention
To
prepare strategies in educating architects in this region, it necessarily
involve communities and governments.
4.2 Act
Based
on the adoption of the centrality of the Supreme Power, consolidate and share
resources of participating institutions, be they education, practice or
non-practice.
4.3 Product
Global Architecture Program (GAP).
Final Challenge:
GAP
generating global actors (teachers, students, architects, communities) useful
in the holistic design and management of the globe. After all
“And I (Allah) created not the jinns
and humans except they should enslave to Me.” .
1. AlQuran. Arabic &
multi-lingual translation:
http://www.al-islam.com/eng/, 3 English
translations:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/, Muhammad
Asad. The Message of The Quran. Dar Al-Andalus, Gibraltar 1980.
2. Encarta Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation,
2006.
3. Foucault, Michel. The
Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, Vintage Books
Edition, Apr 1994.
4. Foucault, Michel. The
Archaeology of Knowledge (1969), Routledge, 1972.
5. GC Atelier.
http://gcatelier.blogspot.com/.
6. Imran Hosein.
http://www.imranhosein.org/.
7. Kuhn, Thomas. The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), University of Chicago Press, 1962.
8. Penang Declaration of
Architecture for Millennium 3, 1997 (unpublished).
9. Right Hand Fingers
Creations Ateliers.
http://www.righthandfingers.com/
10. Said, Edward. Orientalism.
New York: Pantheon Books; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; Toronto: Random House, 1978.
11. UIA:
http://www.aia.org/about_uia,
UIA Accord:
http://www.uia-architectes.org/image/PDF/Pro_Pra/ACCORD.pdf,
UIA Accord, Malaysia:
http://www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/UIAMalaysiaApplication.pdf
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