KUCHING: Hock Seng Lee (HSL) has announced its second national architecture competition, titled “AIR — Building With Nature.”
This competition follows the successful Langit competition held in 2021 and is jointly organised with the Malaysian Architecture Institute (PAM).
The AIR competition focuses on developing a masterplan for a 13-acre plot of land situated between Kuching International Airport and Saradise. HSL, the landowner and competition promoter, collaborates with PAM, which is responsible for organising the competition.
The competition is open to PAM members nationwide.
A statement issued by HSL yesterday (June 8) detailed the competition’s cash prizes, which total RM245,000. The top prize is RM120,000, followed by RM60,000 for second place, RM30,000 for third place and seven consolation prizes of RM5,000 each.
Similar to Langit, HSL said the competition will be professionally run with judging based purely on merit in which PAM will present all entries anonymously for the initial shortlisting, after which individual architects (or teams) will be called to present to jurors.
“The success of any project starts with a good idea.HSL wants to have more open competitions because we believe in the value of good ideas. Competitions are progressive in nature and among the best ways to uncover new talent,” HSL managing director Datuk Paul Yu Chee Hoe said.
Yu said that AIR is a challenging site and added that he hoped the competition would find the best design solutions.
He explained submissions would be judged on environmental and commercial considerations.
“First, it is next to the airport, so there is a clear height limit. All sides are already surrounded by other developments. Third, and hardest of all, there is a small river that runs through the entire land.
“We are asking for eco and financial sustainability. For any development to be truly green, it must be financially sustainable. We want to build and maintain something long-lasting.
“We want plenty of fresh air and water for this project,” Yu added.
Yu said the name AIR was chosen, as it represents “the air above us”, and also, in Malay, ‘air’ means water, representing the river through the site.
AIR is PAM’s only architecture competition this year. Its most recent was last year in Penang.
PAM president Adrianta Aziz, who is the jury chair, commended HSL for being a forward-thinking and open-minded builder.
“On behalf of architects in Malaysia, I would like to thank HSL for organising their second competition. This is a platform for architects to showcase our ideas, talent and hardwork
“More importantly, HSL is supporting an open and transparent town building process. Architects get to submit their ideas and have these ideas put on public display. Everyone gets to see, comment, and discuss openly about the merits of submissions,” Adrianta said.
He said the AIR competition encourages engagement between public, private sectors, and across industries, from designers to consultants and suppliers.
“Ultimately, the people of Kuching will benefit the most from open competitions,” he added.
In 2021’s HSL and PAM Langit competition, a total of 112 design entries were received. This April, HSL and Ascott announced they would build and operate the Langit Citadines Kuching, a 27-storey twin-tower development based on a winning entry in Kuching city centre.
For more info, visit airkch.com, or search #airkch on social media.
