NEWS
RMIT academic to lead global architecture gathering in Malaysia
Architect and RMIT Professor Tom Kovac will lead the inaugural Malaysia Biennial after being appointed Artistic Director and Curator of the landmark multi-disciplinary event.
RMIT architecture alumni Giana Zulkafli and Don Nazrain were also announced as directors of the event, along with a roll call of the world’s top architects.
To be held in May this year, the Malaysia Biennial 2015 is an international, multi-disciplinary collaborative research project designed to create visionary ideas for the future evolution of cities and communities.
It aims to bring together more than 500 prominent architects, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, economists, artists, philosophers and students to shape new ideas for low cost housing.
Professor Kovac, the Director of the 100YC program in the School of Architecture and Design, said the event would showcase the highest levels of thought, research and design in architectural culture.
He said the Biennial’s theme 100YC [Year City] World Wide Workshop aimed to create a vision for development of Malaysia – one that will enrich and transform its future in the next 100 years.“The ambitions of Malaysia Biennial 2015 are to create a global workshop of open source collaboration; an international event that contemplates the possibility of a future for Malaysia in the next 100 years,” he said.
“Through workshops and research carried out by institutions, as well as projects and exhibitions, Malaysia Biennial is an attempt at global collaboration that analyses the key problems, proposes solutions and invests in stocks for the short, medium and long term.”
RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design will lead the 100YC [Year City] project research workshop with support from international architecture schools and institutions. Leading architects and researchers Hernan Diaz Alonso, Jose Alfano, Matias Del Campo, Reiner Zettl, Spela Mlakar, Florencia Pita, Dale Jones Evans and Brent Allpress have already met in Venice to discuss the future direction of the Malaysian Biennial 2015.
Professor Kovac said the initiative would enable global connectivity, collaboration and the sharing of urban and architectural outcomes under the direction of innovative international architects.
“It is architecture's most global gathering, where thousands of people interested in the future of Malaysia will meet and learn and we are confident of seeing many interesting possibilities,” he said.
The Malaysia Biennial 2015 will also include exhibitions, a symposium and online collaboration modules, with leading international architecture schools.
Each institution will be invited to present research-led visions, highlighting elaborate research developed by architecture schools through a collaborative online platform.
An exhibition at the KTMB Kuala Lumpur Railway Station will showcase the final project next August, with an interactive "live lab" series.
Professor Kovac, who has lectured and exhibited throughout Europe, Japan and the United States, holds the honour of being the only Australian architect invited to design a proposal for a new World Trade Centre in New York.