9.5.2025 Friday - Borneo Eco Show begins

Extracted from opening statements of the BES Design Forum

Welcome to the first Borneo Eco Show Design Forum, over the next two days we will hear 8 speakers from all over the world talk about their projects who speak to the theme which we have proposed for the forum. This afternoon, we will have the official launching of the Borneo Eco Show by the Deputy Premier of Sarawak, Dr Sim Kui Hian. As you might know, the Borneo Eco-Show is a personal initiative by 2 local architects who are keen to test their ability to create a sustainable platform to raise awareness and inspire action from the coming, about energy and the built environment, about the digital world and human habitat. And to engage with government agencies, fellow designers, industry. They do all these while running a busy architecture practice, in Steven's case - 2 practices. This is what my grandma would say,...

And as you might also be aware, the Borneo has also prepared a trade expo for the next 2 days. You would have seen in on your way in. Their team wanted to explore the idea of using a recyclable system for the expo booths, on that note the forum doesn't provide bottled water for the audience, and you can return your tags and lanyards for re use. And on Sunday, the Borneo Eco Show has organised a run, 3k, 5k and 15k with prize money to be won. It's true when they say that Sarawakians don't do things by half measures.
And of course, in order to do this, we have had plenty of support from our local chapter of the Malaysian Institute of Architecture, Business Events Sarawak, Swinburne University, IntoDesign Lab, industry partners and various fellow architects. Thank you for making this event possible.

And finally, it is my pleasant duty to introduce our Moderator, who helped frame the theme for our design forum.
Cheah Kok Ming is a architecture design educator at the National university of Singapore. He tells me that his job is to teach students how to ask beautiful questions to inform design decisions. He previously worked with the Public Works Department, and clp designed schools museum and research institutes. He is a member of the Board of Architects, Singapore, where he serves in the accreditation team. He's my friend, you know...

On that note, I conclude my opening remarks. Is everyone ready? Let's begin.