10.5.2025 Saturday - good summing up

 Sometimes things turns out well quite by accident. 

About a month ago, we received news that one of our speakers could not take part in our design forum. This was further complicated by the change of timing for the launching by the Dep. Premier of Sarawak.

SO we had to change the 2-day programme - the local speaker always presents first so Nick remained where he was. We decided to move all the speakers from large companies (and also coincidentally not selected by me) to the first day - Ryan and MaYue were from the same company but were given extra time to present, stretching the morning sessions till lunch time. David anchored the afternoon session until the Dep. Premier arrived. We also decided on the day to move the Q&A to Day 2 so that we had all 8 speakers on stage. 

Day 2 speakers were from smaller firms, and the audience is more able to relate to their projects, I recall deliberately putting Yu Chih as the last speaker because I felt that his projects have a feel-good vibe about it and is a good way to end the forum. Kok Ming must have felt that as well, as he gave Yu-Chih the chance to give the final word - to give advise to the small and up coming firms in the audience. 

In summary, he tells his student to have the courage to do what is needed, and if  their proposal is not accepted, it might not be a mistake, it is simply not right for this moment. He tells his students to go out and find their clients, there is a project out there. Similarly MaYue advises the long view, that things do not succeed overnight, and have to be constantly reviewed for improvement. 

a conversation with Si Yong two weeks before the forum

 

closing minutes of the forum - Narein (speaking) David Chen, Ryan Brooker (hidden from view), Yu-Chih, Kok Ming, Willis, Chih Wen, Nick Ling, Ma Yue.

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.