Hello.

I am finishing my Part 1 Bachelor Degree in Architecture soon.

My lecturer commended me on having quite good on design theory and developing concept statements. However he did gave me an advice that Malaysian's field of study on architecture are more focused on the technical side, compared to the ones abroad which pushes more on the design concepts. I know that LAM no longer accredits Part 2 RIBA courses, but he did say I am more geared to UK school of thought based on how I did my project and possibly faces challenge if I study locally (or even practice).

I would like to ask, is Malaysian architecture industry isn't really that interested in new concepts and ideas? Rather design another building (based on existing ones), only the cladding/skin and facade is "designed" to give meaning instead of utilising whatever we studied. It's unlike how I've seen and read about other international firms do their design development especially on competitions.

I don't know. My strength isn't there because I loathe this situation as I have experienced in my practical training. I didn't doubt about my ability to delve deeper in architecture, but the expectation of the industry to accept me specifically in local context.

I am still learning who knows nothing much and just only got the gist of architecture, but I'm really worried about my career path. I think I'm ill suited to continue for my Masters/Part 2

This post has been edited by cend: Jul 11 2016, 02:14 AM

This is a bit tricky, because the issue about technical competency isnt unique in msia. It is also a problem in the UK. But what makes it more of a problem in msia (or any asian countries) for that matter is that we are easily pushed over.

And by that i mean by other consultants. U will immediately notice this when u go into practice soon. Without technical competency, u cant even supervise a diploma holder on whether their working dwgs that they just completed for u is correct or not.

Then there's the civil engineers who will refuse to figure out ur slightly different beam structure; and the mechanical eng who will bitch about the otherwise simple plumbing system; or the QS who just dont give a damn about ur design and just say "its too expensive"!

Basically, if u dont have the technical expertise, u can forget about those design theories bcoz u'll get bulldozed by others.

Why is it less prevalent in the UK? Bcoz the programme makes them resourceful architects who can learn what they need when they need it and have the BALLS to push through. And they have consultants and builders who are eager to realize YOUR dreams (and get paid doing so).

So if u wanna study locally, find schools that are both technically and theoretically strong.

I'd like to add. The primary driving force is, as evil as it sounds, money.

This is gonna be involving so many aspects of the 'system' including the construction industry, money game, politics, human factor, population etc, I'm not sure I could make myself clear so, let's start.

First off, Malaysia is still demanding a lot of affordable housing. Like many Asian countries, population growth is very rapid due to ethnic and religious reasons. For some, contraception for some reason is forbidden; then there are some family insist they have at least a boy or keep on trying. Seemingly most of the modern problems are due to uncontrollable population growth and ineffective means to cope with it. Then the deep-rooted thought of owning a house (at least for Chinese) is a primary life goal has keep the demand for real estate growing.

In a market where the demand forces are strong, with scarce supply (of land and units), real estate prices goes up. This presents a very profitable business opportunity for many people. As an essential of life, someone's going to pay for it no matter how expensive it got. In order to squeeze the opportunity and money from an average citizen's account, and the governments attempt to house more people in urbanised area where land are limited, the option is go high-rise. The capitalists with financial capability are able to initiate projects and became property developer.

In a country where the government policy is to ensure citizen are not well-educated and not well-informed (so they could carry on being deceived and vote for the ruling party) has resulted in a very dumb population, being unable to progress civilisation up to pace with our neighbouring countries like Singapore and Japan. Hence Malaysia is still stuck in an era whereby workforce are cheaply paid and no respect given. This translates to a labour-intensive culture, which applies to the foreign construction workers and professional consultants. In a market which is primarily dominated by developer corporations, their interest lies only in profit they get from selling real estates.

For a typical project, in order to maximise profit, they start the projects by taking the architect with the lowest fee and team of consultants regardless of their competency. Although there is a scale of minimum fees, many disgraceful architects in Malaysia however decided to charge ridiculously low fees on projects in order to cash in more projects. In order to save costs running the practice, usually it is the lowly paid graduates or interns doing all the works with unpaid overtime to get the job done. The workload and the stress associated with meeting deadlines and complying to building codes and hundreds of requirements from some council departments which you may never heard of, ultimately resulted in time-saving measures, which in-turn discourages innovation in practice.

In addition to more time (money), expertise of knowledge (money) and effort (money) to produce, innovation or bold design decisions requires risk-taking. On risk, property developers in Malaysia are always conservative as they need to make sure their pigeon-holes sells (money). It is the consultants who certify a building fit for occupancy, whereas local council and the developer are completely not liable. To architects and engineers, the risk lies not just in practicality and aesthetics but also in liability (money, license and jobs that are lost when you lost your license and/or engaged in an extended lawsuit, which drains money). Hence, the consultants will/can only rely on the done-and-tested way of doing things. And the architect became mere facade decorator.

You mentioned competition? How often do you see a major project in Malaysia has carried out an architectural competition? There is only financial competition whereby you bid lower than your fellow contemporaries, if the project is not awarded to cronies of the owner.

It all boils down to money. Everyone seemed to be happy with this outcome. Architects are happily undertaking jobs at record low fees. Client's are either delaying the already low payments (if they are paying at all). Architecture schools happily taking students (and fees) turning them into graduates which feeds into a vicious circle. LAM and PAM appears to be content with the current situation (if they are actually aware of it otherwise being too busy having dinner parties ...to a point that, I wonder why do local universities conduct architecture courses anyway?

Well written and it is really honest account on the current situation in Malaysia. ugly side indeed and really the only way to change it is from the side of our beloved government, hope is gone and fading away slowly, talents are slowly all moving away out

this. it's a sad reality for architects in our country. in the end, all are controlled by the client. architects are just facade designer or for filling of requirements.

But I have seldom seen any architect driving less than a Mercedes Benz in Msia.

architects dont do what normal people do. when everyone wears colour, he'll wear black. when everyone drinks starbucks, he'll go coffee bean. when everyone drives mercedez, he'll probably drive an audi .

Update:

LAM will proceed in revoking automatic accreditation of foreign degrees as previously mentioned first thing next year (1 jan 2017). CAAEM is currently in the process of validating overseas schools which is part of international recognition programme.

at the moment, ONE university have acquired validation for both LAM part 1 and 2:

Monash University
Monash Art Design and Architecture (MADA)
Australia.

please note that accreditation and validation does not trickle down to its sister/branch schools. meaning dont enroll to monash malaysia and assume it's also accredited! more schools are in the validation pipeline, so please bear with us.

Hi Mr Aza, may i know when is the intake of UTM Part 2 this year?
I'm graduated from UM Part 1 in year 2013, and have been working in Singapore for 3 years, I would like to go back to finish my Part 2.

September intake is closed already. Next is february. U may start applying in sept. But be quick, it fills up quite fast.

thank you. What are the main criteria they are looking for the Part 2 Candidate in UTM? As in the working experience aspect?

generally, working experience-wise, we're looking at diversity of projects involved, preferably at multiple levels. meaning u could be involved in housing, commercial and institutional. at the same time, u're involved during ideation process with the client, as technical designer, or site inspector. the more diverse ur portfolio, the better.

and if u can, show urself in leadership roles in the office. like managing a meeting alone. or was incharge in certain aspects in the practice (like in charge of working drawing production) and so on.

projects do not have to be big. what we're looking for is diversity and depth.

Thanks for reply,
Anyone currently studying architecture in Germany or graduated from one of the universities in Germany?
Since it is tuition fee free, would it be a good option for them who are tight in budget but intend to explore a different type of education and life?

Dear Mr.Aza,

I am a Part I architect which have been working in an architecture firm 2.5years, and now looking to further my studies for Master Architecture (Part II).

I am applying for USM, UPM and UKM. I know 3 of these Uni the Master Part II r not accredited by LAM, I wondering why since UKM have stated their Part II by Year 2005, but they still can't get the accreditation by LAM Part II until now? While Taylor's just started the Part II on Year 2013, and now they got the accreditation by LAM. Could Mr.Aza enlighten me the problem? Thank You.

i'm not aware that UKM has been offering part 2 since 2005. let me check first.

i know UKM only recently started the part 2 masters programme, but they need to produce the 1st cohort before accreditation can take place. like taylor's, started 2013, produced 1st grad recently and immediately go for accreditation and got it. so i'm sure UKM would do the same too.

but like i said earlier, i'm not particularly certain about its previous part 2 programme.

Mr.Aza, thanks for your replied. I am according to the UKM official website, the introduction of department of architecture. This is why i curious about their accreditation for part II.

By the way, is Mr.Aza know is there a min. students required to start a course? and any min. numbers of student required to call for accreditation from LAM during the final semester? TQ.

sorry for the late reply. been away for a while.

i did a check, and there was indeed several batches produced by UKM. however, the reason(s) why they didnt get LAM part 2 is unclear to me. but from what i understand, currently they're going for masters and try to go for that accreditation directly.

to qualify for accreditation, the school must at least produce a sizable cohort that would be statistically sound in order to determine that the programme offered meets the standard set. normally this would be around 15-20 graduating students. but we have seen a number as low as 8 students only. basically, if the number is to small, we cant be sure if the students were inherently good before they start or they became good because of the programme.

so at 15-20 students passing, they would be confident enough that it is not a fluke or statistical anomaly.

Hi Mr. Azari, UPU result came out today at 12pm noon.
It gave me UTM- kejuruteraan awam which is my 2nd choice.
What can I do to maybe re-appeal to get my first choice UTM - architecture ?

Hi Mr. Azari, UPU result came out today at 12pm noon.
It gave me UTM- kejuruteraan awam which is my 2nd choice.
What can I do to re-appeal to get my first choice UTM - architecture ?

try and check under UPU, there should be a rayuan button somewhere.

but at the moment, we have maxed out our architecture placements. so even if u merayu now, u wont get a placement unless somebody rejects our offer.