BES2025 Design Forum — Uncharted/Unchartered
An uncharted territory is an unmapped land, and an unchartered property is an unregulated or lawless area, so venturing into these places is perilous and requires preparedness, adaptability, and innovation. Uncharted/Unchartered was not just a witty play on homophones to create a mnemonic connection to the inaugural Borneo Eco Show 2025 Design Forum, held from 9 to 10 May 2025. As a theme for the Forum, it served to guide the eight speakers—with practices based in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and the United States—in preparing their presentations. The two words alluded to the notion of journeying over unfamiliar ground that demanded ingenuity and risk-taking—a useful framing for the speakers to highlight both the daunting challenges and the value propositions in the projects to be discussed.
Urbanism and large-scale developments were the focus of the first day’s four speakers. Nicholas Ling of Lateral Operations spoke about the idea of activating common spaces as vibrant community opportunities in his design speculation with high-density social housing. This early design probe shaped the architectural strategies of his subsequent built projects. In his two Cambodian developments, the common spaces were energised for communal engagement. The SOMA HQ office tower extended the vibrancy of the streets vertically and diagonally up the building through sky terraces and atriums. The ‘Commune’ housing organised living units around a courtyard injected with Spanish steps, pocket parks, and water gardens that served the spill-over of people from the commercial fringes.
In the same vein, Ryan Brooker of WAA+ spoke about blurring the boundaries between community/culture and commerce. He observed that traditionally, the streets, back alleys, and lanes in Chinese old cities are spaces where business exchanges and community interactions co-existed simultaneously. This lesson was relevant and paramount in all shopping mall projects undertaken by WAA+ in China. Malls were designed to integrate blue and green spaces that were also catalysts for commercial, communal, and cultural activities—all at the same time. Shopping experiences amidst parks and naturalised settings have become the unique selling point to define new malls for overcoming the threat of online shopping conveniences. The strategies re-emphasised Joseph Pine’s and James Gilmore’s notion of the experience economy, where shopping is infused with memorable experiences. The Raffles City malls in Chongqing and Changning, Shanghai were cited to illustrate the impact of branding by experiences.
Brooker’s colleague Ma Yue elaborated on the Raffles City Changning project, where a historical building—St Mary’s Girls’ School—and its courtyards were conserved and unified with the new commercial complex. The unique open spaces between the new and the old vary in scale and atmosphere, allowing for a diversity of social and commercial experiences. Their Shanghai Apple Store at the Jing’an Temple site was conceived as an integral part of a public plaza and park. The architecture of the Apple Store was literally the urban landscape.
On this note, WAA+ projects provided an interesting counterpoint to what we usually associate with classic Chinese gardens as walled and exclusive destinations. WAA+’s landscape malls and large projects like Yan’an Zhong Lu Central Greenspace and Xujiahui Park were part of a new wave of contemporary urban greening projects that redefined the Chinese garden as accessible, inclusive, and memorable interfaces to various urban destinations.
The final keynote speaker of the day was David Chen of Pelli Clarke & Partners. His introduction to the firm’s history and accomplishments reconnected us to many architectural familiarities that have iconised major cities. We were reminded of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, and the Pacific Design Centre in Los Angeles. David’s talk focused on urban revitalisation through mixed-use Transit Oriented Development (TOD). He spoke about the Salesforce Transit Centre in San Francisco and the Yibin High-Speed Rail District Masterplan, providing a comprehensive account of the former. The Salesforce Transit Centre was a major linear development integrating both local and regional public transportation systems. At its roof was a lush 5.4-acre public park—a green lung for that part of the downtown area. Like the effect of acupuncture, this transit-based revitalisation created a bustling mixed-use neighbourhood by increasing density, amenities, connectivity, and a distinct urban identity.
In his book The New Science of Cities, Michael Batty described the city not as places in space but as systems of networks and flows. The Salesforce Transit Centre was a demonstration of successful place-making through its ability to relate and synergise with various urban systems and social forces. I imagined that it was a feat involving the engagement of multiple stakeholders as well as drawing on knowledge from complexity sciences, social physics, urban economics, transportation theory, regional science, ecology, urban geography, etc.
On the second day, the remaining four speakers—in contrast to the corporate practices before them—shared the smaller and largely residential-scale projects of their boutique practices.
Willis Kusuma provided us with a framework of five points to understand his design approaches. His mixed-use project at Cikajang, Ciam House, a photographer’s studio, and the Bali United-in-Diversity Campus were underpinned by critical responses to the client’s programme, context, spatial richness, craft, and climate. His residential projects were consistently composed of the careful organisation of concrete boxes, emphasising interstitial spaces and porosity to achieve environmental effects. His meticulous architectural detailing spoke of his formative period with Meier Partners. His elucidation of the United-in-Diversity campus building showed how his five points have scalable relevance for larger buildings as well.
Narein Perera, who teaches and practises in Sri Lanka, intellectualised tropical architecture as a mediation of conflicts demanding equal priorities. He identified these as: filter/insulate, protect/create freedom, and distance/isolate. In each of the dwelling designs he presented, he highlighted the key mediation or resolution achieved. The Birdcage House was about filter and porosity to achieve thermal comfort without compromising daylight. The Solis Ortus House, with its orientation, form, courtyards, and operable walls, summarised his definition of tropical architecture succinctly.
Chaw Chih Wen described his practice as small and slow. ‘Slow’ might well refer to a contemplative process, suggesting that his design actions were not based on preconception but on ‘not knowing a priori’. Unlike the speakers before him, Chih Wen chose to use a timeline to reveal the interconnected ideas or development of thoughts across his works over the years. His matrimonial apartment and the ‘Sensible House’ adopted a strategy and detailing that made interior spaces clearly demarcated and at the same time permeable. These were gaps between walls and floors or obscure openings—not just for natural ventilation but also to address the need for a dwelling to reveal the flitted presence of family members, either from a side glance or via the bedroom light leaking through a slit. That theme of ‘sensing the environment’ was pivoted again in his Amanor Hotel in Chiang Mai and the Rain House. In the Rain House, the homage to Ando’s Azuma House was apparent, as was the influence of Watsuji’s philosophical notion of climate as a key element in understanding human existence. The absence of a shelter from the front house to the back unit was a deliberate act to engage with the tropical climate in a designated space.
Hsiao Yu-Chih introduced his concept of ‘Megaweaving’ to describe his making and material exploration derived from his Cranbrook education. This interest further evolved into a design approach for integrating diverse ideas through interdisciplinary collaboration. This was evident in his installation works, which involved construction supported by other industries, with outcomes allowing for flexible usage across different venues and occasions. The House of Freedom, fabricated by a pigeon roost maker, was first deployed in the 2011 Young Designer Exhibition for design outreach, and subsequently served various functions in fifteen locations over a decade. His other works—Cupboard House, Aluminium Ladder on the Road, and Big Onion on the Road—all shared the same design tenet of extending purpose and durability.
As an Associate Professor at Shih Chien University, he led service-learning design studios, offering architectural students the opportunity to engage with underserved communities. Some of these projects included the renovation of library spaces in village schools and the creation of community hubs. One endearing teaching approach was a community engagement workshop requiring students to identify actionable improvement projects within their neighbourhood and implement them with a limited budget of US$3 per proposal. The workshop was a form of ‘Megaweaving’—interweaving learning, community engagement, environmental improvement, resource optimisation, and DIY implementation into a single agenda.
It was clearly a well-curated forum, with each speaker offering insightful takeaways that have inspired our practices. We saw the value of unbuilt ideas rigorously pursued and transformed into practical and meaningful applications in actual developments. We gained an understanding of the impact and potential of landscape urbanism, and how complex urban projects were designed using systems-thinking approaches involving interdisciplinary efforts. We were motivated to think critically and intellectualise our practices—producing design manifestos or practice maxims to guide the quality of our architectural practices. We were encouraged to consider the value of post-occupancy evaluation, even for a dwelling, so that we might draw new lessons when our designs engage with the daily lives of users over time.
As an endnote to the design forum, Yu-Chih stressed the importance of finding one’s place in the large domain of architectural practice in order to seek meaning, purpose, and fulfilment. His practice is fluid—alternating between designing architecture and creating art installations, depending on the objectives of the fund-granting client. The lesson he offered was that our architectural skills and knowledge also have value and purpose beyond the real estate or construction industries. We should seek uncharted opportunities and unchartered paradigms to expand our practices.
Share this post
