An interview with KLAF Director
Ar. Dr. Lim Teng Ngiom
Can you share about your plans for this year’s KLAF? What are your goals and objectives? What do you want attendants to take home with them?
This year’s KLAF in a way celebrates the opening up of social restrictions after two years of MCOs, lock-downs and social distancing. People need to gather again to realise their ability to connect with others. So, attendees can meet with friends and colleagues again and have a good time. Meanwhile, KLAF 2022 is spreading outwards to downtown KL and participants are encouraged to join with the activities there. Other creators across disciplines have been invited to present their creations for the eventual building up of the creative industry.
What is the one thing attendants need to see or hear at KLAF this year?
Enjoy and be inspired, but also be a creator yourself and see how you are going to manage yourself to be a creator, having heard and interacted with the speakers.
Why was the theme of Mindshaping For The Future selected for this year and why is it relevant?
Look around us beyond our shores and we will see, compared with our neighbours, that we are falling behind in our creative energy. If anything, we are becoming more regressive and less open with our thinking while neighbours forge ahead. We need to wake up and reset our minds collectively. This has to come from bottom up. When our natural resources, especially oil runs out, all we have left is our creative energy. This is a cultural issue, hence collectively, we need to Mindshape for the Future.
How do you unify the concepts of “shaping minds” with freeing the mind in creating solutions for every need or problems? Isn’t design supposed to be about letting the imagination loose?
We are all shaped by our surroundings and context. In order to be free to create, the context must allow us to do so. Mindshaping is a collective move to reshape our surroundings in order for us to be free. This is explained in detail in the book “Mindshaping for the Future”. The book costs very little so, those interested are urged to get a copy. The book comes out to coincide with DATUM.
Look around us beyond our shores and we will see, compared with our neighbours, that we are falling behind in our creative energy. We need to wake up and reset our minds collectively. When our natural resources, especially oil runs out, all we have left is our creative energy.
How has the events of the past two years, namely, the global lockdowns with businesses disrupted, changed the architecture profession?
Everything has changed since the disruption. Our bond with the internet and the hand-held device has become even stronger. Artificial Intelligence has forged ahead while humans are in lockdown. The rich elites have become wealthier while the working masses are scrambling to hang on to their previous lives or are falling in the standard of living. As AI takes over, people will have less opportunities. Economists think that the answer lies with the creative industry and countries around us are already building up their creative industries while we slumber. Even this (creative industry) is not the complete answer to manage the future. The book “Mindshaping for the Future” explains it with data. The above applies to the architecture profession too.
The accidental city is still much more interesting than a completely planned city, with more surprises and vibrancy. The best way to plan is to provide the guidelines and infrastructure and let human enterprise do the rest.
Cities used to grow by “accident” except for a few planned cities like Paris, Rome, etc. Is it too late for us to start looking into planning our future cities? And what are the challenges involved in transforming existing cities to adapt to future needs?
Old and new cities can be planned. Planning old cities is a bit like knitting to repair old precious cloth, doing it intricately and delicately while ensuring that the fabric is undamaged. The accidental city is still much more interesting than a completely planned city, with more surprises and vibrancy. The best way to plan is to provide the guidelines and infrastructure and let human enterprise do the rest. Even Paris and Rome, since they are mentioned, are largely accidental. The Parisian boulevards came about only in the nineteenth century, whereas it is an ancient city. It is equally the case with Rome as most of the existing fabric were built after the Roman Empire collapsed.
Can you share with us a great example of what a future city should or could look like and why?
Over the last century, many ‘future cities’ have been attempted from scratch including our very own Putrajaya/Cyberjaya and Forest City. New ones continue to be built, with many in China and a few visionary ones in the middle-east. They are all quite different in concepts but the underlying mantra is sustainability, and technology. Now, the generic vision of ‘future city’ is mostly shiny towers. Actually, this vision hasn’t changed for a hundred years and continue to motivate the ‘visionary’ image. But then if we were to envisage an apocalyptic disaster, the future city could well be underground, or floating on water. So, it is all speculative. But my favorite cities are Venice and Florence for their arts, humanity, scale, texture and life. I also think that KL is fantastic city and growing to be an amazing one.
They are all quite different in concepts but the underlying mantra is sustainability, and technology. Now, the generic vision of ‘future city’ is mostly shiny towers.