ARCHITECTS LEAVING MALAYSIA?

FROM SEPANG TO MANCHESTER....ARCHITECTS LEAVING MALAYSIA?

Architects slipping away....

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will not be able to achieve its target of 10,000 architects by the year 2020 because many architects are leaving the country, according to Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) president Dr Tan Loke Mun.“There were some 1,600 professional architects in Malaysia 10 years ago. It is surprising that the number remains the same now,” he told a press conference after the annual PAM architectural students works exhibition 2007 here yesterday. Tan said that while the population of Australia was almost equivalent to that of Malaysia, Australia had around 12,000 architects. He said out of the 20 architecture institutions nationwide, only five were recognised while another 15 were still going through the recognition process.“Due to this, most of the students from these institutions end up going overseas to further their studies, and the current trend is that they don’t come back.”

-thestar.com.my Thursday July 12, 2007

I’m pretty sure that our most creative brains and best talents are working abroad in the UK and Australia especially. The economy in the UK is booming in anticipation to the 2012 London Olympics, while Australia is riding its mining boom thus creating a greater demand for new buildings.The irony of it all is - there is a boom in Malaysia as well, yet for most iconic buildings (i.e. KLIA, Petronas Twin Towers, etc and more recently the Iskandar Development Region), Malaysia almost always turns to international architects for their design and technical expertise. A number of high profile Malaysian jobs have found themselves at the drawing boards (or rather, computer LCD screens) of companies like Foster & Partners, Cesar Pelli, Kurokawa, Cox, FOA and the like.

At the moment, I don’t see any reason in the near future to return to Malaysia and many others like me seem to feel the same as well. Opportunities are just too good elsewhere. Perhaps it is always easier to be passionate when you don’t have financial anxieties.While money isn’t everything, I have been led to believe that architects aren’t paid very well in Malaysia and are subject to a misinformed and immature public. The clients dictate - the clients design - the architect merely become cad monkeys administrating the realization of new monstrosities. The profession has been reduced to being mere service providers without the rigorous research and exploration in improving how we may live and how buildings could be better built in our climate.Any other Malaysian students out there who have any thoughts on the matter?

written by a blogger.