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Thought Leadership
Education can exist in many forms. Education teaches you how to navigate yourself in the system that you're in. Other countries have very different cultures and systems and they simply work differently. So should we teach English to the 'poor' communities? Whats the unintended consequence of that?
This article is part of a series of SPOTLIGHTS showcasing our Community Partners, their ideologies, methodologies, challenges and triumphs. For more, click here.
Education has a crucial part to play in shaping our minds, from attaining knowledge to how we apply what we have learnt. In this second part of our feature with Professor Tay Kheng Soon, the renown local architect and industrial expert for our recently concluded Urban Sustainability and Architecture program shares with us his thoughts on how education has influenced the field of architecture in Singapore and how students should “sail the seven Cs” to break out of the current mould.
Singapore as an Industrialised City
The year 2015 marks Singapore’s 50th year of independence and also Prof Tay’s 50th year in his architecture career. He is passionate about pushing the boundaries of Singapore’s architecture and continues to churn out innovative ideas and actively participates in experimenting for better technologies for urban and rural economies. Prof Tay laments that local architects have a “lack of self-confidence” and are too engrossed with progress, which leaves little time for imagination and creativity. “They all think that progress, to be progressive and to progress, you must be like the west. They cannot define what their future ought to be. They define their future as the western future. Industralisation involves machinery, lack of human feelings. Machines eliminate humans.”
Industrialisation can permeate through every aspect of our lives and has greatly influenced education. Prof Tay explains,“ School education is turning students into robots, trained to conform to the industry, trained to listen to instructions. This affects your imagination. [Leading students to think that] conformation is the way to survive.”
However, Prof Tay believes that the younger generation of architect students can be the change makers that break free from the shackles of industrialisation-influenced architecture. “Young people are the future. But you can only be the future if you are not a problem. Right now, you are a problem. You have been made into a problem because of education, because of the way you are motivated. Be creative and learn to change the world. But before you change the world, you must change yourself.”
Professor Tay’s 7Cs to see life
To Prof Tay, this change can only come from the 7Cs:
1. Competence
2. Confidence
3. Courage
4. Curiosity
5. Creativity
6. Compassion
7. Collaboration
“ The first C is competence. Be competent in what you do. If you are good at something, be good at it. Mastery is important. Once you have competence, you will have confidence. And when you have confidence, you will have courage. When you have courage, then you can ask difficult questions, you can exercise your curiosity. When you are curious, you will find out a lot of things. When you find out a lot of things, then you can be creative. Without all these you cannot be creative, you can only be a copycat. However, creativity alone is not enough, you must have passion. You must feel for your fellowmen, you must feel for the environment (the plants, animals etc.) [This is] compassion. When you have compassion and creativity, then you can be a great collaborator.”
The role of architecture to mould the society is apparent in Prof Tay’s beliefs. “The kind of architecture for the future… is competent: you understand nature, environment, climate; compassionate: understand people’s needs; creative: invents a new ways of how humans should live with each others and the environment and be able to involve people in the making of the place. That is participation and you create a creative society. That is the role of architecture.”
Reason behind starting Kampung Temasek
Kampung Temasek (KT), situated near Sungei Tiram, Johor, Malaysia, is one of the innovative projects by Prof Tay to educate and equip the future leaders with these 7Cs.
“Sometimes, it is necessary to get people out of their usual environment. By putting yourself in a different environment, it allows you to see things in a different light.” he says. KT gives their visitors a chance to live in a different environment, bringing visitors back to the olden days where they get to enjoy the culture and ambience of kampung living. The ‘kampung’ culture is considered endangered with the development of cities.
“Changing the environment would change the minds of people. By that, you change yourself and how you interact with the world. If one keeps living in their comfort zones, they are simply repeating and reinforcing the same old habits. When nothing changes, there will be no improvements.”
Prof Tay encourages the future generations to challenge themselves, “Give yourself a jolt and challenge yourself to face unfamiliar circumstances. That is the way you learn to get confidence. Be daring to do it!”
Indeed, KT has served as a fantastic educational platform for Skillseed’s Urban Sustainability and Architecture program, where our participants from Beijing learnt basic architecture and construction skills from Architecture facilitators. In KT’s unfamiliar Kampung environment, we hope that our young urbanite participants were thoroughly challenged and gained the confidence to dare to dream big for their futures!
(Click here to see more exciting moments built during the program!)
With Love,
Brenda
This article is part of a series of SPOTLIGHTS showcasing our Community Partners, their ideologies, methodologies, challenges and triumphs. For more, click here.
This month, Project Skillseed would like to introduce to you our new section, "SPOTLIGHT", where we speak to industrial experts, hear about their personal experiences, and tap into their expertise.
We have invited renowned local architect, Professor Tay Kheng Soon, as our first "SPOTLIGHT" expert to share his insights into the industry and sustainable architecture.
(This is the first of a two part series featuring Prof Tay.)
Has it ever crossed your mind that architecture plays an all-important role in your life? It determines how you interact with your family at home, your friends at school and your colleagues at your workplace.
Professor Tay Kheng Soon
I had a very simplistic idea of what architecture was and what architects do (design and build, what else?) until I met Professor Tay Kheng Soon.
Prof Tay is the founder of Akitek Tenggara and adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore’s School of Architecture. With more than 40 years of experience, Prof Tay is a treasure trove of architectural wisdom. His unique and innovative ideas have earned him numerous accolades, such as the 2010 Singapore Institute of Architects Gold Medal.
We had the honour of being introduced to Prof Tay through Skillseed’s advisor and visionary educator Mrs Carmee Lim. Prof Tay co-founded Kampung Temasek, an educational and recreational destination in Johor with a mission to bring back the kampung days to visitors, and a highlight of our upcoming Sustainable Architecture Program in November. The site integrates exciting curriculum and programmes with nature and sustainable technologies.
Image from Kampung Temasek Facebook Page
Clad in just a plain shirt and pants, Prof Tay, a pioneer of Singapore’s architectural scene, shared his thoughts on the changing future of local architecture and how architecture can influence and change the lives of people.
Prof Tay: Singapore is plugged into the global scene. It emulates the style of its main patrons. The success of the modern western culture is because of industrialisation and the industrial revolution that created the big cities (like Singapore).
Industrialisation was built on the wealth and power of colonial rule. The architecture that arose from the process emphasised manufactured building products. Handicraft is completely ignored by industrial processes. Instead, the celebration of industrialism (as an aesthetic) emphasises flat planes (e.g. glass panes and wooden planks).
This aesthetic is deeply embedded into our consciousness and we are totally victimised into thinking that this is what it means to be modern. All of our modern architecture is actually an industrial aesthetic. To be modern is to be industrialised. Meanwhile, traditional architecture is regarded as not modern and backwards. That is the way our minds have been shaped.
The education system is also part of the industrial system; the school is like a production factory.
Ideal architecture can only come from an authentic society. This requires a great deal of self-confidence, which we don’t have it yet.
No, it is a copy and they are proud of it. Architects are making a name by being good copyist in the peoples’ eyes with their current state of mind.
By daring to invent the future; a future based on who we really are and where we are – the poetics of people and place.
A stage set for the enactment of authentic life, and not what it is now, i.e. aping the west.
Architecture of the future comes from the 7Cs: competence (mastery), confidence, courage, curiosity, creativity, compassion and collaboration.
Kampung Temasek was created to get people out of their usual environment and change their mind-set. We are the victims of the environment; the environment changes your relationship with the world.
If you think that architecture should be about designing something facinating to the eye, you are wrong! Prof Tay frowns upon architecture students with that perspective. " Architecture should be authentic and practical. It should collaborate with the people and the environment", he emphasised.
Kampung Temasek is founded so that it connects people with nature. We hope that our upcoming Sustainable Architecture Program will be able to rekindle our participants' biophilia or innate love for the nature and hopefully, inspire more original architectural designs for the Skillseed Challenge!
It is hard to visualise in words how enriching the environment of Kampung Temasek is. Drop by their Facebook page and you will see why we love that place!
There is tree planting, and there is tree planting.
