In the euphoria of the Young Architects Exhibition (YEA) 2023 event in Yogyakarta, Architecture Undergraduate Study Program, Universitas Gadjah Mada held a guest lecture with the ARCASIA Committee on Young Architects (ACYA) members on Friday (Mar 10). Four representatives from ACYA consisting of two Malaysian architects, Ar. Ridha Razak and Ar. Adrianta Aziz, and two Japanese architects Yuki Ito and Mikako Oshima became the speakers of this guest lecture at K1 Room, Department of Architecture and Planning, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
The event started at 08:00 am with the remarks from the Head of Architecture Undergraduate Study Program, Harry Kurniawan, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D., continued by the presentation about “Omnivore’s Journey” by Yuki Ito, an architect and lecturer at Musashino Art University. She talked a lot about her architectural works and installations, one of them was “Snail House”. After Yuki Ito presented her projects, Alyas Abibawa Widita, S.T., MS., Ph.D. as the moderator gave a brief summary and invited the next speakers to present.
Next, Ar. Ridha Razak opened the session pretty differently, giving a thunderous greeting from the back of the room, attracting all students to look back. His presentation was mostly about his experience revitalizing an early 20th century cultural heritage house called “Rumah Tangsi” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Until now, the house left by a Chinese named Loke Chow Kit is also used for the creative industry needs, such as a venue for fashion shows and making music video clips.
The third session was continued by Mikako Oshima, a senior architect from a well-known architecture design firm, Nihon Sekkei. She took the theme of urban design and public space design, as she talked about the differences between public spaces in Japan and Jakarta, mainly from its accessibility.
The session was followed by the presentation from Malaysian representative, Ar. Adrianta Aziz. Just like Ridha Razak, he started his presentation from the back of the room with a finger clap to increase the enthusiasm of the students as future young architects. Five-finger claps sounded louder than just one finger, illustrating how the architects who collaborated in a team would make greater performance than just working alone. Adrianta Aziz mainly talked about his career journey since he was young, started apprenticeships in many design firms at the beginning of college, until now, he became a successful architect.
The event was continued with a questions-and-answers session, and the speakers were invited to sit in the center of the stage. The students queued on the east side of the room, they looked very enthusiastic lining up to ask a question. As a form of appreciation, Mikako Oshima gave them her book she had written after they asked a question. Before the lecture was closed, Harry Kurniawan as the Head of Architecture Undergraduate Study Program gave some souvenirs and certificates to the speakers. The speakers then took photos and videos with the students and UGM lecturers while shouting, “We are UGM future architects!”.
Lecture recordings can be accessed through this link (Architecture UGM’s Youtube Channel).
