The Architecture of Democracy, Proposed Parliament House in Malaysia
Its been a while since I last posted anything in miragestudio7, I’ve been a extremely busy with my thesis so I haven ‘t had much time to blog. The good news is, today is D-Day, well, not entirely accurate because after the submission comes the presentation, so here are a few images on my thesis project, not fantastic, wish I had more time or put in more effort in the drawings, especially the core idea, there are still rooms for improvement.
The main objective of the project is to develop an appropriate state architecture that ‘meets’ the people, and further explore the democratic language of a parliament and public spaces with the creative use of light, spatial qualities and the balancing act between the need for security and openness.
Democracy now and then
When political theorist discuss public space, they generally refer the print and digital media as the representative for democracy, this is contrast to the olden civilization where public spaces such as the forum and debating chamber played a significant role in determine the idea of democracy, the shift from physical to virtual has taken place for a number of reasons. This is due to scale and complexity of our society, as our civilization evolves and grew larger, it is impossible for everyone to gather and argue in a physical forum, furthermore with the invention of print media and the beginning of digital age, physical forum has taken a backseat and sadly it remained architecturally stagnant in term of design until the introduction of a newer parliaments in the 21st century.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, the birth of undemocratic architecture begins with the introduction of print media, when the need to gather ceased to exist, so does the need for public forum, therefore state architecture took a different path and no longer caters for the public needs to gather, witness and most importantly to participate physically. State architecture as we know, became dull, boring and monumentally redundant, things are made worst with the imitation of Roman classical architecture such as the Capitol Hill in Washington and closer to home, Putrajaya with its out of context Arabic dome and style, which is geographically out of tune, and regionally out of context with the local climate, what happened to the Malay Minagakabau architecture?
Precedent Studies
- Frank Lloyd Wright – Johnson Wax Building
- Norman Foster – The Bundestag/Reichstag
- Enric Miralles – Scottish Parliament
- Richard Rogers – Cardiff Assembly
- Louis Khan – Dacca Assembly
- Le Corbusier – Chandigarh Assembly
Summary of Key Strategies
- Hierarchy – Minimize hierarchy with the introduction of a building beneath ground, this would further provide an open space or plaza on the site for the public.
- Transparency – make the workings of the debating chamber visible to the public, accessibility should be easy and straight forward without any security check.
- Democracy – The proposed parliament should be conceptually driven by democracy, which comes in the form of the roof. Each column/roof works collectively to form the roof in unison, sheltering the public at the plaza. Just like democracy, we may have different views and opinions but we worked together as one.
- Flexible Space, minimize the number of walls.
- Localization with local materials.
For those that are interested in this topic, I highly recommend Frank Lloyd Wright’s “An Organic Architecture, the Architecture of Democracy”. A very informative book.
Click for enlarged image
Click for enlarged image
Click for enlarged image
Click for enlarged image
Click for enlarged image
Click for enlarged image
Last but not least, the sectional model took me ages and 3 generations to built, would like to thank Jake and the lecturer from the art department for the wonderful ‘Sculpturing 101′ class, I have to admit, molding the cones with the wheel was fun. Wish I had one back home. Sorry for the poor craftsmanship, the cones could have been better if I had more time.
Apart from funneling light into the building, each column/roof works together collectively to form the roof in unison, sheltering the public at the plaza. Just like democracy, we may have different views and opinions but we worked together as one.
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Coin Detector and Security Check
Image Source: Own
Yes, security checks, don’t you just hate them? Security was really tight in Malaysia’s parliament compound with the presence of police officers in both plain cloth and uniforms, not to mention some dress like hooligans with Harvey Davidson bikes. Sorry, no guns allowed, no bombs or C4 unless you’re the deputy prime minister, and no cameras except in the lobby. Screw that, since when cameras are dangerous, oh yes, now I remember, they did a really bad job running the country and now they are afraid of their safety.
The most annoying part is the coin detector metal/gun detector gate thing, the coin detector is possibly the most useless piece of equipment ever created, besides detecting coins, it detects belts with metal buckle, hand phones, titanium rod in your fractured bone. These coin detectors can be found at all the entrance except for the prime minister’s entrance, yes, somehow the parliament has an exclusive grand entrance cater just for the prime minister and not even the MPs are allowed to use it. What makes him so exclusive? I thought democracy is about power to the people? A big entrance just for him? I’ll show him the way out with my next vote.
Image Source: Own
The site visit was really informative, I’ve learned so many things, such as the ruling government is the master and the people are the slaves, this can be seen with the cafeteria in the parliament, it is divided into two different compartments separated by a garden like open space, the much more exclusive dining area is meant for the member of parliaments and the other for fishes like you and me.
If I am not mistaken, between these two spaces is the smoking area made out of 4 large glass panels, it has some sort of water feature and lots of greens – just imagine an oversize aquarium, and instead of bubbles coming out from fishes, smokes are puffed out from our MPs lungs, I thought they are elected to be in the chamber and not out puffing their way to kingdom come in the aquarium.
Talk about airport security, Australia’s airport security is probably the best or the most user unfriendly I ever come across. It is always the same question, “You’re traveling alone?”, “What is your purpose entering Australia?”, “Are you bringing in any plants or organic stuff?”
The Australian customs are strict and daunting with lots of regulations. Head over to Karren Cheng’s blog, and she was in for a big surprise when the custom office pulled her over and questioned her on her ‘Leaf’, apparently the customs woman thought it was a REAL LEAF based on the images from the xray machine.
Image Source: Karren Cheng
Next time, I’ll cut a few “LEAF” from my cardboard and when the custom officer pulls me over, I’ll scream – surprise! Last month, the entire Perth Airport was quarantine, for some unknown reason, the airport security claimed that a cargo from Malaysia contain some really dangerous stuff – possibly bombs because the bomb squad was there.
You know, why would any terrorist organization wants to bomb Perth? If a bomb was detonated in the middle of the city, I doubt there would be any casualties. Anyway, Australia has done no harm to the Arabs or Muslims, historically speaking. Perth is just too small and empty, its a zombie city for the living dead.
Till then, watch Jeff Dunham’s ‘Achmed the Dead Terrorist’ (Awesome and really really hilarious)
Tags: Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Airport, Australia, Bomb, Coin Detector, Illegal, Jeff Dunham, Malaysia, Metal Detector, Parliament, Plants, Security, Terrorist
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