zlgdesign: barbara cappochin award

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barbara cappochin foundation award

zlgdesign is proud to receive the 2007 International Barbara Cappochin Foundation Special Prize Award for their BOH Cameron Highlands Visitor Centre. The building is located in the Highlands Tea Estate of Malaysia. In April 2008, this building also won the prestigious Developer Award for Best Corporate Building under the category of Social Responsibility from Cityscape Asia Real Estate Awards Director Graham Wood. This well attended and publicised event took place in Singapore.

The International Biennial “Barbara Cappochin” Prize for Architecture is launched in Paris. The purpose of the Foundation is to remember Barbara, a young student of the Faculty of Architecture I.U.A.V of Venice by promoting high quality architecture. This quality can only be obtained if the three essential figures, the Contractor, the Designer and the Constructor, work together to identify that thin line that connects life and architecture, by focusing on choices, ideas and materials in order to attain high quality results. This is the objective of the Foundation.

To the above we write that Boh Visitor Centre has somewhat been a very special building in that it serves the purpose to bring about awareness of the natural environment which was the tea Estate, and also to bring forth the enjoyment on the other hand of a facility that has long been neglected by the general public. This building made it possible for a public building to be beautifully designed so that architecture can be enjoyed without great expense of money and public funds. A cost effective design that looks good, and that provides for an awareness of what good design can bring to the public without heavy costs.

During the process of construction as architects we insisted that no tree be cut, and that all construction work be carried out with minimal disturbance to the livelihood of the workers there. To that we retained all existing buildings that were meant for workers squatters, where they stayed for at least 50 years. The new building avoided the removal or destruction of these huts and shelters. Even the old warehouse and toilets and store room were kept exactly where they were. During construction the original offices where the Client worked did not have to close down, they could continue to operate the business without any interruption. The Project took in the demography of the place and the people.

The materials used for the building were taken mostly from the local area, the contractors were also form the nearby estate. With that most of the work were given back to the people of the region. Fallen trees and old wood were recycled from the estate to give materials for the facade. Only the simplest technology were required to assemble and create this new wall. The new toilets were naturally ventilated no complicated fans and ventilation systems were needed inside this building to keep it fresh and clean. The entire building glazing were kept open and transparent to bring in natural daylight. Tall windows throughout the Project meant little or very low energy levels were required to operate these premises. Energy conservation is therefore a very important aspect of this social Project.

We used a steel framed design to minimise impact to the natural ground. The foundation design was simple, the footing were made from simple concrete pads, and the steel structure was light enough to maintain the balance of the terrain. Any heavy soil work would have caused unnecessary drainage costs and risk or soil erosion and flooding to the villages below.

The steel work also made it easy to cut out areas where there are trees, so that they need not be removed or relocated. In the early planning stages the plan geometry was drawn up specifically to avoid clashes with trees already in the estate. The steelwork also allowed for a fast construction without waste of manpower.

Visitors were not allowed to bring cars right up to the centre, they were required to walk up the slope and this made it more enjoyable for visitors who may now appreciate the site more intimately. The decision not to bring the cars up was a good one as we were able to keep the original character of the pedestrian walk way up the slope, which was very small and narrow. Widening this would have made it impossible not to cut the hills. This Project has succeeded to preserve the natural ecology of the place.

Boh has been published also widely online and in architectural magazines worldwide. See World Architecture News.

boh visitor centre: artistic impression

The Boh Visitor Centre was a project that started out as a test for whether a visitor centre could actually be built on s site that had access limitations, and that surrounding buildings were to be preserved and left untouched, amongst these were an office, an old factory and some chalets and quarters for the estate workers. Since the Owners had wanted a new facility, there had been at least three previous designs and attempts to convince the Board of Directors to proceed with these proposals. zlgdesign's success at convincing the owners came about through the cooperation with Hostasia, a company specialised in operations and retail management under the guidance of Dorian Landers. It was meant to be built for the Russell family, to be located on the Cameron Highlands Tea Estate, Malaysia. zlgdesign's proposal consisted of a long building, taking the visitors through a retail area before they can come to see the old factory, a building not to be demolished at any cost. From this zlgdesign proceeded to design a modernist box, long and narrow, taking the view that simplicity was the best answer to the problem.

Comprising cinematic and video experience, a small outdoor tea area and vast expanse of visitor facilities, this minimalist and modern building exhibit mainly tea products and information on tea history in Malaysia, but it offered also opportunities to view the estate from an elevated ground, hence the cantilevered balcony that is now the signature feature of the Visitor Centre. Almost everything inside the building has been made from natural materials and composed of found objects as local hardwoods and rustic steel panels. The very large tree on the site has been left exactly where it stood, very close to the structure. Boh took no more than 15 months to construct, for a very small but adequate budget, totally sustainable from both aspects of its construction as well as its purpose.

www.zlgdesign.com | zlg.blogs.com | bohvisitorcentre

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willard wigan

"Though my sculptures are quite small, it's important for people to realize that I am life-size. Of course, at times, when I'm working on a piece, I might come to believe that I myself am microscopic. That's how involved in my work I become. My tiny world becomes everything to me.

Let me tell you, it's very difficult. Every movement I make is so small. I have to control my breathing and heartbeat - it's not easy! I usually work at night and have to make sure the dog isn't around.

Be original! Be creative! Be individual and make your mark"

helen keller

In February 1882, when Helen was nineteen months old, she fell ill. To this day the nature of her ailment remains a mystery. It thus became apparent that Helen’s illness had left her both blind and deaf.

Helen’s progress from then on was astonishing. Her ability to learn was far in advance of anything that anybody had seen before in someone without sight or hearing.

When Helen graduated from Radcliffe College in June 1904, she became the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1913 a series of Helen's political views and writings on socialism called “Out of the Dark” was published, this was to change her public image most immensely.

Anne Sullivan taught Helen the meanings of words and helped her discover the world around her. They may not have been directly responsible for the development of our modern day internet technologies and teaching methods for the blind and deaf and mute but we know however that it was Helen and Anne that have shown us that these disabilities need not be the end of the world, less if we have modern day technologies to overcome them.

martin luther king

"I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

In 1964 Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest person to receive the Nobel peace prize. His speech, "I have a dream" made him one of the greatest orators in American history. His philosophy of non violent actions to fight racism and discrimination of civil rights did nothing to prevent his assassination on 4th April 1968, he was shot in the cheek in his motel room after he delivered his last known speech, "I've been to the Mountaintop." A crowd of 300,000 attended King's funeral. He was only 39.

winston churchill

Churchill was born with a speech impediment which he consistently worked to overcome, depressive periods he called black dog days. After many years, he finally overcame this hindrance, a remarkable personal achievement. Trainee speech therapists are often shown videotapes of Churchill's mannerisms at the time of his struggles. This diagnosis is confirmed by many authors writing in the 1930s and 1940s, there is even a story about how he was refused a job, the prospective employer suggested he gave up work of any kind. Churchill's impediment may have been cluttering which would fit more with his lack of attention to unimportant details and his very secure ego. Weiss suggests that he may have "excelled because of, rather than in spite of, his cluttering."

barnum brown

Barnum Brown started out his illustrious career as a young man collecting bones almost to his first day at the museum where he met the Director of Paleantology. He inspired researchers and collectors to this day of his tireless field work and methodology. His perseverance saw him on long days of up to a year in the field, eventually leading him to discover the bones of the most feared of dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, this was as early as 1910. Brown was quite a colorful character. During World War I and II, he picked up odd jobs acting as a corporate spy for oil companies, during his many trips abroad. During his time in Canada, Brown was frequently photographed wearing a large fur coat at dig sites, and a hat.

frida kahlo

Kahlo produced only about 200 paintings—primarily still lifes and portraits of herself, family and friends. Haunting, sensual and stunningly original, these uncompromisingly figurative works fused elements of surrealism, fantasy and folklore into powerful narratives. As Janet Landay, curator of exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and one of the organizers of a 1993 exhibition of Kahlo's work, points out, "Kahlo made personal women's experiences serious subjects for art, but because of their intense emotional content, her paintings transcend gender boundaries. Intimate and powerful, they demand that viewers—men and women—be moved by them."

jackson pollock

No living artist, painter, or painting or form of art has inspired so many generations of expressionist artists, automatic painters and designers as Pollock's 1949 No.8. Jackson invented the Drip Painting technique, now widely copied and imitated but never to evoke the same quality of experience and awe as the original. Pollock's own incredible energy and passion, and his uncontrollable action painting has been one of the modern of many admired styles. Its extraordinary historical impact on the world art market from the 60's to today has brought about aesthetic awareness to very ordinary people and their appreciation of modern art. It is this extraordinary, yet totally accessible form that has continued to inspire me, and I find it not so surprising how Pollock's work has remained utterly modern and relevant to people of all walk of life, to this day

hemingway

At the age of 17 Hemingway published his first literary work. He died aged 61, of self inflicted gun shot wounds. He was the greatest of writers. His book The Old Man and the Sea, written in 1952, sold 5 million copies in a flash, later o win him the Pulitzer Prize the following year. It was after this point that Hemingway found himself spending most of his life in Europe and Africa, wherein some of his best novels were written. it is thought his best book was written at the time he was leaving Cuba, A Moveable Feast, considered to be his most beautifully written prose.

camille claudel

Sculptor, born in La Fère-en-Tardenois, N France, the sister of the poet Paul Claudel. She became the student, model, and mistress of August Rodin, producing works which, while close to his, nonetheless show great individuality. After a fiery relationship, Claudel and Rodin parted company in 1898, but she continued to sculpt and achieved great renown around the beginning of the 20th-c. However, the break with Rodin affected her mental stability, and from 1913 until her death she was confined to various institutions.

charles baudelaire

In December 1868 the third edition of Les Fleurs du mal — volume 1 of the poet's complete works — went on sale in Paris. Along with an introduction by the poet Théophile Gautier, this new edition contained all the poems of the 1861 edition, eleven poems from Les Épaves, plus a few others. (It lacked, however, the six poems censored from the first edition, since these were still illegal to print in France.) This 1868 edition was the only one authorized by Baudelaire's estate until his work fell into the public domain in 1917. However, though Banville and Asselineau certainly meant well in assembling and editing the work, scholars today generally disagree with some of the choices made by the two friends, in particular with several of the poems they chose to include and with the way in which these poems altered the "secret architecture" of the 1861 edition.