Developer hold competition for architects to produce blueprints for two projects

Friday, 28 Jan 2011
By Charles Fernandez, Cityscapes, The Star

NAZA TTDI Sdn Bhd will have two new projects on their prime land banks in Puchong (Site A) and Shah Alam (Site B).

In conjunction with the projects, Naza TTDI collaborated with the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) to organise a competition to produce innovative, environmentally friendly and economically viable design solutions for the two prime land.

The competition started in September last year and winners who were chosen from 28 participants were announced during an appreciation night held at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur recently.

The winning designs — ‘The Catalyst’ by ARC Partnership for Site A and ‘Sky Circuit City’ by Akitek Jururancang Sdn Bhd for Site B are scheduled to start by the middle next year.

The winners for each project received RM100,000.

The competition was assessed in three stages — pre-qualification assessment, master planning, architectural concept boards and video, and scaled model presentation.

“Architectural competition is perhaps the most effective community consultation process that allows the Malaysian architectural fraternity to share their visions for the local built environment,’’ said PAM president Boon Chee Wee.

He said PAM had been calling for Malaysia to focus on local designs and creative industry, including architecture as a new economy.

Naza TTDI group managing director SM Faliq SM Nasimuddin said the competition was to encourage the creative talent of local architects.

“All entries were excellent but like in all competitions there can only be one winner. I am pleased to see many firms taking up the challenge with remarkable ideas that translated into amazing designs for both projects,’’ said Faliq.

The Site A development is located along the Western edge of Puchong off the Damansara Puchong Highway and it will be integrated with existing Phase 1 project which comprise 68 units of four-storey cluster semi-detached shop office. Phase 2 development will cover over 5.6ha and estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM900mil.

The Site B development in Shah Alam is situated in Section 13 along the third mile Sungai Buloh road and has a land area of 6.7ha and a GDV of RM655mil.

This article originally appeared in The Star, Cityscapes on 28 January 2011. For the original article, click here.