By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, May 25: La Promenade Mall is hosting an inaugural architecture competition for a project called ‘Langit’ to find the next high-rise development for Kuching.
Members of the public, in particular university students, architects, consultants and real estate enthusiasts are encouraged to view the various designs on public display at the mall.
A total of 85 submissions for the competition were received with 11 entries shortlisted and their designs range from 11 to 39-storey high.
They include retail showcases, innovative home-offices, and high-end serviced condominiums.
Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) Sarawak Chapter chairman Chai Si Yong said: “The competition provides architects and the developer the opportunity to create the next best commercial high-rise in Malaysia.
“There has never been such a design competition before in East Malaysia.
“The project sponsors, Hock Seng Lee Bhd (HSL) in collaboration with Next Phase (NP) will get a great design for the strategic piece of land.
“The entries have a variety of ideas with different components.
“Those include mixed-use high rises with good public, retail and commercial residential components and community space.
“Other considerations include sustainable design, lessons learnt from Covid-19 pandemic and the economic feasibility of the design,” he said.
Apart from that, jury chair of the competition Ivy Jong said, “Sarawak is very unique and the commercial usage to the society and the community is slightly different.
“The competition helps to look at ways in context to Kuching on how we can build (high-rise) in relation to all these (components) with architects leading it,” she said.
Meanwhile, a final judging for the competition will be held on June 3 and the results will be announced by the end of June.
The architecture competition offers a total prize money of RM200,000.
In the meantime, all the shortlisted designs will be on display at the ground floor of the mall for two months in accordance with the operating hours of the mall from 8 am to 8 pm.
The competition was held following a request by HSL-NP who sought commercial development on a piece of 0.78 acre of land located at Jalan Tabuan, opposite the Inland Revenue Tax Academy.
For more information on ‘Langit’, visit langitkch.com, hslcom.my or search #langitkch an @hslcn on social media. — DayakDaily
