MY Bamboo 3.0: Architecture students get physical with a full-scale project

MY Bamboo 3.0: Architecture students get physical with a full-scale project

SUBANG JAYA, Selangor - First-year architecture students put in blood, sweat and tears for their second project of the semester – MY Bamboo 3.0, where they were tasked with building life-sized bamboo activity structures.

The two-week-long project was aimed at creating socially inclusive urban green spaces for the community, which was displayed at Dusun Bandar Kompleks 3C, Subang Jaya on 25 May. This was a bittersweet experience for students, as they had to struggle with both the learning curve of the project and the unpredictable weather.

One of the architecture student teams with their work at Dusun on exhibition day

(Source: Chang Sin Yuan)

Architecture students working in Taylor’s University Square

(Source: Bernice Lee)

“My stress levels are higher than my fun levels,” said Chang Sin Yuan, group leader of Team 3 from the March 2023 batch.

“We didn’t have enough bamboo and had to go through a lot of trial and error, but our teammates have been communicating well and I’m learning a lot from them.”

She shared that their tutor, and engineer Ir. Major Ahmad Mazlan were supportive of their creative process, despite having made 13 different study models. The creative process behind Team 3’s project can be found here.

The students had to work on the project according to their personal schedules from 11 to 24 May. Beck Kem, a senior from the March 2022 batch mentioned that the highlight of his experience was the friends that he made.

“This was the first time I had this kind of flow of ideas with everyone. Compiling the ideas and coming up with something together was a big learning experience.”

The full-scale structures have been a part of the architecture course syllabus since before the pandemic, but were made with other recyclable materials in order to teach the ergonomics of space for the human body. Chang Yan Yee, one of the module instructors for Architectural Design I, said the physical nature of the project helps with sensory learning.

Chang Sin Yuan’s Group, Team 3, Completed project at Dusun

(Source: Chang Sin Yuan)

“When you draw something, you’re only viewing it 2-dimensionally and you make a lot of assumptions about the materials you’re working with. Actually building it allows the students to test their drawings, and then go back and revise. This allows them to understand the limitations of contractors when applied practically, and is an intuitive process.”

There’s nothing better than working and suffering together, as the students bond and get closer through working on their physical structure. This allows the first-year students to settle in and feel less lonely when they move forward to their final project.

The MY Bamboo 3.0 project is expected to have more experts for lectures in the following semester. As they’ve been receiving more media attention, this opens up doors to more opportunities and projects with industry clients.