THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ARC61303] [ARC2224]

Yasaanth Kirishnamoorthy

0304863

Ar. Wooi Lok Kuang

Education
Ar.Wooi Lok Kuang has a very interesting education history. He was from a village, he
enjoyed learning by relating the ideas that was taught to him with real life situation.
Ar.Wooi started his secondary education in 1980 in Alor Setar, Kedah. Since he was
from a village, he was influenced by the Malay tradition. This helped his learning
experience way more interesting by comparing himself Malay community with Chinese
Community. He used to compete with his friends, to enhance his ability in learning. His
early education was science oriented with building technology. He had issues in
learning the subjects because the lessons were taught in Malay. But later he was able
to translate it to English and learn the important techniques that was taught in building
technology. After he completed his higher secondary education, he was uncertain of
choosing what to study further. Then he decided to fine arts due to his fanatical
sketching abilities. This led him to discuss with his family members about his decision.
All his family members were okay with his decision, but one of his uncles advised him to
take architecture. His uncle gave his thoughts about studying architecture and
influenced him to use his sketching talent in designing building. Ar.Wooi was very
inspired by his uncle and made a good decision by choosing Architecture for his
graduation.
He applied to many government universities in Malaysia, in which he faced rejection
repeatedly due to his race. After 3 months time his brother influenced him to apply
abroad universities through his A level results. He applied to New South Wales
University of Australia for a degree in Bachelor of Architecture. His application went
through and he was given scholarship to study in Australia with accommodation. He
managed himself to study and work at the same time. At first he was not interested in
understanding architecture, but later he had several inspirations from his lectures and
friends which led him to explore more in Architecture. He liked Australia for its climate
and architecture that influenced him to be a greater human being in liking the sense of
place. The way of thinking and approach in Australia was very unique from Malaysia.
Being a student he learned to cultivate his abilities in designing creatively and
accurately .As a student he had many struggles in designing and learning architecture.
But he states that the struggles molded in understanding the concepts of architecture
and learning through design values. According to him the first two years of his degree
education was morally supported and influenced by his friends, where as the last three
years was more efficient and helped by the lecturers to reach his best in designing. The

bachelor degree made him focus on thinking architecture outside the box. He
understood that the basics of analyzing site, time and spatial analogy will impact a
compatible architecture design during that time. As a student he started thinking behind
an existing building, analyzing certain feature which lead him to compare his design
ideas in He excelled in drawing orthographic manually and also learned the basics of
computerized planning.
Due to his complete passion for architecture he further proceeded with Master of
architecture. He faced different situation in taking an advanced degree in architecture.
He was very patient and focused to get interesting designs during his master projects.
He learned through advanced and formal ideas that justify structural information in an
architecture design. He did a master research on issues of housing the low income in
urban areas in Peninsular Malaysia. His research was about understanding the
problems and issues of Low income urban areas in Malaysia and also introducing
Malaysias urban life through an architectural manner. This received him awards and
critics from his university by stating him as an outstanding student of NSW in that year.
He completed his master degree in 1991 with completing the research, which later
influenced him to use those approach in the buildings designed in Malaysia.
Ar. Wooi was very much influenced by his role models. Each personality influenced him
in every aspect. He even states that his design credit goes to them, because he uses
their ideas and techniques to his building. One of his favorite role model is Bruce rikard,
who often plays with light shadows in building. This attribute gave him ideas to
understand the lighting in a building and come out with influential designs for his
projects in university. Secondly he was influenced by few Australian architects, who
gave him unique inspiration in designing sustainable architecture. The one architect he
likes the most was Richard Le Plasterier. He was influenced by his way of living. He
states that Richard was from a village in Australia and lives in very sustainable building.
His house was more adapted to the climate of Australia and also relates the aesthetics
of the space and building. This started the journey of sustainable features in his school
projects. In addition he analyzed the poetics of spaces in a design to understand the
concept of theories used behind each building. He also refers to philosophy, which
helps him to influence these thoughts in his early stages of design process. He uses
philosophy for coming out with poetics in the spaces he designs. As a senior student he
even took advice from his juniors, who reminded him to think about, relating concept
with site and include sustainability to his designs in his university projects. This led him
to design more and more innovative and green design in which there is profound
evidence in his every architectural design.

In conclusion Ar.Wooi appreciates his educational background and his learning

experience as an architecture student. Similar to all architecture students he had
struggles, but he didnt consider it as struggles; he acquired it as thinking architecture
beyond your level. The stages of his education system influence every architecture
student in every aspect. This attitude made him a creative, innovative and sustainable
designer contemporary Malaysia.