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KLAF 2023

KLAF 2023 : NEXT 100

The Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival is the main event of the architectural calendar in Malaysia. Organised by the Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM) - Malaysian Institute of Architects, the festival began in 2011, building from the successful Datum:KL conference started in 2003.

The festival is designed as a platform for architecture, both within the industry and discipline. Our objective is to construct a concentrated moment to bring together and galvanise a constituency of influencers, projects, speculations and ideas, and to present them to the public at large in Kuala Lumpur and internationally. A key decision was made this year to further expand into the public space outside our traditional boundaries of architectural, building and design professionals. It is to address the issues confronting Architecture and architects working today, in KL or anywhere. While the sites of operations may be different, many of the issues and burdens remain universal. KLAF2023 provides a moment to re-engage with the discipline and the new challenges that has arrived. In the absence of certainties and clear directions for Architecture, this is the moment to establish new priorities and positions, and to explore, experiment and engage.

KLAF2023 with the theme NEXT100, will be an event of great significance because PAM will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2023. It is also a major milestone for any entity, more so for a non-profit institute such as PAM whose strength is the collectiveness of its members and the ultimate objective for NEXT100 to reignite the interest in PAM among members and other stakeholders within the industry, peers in allied profession and friends of the industry. There are five sub themes within the NEXT100 celebration namely: ENGAGE, EDUCATE, EVOKE, EVOLVE & EXTEND. NEXT100 program calendar consists of 100 programs and commences from December 2022 and will go on till December 2023. Stay tune for future announcements on NEXT100.

ENGAGE

To provide platform for various stakeholders to engage with each other for greater good. Through friendship, cooperation and mutual respect, architecture will become the glue that binds the various parties to create a strong and respectable profession within the society.

EXTEND

Society has grown sophisticated over the years. Architectural in its traditional form still enjoy its place within society but many different opportunities have resulted as an extension of the profession. Many who are trained in architecture have enjoyed success in allied fields such as the arts, photography, graphics, performing arts, journalism and others.

EVOKE

It will be a great lost for the current and future architects if lessons are not learned from the last 100 years. Next100 will evoke memories from recent past and senior members of the industry will share their wealth of knowledge to assist future stakeholders to be better servants of architecture.

EVOLVE

Human needs and wants evolve through times and architecture as a servant of the society must do the same. Architecture practitioners must evolve in their knowledge, skills and ways to stay competitive, effective and relevant. Relevancy of architecture to the society is key for it to exist in an impactful way for the long run.

EDUCATE

Various entities within architecture must always strive for improvement. Skills and knowledge must be developed continuously to fulfil the increasingly challenging industry demand.