Written by Dr Azmah Arzmi
On 23rd October 2024, the Faculty of Built Environment was privileged to welcome a distinguished guest from Kuala Lumpur. Dato’ Kamal Ariffin Zaharin is a renowned architect and urban planner with extensive experience in the field. After working for over two decades at the prestigious Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) in Miami, he expanded his career to Manila, Sydney and Kuala Lumpur. He formed his own partnership, DPZ Pacific, to handle growing projects in the region.
Throughout his career, Zaharin has worked on projects in numerous countries, ranging from large-scale regional planning to intricate building designs. He has also worked extensively on traditional Islamic architecture, collaborating with renowned expert Professor Abdel Wahed El-Wakil.
During his talk, which was part of the Be: Innovative lecture series hosted by FBE UNIMAS, Dato’ Kamal shared his insights and experiences in designing cities and sustainable spaces. He discussed the challenges faced in development and explored various solutions and factors that contribute to successful and environmentally friendly projects.
One of his most famous projects with DPZ was the famous town of Seaside, Florida. He wrote the building form codes and vernacular typology for the town, which was featured in the 1998 film The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey. He went on to discuss his master planning projects in China, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. He also played a key role in the economic development of the East Coast region of Peninsular Malaysia and was responsible for the design of the Kuala Terengganu waterfront, including the famous drawbridge. Within Sarawak, he designed proposals for the Sri Aman masterplan and the Kuching Isthmus mixed-use development. Despite his many years of practice, he still refers to the textbooks he studied as an undergraduate at the University of Miami more than 40 years ago. These include An Architects’ Handbook of Civic Art by Werner Hegemann and Elbert Peets and The Art of Building Cities by Camillo Sitte. He recommended these books to all students of architecture and urban planning.
After his lecture, he visited the Master of Architecture studio at FBE and gave the students tips and tricks on how to approach design. The students benefited from his advice, as he encouraged them to read and explore knowledge outside the field of architecture and urban planning. The field is interdisciplinary, encompassing aspects of history, geography, natural sciences, social sciences, economics and anthropology. Having some knowledge of other fields would enrich students’ ability to think critically outside the box and make them better designers. His talk inspired not only the students but also the lecturers on how to improve the learning process.
This article is related with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) – Quality Education.
This article is related with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 11) – Sustainable Cities and Communities.