The Project

This Design Charette will take place from 19th to 24th April 2020 in Sandakan, Malaysia, and is part-funded by the Innovate UK Newton Ungku Omar Fund (NUOF) together with the Malaysia Industry-Government group for High Technology (MIGHT).

Tembok is an informal public space adjacent to a run-down area of area of Bandar Sandakan (the old town of Sandakan).

The brief for the Arkitrek Design Charette is to develop an urban regeneration plan for the Tembok through participatory design and community engagement. The catalyst for the regeneration will be a ‘Maker Space’ that integrates micro anaerobic digestion with a waste plastic recycling facility. The outputs of the Maker Space (power, fertiliser and recycled plastic products) will be used to support circular economy community enterprise models targeting women and those on low incomes in the old town area of Sandakan and surrounding water villages.

The charette is part of an NUOF funded waste-to-wealth feasibility study being undertaken by a collaborative organisation called SYMBIOTIC, of which Arkitrek is a member. The outputs of the charette will be creative ideas illustrated by beautiful graphics that demonstrate the integration of circular economy business models with UN development goals for sustainable cities and communities.

A disused warehouse will be adapted into a Maker Space for the circular economy

Urban Regeneration Context and Objectives

‘To Make Sandakan’s coastal areas inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’  U.N. Sustainable Development Goals number 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. The urban design should preserve and reinvigorate Sandakan town’s important coastal areas, and to find a balance between the built and natural environment to create long term solutions for a vibrant and progressive town. There are several significant challenges:

Waste management and its impact on the sea and coastal communities. Both plastic and sewage waste is often associated with informal coastal settlements, because this is where it is most visible, but the problem starts much further upstream and doesn’t stop at the coast.

Inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory human settlement planning. Sandakan is a peninsular, and the most historic and culturally diverse areas at the eastern tip of the peninsular have already become isolated as investment moves westwards. At the same time, land reclamation moves the coast further away from urban centres; uprooting both coastal communities and mangroves.

Public Spaces. The Arkitrek Design Charette will look at the potential for provision of universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces.

Food Production. Ensure sustainable food production by building circular economy systems integrating fertiliser from food waste.

Tembok Project Sites

The Site

The Arkitrek Design Charette will focus on the urban waterfront area known as Tembok. This area encompasses an existing beautiful and yet under-used public park (Taman Tun Abdul Razak), a grossly over-engineered and under-used four-lane highway with two roundabouts (The Tembok itself), an area of privately owned warehouses in varying states of disrepair, other local authority owned pockets of land, and of course the water.

Provisional zoning:

• Water zone for an amphitheatre, floating recreational spaces, and recycling processes
• Boundary zone to be used for seaweed and oyster cultivation, which doubles as a security barrier.
• Startups and Incubators: behind the Tembok in an area of mixed public and private land ownership
• A Maker Space in one of the Tembok warehouses.
• Peripheral zones not directly adjacent to the Tembok include; Sim Sim water village, Berhala Island, Kg. Forest Village and Kg. Pukat Village

The Tembok faces west over Sandakan Bay to the Sulu Sea

The Design Charette Programme

A team of Malaysian and International designers will interview stakeholders and the public, and then run a whole-day of participatory design workshops with community representatives and local design professionals. Workshops will be designed to give equal weight to the contributions of all participants.

The design team will take the interview findings and workshop outputs and develop them further, through a series of design excercises, to produce a set of informative and inspirational documents that illustrate the potential for integrating novel circular economy enterprises with urban regeneration.

Outline Programme

Day One 19th April – Arrive midday. Arkitrekkers will get to know each other on a visit to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. In the late afternoon visit the Tembok and speak to the people who use it.

Day Two 20th April – Site analysis and mapping and interview stakeholders.

Day Three 21st April – Whole day participatory Design Workshop.

Day Four 22nd April – Document, analyse and develop design outputs from yesterday’s workshop

Day Five 23rd April –  Present final design drawings and written content at a public exhibition and celebrate with a closing dinner together.

Day Six 24th April – Charette closes after breakfast.

Cost and Application Process

The cost per person is MYR800. Successful applicants will be notified within 3 working days of their application.  Upon being offered a place you will be asked to complete a booking form and pay the full cost. This payment is non-refundable.

To apply, please complete the online application form and email us with your cv/resume and portfolio to info@arkitrek.com

Full terms and conditions will be provided with the booking form.

For local design professionals wishing to take part only in the whole-day workshop on the 21st April, the cost is MYR150 inclusive of refreshments but exclusive of travel and accommodation.

About The Organisers and Partners

The Design Charette will be facilitated by Future Alam Borneo (FAB) and Arkitrek. The SYMBIOTIC collaborative also includes LEAP Micro AD, LAX Global Resources, the University of West London (UWL) and University College London (UCL)

Future Alam Borneo is a registered, not-for-profit society based in Sandakan, on the east coast of the state of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. They seek to create opportunities, connections and platforms to showcase Borneo’s ecological potential to a broad audience, through music, sports, art, design, architecture, and much more. http://www.futurealamborneo.org/

Arkitrek is a Design Consultancy that aims to conserve nature through design and education. You are on the educational Arkitrek Camp website now, and can visit our design consultancy page at www.arkitrek.com

LEAP Micro AD is a London based enterprise that is built on the belief that we can manage our everyday food, energy, water and waste better. Their business creates a circular approach to food, energy water and waste to benefit people and planet. https://www.madleap.co.uk/

This disused warehouse will be adapted into a Maker Space for the cicular economy