A quiet measure of success
We have been doing this for 2 years; publishing a local project or article at 7a.m. every Friday on our website, and sharing the same on social media.
Our goal was to showcase local projects on a common platform, so that they can be easily accessed and retrieved, something which is difficult to do with printed media. Sharing the featured projects on social media also meant a wider reach; both in readership as well as collaborators. We wanted to be more inclusive, which meant that our publications grew to include student works, projects-in-progress, research articles, community outreach projects (sometimes in dual languages) - just so we can keep to our self-imposed deadline of presenting our followers with their 7a.m. Laksa Companion every Friday.
Earlier this year, we reached 1000 followers in Facebook and close to 700 in Instagram - it's a quiet measure of success, considering that this is a personal initiative by two architects assisted by a small team. Our collaborators include the local chapters of PAM in Sabah and Sarawak, and recently we are cross-linked with the Architecture Malaysia (AM) website; the Malaysian Institute of Architecture magazine.
Another measure of success is the increasing number of contributions locally as well as from overseas. With over a hundred entries in our website now, we have gone from merely collecting to curating – there is a body of works which can be composed according to themes, typology, region, and so forth – and re-published on the website. In this way, we are able to re-introduce past projects and articles as new followers join us on social media.
In the recent months, we have completed several interviews with Pioneer Architectsin Sarawak; those who started practicing in the 1970’s. In the coming months, we expected to publish articles on the late Ar. Paul Yong and Ar. Ting Ing Chew. As long as the projects keep coming in, we will be able to keep to our deadline of publishing each Friday morning.
For those of you who have contributed to the website – thank you. For those of you who have not, it does not have to be a recent project – it just has to be something dear to you. Just as the website has become something dear to me, especially when we feature works by my former interns and students; winning awards and recognition for their efforts. Thank you for letting us share our pride in your success.
Founding partners : Wee Hii Min | Chai Si Yong | Jenny Chow
