Brunei: March 5th – 7th 2013, Design and Creativity Workshop
By Rich Strange

By the Youth for the Youth

Arkitrek ran a 3-day workshop in Brunei Darussalam with students and teachers from local institutes including; Nakhoda Ragam Vocational School, University Brunei Darussalam and the Institute Technology Brunei. The aim of the workshop was to solicit ideas from the youth to see what they required in a YouthPark and to better understand green and sustainable designs and how this could be incorporated in their designs. The group learnt many new skills of a project of this nature and worked together in groups on chosen designs for the new YouthPark.

The youth were joined by several participatory design specialists from Arkitrek and the Brunei Association of Architects, PUJA. The designs went across the whole spectrum ranging from very imaginative and creative to other more traditional ideas. The students showed great understanding of key green and sustainable designs and were able to incorporate these ideas in their structures. They also researched opportunities for additional educational workshops that can be incorporated in the design and build stages of the program but also after the projects’ completion and how best to use this space in creating a sustainable future. The students were very passionate as to the possible impact their designs would have on the their country and how this could better inform future choices.

The team were able, after three days, to collate many workable designs and had the added bonus of presenting these to HRH Prince Azim and the Ministers from Culture, Youth and Sports and Education. The Ministry were highly congratulatory of the program and gave the project its full backing and cooperation.

With such a positive outlook of this style of design and build with its holistic approach to education we are aiming to raise the profile and looking forward to the next stages of this project. We are hoping to continue this scheme over the next few months, running several workshops, which will develop the Architectural and Engineering concepts and begin to formulate designs for the second phase of the YouthPark. The students were highly enthusiastic about the possibility of seeing their ideas become a reality and I am looking forward to the next stage.