Workshop on Fort Alice and Cross-cultural Excahnge

A fascinating workshop being conducted by Mike Boon in Sri Aman, as part of our community engagement program for the Fort Alice Conservation project. I strongly recommend that Kuchign people attend! See below Mike's letter:

'Reminiscing Forgotten Treasure - Simanggang' - Notice of Workshop 4 and Site Visits

Dear all,

During our previous workshop on 13.8.2013, Mr. Tay Chek Pin (a local historian) shared with us the following report that he found in the archive :

"ADO D.C. Hudden - At 5am on 12.4.1931, after a short ceremony, the first post of the new Office was erected. Despite the early hour, there was quite a good attendance and a point of great interest was the presence of the grandsons of 4 of those people who helped to raise the first post of Fort Alice 67 years ago - Dato Abang Haji Addul Rashid, the grandson of Abang Ali of Pusa, Abang Omar, Native Officer, grandson of Pengeran Matali and Teliang, Resident Office Clerk, grandson of Orang Kaya, Pemancha Nanang of Saribas."
(SG 1.5.1931, P.111, Simanggang Monthly Report).

Mr. Tay said that invitation for a Chinese Towkay to raise the second post was also being mentioned. In close examination of construction details in Fort Alice, joineries resembling Malay, Iban and Chinese carpentry traditions were self-evidence in suggesting that the fort was constructed by these communities with supervision from the White Officers. Local history revealed that the same communities have contributed, in various ways, to the development of Simanggang ever since the Fort was built.

In view of this unique social history, we wish to initiate a series of cross-cultural exchange to engage these communities, in support of the Community Heritage Museum that will be set up in the conserved Fort Alice.

In addition to our regular site visits to Fort Alice, we intend to bring our participants to visit traditional Malay kampung, Iban longhouses and Chinese farmhouses during this coming school holiday. Our first visit is to Kampung Hulu, which will be hosted by the community leaders, house owners and school children. The participants will visit traditional Malay houses, Surau and historical graves site. Participants will be treated to traditional Malay food and refreshment prepared by the hosts.

Attached [below] is a registration form for interested participants. Please note that participants are limited to 30 persons only! Non-local participants are encouraged to book their accommodation early.

Regards,
Mike Boon
Project Director

Our Design for a 2BR+Mezzanine Holiday House

 
This is a design that we've been working on for a small holiday or beach house. It it prefabricated, which can be erected quickly and cleanly on site, minimising the need for labour in remote locations. No reason why it can't be constructed in suburban areas either, subject to council approval.

On the ground floor, it has an entry porch, two bedrooms, two bathrooms with one between the bedrooms and one by the front door), laundry, and a large open living and kitchen area which opens out to a sizeable deck. A stair leads up to the mezzanine, located above one of the bedrooms. It has a walled-up ground floor area of 99 sq.m,  and a first floor area of 16.5sq.m. The porch and deck total 42 sq.m. The cathedral ceiling gives a sense of space for an otherwise small footprint. The efficient planning also means it has got hardly any corridors while still giving privacy to the bedrooms and living space.

It is prefabricated primarily from a Structural Insulated Panel System (plywood/polystyrene), with  Colorbond composite roof panels.

Get in touch if you're interested!

This is a view of the entry porch, which faces the access road or driveway. The bedroom and bathroom windows, while large, are 1.5m off the internal floor, which gives privacy to these rooms.

This view is from the back, with the large deck facing the view at the rear of the house. While this model is on relatively flat land, it can also be used on a sloping site - we would need a balustrade to the deck of course!

Another view from the rear. Heating would be a wood combustion stove, and the high levels of insulation would keep the house cool in summer.

 A view of the front and side of the house - the upper windows are for the mezzanine. The deck can be seen on the right, and the entry porch on the left.

The house can be accessed from the deck (left) or the entry porch (right). The window on the left is for one of the bathrooms, and the other one is for the laundry.

 An interior view of the living and kitchen area - the front door is at the end of the very short corridor on the left, with big sliding doors to the deck on the right.

 A view looking the other way - the stair leading up to the mezzanine can be seen at end of the room. The vestibule on the right leads into the two bedrooms and the bathroom.

A view from the mezzanine, looking down into the living area.

Fort Alice Conservation 07

Mike Boon conducted another 2 day heritage awareness workshop about the fort's conservation up at Sri Aman on 13 and 14 August. There are 8 pages below, being the Activities Record of the workshop, and have great images of the site, the local food, the workshop itself, the tee-shirt that's been designed for the project, and mock-ups of the carpentry system of the fort by the master carpenter.

Right-click on the images below and choose 'View Image' for a bigger version.

Upcoming Heritage Symposium at University of Melbourne

Traditionalism, Colonialism and Modernism: Asian Heritage Transformed Symposium

6:00pm, Wed, 02/10/2013 to 4:00pm, Fri, 04/10/2013
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne

Coordinator: Dr. Amanda Achmadi

Keynote: Associate Professor Johannes Widodo, National University of Singapore

Other Confirmed Speakers: Mr. Yori Antar, Mr. Mike Boon and Mr. John Ting, Mr. Revianto Budsantoso, Prof. William Logan, Prof. Gerard Lico, Ms. Khoo Salma Nasution, and Assoc. Prof. Tim Winter

Drawing on the expertise of researchers, designers and advocates from across South East Asia and Australia this two day symposium will examine recent trajectories in heritage practice, teaching and thinking in Asia. It will focus on the conservation of buildings as well as the wider context of urban and cultural heritage and will address the immediate challenges confronting the field today.

In recent years heritage conservation has become a notable dimension of civil society activity in a range of Asian nations. New organisations and perspectives have encouraged an expanded view of heritage, which encourages people to look beyond the framework of tourism development.  One organisation that has played an important part in this is the Modern Asian Architecture Network (mAAN). This network of researchers and heritage practitioners has developed a distinctive voice during the past decade and now stands as a very influential advocate for better understanding and preserving the heritage of nineteenth and twentieth century industry, architecture and urban development across Asia.

This symposium will examine ways in which the heritage field in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore and elsewhere in Asia is moving beyond a paradigm that has been strongly focused on colonial and traditional built forms, and embracing the conservation of the sites of modern industry and modern architecture. The event will facilitate a conversation between mAAN and leading conservationists who have a deep knowledge of practices, histories and organisations in Asia.

Please email Amanda Achmadi ( aachmadi@unimelb.edu.au ) for expressions of interest and to pre-register.

Fort Alice Conservation 06

The activity record from our public engagement program to accompany the Fort Alice Conservation project, help in Sri Aman on 28 and 29 May 2013 Click on the image to see it full size.

Fort Alice Conservation 05

Exhibition Design for the new Sri Aman Regional Museum at the restored Fort Alice.

 Kenny the Main Contractor and his boys are busy dismantling and recording everything, and we expect more images of that process soon. In the meantime, I thought I would share some of our design ideas for the museum exhibition design.

We are the exhibition designers for the museum that will occupy the conserved fort building. Our design will minimise the use of mechanical and electrical systems, and we are going to have it as a naturally ventilated building, just as it was until the 1950s or so. This means that the exhibitions will have to be carefully considered so that they don't need climate control - certainly no nineteenth century texts or photographs here! However, we are aiming to get copyright to use large prints of a range of period materials currently kept in collections not held by the Sarawak Museum.

The first floor of the fort will be protected by mosquito netting throughout, so prohibit the ingress of insects, and some parts will also have calico curtains, as the fort had in the 1870s - the curtains can be seen in Alexander Hill Grey's 1875 photographs of the fort, which we don't have copyright to publish on this blog. 

The exhibitions will be divided into two sections - first, reconstructions of the courtroom, court offices, Resident's lounge and Resident's bedroom. This will be done with a combination of objects and furniture from the Sarawak Museum's collection, as well as new reproduction furniture to give the viewer a good idea as to how the building was used in the nineteenth century. The second section consists of displays which outline the history of Fort Alice and forts in Sarawak, the history and development of Sri Aman, the history and culture of the Lower Lupar River's inhabitants, including Ibans, Malays and Chinese, and finally a 'conservation corner' which will outline the restoration process and display some of the elements of the building that could not be re-used.

Views of the preliminary design for the Room Reconstructions
A note on the images: I prefer line drawings over renderings, and in the design stage it is a better tool. Renderings hide too much detail for me.

A view above of the reconstructed courtroom. The elevated court dias is at the eastern end of the courtroom, with a timber partition separating it from other rooms at the eastern end. We've chosen a setup from the 1930s, which shows the courtroom with defendant's and witness's boxes, and a timber balustrade dividing the judges' and lawyers' table. examples of this setup can also be seen in photographs of the Kapit fort around that time.  An earlier version of the court setup can be seen in the recreation of from a photograph at the Marudi Museum, in Fort Hose.

This is a view from the central entry tower, facing the river. This is a view of the western end of the courtroom, showing the fort's reconstructed offices behind a timber balustrade. The benches are for the court audience, which face to the left of the image, where the judges sat. Valuable objects confiscated from inhabitants of the river, like old jars, gongs and heads were kept behind this balustrade. These were usually confiscated as punishment for legal or political transgressions.

Another view of the main courtroom, from the other side of the office, behind the balustrade. This was a more private side of the building, not accessible to the public.

A view from the southwest corner of the main block of the fort - you can see the judges' chairs at the far right, with the gun rack behind that. The walled up room in the middle is where we believe the Resident's bedroom was. It has no windows to the outside as we think that, as a fort, access to the defensive lattice around the building was required at all times. On the left is the recreation of the Resident's lounge, in the northwestern corner of the main block.

A view of the reconstructed Resident's bedroom, viewed through a new opening in the new timber wall. The fittings reflect a time when European men had help to get dressed.

Views of the preliminary designs for the Exhibition Spaces

A view of the exhibition area in the rear block or wing of the building. The view is taken from the southwest corner of the rear block, and you can see down its length to the right. On the left is the Resident's lounge and bedroom. The panels will have large images (or collages of images) mounted on them, and we are researching the best way to do this, so that they are easily cleanable, resistant to light and the weather. We are also working out a system whereby the image panels can be replaced when they eventually fade. Unfortunately, all printed images will fade over a number of years if not protected from natural light, but these will be digital images that will be easily reproduced by the Museum when the time comes, as part of regular maintenance.

 

A more detailed view of the display panels - their size is subject to change, as we are still designing it. Other objects may be placed on plinths under the timber latices, but they need to be able to be left in the naturally ventilated rooms.

Fort Alice Conservation 04

Work on site is coming along! As usual, thanks to Kenny Chin from the Main Contractors for the photographs.

This view is from the riverside and downriver corner - the roof is completely down now, as is the first floor cladding and lattices.

We can see the conservator's practices at work here - note that every bit is marked with a code, which tells us where it came from originally once it is stored for assessment, inspection and reuse.

This is a view from the inland/upriver corner.

The inland elevation, which faces the road, has been in danger of falling out for a while, hence the temporary props. Lots of conservator's marks!

More conservator's marks on the bits and pieces. The concrete skirt, apron and drains were added in the early 20th century, I think, based on when cement was first introduced to Sarawak.

A view from the old carpark, with a pile of bits that can't be reused on the right, and timber elements awaiting assessment and storage on the left.

Copyright John Ting Architect 2013

Fort Alice Conservation 03

Dismantling of the roof continues - thanks to Kenny Chin from the Main Contractors for the photographs.

They've rigged up a chute to expedite getting shingles to the ground level without further damage.

One of the storage sheds rigged up on site for the good shingles - looking good!

Some of the badly damaged shingles which won't make it back onto the roof.....

Evidence of termite attack on one of the newer perimeter top plates.

Copyright John Ting Architect 2013 

Fort Alice Conservation 02

The site is now hoarded up, and the project boards installed! Thanks to Kenny Chin from the Main Contractors for the photographs.

The Client, Implementing Body and Main Contractor

The Consultants - I nee to change my letterhead to include country codes on the phone numbers!

The lovely site desk beside the fort.

Don't panic! The building is not being demolished, it is being carefully dismantled, and all of the components, new or old, recorded and stored so that we can assess what can be reused, or repaired and reused, or replaced. The builder has engaged 3 experienced conservators from Penang for this task. We are trying to keep and reuse all of the material that can't be reused in the building, on furniture, or site elements, etc. The principle is to try and keep everything, down to the roof shinges and old nineteenth century nails. We're going to use some of this material in the Conservation Corner display in the new museum. Above, the roof material and structure of the entry tower (facing the river) is being dismantled.

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Sacffolding is now holding up the structurally unsound parts of the building, and gives a safe working platform for the workers.

The roof is in bad condition, but it also dates from 1983, including the belian shingles, it's battens, the galvanised steel sheet for waterproofing, and the rafters. The galv. sheet is actually holding up the roof, as the rafters have been mostly eaten by termites! The king-posts and ridge beam are old belian, resistant to termites, thankfully!

The inland corner towers have also been dismantled.

Copyright John Ting Architect 2013 

Fort Alice Conservation 01

 The Fort Alice Conservation and Adaptive Reuse as a Regional Museum Project finally began on 28 May 2013, with the site being handed over to the Main Contractor. This project began 10 years ago, but Sarawak State Government funding finally came through last year. We've been working on it since then, as the consultant architectural historian and as the consultant curator and exhibition designer. The lead consultant we are working with is architect Mike Boon of Arkitek JFN in Kuching, Sarawak. On that day, the site look like this:

Photographs by John Ting - I was in Sarawak from 26 June to 2 July to see the Client, Architect and Contractor. We also launched a public awareness program, but that will be the subject of another post. The site is on a riverside hillock in Sri Aman (previously Simanggang), about 3 hours drive from Kuching - above is a view of the fort from the old carpark on the downriver side.

 The original front of the fort, which faces the river - the small tower to the left was the original entry. This view is from the riverside and downriver corner.

A view from the fort down the Lupar River (or Batang Lupar as it's known locally).

Another view of the lovely river, from the Taman Panorama Benak, an award winning building by Arkitek JFN.

Quite a bit of the fort's elements have fallen off, luckily it's mostly new material from the 1983 restoration! Much of the really old material, especially the posts, is still extant.

On the right is how the fort was in 1983, but also before WW2 - the protective timber lattices, with vertical timber boards below. The ground floor was originally open, and was walled up I believe in the early 20th century.

The main ceremony that was held on handover day was the Iban miring ceremony, conducted by local manang (traditional healers, seated on the right). This is an indigenous ground-breaking ceremony, and held to ensure the smooth progress of the project i terms of Iban religion. Seated on the left are representatives of the Sarawak Museum (the client), the Architect, the Sarawak Public Works Department (the implementing body), and the Main Contractor.

Copyright John Ting Architect 2013