Asian architect congress to rake in RM34.8m

PETALING JAYA: Asian Congress of Architects Malaysia (ACA16) is expected to bring in 5,000 regional delegates to Kuala Lumpur and generate RM34.8 million for the economy.

ACA16 is hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) and will be held from June 23 to 29, 2014.

“The event is expected to welcome 5000 delegates to our shores with 40% international attendees,” said Ho Yoke Ping of the Malaysian Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) at the launch of ACA16 on Tuesday.

“This in turn will yield more than RM21.7 million in economic impact on the country and RM13.1 million from visitors expenditure. We hope that the congress next year will successfully stimulate ideas from the architects through intellectual exchange of knowledge and experience, which will translate into a collective contribution of the progress of the architecture and real estate industry both locally and regionally,” she said.

According to Ho, PAM’s hosting of this conference will contribute to the growth of Malaysia’s business tourism industry as the country aspires to be Asia’s business events hub.This is to position the country among the top five meeting and conference destinations in the Asia-Pacific under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Economic Transformation Programme.

PAM announced that it had won the bid to host ACA16 in Kuala Lumpur at the launch ceremony. Events that will take place during the one-week conference include the International Architectural Design Conference (DATUM:KL), the 35th general meeting of the Architects Regional Council of Asia (ARCASIA) and a whole variety of exhibitions, talks, dialogues and workshops.

“With that volume of people and the event’s large scale, we hope that the industry stakeholders in Malaysia that attend will learn from it. With the interaction of so many architects and people in the real estate industry, I’m sure there will be some cross-over events and networking that will benefit not only the architectural industry but the entire real estate industry in Malaysia,” said PAM president Chan Seong Aun.

“We have renowned international speakers coming. We also invited famous award-winning architects and of course the up-and-coming architects to speak at our events,” he said.

PAM is hosting the conference as a member of the ARCASIA, which is a regional institution combining architects from 18 countries in Asia, including Japan, China and India. ARCASIA’s congress is organised biannually and this will be the 16th to date and the third hosted by Malaysia.

The Malaysian National Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS Malaysia) was also launched at the ceremony. ICOMOS Malaysia was recognised as the 101st national committee by ICOMOS International in early March this year and was formally recognised by the Malaysian Registrar of Societies on Aug 27.

ICOMOS works closely with Unesco and has a role in advising on world heritage sites. The most recent one was the inscription of Lenggong Valley in Perak in 2012. ICOMOS Malaysia will assist Jabatan Warisan Negara in the development of a Lenggong Visitors Centre next year.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 20, 2013.