S11 House wins Asia Pacific Design Centre Awards

PETALING JAYA: The S11 House, Malaysia’s first Green Building Index (GBI) platinum-rated residential house, recently won the Sustainable Design Award as well as the Residential Unit Award at the 2011 Asia Pacific Design Centre Awards held in China recently.

The house in Section 11, Petaling Jaya, is owned and designed by architect Dr Tan Loke Mun of ArchiCentre Sdn Bhd. Tan was also the team leader that led the development of the GBI rating by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM) and the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACEM). Since its inception in May 2009, GBI has been accepted as Malaysia’s own green rating system developed for the tropical climate.

Tan, a strong advocate and driver of the green building movement in Malaysia, was happy that a small project from Malaysia could win an international award among thousands of contenders.

In his acceptance speech, he thanked the world green building and design community. He said winning the awards was a testimony to the impact that the GBI has brought to green building in Malaysia and the country is now recognised by the international design fraternity as a serious green innovator.

The S11 House features a design akin to a tree in the hot tropics with a large insulated canopy roof providing wide shelter for the living spaces beneath.

The S11 Hose was a gold award winner in the detached/semi-detached and green home categories in the haven/The Edge My Dream Home Awards 2011 in July

The low pitch white roof reflects heat and provides a relatively flat working surface for renewable energy in the form of solar PV panels, solar hot water heating, rainwater harvesting, wind turbines and light tubes. The east and west walls are constructed of insulated light weight blocks with minimal windows and are further shielded by a wire mesh green wall. Recycled and low VOC materials, energy saving lighting and appliances are used throughout.

The S11 House was a gold award winner in the detached/semi-detached and green home categories in the haven/The Edge My Dream Home Awards 2011 in July.

The 2011 Asia Pacific Design Centre Awards ceremony was held on Nov 25 in Wuxi, China. More than 500 international projects from around the world including Singapore, Indonesia, Dubai, France and Italy were reviewed for the awards. The international jury panel comprised well-known design luminaries such as Claude Bérubé (Canada), Michael Schwarz (Germany), Niels Peter Flint (Denmark) and Patrick Fong (Hong Kong).

The Asia Pacific Design Centre is based in Shanghai and the current president is Bérubé, the former president of the International Federation of Interior Designers and the president of the Canadian Interior Design Association.

Tan: Malaysia is now recognised by the international design fraternity as a serious green innovator.

This article appeared on the Property page, The Edge Financial Daily, December 2, 2011.