Building bridges to resilience with pop-up libraries and community playscapes

The public library in Taman Keramat, built by Colllab and the community, is meant to encourage young children to read. Photo: Colllab

It was a clash of two worlds.

The community leaders at Taman Keramat in Ampang, Selangor may have reached out to the team at Colllab (an architecture research lab) to build a public library for children at the Rumah Pangsa AU2 Rolpop Community Garden late last year.

But the moment the building phase began, they could not help but be apprehensive of the usage of plywood as the main building material. Even with the usage of steel as additional overhang support.

With some of the community members being builders and contractors themselves, one can understand why. After all, plywood is not necessarily the sturdiest of materials.

“They tried to be supportive but we could still see the fear in their eyes, ” shares Doris Quek, co-founder of Colllab, which is supported by UCSI’s School of Architecture and Built Environment.

It all began, recalls Quek, when the lab-fabricated laminated plywood layers were delivered to the building site in December last year.

The idea was to create prefab building components to be then easily transported and assembled on-site with minimal on-site building time. The project’s modularity also allowed the components to be multiplied or re-assembled for maintenance.

“They didn’t think it would be long lasting, which is understandable. Normally plywood is used to build temporary structures. And this library was meant to be a gathering space and a safe reading space for the youngsters, ” says Quek, 34.

For the Colllab team, working together with their host is important as seen with this 'playscape' collaboration with the Kampung Belemang and Muar communities in Johor last December. Photo: Colllab

This library project can be seen as an extension of a self-initiated community garden in 2015, established under the River of Life Public Outreach Programme Phase 1.

The goodwill and partnership that was fostered between the Taman Keramat community (2,300 residents) and the Colllab team over the years helped to maintain a level of trust.

UCSI University’s assistant professor Teoh Chee Keong, also Colllab’s co-founder, recounts the first time contact was made with the Taman Keramat community.

At that time, the library project was not even on the table.

In 2017, Teoh along with landscape architect Ng Sek San and cycling advocate/photographer Jeffrey Lim went for a recce at AU2 Rolpop Community Garden, located near Sungai Klang, and Kampung Baru, Kuala Ampang across the river. The idea was to build a bridge across the river to make it accessible for cyclists. While the Taman Keramat community was happy with the proposal, some from the other side wanted to keep their “village” serene and distanced.

So Teoh and his team decided to draw up proposals and continue the community engagement.

“Then in 2019, Pak Halim, one of the community leaders in Taman Keramat approached us and said that he has an idea to build a mini library in the community garden.

The Keramat public library is meant to be a gathering space and a safe area for young readers in the Taman Keramat community. Photo: Colllab

“So we thought it would be wise to start off with this small project and get familiar with the community at Taman Keramat first. We had a few rounds of discussion but our building plans were delayed due to the movement control order last year. But we managed to pick it up towards the middle of the year, ” says Teoh, 46.

Library, community and trust

Back to the build in December, thankfully, the doubt and apprehension did not stop the community members from welcoming the Colllab team. After all, these were the people with whom they had formed a friendship for nearly three years.

“The build took nearly eight days to complete. And every day, they cooked delicious meals for us.

“They even took care of the students who were vegetarians by cooking vegetarian meals. The community spirit is very strong here, ” says Teoh.

Gaining the trust of the community is the first step in ensuring a project succeeds, says Quek. Photo: Colllab

For Quek and Teoh, working with communities is not something new. Quek, who was Teoh’s former student at UCSI, remembers working on a community project back in 2007 at the Sungai Buloh Leprosy Settlement, often referred to as the “Valley of Hope”.

And it was this same spirit that the duo continued to share: to involve creatives, students and the community in a dialogue.

For Quek (who teaches architectural design studio at UCSI) and Teoh, this was not about giving students more course work to score better grades. It was about working together to generate architectural and design solutions for the betterment of the communities and public users.

Before Colllab officially started its community engagement project in August, the team kicked off a discourse series in May named “Dualogue” which was an exchange platform with design creatives, including Low Pey Sien from arts space KongsiKL and playwright/director Ridhwan Saidi.

“We knew some (arts) practitioners are interested and enthusiastic to contribute ideas and efforts toward community and public, however it is a struggle to balance the time and resources poured in for non-profit projects (especially during the pandemic).

“After discussions between practitioners and academicians, we then sought a solution which is to form a collaborative platform where knowledge, experience and skills from practitioner can be shared and gained by apprentices/students, ” explains Quek.

So when Halim, one of Taman Keramat’s community leaders requested for a public library in the community garden, the Colllab team was activated and over three months, the team aligned ideas and actions with the community including planning, generating mock-ups, logistics preparation, 10 days of lab fabrication and finally the eight-day on-site build.

It was only on the seventh build day, when the 8.5m (length) x 7.6m (width) x 3.75m (height) library structure was almost completed, that the community members breathed a sigh of relief.

“When they saw the library built up, they got very excited, ” shares Quek.

Playscape dream

At the same time, the Colllab team was engaged with another community project at Kg Belemang in Tangkak, Johor. This project involved building a sustainable playscape that will not only be fun for the children, but also lead to the gathering of families. These playscapes are self-buildable, self-sustainable and mobile in nature.

Through research and experimentation, the Colllab team came up with this bent-ply laminated layers. Photo: Colllab

Both projects were made possible through the Khind Starfish Foundation’s annual Projects For Happiness grant. While the Taman Keramat public library project received RM8,000, the playscape in Tangkak received RM10,000.

While Quek and Teoh were grateful for the grants, they agreed that it was still not enough for large scale projects such as these. Donations were of course welcomed.

However, Teoh believes this was also a blessing in disguise.

“We were able to demonstrate to the people and our student volunteers that things can still be done with creativity and despite budgetary constraints, problems can be solved by the design of the structures, ” says Teoh.

Quek feels people should never view community projects such as these through the lens of charity but one of partnership and collaboration.

“In order to provide community aid, we don’t stand as a singular unit and often have to work with a lot of parties and stakeholders, especially the communities that will be receiving aid.

“Respecting the community’s social structure, cultural integrity and community dynamics is essential before we carry out any part of our work in architecture and construction.

“Then, through curatorial comprehension, this inclusivity allows architectural design to be developed and built in a collective and collaborative manner.

The Colllab team working hard to assemble a 'playscape' in Tangkak, Johor. Photo: Colllab

“This then results in a deeper sense of belonging for both the builders and the communities, as well as the long-term betterment of their livelihood, ” elaborates Quek.

The role of an architect or designer in the world of arts and community is fast evolving in these uncertain times. Empowering communities is a practical solution.

“We can’t solve each and every social problem, therefore we have to utilise our expertise to provide useful design and architectural solutions, ” she adds.

But Quek says working with a community for a specific project is not as easy as some may deem it to be. She says time needs to be invested (up to two years, at times) in building a relationship with the community that a team will be working with.

“This is a time to have stages of communications and trials of collaboration, which is inclusive of understanding the community’s actual needs, capabilities and most importantly their reaction towards external parties.

“Sometimes, the community seeks for assistance directly or via a connection from a mutual party. Most of the time, the said party has already had a long-term collaboration and plans with the specific community, and need assistance to provide architectural design and live building help, ” says Quek.

It is ideal that a community has a clear goal or direction towards their social improvement.

Part of Colllab's core principle is to engage and build a partnership with the host community, says its co-founder Teoh Chee Keong (third from left). Photo: Colllab

Though the rising number of Covid-19 cases and the movement control order have made it impossible for Colllab to engage with their communities, Quek mentions that that doesn’t mean the team is inactive.

Moving forward, the team will be reviewing its past work and also introduce its “Assembly To Assemble”, an upcoming project in November to continue into more community engagements with the Keramat community.

“We will be looking into our previous works to reflect on any issues and mistakes that have incurred during the build, which will help us to perform upgrading works on the current library.

“Simultaneously, the project will share Colllab research, skills and knowledge, and to rope in more community members to be involved in the building team, ” says Quek.

Other than that, the team is working on producing a “Live Building & Architectural Community Aid” guidebook.

“The main objective of this project is therefore to curate a comprehensive and detailed, research-based guidebook to community architecture.

“The book will take a deeper look into the issues and challenges that have been faced in the past in different community architecture projects, ” says Quek, who hopes the guidebook will help architectural and arts community projects in Malaysia, especially those in the marginalised demographic.