A Think & Do Tank

Arch. Professor Laurence Loh lecture outlines the activity of the ThinkCity, a community-led organization based in Georgetown, Penang, that partners with government agencies, business communities and civil society to undertaken urban regeneration that promotes an economy based on culture.

Following the success and key learnings of the George Town Grants Programme, a programme designed to spearhead urban regeneration focused on promoting community engagement to preserve and celebrate heritage, the Think City expanded to other regions and have evolved from dispensing grants to more actively shaping and supporting other aspects of citymaking.

The ThinkCity latest thrust is to upscale its internal resources to manage climate adaptation projects.

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SPEAKER: LAURENCE LOH KWONG YU

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG.
AA DIP, ICOMOS, APAM, LAM, MIID, FHKICON.

Laurence Loh advocates Designing with Culture to create sustainable urban solutions.

Associate Professor Laurence Loh, an architect by profession, has spent the past 26 years protecting, conserving, managing and sustaining the cultural heritage of Malaysia. Trained at the Architectural Association in London, he runs the architectural practices of Laurence Loh Akitek and Arkitek LLA Sdn. Bhd. Laurence’s expertise and contributions in built heritage have been acknowledged nationally and regionally.

He was appointed by UNESCO to act as the on-site Assessor for the World Heritage Listing of both Macau as well as Kaiping in China. Laurence is best known for the restoration of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang that won the inaugural UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation 2000 as the ‘Most Excellent Project’. This was followed by UNESCO Heritage ‘Award of Merit’ for the restoration of the Cheng Hoon Teng in Malacca. In 2008, his restoration of Stadium Merdeka won the UNESCO ‘Award of Excellence’, whilst Suffolk House in Penang, the only surviving Anglo-Indian Georgian mansion in South-East Asia, was accorded the UNESCO ‘Award of Distinction’. His Lunas Rubber Smokehouse project, a community cum conservation project with schoolchildren was shortlisted for the 2010 Aga Khan Awards. Laurence is also the President of Badan Warisan Malaysia, the Heritage of Malaysia Trust providing advocacy as well as advisory services and skills training within the whole spectrum of cultural heritage conservation.

He is also a Director of ThinkCity, a community-led organization that partners with government agencies, business communities and civil society to undertaken urban regeneration that promotes an economy based on culture. The latest thrust is to upscale its internal resources to manage climate adaptation projects.

In parallel with his professional career path, Laurence also devotes his time to education. He currently teaches at the University of Hong Kong and at the ICOMOS International Centre for the Study of Preservation Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome.

This year the Institute honored Laurence with the PAM Gold Medal Award for his life-long contribution to the advancement of architecture in Malaysia and internationally.