Traveller: 旧楼柱子上的壁画

亚庇，马来西亚沙巴州首府，被列为亚洲十大新兴旅游城市之一。市中心分为新区和旧区，新区由80年代填土而成的商业地区，而旧区则保留了一排货仓、一条6、70年代老街（银行和周日市集）、澳洲坊、旧北婆罗洲邮政局、阿特京森钟楼、旧码头（之后被划分为沙巴会议中心）和福利局。经过第二世界大战后，亚庇到处是被炸毁的建筑，英殖民时代的建筑被轰炸得所剩无几，而福利局是其中一栋未被炸毁的建筑。然而，1992年的一场离奇大火把这座历史悠久的建筑物无情地烧毁了，剩下的只是几排柱子。

柱子：长鼻猴肖像

现在的遗址已变成了当地街头艺术家的喜爱。旧福利局的每一根柱子原本是无聊白色的，经过街头艺术家的改造后，这每根柱子都变成了当地吸引游客的小景点。

这毫无疑问是一个意外，没有人想到当年的一场大火会演变成现在的一个小小的旅游景点。每一位路过的游客都会拿出相机拍摄每个壁画。而壁画的出现，让死气沉沉的市中心旧区活动了起来，真所谓柳暗花明又一村。

每当走在那几排柱子的时候，我就会好比进入了时空隧道，好像感觉到一个历史巨轮的转变，真的很神奇！但是，时代是一场无情的海啸，没有人知道这壁画的命运是如何的，日子久了，有关当局就会重新把这旧区规划来制造更多商机。所以，民众应该好好地发挥这历史的空间，不让它被时代海啸冲走，免得下一代不知道这旧福利局的历史和故事。

Engineer + Architect : Historical monuments and modern buildings

What do you think about the old buildings?
What about the quality and workmanship?
Do you ever think about the influence of the buildings to the society at that time or even the impact of the society to the buildings back at that time?

Taj Mahal, for instance, I still remember that this monument was built to immortalise wife of an emperor in Moghul empire in 16th century. The construction of the monument lasted for more than 10 years. I have never been there but from what I read in my primary school text book during my younger days, the workmanship is fantastic! The construction materials are one of the finest in the world! Marble, granite, jewels, and valuable stones that decorated the monument, standing majestically in the city of Agra. Taj Mahal is one of the UNESCO World Heritage due to its story, impact to the society at that time and also modern society, as well as the one and only kind of building in the world. It was said that the emperor at that time killed all the designers and engineers who did Taj Mahal so that there would not be another buildings look like Taj Mahal in the world.

So, spending for more than 10 years of construction period, with fantastic workmanship, and last for centuries! Those are the characteristics of one of the typical ancient monument/buildings.

Let's look at the modern world. Our society has improved in terms of technology and skills. The architects can design buildings and engineers can construct and design how the structures behave. Sad to say that, all the buildings in modern society are driven by construction cost! Money is root of all problems. Even though we can speed up the construction time and we may improve the construction methods, once the project runs out of money, everything will be compromised! For instance, the workmanship will be compromised. Sometimes, when I walk into my construction site, I just cannot imagine that this will be a "six-star" building in the future! Just because of the poor workmanship of the builders! But, everything is covered up by the interior design of the hotel. So, regardless of poor workmanship of the structures, all that people want to see is the interior design of the building instead of the structure of the building, integrity of the building structures.

Take a look in the modern society construction which ignores the workmanship and structural design.

Figure above is the collapsed roof of the stadium in Malaysia. With the current technology and skillset(knowledge), the roof of the stadium is supposed to be built for safety and aesthetic. However, poor workmanship and money driven mindset have incepted in modern construction and lead to catastrophe.

Difference of old and new buildings are obvious. Ancient society valued quality while modern society looks more into the business revenue. The mindset has changed in this globalization era. Money is prioritized as business turnover rate is high. Same to construction when this industry is considered as a tool to make money. Thus, quality of the product, which is the building itself, is compromised.


Disclaimer : Article above is just opinion of the author himself