Star of the Sea Kindergarten, located in Pangkor, provides informal education for children aged 4 to 6 years. Currently, around 40 to 50 children from the remote island attend the kindergarten. Operated by the Parish of St. Francis de Sales Church along with two other kindergartens, it has not seen any maintenance or renovation in the last 40 years.Over time, the lack of maintenance and safety measures has led to a deteriorated school environment. The outdated classrooms and limited facilities have hindered the teaching and learning experience. This project aims to enhance the quality of education through interior architecture by revitalizing the learning playscape and the entire school.

Sungai Temon is an ethnic minority village of about 400 people. Here lives a group of sea people who live by the sea. They mainly focus on fishing activities for a living and they live in 9 different villages individually. This group of sea people has their own ethnic culture, history, and tradition, which is also one of the multi-ethnic characteristics of Malaysia. After our conversations with local leaders Mr. Lam and Mr. Jeffree, we found that they are facing many economic, educational, and cultural heritage issues. Their fishing industry has been affected due to environmental pollution caused by reclamation activities and development plans. At the same time, due to the mother tongue of ethnic minorities, it is difficult for them to learn new things, so most young people drop out of school and continue to work in the fishing industry. Fortunately, there is a group of community workers that comes to their village to teach the children English regularly recently. In terms of culture, they also frankly said that because their cultures are passed on from generation to generation through oral language, some traditions gradually disappear and cannot be passed on accurately from generation to generation. We also found that as early as 2014, there were enthusiastic people, Mr. Choo, who helped to found the Seletar Cultural Center and set up a small museum to preserve the culture of the “sea people”. However, due to a lack of management and responsible individuals, it has been stagnant at present, and the building is too rudimentary. Its unique cultural and national characteristics cannot be recorded and inherited more accurately and cannot play their true role. Through the research and experience with orang Seletar, we have found out that they have faced many problems and the public is not aware of it. Hence, it causes society to be neglected. Although the news has reported about their difficulties and background, their culture still remains a mystery to many. Moreover, the Orang Seletar are sea nomads with different environments, but they are still part of the culture of Malaysia as it is a multi-racial country. As far as helping them is concerned, the government currently does not provide adequate assistance so the help that they are getting is very minimal in Johor Bahru said by the Orang Seletar compared to those in Borneo. This is why we want to help them so more people can learn about them.  Hence, as design and mass communication students, we will help to record their traditional arts & culture by using our specialty in design and advertising. We will publish a book and make some documentaries about their history, arts and culture to raise awareness to let the public understand the situation they are facing.

Project Background and IssuePangkor Island is an island located on the west coast of Malaysia, with its local residents having strong relations as a whole. This is due to its common industrial heritage in fishery. However, with the ever expanding growth in tourism, the local residents may struggle in maintaining a good balance of their own locality and the tourist commercial activities.Our project concern lies within the mushrooming growth of Pangkor’s island tourism development, which can potentially deteriorate the local culture and heritages over time. This has already been in effect and can be seen throughout the fishery industry. An example of such effect would be the tug of war relationship between the existing fishery areas and duty-free centres. To counter this problem, we propose keeping and cultivating the local culture, which includes sharing the local knowledge of the heritages and cultural views. This project aims to raise awareness towards the Pangkor island’s cultural identity, which will ultimately result in a vast appreciation of its history and culture. Our primary goal is to strengthen the Pangkor island’s integrity by reminding the community of its significant values. This process will forge a strong foundation for a sustainable tourism future, which will be done by collecting, preserving and contributing to these declining industries, as well as the island’s heritage.  Project purposes:Preserve Industrial Heritage: Document and preserve Pangkor Island's fishery legacy by sharing local knowledge and cultural perspectives.Empower Local Community: Strengthen the island's communal identity amidst the fast pace tourism growth by emphasising its significance.Promote Sustainable Tourism: Create a healthy appreciation for Pangkor Island's heritage to maintain and improve a balanced tourism development that respects local culture.Preserve Sunset Industries: Keeping and preserving historical and cultural values, to protect Pangkor Island's assets, particularly its fading industries, from modernization impacts

Care and Secure Help Center (C.A.S.H) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that operates as an animal shelter and houses over 200 homeless cats and dogs. The overwhelming number of animals sheltered by C.A.S.H has hindered the shelter’s conditions. In this case, the dogs are the priority as they take up the majority. The dogs have 2 outdoor playtimes a day, where healthy adult dogs are separated from the puppies and dogs with mobility issues. After visiting the shelter, we observed that the  dog’s playground is paved with gravel and barricaded by fences while fully exposed to the harsh weather. This worries the owner as the excruciating heat might result in heat strokes.  As for the facilities, the playground is lacking in the exercise department as there are only a couple of concrete cylinder wells for the dogs to jump on to for exercise. As for the dogs with mobility issues, They get their exercise by roaming around with wheelchairs in a more shaded area. Dogs that have mobility issues use customized wheelchairs to aid their movement until they have fully recovered. However, since each wheelchair is customized to each dog, after that dog heals up, the wheelchair will no longer be in use. Collab wants to help C.A.S.H animal shelter based on our ability. By understanding this, we would like to take this as an opportunity to improve the environment and welfare of the dogs by utilizing the undergraduate’s architectural knowledge and practical expertise. Moreover, raising awareness of the problems animal shelters face by seeking help from volunteering students during this project. 

Every year, there are approximately 10 candidates from Sekolah Tunas Bakti Sg. Besi, an Institute of Moral Rehabilitation, register for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, SPM. Sekolah Tunas Bakti is an Approved School institution for the education, training and detention of children established or prescribed under section 65 (approved schools) of the Children Act 2001. All candidates are under Court Order under Paragraph 91 (1) (f) (sent to an approved school or Henry Gurney School) Children Act 2001. However, these candidates do not have proper resources to revise, including textbooks and exercise books. Besides that, lack of educators is one of the reasons since  they do not have teachers to guide them. We would like to help them pass SPM subjects through lessons tutored by college students. We will also provide 10 sets of textbooks, reference books and practice books as study material. We understand the importance of their opportunity in taking this exam because it promises them a better prospect in life in terms of job security, networking, and dignity. This is our noble effort in providing them help that their environment could not because we believe that everyone deserves a second chance in life. We are confident that the effort put in to run this programme will provide them with a broad exposure to the importance of seeking knowledge in the future. 

Kampung Baru Senai is a Chinese new village in Johor with rich Hakka heritage, community memories, and everyday cultural stories. These stories can be found in places such as Kong Hay Tong, traditional kuih stalls, the old theatre, SJK(C) Senai Museum, Senai River, and the old railway traces.However, many young people who live around these places do not fully understand their meanings. To them, these places may look ordinary, but behind them are stories of migration, resilience, family values, community support, and cultural identity. The issue is not that Senai’s culture has disappeared, but that these stories are no longer actively communicated between generations. Without documentation and meaningful ways to share them, local memories and stories may slowly fade.寻迹士乃 Loi Ah, Cim Ziak Hi was created to reconnect young people with Senai’s local history and culture through a more interactive learning experience. The project combined an AI cultural guide, Trace Pack mission kit, a 7-stop cultural route, site-based activities, Trace Wall reflections, a Heritage Zine, Cultural Learning Map, and video documentation. Instead of only learning about history through written information, participants were encouraged to explore the actual places, ask questions, listen to community stories, complete activities, and reflect on what they experienced.Through the project, young participants had the opportunity to learn about Senai directly from its places and people. The activities also created opportunities for interaction between younger participants and local community members, allowing stories and memories to be shared across generations.The support from My Starfish Foundation and the public made it possible for us to develop and implement these learning materials and activities. More importantly, the support helped us create a meaningful opportunity for young people to experience local culture in a way that was more engaging and relevant to them. By supporting projects like this, the community can help preserve local memories, encourage intergenerational sharing, and give younger generations a chance to understand and carry these stories forward.

Persatuan Penjagaan Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal Johor Bahru (PPKTAJB) is a home for the special needs community. The organisation was established in 1990. Currently, this charity home accommodates 185 beneficiaries with the age range from 10 to 98 years old. It provides permanent shelter, individual care, health well-being and self-management to the beneficiaries with multiple incurable disabilities such as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, mentally challenged and learning difficulties.  Through the interview with the manager, Mr Jeeva, we found that the main issue they are facing is the lack of the number of physical therapists to assist the beneficiaries’ activities. Hence, they only manage to spend most of their time indoors and the space they spend most of their time in is lacking in equipment. This condition is insufficient to improve their physical and mental health conditions. To solve this issue, Theraplay 3.0 team hopes to assist them by promoting survival skills as a support to their daily needs and become less dependent on staff’s assistance through improving their motor skills and social skills. Other than that, providing an indoor green corner is another effort applied to encourage the beneficiaries to get closer to nature and enhance their well-being. By looking into their special needs and sensitivities towards their environment, the sensory experiences will also be another main focus in our design consideration.  In conclusion, we propose designs and activities to enhance the special needs children’s understanding of the world and practice independent life by applying therapeutic approaches hence creating a conducive and healing environment for them.  

Naziha a/p Hair, one of our batchmates, is from an indigenous group that has long struggled to deal with the community's attitude toward environmental awareness. They don't know how to recycle and properly handle solid waste, in addition to lacking basic environmental awareness regarding air, water, and noise pollution. Also, she informed that the "suku kaum batek" indigenous adult community has its own specific ideology and finds it difficult to accept outsiders' opinions. As a result, we would like to help them to handle this problem by educating the community and promoting environmental awareness, particularly by focusing among children. So, we are running this project to emphasise the environmental health of the indigenous community for their social, cultural, economic, physical survival and well-being in order to increase the cultivation of natural resources and revive the environment of their village area. Therefore, we are honoured to work with the indigenous community to maintain a safe balance between the natural world and those who inhabit it.This effort focuses on the concept of fun-based learning, which uses engaging ways that include cognitive, emotional, and behavioural components to introduce young people to the importance of environmental stewardship. 

Overview The proposed project is to enable underprivileged children in Kampung Bukit Tiu, Machang, and nearby areas to experience the joy of riding and improving their health and fitness. Donating a bike to 100 children from underprivileged families will encourage them to be more active in outdoor activities. Children who cycle can develop a healthy positive habit that is beneficial for children who are not very active and those who cannot sit still. These bicycles are collected from contributors who would like to give away their kids' bike for charity that is still in good condition and reusable. Issue Encouraging children to ride is one way to get kids to be more active. However, not all families can afford to purchase a bike for their kids. Meanwhile, those who can afford to purchase a bike will mostly abandon it when their kids get older, and these bikes will be unused and rusty. Bicycles serve as a valuable means of transportation and empowerment, particularly for individuals and communities facing socioeconomic challenges. This proposal outlines our plan to organize a recycled bicycle donation campaign to aid those in need and positively impact their lives.