Au2 Taman Keramat is located in district of Ampang in Selangor, alongside the Klang River. The village consists of 18-block flats with 668 units while the overall population is approximately 2300 people. According to the leader of taman, crime rates are high within the community. Prior to EMCO1.0 (Year 2020), we had the opportunity to run a live-build project ( Keramat Community Library ).

During the post-mortem, we had come to a realization that although we have a tangible final built library,but  there was less ideal collaborative condition during the implementation this community project. First, the lack of communication and engagement between university students and the youth community which led to an imbalanced community project because 90% of the builders were from the university hence it becomes an “one-sided” projectthat focused on the university students rather than the whole community. 

Therefore, the reflection of our previous project should be taken into strong consideration to understand the proper method to construct a healthier way of engaging the community. Several researches will also be done in order to produce a general guideline for community engagement.

From understanding the situation, we hope to contribute our knowledge in architecture (the understanding of relation of people and place) to ease some of the social, environmental and community work. To instil the importance of a community public space, we hope to have a participatory community engagement which includes the youth to be more proactive and involved. This workshop shall teach the community to be able to build, sustain, and innovate on future designs if they wish to. 

VISION 

To nurture a healthy community through

1. Share community experiences  to the public 
2. Producing guidelines for community projects
3. Collaboration in sharing skills and ideas.
4. Engagement of the community youngsters.
5. Empowering community.
6. Foster relationships between community and university students.

To enhance a healthy and participatory community project between the universities’ students and the existing communities.

MISSION

1. To share community practitioners experiences  with the public through online and social media
2. To reflect on our previous project and determine the precautions from our experiences and mistakes.
3. To carry out research on community projects from other studios or countries to establish a healthy way of community engagement.
4. To improvise based on the research and reflection to produce a recommended guideline for community projects.
5. To engage with the community through hands-on activities.
6. To Innovate and combine students’ intellectual and knowledge with local communities.
7. To haveparticipatory workshops with the youth communities, in order to be able to replicate and improve among their community.
8. To encourage the communities into making furniture for daily use.
9. To bridge the relationship between the kampung community towards the public to promote shared knowledge and intelligence.  

Due to the current situation of Malaysia, we will proceed with the project with the “bridge out” stage first. We will conduct the dualogue event through the online platform, and continue with research and study for Guidebook.

At the same time, the “bridge in” stage is our second year collaborating with Au2 Taman Keramat Villagers in order to form a healthy and sustainable community project. As the previous project (Keramat Community Library) used the slot bench as its main modular component for the floor, it is essential for the community to know how to make this in case there is a need to replace them for maintenance.

The main objective of this guideline research is to determine a comprehensive research-based guidebook and research on the method of Keramat Library’s maintenance.

ACTIVITY 1: DUALOGUE 

Dualogue will be hosted among studios locally and internationally to interact and understand better for the community work.The sharing session will open to the public to inspire them to take part in community development. The take-away from the sessions will be applied to the guidebook.  

ACTIVITY 2: PUBLICATION OF GUIDEBOOK

From the activity above, the research  information and list of guidelines will be conducted for community engagement. The guidebook will include the information from the research, reflections, case studies, and feedback. All these documents will be analyzed and then published in a guidebook format and through social media. Guidebook and the community project will be shared through online sharing sessions such as talks, facebook posts. 

ACTIVITY 3: INTERACTION WITH COMMUNITIES（ ONLINE WORKSHOP）

To foster healthy relationships with the communities by having ice breaking sessions to have a two-way exchange of experience and knowledge.We will connect with the communities virtually and discuss the reciprocal frame. 

ACTIVITY  4: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RESEARCH 

Research will be carried out in order to find out a better way of engaging the community.

The research will be based on the reference guideline of community architecture projects from other countries or organizations to give more clearer and understandable idea on how to approach further 

community engagement activities.

ACTIVITY 5: CONDUCT BUILDING WORKSHOP 

University students and the communities will work together to conduct a building workshop for 1 week. The workshop is designed to facilitate the transfer of skills at the same time giving opportunities to interact with the youths in a unique, interactive and practical manner. If the covid situation in September and October is doing better, we will proceed with this workshop. 

1. The workshop will help to develop a sense of social responsibility and an act of giving back to the community hence fostering social cohesion.  
2. Youths proficiency and confidence in using hand tools / machines.
3. Information on the guidebook will be updated from the community project for improvements. 
4. Guidebook to be published in printed version.
5. Information will be published to Colllab Website