KUALA LUMPUR, 10 July 2017 – UEM Sunrise Berhad (“UEM Sunrise” or the “Company”), one of Malaysia’s leading property developers, has opened ‘Zaha Hadid Architects: Reimagining Architecture’ to a record audience turnout at Black Box, Publika.
The Company welcomed world-renowned architect, Patrik Schumacher, Director and Principal of Zaha Hadid Architects (“ZHA”) who had worked alongside the late Zaha Hadid in numerous projects, at the opening of the exhibition where he addressed approximately 300 strong crowd as a keynote speaker for Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival (“KLAF”) 2017.
Opening at Publika, UEM Sunrise’s creative retail subsidiary at Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur, the exhibition series is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, and will go on to Singapore and Melbourne following its Kuala Lumpur premiere. The exhibition will showcase a range of the late Zaha Hadid’s works, spanning across 40 years during which she grew to be an industry pioneer who redefined architectural design and became the first woman to receive the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize. Exhibits will include sketches, photographs and scale models of some of her early works such as the Phaeno Science Centre and the Vitra Fire Station in Germany all the way to major projects such as the Guangzhou Opera House, the Sheikh Zayed Bridge at Abu-Dhabi and the London 2012 Olympic Aquatics Centre.
Visitors of the exhibition will gain insight into the workings of an architecture and design maestro as well as Zaha Hadid Architects, her design firm which currently continues her egacy by upholding her vision and design philosophy. With a practice of integrating ecological materials and sustainable construction practices to produce innovative undulating designs, the global architecture and design brand continues to deliver practical solutions that address new design challenges of our era.
“We are honoured to present our work at the Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival 2017 in collaboration with UEM Sunrise. The exhibits, which display a selection of our seminal projects, tell our design story that is driven by an element of inventiveness. We hope that through this exhibition, visitors will gain a deeper understanding of architecture and design, and discern the ways in which our projects become more innovative, resolved and polished from a formal and technological standpoint with each new design,” said Patrik Schumacher.
Commenting on the opening of the exhibition, Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UEM Sunrise said, “We are honoured to develop the ‘Zaha Hadid Architects: Reimagining Architecture’ exhibition series together with KLAF 2017 and Bulgari. We would also like to thank Zaha Hadid Architects for being an invaluable partner in making the exhibition a reality, and are honoured to have ZHA design Mayfair, our luxury development in Melbourne, Australia which will be launched in the near future.”
“ZHA’s values resonate with ours. We are both driven to deliver quality developments and to practice sustainability in all that we do. UEM Sunrise is not only a property developer but an international lifestyle developer. As we work to deliver quality developments, we also want to create sustainable communities through initiatives such as this exhibition series which will bring the design, architecture and cultural communities together. We hope that the series will go a long way to enrich the communities in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Melbourne with a deeper understanding of Zaha Hadid’s works, and stimulate a wider conversation on good design and architecture,” he added.
The opening of ‘Zaha Hadid Architects: Reimagining Architecture’ was officiated by YAM Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah on 9 July 2017. Raymond Cheah, Chief Operating Officer, Commercial of UEM Sunrise and Ang Chee Cheong, Director of KLAF2017 were also present during the opening.
The exhibition will run from 10 to 26 July 2017 at White Box in Publika and is open to the public.