The concept of critical distance within design comes from the creation of work that is a derivative from a familiar and cultural project without the misrepresentation and misuse of traditional ideas. The concept of this project was to create a solution for density and technological advancement in the country of Malaysia which was looking to redevelop the center of commerce. Our team, being complete outsiders with no possible way of keying into existing traditions of Malaysia, gave ourselves the task of developing new ideas from a singular commercialized system already exiting. Palm oil milling is an extremely unsustainable and damaging practice yet Palm oil is Malaysia’s top export. This means the largest money maker for the country comes at a detriment to the culture, environment, and thusly the people. So creating a project that calls this into question without truly trying to solve the issue was our concept. The critically distance ourselves from the culture so that to develop a project as a question more than a solution.
(This project is an excerpt from a larger project done in collaboration with Miguel Abaunza, Angela Huang, Emilija Landsbergis, Angeliki Mavroleon, and Rosanna Pitarresi and SU11 Architecture)