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Georges Braque is having his second home in Malaysia!

Georges Braque, an internationally known French abstract artist has arrived in Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday night. Braque had his painting education at Ecole des Beaux-Arrts from 1949 to 1951. After his graduation at the beginning of 1952, he worked closely with Pablo Picasso and developed the cubism style. His early works were impressionistic and soon changed to Fauvist style which uses brilliant colors and loose structures to capture the most intense emotional response. Until today, he is now 70 years old and still continuing his carrier as a painter as well as a sculptor. Straight after his arrival, he proceeded to the well-known architect firm, ABC architect firm to accomplish his dream of having the second home in Malaysia.
This will be his forth visit to Malaysia when the first time was sixty three years ago, he was still a seven years old young little boy. Since the first visit, he felt in deep love with Malaysia and determined to place his second house here. According to Braque, the hot and humid climate of Malaysia interests him as his hometown, Argenteuil-surseine, France has extreme weather throughout the year. As an elderly person, he would like to live in a mild climate and have a stable living for the rest of his life. Besides, he was amazed with the rich cultural value of Malaysia as Malaysia is made wonderful by the 3 main races, Malays, Chinese, and Indians. With a wide range of food choice here and the heavenly nice and peaceful environment, Braque will be enjoying his stay. Thus, after years of struggle for living, he finally able to make his dream come true by building a second house at the seaside of Tawau, Sabah. In his speech, he greatly praised Tawau as a low crime rate city, and low housing cost while the scenery is excellent.
Generally, he would like to have a square shaped house with little curvaceous in certain places which suits or represents his Fauvist style. In order to bring out his personality as an artist, he asked for some texture to be applied to the house, practically at the openings. As he a senior residence, he is now having some common health problems due to aging. Hence, Braque has stressed on several aspects of the house design to ease him in many ways. Firstly, he asked for a single storey for his home as his movement is restricted in account to his weak body health. Nevertheless, stairs or gaps of less than 5 steps are acceptable. In consideration with the maintenance issue, the house should be in small scale. All spaces in it will be appropriate in size for one person living. Except for the studio, he emphasized that it must be large enough to place his art works. Besides, it should be well designed as there is where he will be spending most of his time, doing his work of interest-painting. As a common requirement home for elderly, Braque house will be equipped with hand rail along the walkways to support his movement. Openings of the house are another important issue. Situated at the highland of the seaside, Braque prefers more openings so that he could appreciate the sea view and allow for natural breeze to get in. Natural sunlight on the other hand will also make their pathway into the house through the openings and brightens the interior spaces which will help in his poor vision.
With the clear expectations given by Braque, it will be sure that Draften will perform their best to build the desired home for the famous artist.

written by:
Tham Yin Lih
(0601P51492)