A super-rich philanthropist is calling for entries for an ideas competition. He hopes to snap up the most imaginative ideas ever for a built project to commemorate the passing away of his beloved parents.
Money is no object, the sky is the limit, and originality is king!
He’s chosen a piece of land behind the PJ Civic Center sandwiched between Jalan 7/5 and 7/4 and between some nice houses in a settled and peaceful neighborhood. And it’s just off the town center, within walking distance.
MPPJ is so moved by his generous contribution to the community and our country that they have bent over backwards to waive all building bye laws---except one*---to give designers total freedom.
For the inspiration and agenda behind this competition see PHILANTHROPIST’S STATEMENT below.
The competition entrance closes @ 1400h on Monday 12 March 2007. All entrants will be given 10 minutes to present their schemes immediately following. A distinguished panel of judges will pick the winner before the day ends.
Entrants are required to:
- Be made up of groups of 3 people (4 pax per group acceptable for special cases)
- Build their schemes into the site model already prepared
- Seek permission from the owners of the site model before inserting their schemes. (Owners reserve the right to decline permission if they deem the proposal irrevocably damaging to the site model.)
- Use large sketches to support their ideas if that helps explain the proposal
- Use any other means of communication they wish—go for clarity, imagination and the Wow! Quality
- Submit not less than one, and not more than two, schemes.
PHILANTHROPIST’S STATEMENT
My mother and my father died within a month of each other.
People tell me it was love that took them together. And I’m sure it was.
But I also know, it was cancer.
And the dreaded thing about cancer is that you never know, until you are told you have 6 months to live…or something final like that.
I have often wondered, is it that final, really? Doesn’t our memory of them somehow stretch their 6 to my 6, pass your 6, and through to eternity?
One of the most important things my parents left me to remember them by is the value of giving back to Life what Life has given you.
Life has given me more than I can use, and I intend to give back.
And it’s not just money.
It’s that certain quality of life that makes life itself worth living.
I have decided to practice what my parents taught me. I have decided to sponsor the building of a special place for the terminally ill, to give back to the community what the community so graciously gave my parents in the many happy years they spent living in Section 7, Petaling Jaya.
It will accept 20 “travelers” at any one time---only those who have 6 months or less to live---as they complete their life’s journey. It will be a place to inspire the imaginative remembrance of their lives so far, to indulge them in their final days on earth, and to fill them with hope, joy and security about the days to come under, over, away from the earth…or whatever.
This last stop will be a day care center that the world has never seen. It’s going to give the travelers the time of their lives! It’s going to be a riot! A right party! Wild, wild, and the Best!
And it’s going to be more. A health care center will be incorporated to serve the community at large without conflicting with (but certainly complementing) the experience of the day care travelers.
And it’s going to be much, much more! It’s going to be a place that visitors will come from all over the world just to marvel at it! It’s going to bring in the tourist dollar. It’s going to put PJ on the world map. And it will only be limited by the imagination of the ideas, which I hope will sprout in this competition.
For this I thank MPPJ for being willing to consider any idea that even extends beyond the chosen site to anywhere in the locale. (I am more than happy that they have insisted that the public right of way should remain.*) I applaud them for seeing that all this can be a positive and meaningful enhancement of the environment.
Why did I choose that site? I grew up in my parents’ house at the top of the steps of the public right of way, the one with the 2 red frangipani trees (which are still living.) My parents would want the spirit of the place to live on, and I think it is most apt that this place that grew this idea become part of the place that will commemorate the people who nurtured its garden.
JUDGING CRITERIA
Memorable quality
Best experience for travelers
Enhancement of neighborhood
The WOW! Factor
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