Tun Razak Exchange’s inaugural TRX Talk was kicked off earlier this week as part of a public engagement series. The concept of TRX Talk stems from TRX’s aspiration to tell the story of the development. Key areas TRX aims to discuss include urban planning, sustainability, construction, the city history and the role of a financial district.
This platform for the TRX-conversation was kicked off with a talk by Jeffry Burchard, Principal Architect at the award-winning Boston-based Machado Silvetti, the team that was instrumental in producing TRX’s masterplan.
Jeffry recently completed the New York University Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life in Manhattan, and is currently the Project Architect and Urban Designer for the new Vietnamese-German University in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam.
Jeffry is also Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he offers instruction in Core Architecture Studios, advises thesis students and participates in various committees.
Roughly 90 people ranging from university students and lecturers, industry players to regulatory stakeholders turned up for the event last Monday. Being a university professor, Jeffry kept the audience engaged throughout his 45-minutes talk titled “Developing the Masterplan for a Financial District: The TRX Story”.
Jeffry shared the thought process behind the conception of TRX masterplan, how the masterplan compares to other development in the city, what are the main aspirations of the masterplan and how it evolved, as well as how TRX as a district will interact with its neighbours and the city at large.
Click here to browse through an excerpt of Jeffry’s talk. A recording of the talk will be made available on the Tun Razak Exchange Youtube channel soon.
It was a great learning opportunity for the students present from Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia and University Teknologi MARA, among others. Students were keenly taking notes and pictures throughout the talk, and were actively involved in the Q&A session that followed the talk.
Among the topic of discussions explored were how large urban development can impact an identity of the city, the composition and the skyline of the city, and the role of public realm in activating the district.
TRX hopes to continue the public discourse series with more wide ranging and exciting topics. The second TRX Talk installation will take place later in the year. Watch this space.
