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FuturArc Forum 2008 goes to Bangkok

FuturArc Forum 2008 arrives in Thailand (19 March 2008)

The FuturArc Forum in Thailand saw a turnout of 200 participants. These attendees came with one sole purpose in mind—to work towards a more sustainable built environment.

FuturArc Forum 2008 was held on 18 March in Thailand with experts on green building from around the world calling for action on sustainability. The forum is being held by FuturArc journal’s publisher, BCI Asia, in eight cities across Asia Pacific with expected participation by 4,000 architects, engineers and property developers as well as students of these professions.

Chief Operating Officer of T.C.C. Capital Land Limited Thailand, Oh Lock Soon, kicked off the forum by sharing on the demand and building of greener homes. Dr. Deo Prasad, Director of the Sustainable Development Program at the University of New South Wales, then covered the principles and fundamentals of green design, focusing mainly on the designed product. Next, FuturArc’s Chief Editor Dr. Nirmal Kishnani, described the greening process, highlighting five myths of green buildings. William Yannetti, Senior Manager of Technical Services of Mitsubishi Chemical FP America, elaborated on the use of metal composite materials in the design of green building envelopes. Dr. Soontorn Boonyatikarn, a professor of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University then presented case studies of green buildings and highlighted efficient energy principles. Finally, Thor Kerr, Managing Director of BCI Asia, rounded up the day’s talks by presenting a ground-breaking survey of green building markets in Vietnam, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. The speakers’ presentations will be made available on the FuturArc website at www.futurarc.com.
Attendees at the forum

As one of the jurors of the inaugural FuturArc Prize design competition, Dr Nirmal Kishnani described the challenge of designing green buildings as posed by three development sites—Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia. From strong contenders across Asia-Pacific, Thailand’s Piyapong Bhookham and team received a citation award in the Student Category for their design of D’Rimbunan at Leisure Farm Resort Residences in Johor, Malaysia. The awards were presented to them at the forum by Chatcharn Sutthipisal of Autodesk, the design software provider, and Thor Kerr of BCI Asia, the construction information provider.

A dinner was held after the forum to recognize the 10 most active architectural firms in Thailand. The firms in the BCI Asia Top 10 2008 for Thailand are CASA Co., Ltd., Design 103 International Ltd., Interkon Akitek Co., Ltd., KTGY Inter-Associates, Ltd., Palmer & Turner (Thailand) Ltd., Process Architect & Planner Co., Ltd., SQ Architects and Planners Co., Ltd., Steven J. Leach, JR. + Associates Ltd., Tandem Architects (2001) Co., Ltd., and TEAC Co., Ltd.

The Thailand forum’s Platinum sponsor is BFM Co. and Gold sponsor is Haco Group. The Top 10 Awards sponsors are Autodesk and Cisco.

The FuturArc Forum will be moving on to Sydney next on 28 March where green experts from around the world will once again gather in a discussion on sustainability issues.

Presenters' Notes
Presenter Biography File

Oh Lock Soon, Chief Operating Officer of T.C.C. Capital Land Limited Thailand, is a registered Professional civil engineer in Singapore. Mr Oh has more than 20 years of experience in research, planning, formulation, implementation and management of numerous public housing policies and projects. He specializes in the research and application of prefabrication technology for building systems. In 2005, under his supervision and management, a unique tropical green roof system was developed, patented and implemented in Singapore. The technology aims to reduce urban heat island effect and to achieve a greener environment in the highly build-up city state of Singapore.

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Dr Deo Prasad, PhD is Director of the Sustainable Development Program at the University of New South Wales. He has worked on milestone projects including Australia's solar village, Sydney Olympics, advanced tools for building performance assessments, emerging green building technologies and numerous other projects. He has published in excess of 150 key papers in this field including books such as Designing with Solar Power (EarthScan commissioned by IEA), Energy Efficient Australian Housing (AGPS) and Global Warming and the Built Environment (FPSpon). He has directed the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Built Environments for 12 years. Dr Prasad sits on many boards and committees internationally in this field (Canadian Net Zero Energy Buildings Network, Korean Eco-Peace Leadership Foundation, Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, Shanghai, Special Committee on Urbanisation at UNEP, Bangkok, International Solar Energy Society (Freiburg), Standards Australia Committee on Energy Efficient Buildings and many more). He has won the Australian National Innovation Award and the NSW Government 2004 Green Globe Award as well as the 2006 Royal Australian Institute of Architects National Award for his contribution to the research and design of sustainable buildings. Download File
Dr Nirmal Kishnani, PhD is Chief Editor of the FuturArc journal. He is both an educator and practitioner in the area of green buildings, and presently teaches at the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore. He has lectured and written widely on the subject of greening Asia and has been a consultant to projects across the region, most recently as head of a sustainability unit operating from Singapore. Download File
William Yannetti holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Delaware and a Masters in Biochemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He joined Mitsubishi Chemical America in 1989 as the Product Integrity manager of the Organic Photoconductor plant. Mr Yanneti was co-assigned to the ALPOLIC group in 1991 as the Quality Control manager, and started an assignment as the Production Manager for the ALPOLIC plant in 1992. For the last five years, he has been responsible for the ALPOLIC materials Technical Service function. Download file

Dr. Soontorn Boonyatikarn is a professor of Architecture and the Director of the Center of Excellence: Building and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University. He is a leading expert in sustainable design, ecology design, energy conservation and energy production. He has also won many international awards for his research including the Gold Medal with Mention Award for “The Innovation of Future Home” from “BRUSSEL EUREKA 2000:49th World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and New Technology” in Belgium.

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