FOREWORD

Was it only a decade ago that it was ATSA’s noticeably energetic and tenacious ‘Can Do’, Carpe Diem spirit at its outset that won the day for this firm?

Today it is all different. The call is not a, ‘Been There, Done It’ type of boredom, but on the contrary, a great leap forward. This here is a shining, gleaming, all-performing new debut that further redefines the on-going success story that is ATSA architects today.

As the firm achieves its success, and as it reaches the peak of its proverbial bell-curve, their emphases now change. It is one of consolidation, of seeking to re-position itself ahead of its competitors, of seeking a new pole position, and of planning and forging ahead to greater and bigger things.

What is ATSA’s secret for success? In a nutshell - its agility and adaptability. They have caught up with others that are slow to change and slow to respond to the times. These sluggish firms are like the cumbersome old battleship whose turn-around requires a radius of several nautical miles. Whereas for this young and flexible firm, their ability to turn around and adapt to its changing economic and business environment is rapid and instantaneous.

Biologists find that those organisms that take in both positive and negative feed-backs from its environment are the ones that survive. Those who only take in the positive feedback do not. We will find many architect firms today, like some on the good ship Titanic, are totally unaware that they are on a sinking boat, and will spend their last hours happily rearranging the deck chairs.

ATSA’s agility and acumen are found not only in their approach to the business of providing fine professional services but also in their output, that is, in their architecture and in their design and built works as is evident here in this volume.

After more than a decade in the trade so to speak, ATSA has become a brand. It has become a definable identity. It is now a serious entity in the building industry.

This young team (perhaps not that young anymore) of US graduates, Azim, Zul, Teck Choon and Paul has successfully carved a critical niche for themselves, taking on the various ‘P’s’ in the industry - the B*P’s, the *P’s, the G*P’s, the R*P’s’, the Veri-P’s.

Today ATSA has stepped out on their own, putting on the Ritz with a new marked boldness in their work that makes moves into more technologically-advanced territory. But they remain inherently sensitive to the culture, to the climate, to the site and the context of the locality of the project, while simultaneously seeking a new contemporary tropical aesthetic and redefining a modern Islamic architecture, that is efficient and refinely user-friendly.

ATSA’s range of building types have also become more extensive, more challenging in scale, more complex in programme, more diverse. These include a range of mixed developments, a set of technologically-driven commercial building types, a number of residential skyscrapers, and others.

There is the new HQ for Bumiputra Commerce a novel icon on an important urban and historic site that will bring a new streetscape and pedestrian-level voyeurism to city-life in the shadows of the famous Coliseum Theatre. This was the place to go then in Kuala Lumpur, and this will indeed be the new place to go again very soon.

ATSA has received awards. These include the first prize in the competition for a bridge cum promenade at Kuala Lipis in Pahang in 2002, a competition organized by MSSA (Malaysian Structural Steel Association).

Then there is their contemporary interpretation of the Islamic with the vernacular, that remains the cornerstone of ATSA’s endeavours. An example is the Bargas Zakaria Building Complex – a conservation and adaptive re-use scheme that effortlessly demonstrates these aspects with an award-winning outcome.

Experimentation is also evident in some of ATSA’s smaller work, such as the Musolla surau at Taman Selatan in Putrajaya that has a half-dome that serves as a light-shaft, enabling natural daylight to penetrate into the Mihrab. The work recorded here is an important benchmark in the firm’s progress. It is another marker that signifies its new and progressive body of work and its expanding professional experiences.

The Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is known to fastidiously photograph all his work, and whose contention is that if the architect values his own work, he would obviously want to record it well for future generations.

Here is the record of the work of this young firm, ATSA that is not yet two decades old, but shows here what can be achieved if you have a cohesive teamwork, a strong united belief in its design and built works, and oh yes … a collective tenacity to succeed.

Dato Dr. Ken Yeang (© 2006)