Muhammad Naim Bin Ahmad Mukif

0303348
Childhood
Ong Boon Siong, Dato Alex, is a founder/chairman of OBS Architects Sdn. Bhd. Dato
Alex was born in 1958 and raised at Sungai Petani, Kedah. He is the second among
three siblings. He is from a middle-low class family background. His father was the only
source of income for the family while his mother was a fulltime housewife. As described
by him, his father is a strict, discipline and stern while his mother is a very loving person.
Living in Sungai Petani, he grew up in a cultural diversity neighborhood and has grown
with multicultural school friends. Since he was young, his hobby is reading books. This
is because his parents encourage their children to read since they were young. Types of
literature that he was exposed to when he was young are mostly local folks story,
science and poetry. Through reading and his surrounding might develop his skills in
speaking and writing in English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia at a very young age.
Until today his office has a mini library that he made not only for himself but also to
encourage the employee to read during break time.
At young age, Dato Alex was very independent and hardworking boy and spend most
of his time either helping his mother doing house work or spending his time alone.
According to him, he admires his father the most for being hardworking finding money to
feed his family and always trying to improve their quality of life. His admiration of his
own father drives him to always hungry to gain success in his life. He live by with a
philosophy, in order to gain success, we need to struggle and work hard. Even at the
age of pre-teen, he already mind set himself with this philosophy. He doesnt rely on
other people and always do things by his own. He was taught to do every on his own.
From cleaning his own shoes, fold clothes, ironing his own shirts, etc. In addition to that,
he used to help his family in term of economy by finding various types of part time jobs
in the town just in attempt to overcome their financial problem. One of his ways is by
helping an auntie in the town selling fruits so that he has his own pocket money when
he was just 13 years old.

His positive attitude also reflects in his daily routine when he was in primary school was
he likes to sleep early and wake up early in the next morning around 4-5am just to study
or reading before heading to school. After school, he doesnt participate in any sports
club or any society because for him it was a waste of time and he feels like he doesnt
need to add unnecessary burdens and could done something more productive or just
simply study or read books. Since he is an indoor person he doesnt really have many
friends. Whenever he got free times, he prefers to be in his own room reading and
studying more than he likes being outdoors.
Discipline during his young age, he already thought about his childhood ambition was to
be an engineer. He specifies that it was because hes good and with calculation and
loves mathematic. His favourite subjects in school are Mathematics and Science. His
teacher once told him that he will be a good engineer when he grows up because he
always scores in those subjects. His primary school is at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan
Cina, SJK(C) Sin Kwang, Kedah. After that he enters into Sekolah Menengah
Kebangsaan Ibrahim during secondary school before changing to Sekolah Menengah
Teknik Alor Setar, Kedah.
During his school day, he spent a lot of time studying with one of his best friend.
Although his family got no architectural background, he apparently met one person that
might be the first person to inspire him to become what he is today. That person is his
best friends father. According to him, the father of his best friend owns a lot of sets of
technical pens and bundles of building plans. He once showed them how to draw
building by using the technical pens and manually colour and render the drawings which
is then become one of the reason why he draw his interest into the architecture world.
His friends father drew a perspective view of a building. He likes the way the drawing
was drawn and he described the drawing as clean, neat and tidy. He elaborates more
on that particular drawing and said that he finds organize things and every little details
are interesting to him.

Although he never went out from Kedah until he finished school, he already looks things
in different perspective. Unlike most of us, he always find ways to help his parents. That
is why he very committed when it comes to study. He knew that education is the only
way he could help improving his life. His family always supported him in his study and
we can say that he is well educated even though for us he is probably spending too
much time on studying.

Mohammad Hafiz bin Mohd Noor

0303984
Education Background
When it comes to education, Dato Alexs parents are very particular. His parents
believe that it is important to provide children with a good educational background.
Therefore, academic results must always be scored in flying colors. This is because his
parents dont want their children to have a tough life like what they experienced during
their time. Dato Alex personally believed that he really needs to study hard in order to
live a better life in the future. Since his father was merely a butcher working under
people to feed four of them in the family, times were tough as the mom is only a fulltime
housewife. Money is always a form of motivation for him that will make him study hard.
When he reached the age of 7, his parents sent him to Sing Kwang Primary
School in Kampung Sungai Petani. During his school days, he was described as a
bookworm as most of his free time was spent reading books. He played sports but only
when he feels like it. His parents were strict in the sense that they did not allow him to
hang out with his friends after schooling time. He got excellent results for his
Peperiksaan Penilaian Darjah Lima that he sat for in 1969.
He then entered Sekolah Menengah Ibrahim for about three years. When he
achieved flying colors in his Sijil Penilaian Rendah, he then enrolled T Sekolah
Menengah Tekinik in Alor Setar and got a full scholarship. Back in those days,
scholarships were only given to high achievers. At that time, Sekolah Menengah Teknik
was just a year old. When he attended the school, there were only around a hundred
students. He was in the Jurusan Binaan as he was actually aiming to become a civil
engineer. The reason why he chose Engineering at first was because back in primary
school, one of his favourite teachers suggested it to him as he was extremely good at
Mathematics and Science. After seeing his seniors earning a good life after graduating
from architecture, he changed his mind and shifted to it as his main inspiration in life is
to be rich. Even during secondary school he hardly spent time with his friends. He would
only go to his friends house for educational purposes such as group study or doing

homework together. He completed secondary school by getting grade one in the Sijil
Penilaian Menengah. After that, he took A-levels.
After completing his A-levels, which took two years, he then applied to
Huddersfield University, United Kingdom to further his studies in the Bachelor of
Architecture. He did not apply for a scholarship.
Instead, he paid for his fees by doing a part time job as a waiter from nine oclock at
night until four oclock in the morning. His life was much busier compared to his friends.
He only had four hours of sleep every night.
Dato Alex was quite disciplined due to how his parents brought him up. His daily
routine consisted of going to university at nine oclock for class, then staying at the
studio to finish his work. After that, he would go for his part-time job, and then only will
he sleep. He can never afford to waste time. Up to university life, he still did not
socialize himself. The only way for him to release stress is through smoking. He started
smoking when he was in the UK. The reason why he started smoking was he could not
find any other way to release stress and he saw that most of his seniors smoked, so he
was influenced. Dato Alex stayed in London for about 3 years and a half to complete
his degree. When he was in the first semester, there were only about 30 students. The
reason was because at the time, there were limited spots for architecture. The amount
of students somehow gradually decreased until the final semester, where only four of
them remained. During those days, the university was strict - they would just fail
students who were not performing well in their studies. Even his peers studying in
Malaysia who took Architecture failed the course. He completed his degree in 1983.
After that, Dato Alex pursued a Diploma (Hons) in Architecture.
Diploma (Hons) in Architecture is not a normal diploma. This certificate is
equivalent to a Masters Degree which can only be taken in part two. He took this
professional diploma in London as well. It took him a year and a half to graduate. In
total, he spent his life abroad for about six years. During his time living overseas, he
only went back to Malaysia twice. This is because he spent most of his summer break
doing part time jobs to pay for his fees. If he went back to Malaysia often, he could not

afford to complete his studies as he never applied for loans or scholarships to pay for
the fees. After he was done with part two in 1985, he came back to Malaysia to start
working at an architecture firm.
The first architecture firm that he worked for was Kumpulan Seni Reka under
Dato Ar Nik Mohamed bin Mahmood. He first started as draftsmen and eventually after
about 1 year of working, they saw potential in him and promoted him as one of the
designers. He worked in Kumpulan Seni Reka for about three years before he took his
PAM exam to get his Ar. title.
He got his Ar. title in 1989. He took the exam once and passed it with an
excellent grade. He took a break for about a few months after he got the title. Later on,
he started up his own firm.

Muhammad Arif Bin Shafii

0303005
Working Experience
When he was younger, his dad was the one who works. And the dad was the only sole
source of income in the family. He looked up to his dad and respects him more than
anyone he came to know. This somehow taught him to be more responsible in life. And
to be learned that Dato Alex was a middle child in the family, its proven fact that middle
child has less attention either than the first child or the youngest, this proves that he is
much more independent compared to the rest of his siblings. Which to believe why he
chose to take in all the projects to himself rather than having his workers to do It for
him. He himself find it inappropriate for his workers to do his job for him .Dato Alex
knows whatever projects that he receives will be his responsibility to the company
.Because he prefers to directly deal with the projects firsthand before handing it to his
co-workers . By doing so, this has given a big impact to his company, because the
clients now can be reassured that their projects are in good hands.
This is why currently he has built more than 50 high rises in Malaysia. He has
designed from residential to service apartment to hostels. Dato Alex is different from
the any other common architects we find in Malaysia , because Dato Alexs point of
view of a building design was different in his eyes , a building priority was to serve its
purpose first before having a any good aesthetics to be designed on it . He firmly
believes that the architecture will follow when the spaces are created first before
anything else. This is his key in the beginning of any of his designing process. And this
theory of his has showed that it has worked in Malaysia, and his 50 constructed high
rises to prove it, and none has backfired yet. And also should be mentioned that he has
won two award winning projects not just in Malaysia itself but in UK as well. First award
was his design of Sony Electronic Factory in Bangi , and the second was received in a
designed he did in UK , a Sports Complex in Reading. Dato Alex is the founder of this
well established architectural firm. He established his firm in the year 1990. But it should
be noted that before he got his AR title, he had worked in Kumpulan Seni Reka for

about three years , and then took the PAM exam to finally be registered as an AR title
architect.
His experience of studying in Malaysia and England is way far different than his
experience as a practicing architect. He had mentioned hat whatever he has learned in
University is all theories and what he has learned when he first start working is
practically a whole new universe to him. Nothing he had learned in University have
helped him in any way, other than the drawing skills he honed within the years he spent
studying there. Basically the three years of working in Kumpulan Seni Reka really has
help him reached his dream of being a certified architect. But little did he know that
although he is working now and no longer a student,his life has still pretty much stayed
the same in a sense that he still could not make time to spend with his whole family
every single day. Ever since he worked really hard to bring his company out there in the
world, and even currently he is trying his best to make his company better, sadly he
could only see his family about twice in a week. Although it doesnt seem to mind him,
because he could still see his wife every day for she too is working under him in his
company. Her support as his right wing as well has brought prosperity to the firm. His
great support from his wife and great focus has led him to where he is now today.
Basically from all the sleepless long nights in studio and working part time as a waiter
from 9pm till 4am to pay for his studying financials have finally paid off. He knew even
back then if he wasted his time not focusing on his studies he would not just disappoint
his dad for the responsibility that the family had brought down on him. But also he knew
that he would also disappoint in himself for wasting his for the time he spent studying
architecture and the scholarship that he might have wasted .Still no surprise that he
made it through , Dato Alex is pretty much an intelligent man to begin with .
Dato Alex has this theory that if he did not like his design the day after he finally
finished it , he would then throw it away and re-designing it again . He has learned that if
he somehow found a reason to hate it at some point, there is a possibility that his clients
would too sooner or later .So before he would seal the deal, he would then redesign and
re think of a better solution to tackle that issue before presenting it in front of his clients.
In the process of these changes not only he improved his designs, but found multiple

another reasons to sell his idea to his clients. He also learned that building for a client
from a prestigious background is way different from giving consultation to private clients.
Learning to discipline and refrained himself from slacking and having fun in his
youth, learning that functionalism triumphs over form, and learning responsibility from
seeing his longest role model which is his dad single handedly raised the family
financially, and finally, being isolated from his family for being the middle child has made
him developed a skill for being much more independent in his life. These are the life
lessons that he had picked up over the years and finally have help him to grow to a man
that he used to dreamed of.

Project: Theorizing Architecture

Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Architecture)
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ARC2224]
Muhammad Naim Bin Ahmad Mukif 0303348
Mohammad Hafiz Bin Mohd Noor 0303984
Muhammad Arif Bin Shafii 0303005
Tengku Abdullah Bin Tengku Mahmood Fawzy 0901C69582

Tutor: Ms. Ida