TAR UMT Students Take Home Three Awards at PAASWE 2025 With Innovative Architectural Showcase

The awards they took home are Best Bench, Best Use of Materials (Jury Citation) and Gold in Best Booth.

Published 08 Jan 2026

A group of 49 Bachelor of Science in Architecture (Hons) students from Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) recently made waves at the Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) Annual Architecture Student Works Exhibition (PAASWE) 2025 with their innovative booth design, titled “Islands in Resonance.”

The exhibition, held from 8 to 12 October 2025 at 1 Utama Shopping Centre, showcased 20 student booths. Among them, TAR UMT’s creation stood out, earning three prestigious awards — Best Bench, Best Use of Materials (Jury Citation) and Gold in Best Booth.

The team’s concept focused on individuality within unity, inspired by islands in an archipelago. This idea reflected the exhibition theme, “Archipelago: Shared Roots of Malaysian Architecture,” and mirrored the students’ experience of collaborating while respecting each member’s unique contribution.

Desmond Leong Li Heng, one of the student participants, shared, “I think the biggest challenge was coming to an agreement on an idea that everyone would be happy with. We took about two weeks to settle on a design, and another two weeks to complete the construction of the booth, but all that hard work and effort paid off in the end.”

The booth impressed judges with its combination of creativity and functionality. Koh Chua Ivan, the team leader, commented, “Compared to the other booths, ours demonstrated a practical bench component and we successfully highlighted the unique features of the sponsored materials which are the clay roof tiles and fibre cement boards. I believe the judges picked up on those details which helped our booth stand out from the rest.”

Megat Ariff Shah bin Megat Omar, a lecturer from the Faculty of Built Environment (FOBE), expressed pride in his students’ achievement. “The students showed perseverance and flexibility in handling various challenges presented to them, such as budgeting, material procurement, and design issues, all while preserving their design vision. The judges were very impressed with their approach, creativity, design language, and practical application of their booth, especially the bench and material selection.”

TAR UMT’s success at PAASWE 2025 highlights the power of collaboration, creativity and practical application in architectural education, and serves as an inspiration for how student projects can combine innovative ideas with real-world functionality.

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