Building The Future

With mentoring coming automatically to AR Hijjas Kasturi, the eminent architect, AR Amir Hamzah and sculptor Multhalib Musa reflect on the process of creating a better future.

It could be said that Hijjas Kasturi is something of a “born teacher”, as he calls himself. In secondary school he was a part-time private tutor, and after returning from working in Australia he founded The School of Art and Architecture at the MARA Institute of Technology (then known as MARA College), eventually opening his own practice Hijjas Kasturi Associates (which became Hijjas Architects & Planners in 2015) where he has been since. “That’s part of me,” he says. “It’s automatic mentoring. You just go on doing it.”

Working as an architect in Kuala Lumpur since 1977, his stamp on the city’s skyline is unmissable, giving us iconic landmarks like Wisma Equity, Tabung Haji, and Telekom Tower, to name a few. Years later in 1994 he would open Rimbun Dahan in Kuang, an art sanctuary of his own design (and the home of him and his wife, Angela) less than 30km from the city centre. It’s through these two establishments that Hijjas would come to mentor the likes of Amir Hamzah and Multhalib Musa, respectively – both young men at the time, fresh out of university, and trying to find direction.

The firm and the retreat have come to be known as a ‘third university’. “They come here and they get a refresher and tutorials,” says Hijjas. The teaching and knowledge comes from Hijjas himself. “I think mentoring is also an extension of teaching in a way, and I’m still teaching today,” he muses. “When you give lectures it’s not from the book, it’s from your experience, which gives a new dimension that nobody’s heard of, because that’s fresh first-hand knowledge. You pass that message to the new generation.”

A STRONG FOUNDATION