During our interview, Chang reflected on the experiences that had shaped his outlook over the years. Having grown up in a predominantly Chinese-speaking environment and attended a Chinese-language school, he found himself outside his comfort zone when he moved to Australia to study architecture.
“I couldn’t really speak English even though I had learned a bit of it. When my lecturer asked me to explain more about my presentation, I stood there, nervous and a bit lost,” Chang recalled. Although studying in Australia was initially a culture shock, he found parallels between Melbourne’s multicultural environment and the diversity of his hometown, Kuala Lumpur.
Another formative experience happened in his childhood. “My father was a contractor. During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, many contractors lost their jobs or were put on tight contracts so in order to survive, they opened hawker stalls or kopitiams,” shared Chang.
His father opened a kopitiam along Petaling Street, where Chang spent much of his childhood. He has fond memories of the bustling businesses and eateries in the neighbourhood, making its subsequent decline all the more poignant.
CULTURE IS NOT CONFINED TO BUILDINGS
As an architect, Chang was frustrated that he could design buildings but had little control over what happened inside them once they were completed. “I started to think: what can architects do besides consulting? Why don’t we just do our own projects? I think the hardware is important but the software is often missing,” he said.
For Chang, culture is not confined to buildings. It also takes shape through the interactions between the people who use them. That was partly why he started ChoCha Foodstore. He is proudest when people “forget about the space or design completely because they are too busy living inside, having fun in the space and enjoying being creative.”
Chang sees his projects in Chinatown as part of a growing cultural ecosystem. His team continues to explore opportunities in the neighbourhood. “Slowly, we may venture into programs like co-living that might help bring life back. There’re almost no residents living in this part of town. We want to bring that back,” he said.
After all, when done well, a project stops being just about building. “It becomes a platform, and the real power of a platform is that it builds a community,” Chang asserted in the closing of his talk.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
