Abdullah, Fadzidah (2022) Community-based project: construction of kiosk for selling of agarwood shoots and safeguarding the progress of replanting agarwood trees. In: DARCH 2022- 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, 21-22 March, 2022 - Online Conference, Instanbul, Turkey.
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Abstract
Agarwood is one of the most valuable tropical forest products in international trade. Also known as gaharu among Malaysians, this tree has heartwood to produce resin with a distinctive scent. Agarwood has been used for centuries as a fragrance by the Chinese, Indian, Arab and Malays. Agarwood has a variety of by-products, such as scented essential oil, agarwood fragrance, agarwood incense sticks, agarwood tea, and wooden scented bracelet. Unfortunately, the threat of diminishing agarwood trees in the Malaysian rainforest is rampant due to widespread overharvesting. The resin-producing trees are endangered in their known habitat across Southeast Asia because of the increase in demand for Agarwood in recent years. Hence, an attempt to replant Agarwood in its natural rainforest environment should be undertaken to safeguard the development of agarwood selviculture. This paper illustrates how a community-based project could aid in the preservation of agarwood trees in the Malaysian rainforest, specifically in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia. This community project is presented as a showcase so that similar projects could be encouraged by all stakeholders of higher learning institutions. The project was proposed for students to design and build a kiosk for the indigenous people of Semang to sell their agarwood shoot to donors, who would pay for replanting of agarwood trees. This project is considered a contribution of architecture students to preserving agarwood trees and safeguarding the progress of replanting the trees in the Malaysian rainforest. The project involved ten stages, listed as the following: Discussion for Project Planning, Obtaining Sponsorship, Organising Kiosk Design Competition, Site Feasibility Study, Preparation of Working Drawing, Site Clearance and Earth Work, Harvesting Building Materials, Construction Days, Tree Planting, and Documentation. This showcase project has successfully disseminated agarwood preservation awareness and motivating action among students, the Semang people, and the general public.
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