History

The Department of Architecture (Malay: Jabatan Senibina), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is the oldest school of architecture in Malaysia. It is one of the five schools under the Faculty of Built Environment. The origin of the school could be traced back to the early days of Kuala Lumpur Technical School, Brickfields Drive, Kuala Lumpur which was established in 1904.

Its current reiteration was founded in 1975 in Jalan Gurney, Kuala Lumpur. The school later was moved to its current location in Skudai Campus, Johor during the mass migration into the larger, eventually the main campus of UTM, in 1987.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SCHOOL

1906 Establishment of Sekolah Teknik (Technical School) at Jalan Weld, Kuala Lumpur

1925 Establishment of Sekolah Teknik (Technical School) at Jalan Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur

1930 Sekolah Teknik and other monotechnic departments combined under one administration

1941 Establishment of Maktab Teknik (Technical Academy) was proposed

1946 Maktab Teknik was launched

Construction of Maktab Teknik was halted due to World War II

1955 Officiation of Maktab Teknik at Jalan Gurney, Kuala Lumpur

1956 Julius Posener was appointed as the first Head of Department

1957 Establishment of Diploma Rekabentuk Bangunan (Building Design diploma) programme

1960 Professional Diploma of Architecture launched (equivalent to RIBA Intermediate Examination)

1961 Mr. Lim Chin See appointed as the first Malaysian full-time lecturer at the Maktab Teknik

1962 Introduction of the full-length 5-year architecture programme

Year 4 to 6 implemented as part-time

1964 Arthur Bumbury appointed as the second Head of Department

1967 D.R. Pritchard appointed as the third Head of Department

1972 Formation of Institut Teknologi Kebangsaan (first intake of Bachelor of Architecture)

1974 Establishment of Fakulti Alam Bina (Faculty of Built Environment) to replace Fakulti Senibina (Faculty of Architecture)

First official use of the term Alam Bina (Built Environment) approved by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

1974 Mr. Shamsul Bahrin Maamor appointed the first Dean of FAB

1975 Establishment of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

1977 First External Examination session with Mr. Michael Lloyd (Bartlett UCL)

4th year of the B.Arch successfully accredited by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia with PAM Part 1

1979 First attempt for accreditation by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia was unsuccessful

1981 The Bachelor of Architecture programme accredited by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia with PAM Part 2

1982 Assoc. Prof. Parid Wardin Sudin appointed as the fourth Head of Department

1983 Prof. Dr. Ar. Elias Salleh appointed as the fifth Head of Department

Assoc. Prof. Jaafar Mohamed appointed as the sixth Head of Department

Introduction of the Studio Workbase System

1984 Assoc. Prof. Kamaruddin Mohd Ali appointed as the seventh Head of Department

The Architecture programme shifted to UTM Skudai campus

1985 Renewal of Accreditation (part 2) awarded by LAM

1986 Mr. Kamaruddin Mohd Nor appointed as the eighth Head of Department

1990 Implementation of the Unit-Workbase teaching and learning system

1991 Renewal of Accreditation (part 2) awarded by LAM

1994 Assoc. Prof. Saari Omar appointed as 9th Head of Department

1995 Renewal of Accreditation (part 2) awarded by LAM

1996 Mr. Abdullah Sani Ahmad appointed as 10th Head of Department

Mr. Asrul Mahyuddin Ressang appinted as 11th Head of Department

1997 Dr. Mohd Hamdan Ahmad appointed as 12th Head of Department

1999 Mr. Mahmud Mohd Jusan appointed as 13th Head of Department

2000 Renewal of Accreditation (part 2) awarded by LAM

2002 Dr. Syed Ahmad Iskandar Syed Ariffin appointed as 14th Head of Department

Implementation of the 5-year Bachelor of Architecture programme

First Curriculum Review workshop conducted in Desaru

2003 Landscape Architecture programme officially taken over by Department of Landscape Architecture

2004 Second Curriculum Review workshop conducted in Melaka

2005 Renewal of Accreditation (part 2) awarded by LAM

2006 Exchange programme conducted with University of Bologna

2007 Third Curriculum review workshop conducted in UTM Skudai

2009 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahmud Mohd Jusan appointed as 15th Head of Department

2011 Renewal of Accreditation (part 2) awarded by LAM

Final intake cohort for B.Arch under SPACE programme

2012 Implementation of the 3+2 B.Sc.Arch (LAM part 1) and M.Arch (LAM part 2) programme

2013 Advisory visit by LAM for the M.Arch programme

2014 Dr. Abdul Halim Hussein appointed as the 16th Head of Department

Validation visit by LAM for the M.Arch programme

Fourth Curriculum Review workshop conducted in Desaru (for the M.Arch Pesisir programme)

2015 Renewal of Accreditation (parts 1 and 2) awarded by LAM

2018 Merging of Fakulti Alam Bina and Fakulti Geoinformasi dan Harta Tanah into Fakulti Alam Bina dan Ukur (Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying) under the Synergy 4.0 exercise

Department of Architecture relegated into the Architecture Programme

2019 Curriculum Amendment from 72 credit M.Arch into 60 credit M.Arch

Curriculum Amendment from 123 credit B.Sc.Arch to 120 credit B.Sc.Arch

Amendment of the B.Sc.Arch award title to B.Sc.Architecture with Honours

2020 Assoc. Prof Dr. Alice Sabrina Ismail appointed 1st Director of Architecture (17th Head of Department)

2021 Accreditation visit for Parts 1 and 2 renewal by LAM