COMMENTARY
Azman Zainal
Azman Zainal is the founder and principal architect of Das Azman Architect Sdn Bhd. The firm has within it a diverse range of expertise ranging from educational institutions, rehabilitation and restoration for historic buildings to office, commercial and residential buildings. Successful projects include the restoration of Masjid Jamek Kuala Lumpur, the construction of AAZ Timber Retreat Home and New Puncak Perdana Secondary School. Azman obtained his degree in architecture from Deakin University, Australia, and is a current member of the Board of Architects, Malaysia.
The application of timber is more common in residential buildings than other typologies
Regarding the supply chain, even after all these years of modernisation, there is still no established system in the way structural lumbers are being supplied to the building construction market. The provision is often done on an ad hoc basis. Bargaining happens not only for pricing, but also just to get supply. In this case, buyers are often at the mercy of the sellers, especially when they do not have sufficient technical knowledge. This is unfortunate because buyers or specifiers should not bear the burden of having to verify timber. They should be able make informed decisions and the qualities of timber should be properly declared. This needs to be looked into urgently if we want timber to be more properly used in construction.
Malaysia has a complete set of timber grading system. The Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) is established to oversee the overall development of the timber industry and to provide timber verification services, as well as to ensure the standard and quality of timber products. The MTIB employs quality control inspectors to supervise grading and issues certificates for timber products. The certification council is supposed to work closely with other timber certification bodies
26 Image by Azman Zainal
to ensure that the certification scheme is committed to international objectives. However, there seems to be a gap between policy and practice, and so in reality, the quality of timber material is often unassured. That is to say, we need to enforce the quality control system to protect the interests of all stakeholders along the value chain, especially end-users such as architects and designers.
Timber application for walls and windows
Image by Azman Zainal
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