(Taylor's University)
Into the Void: Pusat Demokrasi Rakyat
Democracy is a spatial phenomenon, whereas design is a form of politics. The design proposal is part of an exertion to reconnect current democratic and political ideas while exploring the degree of transparency and publicness of the architecture of parliaments in Malaysia to be considered in catering to a public-sphere-oriented account of the deliberate democratic forum. A democratic society offers both a ‘formal’ public sphere in the focal point of representative institutions and an ‘informal’ public sphere that recognizes creative spaces of democratic performance (Habermas, 1964). Taking this as a point of departure, the design proposal argues for the origins of the performance of spectaculars traditionally intended to be in the public sphere for engagement and impression purposes. It adopted a new take on the representation of “people’s house” by exploring the significant role in ‘cueing’ effects on republicanism, participation, and citizenship behaviour.
