KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — With the availability of affordable housing becoming a major issue in the country, the Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival (KLAF) 2018 aims to provide an "outside-the-box” solution” to the matter, its director Ang Chee Cheong said.

Hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM), the festival will showcase future housing prototypes that aimed at addressing the imbalances and inadequacies of current housing programs.

Ang, who is also a practising architect, said the festival, through its core exhibition dubbed ‘MY.HSE’ will show some of the most innovative solutions to the problem.

"The projects displayed at the festival seek to re-focus on community and sustainability aspects of affordable housing developments.

"These include many ingenious solutions, for example, building on top of developed space such as highways or shoplosts, utilising more space further,’’ he said.

The MY.HSE exhibition will also showcase the collaboration of multiple architects and design firms which seek to promote their vision and concept of affordable high-rise housing in Kuala Lumpur.

Describing the affordable housing mechanism in the country as dysfunctional, Ang said there is a need to push for new ideas and possible solutions to resolve the matter.

"More often than not, affordable housing is being described in a very cold, abstract term. Developers mostly talk about units but rarely on quality.

"The situation has hit a strange level, where the demand for housing is high but the supply  for affordable housing is also considerably high, but they are not selling. This shows that the system we currently have is not working,’’ he said.

KLAF 2018 Royal Patron, Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah also graced the event along with Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Goverment Raja Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Shah Ahmad and PAM President Ezumi Harzani Ismail.

The architecture exhibition will be on display at the Damansara City Mall until September 2.