Blog

By Dr. Tin Win (M62)

We moved to BIT from Leik Khone in 1961 and attended our final year classes there. I resided at F-Hall, Room #1 during that year where U Aung Than (Mining) was our Hall Tutor.

I am not sure who the other hall tutors were. I suspect there might have been only two or three hall tutors then, and the other hall tutors might have been U Shwe Yi (Textile) and U San Tint (Electrical).

But I must admit I do not recall very well. Some of my good friends who might remember are Col. Myint Thein Lwin (M-62), (BEME, retired), Col. Hla Kyi (M-62), (BAF, retired) and U Maung Maung (C-62), (Irrigation Dept., retired), who also resided at the hostels.

Editor’s notes

• Saya Dr. Tin Win is believed to be among the youngest members in the class of 62.
• Saya also shared the gold medal with Saya U Soe Paing (EE) and another for gaining the most marks in Mathematics for combined I.Sc. classes.

Dr. San Oo (EP67) and Daw Than Yi (EP70)

• They served as Editors for the Hlyat Sit Sar Saung published by the RIT Electrical Engineering Association.
• They share the passion for
  (a) writing & publishing books
  (b) dana.
• They have donated several times for Swel Daw Yeik Foundation and YTU Library.

U Wynn Htain Oo (M72)

• He is known as “WHO”, “Hmaw Sayagyi” and “Mg Mar Ga”.
• He writes two types of blogs :
  one for fund raising and
  another for sharing memories and ideas.

History of Myanmar Engineering Education

ခေါင်းဆောင် — ဆရာဦးအောင်လှထွန်း (ကွယ်လွန်)

ဦးအုန်းခိုင်

ဦးအောင်မောင်း (ကွယ်လွန်)

ဒေါ်ပြုံးပြုံးဦး

ဦးနေမျိုးနိုင်

ဦးဌေးမောင်

ဦးလှဝင်း

ဦးဆွေသန်း

ဦးသီဟလတ်

ဦးတင်ထွန်းအောင်

ဦးသန့်ဇင်

ဦးလှမင်း

—

CD Supplement — ဦးလှမင်း + ဦးအုန်းခိုင်

—

ဘာသာပြန် (Selected) — ဆရာဦးစိုးပိုင် + ဦးအုန်းခိုင်

—-

ကနဦး အစည်းအဝေး — ဆရာဦးဘသန်း

RUCL Archive access ရ အောင် ဆရာဦးသော်ကောင်း ကို ခွင့်တောင်း

—

SPZP-2000 မှာ HMEE စာအုပ်ရောင်း

RUCL, YTU စာကြည့်တိုက် မှာ စာအုပ်လှူ

* U Aung / Maung Aw

* U Aung Hla Tun (GBNF)

* U Aung Myaing / Okpo Maung Yin Maung

* Aw Pi Kye

* Daw Cho Cho Tin / Ma Sandar

* Des Rodgers

* Sao Kan Gyi / Khemarat (GBNF)

* Daw Khin Saw Tint (GBNF)

* Dr. Koung Nyunt / Kogyi Koung (GBNF)

* U Kyaw Oo

* U Maung Maung Win / Maung Yit

* U Moe Aung / Tekkatho Moe War

* Dr. Myint Thein / Ba Thein (Atlanta)

* U Myo Myint Sein

* Dr. Myo Thant Tin

* U Nyunt Htay / Maung Nyunt Htay (Ah Htet Min Hla)

* U Pe Thein

* U Saw Tun / Saw Lu

* Maung Sein Win (Padeegone)

* Soon

* Dr. Taing Oke / Yin Maung

* Daw Than Yi / Maubin Ma Shwe Than

* U Thein Ngwe / Ko Thein (Tokyo)

* U Thet Lwin / Maung Ngwe Hlinne

* U Tin Aye Kyu / Mg Hmaing Lwin Innwa (GBNF)

* U Tin Htut / Mon Yu

* U Toee Maung / Ko Toee (Myit Che)

* U Tun Tun

* U Win Myint (C71)

* U Win Myint (M72)

* U Win Myint Maung / N Jar Thaing (GBNF)

H.E. U Khin Maung Cho (M73) donated books covering the history of selected plants and factories to Myanmar Engineering Council (MEC) and HMEE-2018 project.

U Charlie Than, President of MEC, handed over the books to the HMEE-2018 project led by Saya U Aung Hla Tun.

HMEE-2012

Saya U Aung Hla Tun and team compiled a History Book in 2012. The sayas attending SPZP-2012 received the Book. Some books were put on sale. Some books were given to YTU and selected libraries.

Due to time and resource constraints, the HMEE-2012 project was scoped.

HMEE-2018

HMEE-2018 project will revise the History Book published in 2012, and will also compile additional books to cover the topics that were deferred by the HMEE-2012 project.

MEC has pledged support for HMEE-2018 project.

The alumni associations and/or interested alumni groups overseas (e.g. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe and USA) are requested to provide photos and articles about their activities and some write up of the achievements of the sayas and alumni in their country/region.

• Faculty of Engineering, Rangoon University moved to Gyogone Campus in 1961 and was named Burma Institute of Technology (BIT).
  
• BIT was renamed as RIT in 1964.
  
• Photo : RIT Handbook for the 1966-67 academic year

Comments

• HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education) Book was published in 2012.
  Saya U Aung Hla Tun was the leader of HMEE-2012 Project.
  
• Rangoon University was established in 1920.
• Plans for teaching Engineering started in 1923.
• The inaugural courses were opened in 1924.
• The first batch graduated in 1928.
  
• BOC funded the College for Engineering (and Mining).
• The Faculty of Engineering held classes at BOC College and later Leik Khone.
  
• Accounts of those days have been written by Saya U Aung Khin (Mech), U Aw Yaik Moh (C54), Saya Dr. San Hla Aung (C58), Saya U Soe Paing (EE, UCC), U Myint Khine (Norman, C63) …
  
• Benny Tan (Yu Beng, M70, Golden Sponsor of SPZPs) had two copies of the Handbook.
  His friend “borrowed” a copy and “forgot” to return it.
  I took the photo for SPZP-2000.
  The list of Sayas and Sayamas from the handbook was mentioned in my early “RIT Alumni International Newsletter”.

A58

• The first batch of Architects graduated in 1958.
  
• U Myo Myint Sein
  Postgraduate studies in US
  Retired as Professor and Head of Architecture Department
  Moved to USA
  Wrote about RIT Architecture Department

• U Tin Tun Khin
• U Tun Than
• …

A59

• U Bo Gyi
  Co-founded “Architects Incorporated”
  Worked for PWD
  Designed Mausoleum for Daw Khin Kyi; He was shunned by higher authorities
  Retired and became a monk

• Dr. Lwin Aung
  Retired as Pro-Rector of YTU
  Became a monk

A60

• U Tin Htoon
  Co-founded “Architects Incorporated”
  Worked for PWD
  Designed Thiri Pyitsaya Hotel in Bagan
  Moved to Singapore and USA
  
• U Aung Kyee Myint
  Co-founded “Architects Incorporated”
  Worked for PWD
  Retired as Chief Architect
  
• U Kin Maung Yin (GBNF)
  Evangelist of Modern Art
  Movie Director

Later Classes

• U Than Tun (A65)
• U Htin Myaing (Ben Aye Maung, A66)
• Daw Pyi Aye (Rosalind Maung, A66)
• Daw Khin Khin Kyu (Ann, A67)
• Dr. Koung Nyunt (Kogyi Koung, A67, GBNF)
• U Tun Thein (A67)
• U Win Myint (A67)
• Sai Yee Laik (A68, GBNF)
• U Kyaw Kyaw (A69)
• U Aung Khin (A69)
• U Thet Tun (A69)
• U Myo Tun (Bobby, Ashin Pannagavesaka, A69)
• Saw Tobias Kittim Ku (A69, GBNF)
• Daw Thwin Thwin Aye Hmi (Olive, A69)
• Daw Min Thet Mon (Pamela, A70)
• Daw Phyu Phyu Latt (Christine, A70)
• Nan Khaming (A70)
• Daw Tin Tin Hla (A70)
• U Khin Maung Maung (A70)
• Norman Thant Zin (A70)
• U Hla Than (A70)
• U Kyaw Win Hman (A70, GBNF)
• …

Lunch gathering of Architects

from Myanmar, USA and Australia

• U Tin Htoon (A60)
• U Htin Myaing (A66)
• Uzin Bobby Myo Tun (A69)
• Tobias K Ku (A69, GBNF)
• Phyu Phyu Latt (Christine, A70)
• Nan Khaming (A70)
• Khin Maung Maung (A70)
• Norman Thant Zin (A70)
• Maung Maung Ohn (A)
• Ye Myint (A)

Thet Kyee Pu Zaw Pwe

December 2020

World class student architects from YTU

Saya U Myo Myint Sein (A58) wrote:

Wonderful news from our ‘old’ school. Congratulations to Professor Min Thet Mon (Pamela Myo Min, A70), and student architects Khin Htet Htet Zaw and Chaw Kalyar. We are proud of you guys, keep up the good work.

Young architects win international acclaim for railway house re-design

Two Yangon Technological University (YTU) students have put themselves and their institution on the world stage, winning an honorable mention in a European contest which asked budding architects to come up with environmentally-sensitive building designs.

The Sustainable Building 2000 European Student Competition sought designs for a commercial office building – either a new complex, or the renovation of an existing one – in a manner which would “enhance the knowledge of students in schools of architecture on the issues of sustainability in buildings”.

The competition, contested by 94 students from around the world, was sponsored by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, and organized jointly by architecture faculties at the Oxford Brookes University (UK), the University of Florence and the ETA-Florence.

The competition issued a tall order, especially for undergraduate students of architecture from Myanmar who had had little or no foreign exposure. But Khin Htet Htet Zaw and Chaw Kalyar were, to their own surprise, up to the challenge. “When Sayamagyi (Prof Min Thet Mon) first showed us the pamphlet during the vacation last year, we had some difficulty just trying to figure out the theme of the project,” Khin Htet Htet Zaw said.

“The entire concept of sustainability in buildings was new to us in a country where resources are still relatively abundant,” Chaw Kalyar added. “But we were intrigued by the issues that were outlined in the main theme. “So we decided to hunt around for literature and references on alternative technology, energy efficient methods and a whole lot more.”

The concepts to be considered during the design process included the life cycle management of the building, energy efficient solutions, the use of renewable and recycled resources, the impact of future climate change on the long term performance of the building, and the quality of the internal environment for building users and citizens. Selecting a subject site was, in itself, an adventure.” We considered the retrofitting of a number of old office buildings such as the Old Secretariat, some bank buildings, amongst others,” said Chaw Kalyar.

“Of these, we found that some were not large enough to qualify, others like the Old Secretariat were either too large or inaccessible for our purposes. “So we finally decided on redesigning the old Railways Head Office situated at the corner of Bogyoke Aung San and Sule Pagoda Roads. “The competition theme requirements fitted perfectly with this beautiful relic.” The girls said they experienced many stumbling blocks along the road to success. “Apart from having to do a lot of leg work and reading, much more than we’d ever done before, there were also many discouraging elements,” said Khin Htet Htet Zaw.

“Some of our fellow students and even some senior architects expressed their doubts as to our experience and competency to compete internationally. “One or two warned us that our entry would turn out to be an embarrassment when compared with entries from other universities,” Chaw Kalyar added with a smile. Asked if she and her design partner had experienced any misgivings during their preparation for the competition, Chaw Kalyar’s reply was emphatic.

“Sure we did! All along there was this nagging doubt as to whether we were being too simplistic in our approach to the design problems,” she said. “We constantly argued about how and if we should aim at impressing the panel of jurors in Florence. We decided, however, that we should just try and finish the work.” “Originally, there were three of us who started the project,” said Khin Htet Htet Zaw. “After the initial survey, our colleague asked to back out as he had personal matters to attend to. “That really was a demoralising low point in our project.

“The worst part was always wondering if we’d be able to complete the final presentation in time for the required postmark date. I guess we muddled through somehow!” But there were also, despite the challenges, helping hands and words of encouragement. “Sayamagyi really inspired us and egged us on,” said Khin Htet Htet Zaw. “The retired professor of architecture, U Hla Myint, architects from the ARCHway Design Centre and elsewhere, to mention a few, did give us invaluable insights, advice and encouragement.”

After a long and anxious wait, during which time the girls said they gave up hope of even receiving an acknowledgement for entering the competition, Prof Min Thet Mon received a large envelope in late July 2000. The package contained a book with the list of winners and photos of their entries, a certificate and an invitation to attend the awards ceremony at the TIA in Florence. Congratulations to Khin Htet Htet Zaw, Chaw Kalyar, Prof Daw Min Thet Mon and, last but not least, the Yangon Technical University, for this achievement on an international level!