Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK): Sarawak Built a Rainforest Canopy for the World to Meet Under
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Coming in from the Sejingkat side of Kuching, the first thing you register is not a building but a curve: a low silver roof sweeping over the riverbank like a giant leaf the rain forest dropped on the Isthmus. Underneath it, columns rise the way trunks rise, and the whole structure looks less like an office block and more like a place where the forest canopy decided to let people gather below. That is exactly the idea, and it is the best way to start reading what Sarawak built here in 2009.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Dustin Iskandar (CC BY 2.0)The Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, known to everyone as BCCK, was a deliberate bet. Sarawak's government funded it as the state's first purpose-built international convention centre in Borneo and made the case for business tourism — conferences, exhibitions, concerts — as a way to grow an economy long built on commodities. Construction ran from 2006 to October 2009 and cost about RM200 million; the venue is operated by a state-linked company, and its name, BCCK, has become shorthand for the city's ambitions rather than just a building.
What makes the place worth a look even when you have no event ticket is the design story, and the architect's brief says it plainly: "Let's meet under the trees." The roof follows the outline of the ririk, a rainforest plant whose broad leaves indigenous communities across Sarawak have long used daily — wrapping rice and food, sheltering market goods — so the building literally wears an everyday leaf from the jungle as its crown. The structural columns read as trunks and branches, and the interior was planned for flexibility: a pillar-free Great Hall of about 2,800 square metres that seats up to 5,000 people theatre-style, fourteen meeting rooms, and a daylight-filled concourse with views over mangroves and the Sarawak River.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Cerevisae (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Credit: KDI Architects (arkitek KDI) — official BCCK project portfolioThe building then did what the state hoped. Kuching began hosting events it had never seen before: the 13th World Islamic Economic Forum in 2017 with well over 2,000 delegates, the Asian Television Awards in 2019, and concerts like Boney M's anniversary show in January 2025. In 2024 alone the centre ran 519 events, welcomed more than 30,000 delegates, and was credited with an estimated RM289 million in direct economic impact — money that lands in hotels, taxis, hawker centres and shops across the city. Locals know a quieter side of BCCK too: it has become a familiar spot for annual Ramadan buffets.
Credit: KDI Architects (arkitek KDI) — official BCCK project portfolioIf you visit today, walk the riverfront side first and look next door. The cranes you will see belong to BCCK 2, an expansion that broke ground in April 2025 and is scheduled for completion in early 2028. It is designed around a belian-seed silhouette and is being billed as one of the world's largest single-floor timber structures, with about 15,500 square metres under one roof and capacity for close to 10,000 people — the kind of arena Sarawak says it needs for big indoor sports and concerts. You are literally watching the next chapter of the same ambition: more people, gathered under another leaf-shaped roof.
What can you actually do here without a delegate badge? Check the What's On page before you go. Public exhibitions like the annual property and home expos, food events and concerts are open to anyone with a ticket, and the exterior plus the riverside walk are free to enjoy any day. It sits about 15 minutes by car from the Kuching Waterfront and roughly 20 minutes from the airport, with 800 parking bays, so it is easy to fold into a day that also takes in the old town or a river sunset across at the State Legislative Assembly.
Who should come? Architecture fans who want to see a rainforest idea built at full scale, families on a budget during a public expo, and anyone curious how a mid-sized Bornean city sells itself to the world. Who might be disappointed: travellers hoping for a museum-style attraction — the interior is only open on event days, and an empty exhibition hall is just space. My advice is to treat BCCK as a story to read from the outside, then time a visit around something actually happening inside. Would you plan a trip around a concert, an expo, or just the roof?
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