Art + Architecture + Culture

Malaysian Architecture

modernization

Introduction:

In this Final Project, we are required to produce a coffee table book and to work on a journal in every week to showcase our findings and information that we gathered from whatever medias. And so, here is my very first journal for this project.

I have selected the topic Malaysian Architecture because i have an interest in the architecture in Malaysia because they range from various kinds of design and culture.

From my research, I have found that the architecture of Kuala Lumpur is a blend of old colonial influences, Asian traditions, Malay Islamic inspirations, modern and post modern mix. Being a relatively young city, most of Kuala Lumpur's colonial buildings were built toward the end of 19th and early 20th century. These buildings have Moorish, Tudor, Neo-Gothic or Grecian-Spanish style or architecture. Most of the styling have been modified to cater to use local resources and the acclimatized to the local climate, which is hot and humid all year around.

Late Modernist and Post Modernist style architecture began to be seen in the late 90's and early 2000s. Buildings with all glass shell appears around the city, with the most prominent example being the Petronas Twin Towers. As a developing city in a developing nation, the city skyline is expected to change in decades to come with construction works like The Gardens, The Pavilion, Four Seasons Place, Lot C of KLCC and many more. I have chosen to focus at post modernization with the theme modernization to show unique buildings that are prominent in the developing country.

Among all the architects in Malaysia, i have found that Jafri Merican architects have aa unique design to the malaysian style and one of his works is the building of the Ministry of Information Malaysia which is shown below:

Another architect that has a unique design is Ong & Ong architects which designed the modern Empire damansara which is shown below:

Next, I'll be looking at Malaysia's icon, the KLCC designed by César Pelli

The forth building I've chosen is the Point 92 building designed by Zlg Design

The last building I've chosen is the Kuala Lumpur Convention centre by cox architects

Conclusion:

From the above pictures, there is a strong theme of modern architecture in the design of the building. I can conclude that these architectural designs are progressive architectural designs for the new milienium.

BINDING FACTOR:

After doing my research on these buildings, I've found that not all the buildings are closely related in terms of design and architecture. The word that comes to my mind doing this research is 'Modernization'. Strong use of design elements such as lines are prominent in all the buildings above.

Besides that, the design prinicple of Hierachy is prominent in all the buildings above such as the Ministry of Information Malaysia, Point 92, KLCC which shows elements that lead the reader through each element in order of its significance starting from most important to the least important. Another Binding Factor is Random which is prominent in Empire Damansara and Point 92 with the combination of shapes and lines in the building. Finally, lines are also existent in all the buildings, with vertical lines except Point 92 with slanted lines at its edge as it's element of significance.

Weekly Journal 2:

First I went to Putrajaya to explore the buildings and spaces around it

This is one of my chosen building- the Ministry of Information building, a 39 storey which is completed in late 2010 by Jafri Merican Architects

The visual metaphor for the tower is based on traditional malay artifacts and crafts, the curved side elevations recalling the shapes of ancient stone artifacts, and the diagonal shaped central façade pattern symbolizing a traditional form of textile craft, the ’songket’.

In order to translate these metaphors into buildable forms of specific measurable dimensions, a concept based on the Fibonacci Series is conceived as a form-giver to be used for shaping the tower. The series is a mathematical progression of numbers where the following number is the sum of two previous numbers; 1,1,2,3,5,8,13…. From this concept, a series of segmented façade surfaces is formed beginning from the roof, 1 storey, 1 storey, 2 storey, 3 and so forth to 13 storey for the lowest façade surface. These surfaces, formed of diagonal elements are then set in at different planes, and detailed by façade engineering consultants based on the unitized curtain wall concept. The sides of the tower, designed of precast RC fins with punctuated windows, serve as a counterpoint to the visually lighter Fibonacci façade.

Then the next day I went to Damansara to visit my next site, Empire Damansara