THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ ARC 2224 ]
PROJECT 1 ( PART 2 ) THEORIZING ARCHITECTURE
Cynthia Lee Siaw Wun 0306112 Tutor: Mr Lam Shen Fei
1.0 Putrajaya
Putrajaya is one of Malaysia’s Federal Territory that was built on an expansive marshland and oil palm estate in Selangor that spans over 5000 hectares and is about 25 km from Kuala Lumpur. Putrajaya has been divided into several precincts that define the uses such as commercial, authoritative and residential areas. The chosen area for this research in Putrajaya would be Precinct 2 and Precinct 3. These two precincts are one of the earliest precincts that has developed in the boulevard area of Putrajaya. Precinct 2 forms the northern gateway to Putrajaya Core Island, and it consists of commercial and government buildings, parks, open spaces and residential areas. It occupies an area of 155.2 hectares. However, Precinct 3 is being developed to house Ministries and institutions related to the development of the arts and culture. It has a total land area of about 140 hectares.
2.0 Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs was well-known for her ideas on the function of cities, its evolution and fall despite having no formal training in urban planning. She was an urbanist and activist whose writings, such as The Death and Life of Great American Cities, were used as references in creating an effective city by architects and urban planners worldwide. Her book, talks about the principles and objectives of modernist, orthodox city planning and rebuilding in the post war U.S. In her book, she exposes the failures of modernist planning ideas and has arguments on the intellectual planning history. She bases her ideas on observation of city life as opposed to deductive theories and master plans.
3.0 The Forces of Decline and Regeneration
In the chapter of “Forces of Decline and Regeneration�, Jane Jacobs has stated a few points to explain the tendency for a city to be destroyed by itself without proper urban planning. One of the factors for that would be that there are no diversity left in the city due to duplication of urban planning and function of the districts or neighbourhoods in the city. Thus, a city should be rich of different planning and functions of each districts in order to create a more
Precinct 2
Precinct 2
Precinct 3
Precinct 3
diverse community.
Diagram 3.1
Diagram 3.2
As seen in diagram 3.1 above, the two precincts have similar programs, thus they have similar functions. One of the main programs that both the precincts have is commercial. This causes very minimal diversity between these two precincts. Therefore it causes the city to be dull and duplicated. However, the theory from Jane Jacobs can be applied into these two precincts so that both of the districts can be more diverse. For instance, the commercial buildings in Precinct 2 can be lessen and be replaced by residential or government buildings so that Precinct 3 will be more focused on commercial buildings, as seen in diagram 3.2. Thus this will prevent the duplication of programs between the two precincts.
Another factor pointed out by Jane Jacobs is about the importance of the physical and functional effects of border vacuums on the city by creating boundaries and splitting the city into smaller fragments. Border vacuums should be a seam of the city rather than a barrier to divide the city. Such examples of the seam would be cafĂŠ and other leisure facilities so that the residents of different districts can be connected rather than being divided.
Diagram 3.3
Diagram 3.4
In diagram 3.3, it can be seen that there is a main boulevard linking the precincts in an orderly manner in Putrajaya. The boulevards includes public spaces for pedestrians, paths for bicyclists and several pocket parks to ensure the vibrancy and life of the city at all times (diagrams 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7). Thus, these boulevards act as a seam among the precincts to ensure optimum connection between the residents of different precinct. The pathways between Precinct 2 and 3 also acts as a seam by providing interesting spaces that connects the people to the buildings (diagrams 3.4, 3.8 and 3.9).This enforces the theory suggested by Jane Jacobs where a border should be more of a seam rather than a barrier for the citizens.
Diagram 3.5 shows the accessibility of pedestrians between Precinct 2(right) and Precinct 3(left) via pedestrian walkways.
Diagram 3.6 shows the accessibility of cars as well between Precinct 2(left) and Precinct 3(right).
Diagram 3.7 shows pocket parks places alone the main boulevard that connect Precinct 2 and 3.
Diagram 3.8 shows how the main boulevard acts as a seam for the pedestrians between the precincts via the pedestrian walkways, and zebra crossings.
Diagram 3.9 shows how empty lots are used as a seam to connect the people to the buildings and roads by providing available car park spaces.