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Coliseum Theatre
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COLISEUM Theatre Mohamed Hassaan Muaz Mohamed Rasheed Afiq Junaidy Ahmed Mustafa Kamel School of Architecture and built environment Infrastructure University
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Kuala Lumpur,
Malay sia
Copy right 2013
This book may not be reproduced, either in part or in its entirety, in any form, by any means, without written permission from this publisher, publisher with the exception of brief excerpts for purposes purp oses of radio, television, or published review. All rights, including the right of translation, are reserved.
Printed in Malaysia
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AGKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Contents INTRODUCTION ....................................... 13 LOCAT ION ................................................ 15 OF THE ..................................................... 15 COL ISEUM THEATRE ............................... 15 BACKGROUND ......................................... 17 OF THE ..................................................... 17 BUI LD ING ................................................. 17 HISTORICA L OVERVIEW ....................... 17 USE OF THE BU I L DING ......................... 20 PAST AND PRESENT .............................. 21 STRUCTURE ............................................. 25 ROOF ..................................................... 25 PARAPET WAL L .................................... 28 COLUMNS .............................................. 30 LOAD BEARING WAL L .......................... 33 ARCH ITECTURE ....................................... 35 HIERARCHY .......................................... 35 SYMMETRY ........................................... 36 TRANSFORMAT IO N ............................... 36 REPET IT ION .......................................... 36 INTERIOR SPACES.................................... 38 Ticket Booth ........................................... 38 THEATRE ............................................... 39
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INTRODUCTION
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LOCATION
OF THE
COLISEUM THEATRE
KL INTRO AREA INTRO CONTEXT
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BACKGROUND
OF THE
BUILDING
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Coliseum Theatre, one of Malaysia’s famous landmarks, built in 1920 it is the oldest continuously running cinema in the countr y.
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This building was built by Chua Cheng Bok, a well-known Chinese businessman and property developer, who eventually leased it to a group of gentlemen who opened this cinema in 1921.
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It was constructed with thick load bearing walls and a double hip roof. The building was then considered one of the coolest pla ces in town quite literally, with its numerous fans and ventilation. There are wide veranda’s upstairs, with balcony seats and private boxes tastefully fitted with separate fans and lights, to cater to well-off patrons’ comfort.
It was one of the first few buildings in Southeast Asia to have safety designs such as emergency lighting and fire prevention s ystems.
Also, state of the art ventilation grills and exhau st fans enhance air circulation.
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USE OF THE BUILDING
The building is capable of seating 900 people. Step ramp is provided on the first level, but is not in ground floor. Since open ed in 1921 this building is used as a theatre. In 30s the building was used to see bangsawan or Malay opera performed by local troupes. However, since the 1940s the cinema played Hindi, Malay and also Indonesian films.
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PAST AND PRESENT
The Coliseum was built in the late 1920's and is still open to this day. The Art deco style theatre, with a multitude of columns, shows mostly Indian (Tamil and
Hindi
dialects
of
the
Indian
language). It is now privately owned by a doctor, and has been gazette by the government to be preserved.
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After the passing away of Chua Cheng Bok, the Colis eum Theatre passed into the hands of his descendants.
In 2006, the Malaysian government attempted to take over it and turn it into a cultural heritage centre. The idea was met with public opposition which forced the government to relent.
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STRUCTURE ROOF The roof in this building is a hip roof, with a double inverted truss s ystem. The material used in the roof is clay tiles. A hip roof is the kind in which all sides of its roofing slope downwards towards the walls of the building. The hip itself is the angle at which the slopes of the roofing meet, and the degree of this angle is called the hip bevel. The triangul ar slopes that meet the rectangular ones at the roof’s ridge are known as the hip ends, which are bound by the hips themselves.
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The hip roof in this building was doubled. It had a ventilation s ystem between them. This s ystem is assumed to be a stack ventilation s ystem. Since the old building does not have electrical HVAC s ystem.
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At present a ceiling is constructed, due to the instalment of the HVAC s ystem. This was done when the building went under the major renovation in y ear 2001.
There is a slab on top of the building where we could walk and see the roof easily. But it was not easily accessible.
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PARAPET WALL A parapet wall is built on three sides of the bound ar y wall of the building. All the parapet walls were constructed with capping and drip edges, to avoid moisture penetration.
A parapet wall is a low wall, usually enclosing a r oof, or a protective barrier at the edge of a terrace or on the side of a bridge.
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In modern use, a parapet wall is constructed to provide a barrier to prevent people or objects from falling from the edge of the structure and to slow the spread of fire; in earlier times, parapet walls 21were built to afford some protection for rooftop defenders of a structure, su ch as a castle or city walls, under attack.
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But in this building most likely the parapet wall w as built to hide the roof to the front faรงades of the building. The rear faรงades do not contain a parapet wall, and is extended beyond the boundary walls.
COLUMNS The columns on the building faรงades are most likely made from concrete. Other than just carrying the load and holding the structure of the building, the repetition of these columns give a dramatic feeling to the faรงade. Due to the columns without purring a wall makes the corridor ventilated 100% naturally.
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LOAD BEARING WALL A load-bearing wall (or bearing wall) is a wall that bears a load resting upon it by conducting its weight to a foundation structure. The materials most often used to construct load-bearing walls in large building s are concrete, block, or brick.
On our group research we could not get any information about the material used to build the walls of the building. There for we assumed it to be bricks in double layer.
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ARCHITECTURE
HIERARCHY This building has an extremely high amount of archi tectural features in it. The hierarchy of this building is made to be the curved corner of the building. This is the part of the building which is most focused and the side where almost all the people likes to enter. This is a fact since 90% of the pictures found in internet are taken facing the corner. The name of the building and the year in was built is painted red in this corner so that it catches people’s eyes on.
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SYMMETRY If looked carefully, the faรงades, without the curve is s y mmetrical. The building is not a total s ymmetr y.
TRANSFORMATION The arch shape carvings and the pillars changes it shapes when looked from one faรงade to another. Some of them turn from big to small, and others changes from square shape to round shape. Some of them even get stretched.
REPETITION This is the most amazing azing feature of this building. The small line carvings all over the building makes the building faรงades looks ver y exciting. There are also repeated pillars and many other small details. details
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INTERIOR SPACES
Ticket Booth When you first enter the Coliseum Theatre the first thing that you see is a small ticket booth. The lobby area is not that big, but can occupy around 50 people in
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THEATRE Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experien ce to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance.
The Coliseum theatre is a has a quite a small space, but efficiently used it, having up to 900 seating. The theatre is quite old and has been renovated many times.
According to Mr. Sofi, the current manager of the theatre, the building was undergone a major renovation in 2001. The main colours used in it were changed, and a calling was constructed. Also the bench seating, which the y had before have now been changed to modern seating.
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CONCLUSION These types of buildings, which is old and historic al should be measured, identified and preserved as long as it could be. Bu ilding conservation in Malaysia is considered new in the local architectur al practice.
Historic buildings are preserved and conserved for various reasons including historical
and
architectural
significance,
cultural
and
emotional
ties,
economic gains and tourism development. Unlike modern building, historic buildings are more prone to building defects, one o f which is poor installation of air-conditioning s ystems.
Architecture in the countr y is diverse; y ou can wit ness different kinds of architecture here ranging from modern high-rises to colonial buildings.
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Malaysia boasts of colonial past; it was a colony of British Empire and was under years of colonial rule. The architecture of the countr y bears testimony to the Malaysia’s colonial experience.
There are countless old buildings in the countr y, which clearly reflect the features of British Architecture.
Most of these prewar houses are ver y old and have been torn down and new buildings have replaced them. Overall, architecture of Malay sia is varied and eclectic and like other aspects of culture of the countr y reflects Malaysia’s multiculturalism. Malaysia is also one of the fastest developing nations in the world and this is also reflected in the Architectur e of Malays ia.
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