Master Design Thesis | Memory-making City | 2022 by Hui Jie Lim Virely

INFRASTRUCTURAL URBANISM

RED BLUE GREEN

MEMORY-MAKING CITY:

Ma s t e r T h e s is 2 0 2 1 / 2 2

URBAN CORRIDOR AND ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC MEMORY

H u i Ji e LIM 501 8 7 3 6 Master s of Ar ts in A rchitecture (DIA )

A design thesis booklet submitted to DIA Graduate school of architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) in architecture At Hochschule Hnhalt, Germany Year 2021/2022 Copyright © 2022 Hui Jie lim E:

huij.limv@gmail.com

www.linkedin.com/in/huij-limv

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. Cover image by author. All images and diagrams are produced by the author unless stated.

Thesis Project Title: Memory-making City: Urban Corridor and Architecture for Public Memory No. of Pages: 130 as of 17th Jun 2022 Advisor: Vesta Nele Zareh, Prof. Dipl.-Ing Stadtplnung Co-Advisor: Dr. Yat Ming Loo PhD (UCL), MSc (UCL), BArch, BSc (Hons) Associate Professor in Architecture and Urbanism

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The completion of this undertaking could not have been possible without the participation and assistance of so many people whose names may not all be enumerated. Their contributions are sincerely appreciated and gratefully acknowledged. However, the group I’d like to express their deep appreciation and indebtedness, particularly to the following: Prof. Vesta Nele Zareh, for her invaluable supervision, guidance, and support through each stage and process during my master’s degree. Her encouragement helped me in all the time of research and design process of this thesis. Dr. Yat Ming Loo, for his very generous and helpful advice and encouragement. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for this exciting journey. To all my family, the love of my life, my mentor, friends, and others who in one way or another shared their support, either morally, financially, or physically. Thank you.

TABLE OF CONTENT Abstract Thesis framework CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

Background of multi-ethnicity in Malaysia Cemetery in Malaysia Value of cemetery Public Memory Potential of Organic Burial Project Vision

2 3 5 7 8 9 11

CHAPTER II URBAN ANALYSIS

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7

13 15 23 27 29 31 34

Site selection Contextual studies Accessibility study Demographic study Safe walk analysis Building use analysis Strategies of Urban Planning

CHAPTER III URBAN PLANNING

3.1 Spatial Planning strategies 3.2 Urban plan zoning 3.3 Urban plan

37 39 43

CHAPTER IV MASTER PLAN : URBAN DESIGN

4.1 Site Plan 4.2 Urban Corridor design scenario 4.3 Monument of Public Memory

49 51 55

CHAPTER V ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC MEMORY

5.1 Multipurpose Common Space 5.2. Urban History Archive

63 71

CHAPTER V LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6

Theoretical study Concept Development Design development Drawings Hierarchy of Space Materiality and Construction idea

80 81 83 89 99 101

APPENDICES Bibliography References List of Figures

iii

Figure 0.1: A series of compilation of visualization of socio-economic crisis in Malaysia. Source : Google image

ABSTRACT Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-religion, and multi-cultural nation. Due to this complexity, politics tends to be complicated and lead to a turbulent society. The root of the problem is believed to be the understanding between each other cultures and backgrounds is not strong enough creating much bias and discrimination. A cemetery is an infrastructure that is perceived as an archive by the people in Malaysia. Visiting the cemetery during festive reminds people about someone’s past as well as their contributions to the development of the city and nation. With that, the designer sees an opportunity to strengthen the nation by connecting people with spaces created for people to acknowledge what others have done for today’s Malaysia, This process is so-called public memory enhancement among the people. Memory about the past of Malaysia to be shared among people. Therefore, the thesis project explores an infrastructural program and structure designed inspired by the cemetery to provide the possibility to connect people for public memory-making. The site chosen to experiment with the project idea is Kuala Lumpur city center along the Klang and Gombak River (River of Life). It includes three different scales of design in the project: 1. Proposal of facilities and program zoning on an Urban scale. 2. Examplaries of facilities and zone design in Master plan scale. 3. Design focus on one architecture for public memory. The urban scale planning focuses more on designing the concept of an urban corridor. The master plan zooms into a central zone to demonstrate the design idea of the urban corridor as well as the schematic design of the new structure proposed to connect people, and the existing historical and cultural space. Lastly. one of the proposed structures is further developed in program and architecture concept design.

THESIS FRAMEWORK

Research questions What are the criteria of site for such project? How is the program designed response to the urban context? What are the architecture vision?

S R

T LU

Decisions developped Downtown in kuala lumpur Concept design Urban analysis Architectural spatial planning concepy

DE SIG N

Architecture for public memory design

E SIT SIS LY NA

(1) Thesis brief design (2) Macro and micro site analaysis and syntheis of Kuala Lumpur City centre (3) Urban plan spatial strategies along RIver of Life (4) Program zoning and design idea (5) Urban Corridor for public memory design (6) Architecture for public memory design

Urban plan spatial strategies

Design phase:

Program zoning and design idea

(1) discovery of borders that causes social segregation, (2) case studies to connect people with public infrastructure. (3) potential site proposed to connect multi-cultural Malaysia.

Urban Corridor for public memory design

Research phase findings:

APPLICATION IN KUALA LUMPUR

CONTEXT

E Discovery english concept garden

Research questions Is there an existing of architecture concept for such project?

SUBJECT MATTER STUDY SEGREGATION IN MALAYSIA

H NT

Research questions Why is there racism? How do they affect the urban spaces? What could the project aim to?

ESIS

Decisions developped Main programme of the project: Cemeteries

C O P

E O

ISSUE

DE SIG

SOCIAL

O IR

Decisions developped Borders and spatial typology design focus

V EN

EC O NO MI CA

L TA

M AI H LE C B R A A N I SE TA RE US S

EN NM

Research questions What are the culture and ritual process to deal with death? What are the common spaces can be shared?

METHODOLOGY CASE STUDIES OF EMANCIPATION

RCHITEC TU OF A

Research questions What kind of international projects gather people from different background?

Research questions What kind of local projects gather people in malaysia? How are the projects connect people from different cultures? Decisions developped sub-programme of the project. Architecture design language.

Discovery Footbridge. Building designed to have shared common and private formal usage for 3 group of people.

Figure 0.2: Thesis framework. Source : Author

vii

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of multi-ethnicity in Malaysia Malaysia is a multi-racial country with multi-ethnic groups and multi-religion. This has added complexity to the political situation in Malaysia. The reasoning behind this matter has to fall on history. British formally made Malaysia a colony in 1867. During the time, the British brought in different groups of people that originate mainly from China, South India and etc to exploit economic industries. According to Britannical (2021), the people from the same origin were gathered and placed according to the economical activities assigned in a different part of Malaysia. In the other words, the social relationship between the community was severely divided due to geographical as well as historical reasons. After independence, the population in the urban area grow rapidly because of the development of infrastructure as well as the economy in the area. This attracted different ethnic groups of people to city. Since then there are multicultural communities in the city adapted to stay together. Despite the hard adaptation, there is still bias and discrimination often happens due to misunderstanding of each other cultures and backgrounds. Subcequently, this led to a turbulent society.

Figure 1.1.2: Map of Bumiputra and Chinese registered voters according to 2008 electoral district. This can be taken as a close approximation to the actual ethnic distribution in Malaysia. Source: A. (2008, April 19). Estimated population density in Malaysia in 2010 [Mapping]. Wikipedia.

A demographic study was done to identify the location with where highest diversity of ethnicity in Malaysia. By reading the map of Bumiputera and Chinese registered voters according to the 2008 electoral district (Suruhanjaya, 2008), we are able to know a close approximation of the actual ethnic distribution in Malaysia. It shows that most of the land (Blue) in Malaysia is still occupied by Bumiputera groups. Region demarked with red is where mostly Chinese groups populated. Whereas colors range in the middle of the graph indicated the higher diversity of ethnicity in Malaysia. Overall, regions near the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia have a higher diversity of ethnicity.

INTRODUCTION 1.2 Cemetery in Malaysia

Jalan Ampang Muslim Cemeteries

The social division had also significantly influenced urban planning in Malaysia. Some of the common infrastructures happen to be ethnic or religious identified, meaning only certain people can use or visit them. Other than a place of worship, the cemetery is one of the most obvious ones. Having to say, the politics of cemeteries in Malaysia is complex due to the social background complexity of Malaysians. Referring to the mapping presented here, the cemetery of different ethnic groups is normally all segregated. Even though there are some cemetery developers who have already started to introduce different zone for different ethnic groups or religious people, in the same cemetery. However, the intention is more to solve the scarcity of burial land.

Kwong Tong Chinese Cemeteries

Kwong Tong Chinese Columbarium Tower

Cheras war cemeteries

LEGENDS MUSLIM CEMETERIES

CHINESE CEMETERIES

CHRISTIAN CEMETERIES

HINDU CEMETERIES

Jalan Kuari Muslim Cemeteries

MAPPING OF CEMETERIES

SCALE 1 : 100 000 @ A4

INTRODUCTION 1.3 Value of cemetery The understanding of Cemetery in Malaysia is like an archive to the people. It helps people to identify the origin, the background, or even remind people about someone’s history. It is not only important to individual relatives but also to the community. Unlike European culture, Malaysian would visit the tomb during festivals or the new year. It is always an opportunity to share about the past of the deceased they visit. The story comprises historical, cultural, and even individual memory. But this often happens once or twice a year, other times cemetery exists as an inactive green space. Speaking in the context of a multicultural society, this is an occasion to have a better understanding of other Malaysian cultures when visiting the cemetery. Sharing our own perception of the past history or individual cultural story with others. That would help in building public memory and subsequently foster the understanding of each other’s cultures.

Origin of the deceased

Figure 1.3.1: The urban value of cemetery as a memory archive (monumental value). Source: Google image

The peaceful and harmonious spatial quality cemetery possessed, making the time to visit the cemetery a great moment to remember the past and share the memory as a story either to your younger family members or a stranger who also visit the cemetery at the same time. Figure 1.3.2: The cultural and heritage value of cemetery in space, time & event. Different ethnic group visit cemetery once a year. Source: Google image

INTRODUCTION 1.4 Public Memory What is Public Memory? Public memory can also be understood as collective memory. It is the memory. can generally define as the perceptions and uses of the past by the public-including both government and citizens. (Cox, Richard J, 1993). It consists of the objective dimension and subjective dimension.

Activities

Personal value

Place

History

Objective Dimension Events

Subjective Dimension Memory

Public Memory (Collective memory)

National identity

Figure 1.4.1: Definition of Public Memory. Source: Author

Examples of them include the Chinese remember the century of humiliation, Americans remembering 9/11 and subsequent events, and the people of many nations remembering the era of World War II (Roediger, 2016). Some people migrate their hatred to certain religious groups but some have different understandings of the event. Collective memories may occur at more local levels, too In the context of Malaysia, Inadequate political management has brought the social relation of the multiracial in Malaysia to another tenser level. In the Incident of 513, Sino-Malay sectarian violence eventually took place in Kuala Lumpur. The riot occurred in the aftermath of the 1969 Malaysian general election when opposition parties made gains at the expense of the ruling coalition. While the subjective dimension covers Chinese and Malay have different perceptions and understanding of the happening. Why are these memories important? According to Valdimir (2014), collective memory should be also a manifesto for cultural and socially sustainable architecture. As these memories help to form national narratives about why things happen and how problems in the present and future should be solved. What creates collective memory? Collective memories are a community’s shared renderings of the past that help shape its collective identity (Halbwachs, 1950). From this perspective, they are the collective variant of autobiographical memories, which are individually held memories that help shape personal identity. The social group in which the identifies unquestionably influences the opinions, beliefs, and attitudes of the individual. Individuals weave together their past experiences to form collective memories. What is the relation to a cemetery? A cemetery in this case is imagined as a strategy opening up the cultural and historical memory storage in the people. The thesis explore designing facilities and structures inspired by the cemetery that could introduce the possibilities to connect people. Relating to its function as an archive to Malaysian, They are seen to be a structure to can improve each other relationship by creating the public memory from individual memory.

INTRODUCTION

Symbolically, it implies the continuation of the life of a dead person in another form. As such, the cemetery can be treated as a living archive to people, at the same time adding a sense of belonging by providing the landscaping effect to the environment. To design a project for public memory-making inspired by the cemetery, there will be partly cemetery programs included in the project for individual memory to excite. With that, organic burial is considered part of landscaping’s purpose for the project.

Q S 32 4. O B UB U L R E P IA LO L T

I B NG U L R E P IA LO L T

In recent years, there is a new burial technology called organic burial, burying the dead body in an organic pod for plantation. The new way of burial is more sustainable in terms of space as well as environmentally. As it is not only occupied less space but also greening the environment.

Reviewing the conventional cemetery, it happens to be an inactive green space. One of the reasons is that other than visiting the tomb during the festival, there is no other function. This is because other than not to disturb the deceased, the tomb gave people a sense of heterotopia when there are no other visitors.

ORGANIC BURIAL

1.5 Potential of Organic Burial

Population of Kuala Lumpur = 1.78 million Crude Death Rate = 4.9 per 1000 population Estimation of total death per year = ~9000 corpse = 26000 sqm (standard burial) = 14000 sqm (50% standard burial & 50% cremation) = 4500 sqm (organic burial) Estimation fo total death for 20 years = ~180000 corpse Targeted burial provision coverage for 10% of death = ~36000 corpse = 9000 sqm

S GR TAN OU DA ND RD BU RIA L

CO CR LU EM MB AT AR ION IUM NIC

U AL R N

C H I U LD R N

U U LT R N

U LT U XL R N

D A

N C DA A R S D K E T

Figure 1.3.3: Types of burial method. Source: Author

INTRODUCTION 1.5 Project Vision

Before the British colonialization of Malaysia, there was no conflux of cultural people in the land. Other than the indigenous people who live in a rural area, there were only majorly Malay who live in the town, came from Srivijaya Empire in the 15th century, which is today’s Indonesia (Milner, 2010). After the British ruled Malaysia, they brought in other origin people and settle them in different locations, that was when each group’s cultural fusion happened. Since then, there was no longer a pure culture of each ethnic group. As living on the same land, others found a balance and adapted to the local environment. Anyhow, many people often had a false understanding of other people’s doing, because their own perception has never been expressed and justified with ones. This includes many politicalhistorical events.

“WE MAY NOT LOOK THE SAME BUT WE ARE ALL MALAYSIAN.” Figure 1.5.1: Multiracial Malaysia. Source: AF.M.T.O.D.A.Y. (n.d.). Time to revisit Bangsa Malaysia’s significance, claim activists [Photograph]. The Asian Affairs.

Hence, the project aims to design spaces to share individual memory for the public memory enhancement process. This is done by spaces designed for the possibilities of connecting people for memory sharing.

Before colonial generation

After colonial generation

No conflux of culture

PAST

With Public memory enhancement Interrelated cultural influence

PRESENT Figure 1.5.2: Diagram of Vision of public memory-making. Source: Author

Shared cultural understanding

FUTURE

II.

URBAN ANALYSIS

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.1 Site selection

MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR

Figure 2.1: Key plan and Location plan (Scale1:40000). Source: Author

SCALE 1 : 40 000 @ A3

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.2 Contextual studies For a project to build public memory of Malaysians in a city, the site needs certain criteria: 1. Accessible to multi-cultural, religious, ethnic group people. 2. Surrounding the project with historical and cultural sites. As these are the subjective and objective dimensions contributing to public memory-making. And so, the project is developed in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur where the highest ethnic diversified area in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur city center has several wellknown ethnic population-identified areas. (Figure 2.2.1) 1. Kampung Baru: residential area populated by the Malay population 2. Chow Kit: Mainly Chinese commercial and residential area 3. Brickfield: that is also known as Little India as the area is dominated by Indian commercial. This could help in increasing the chance to have different cultural background people to visit the project. Geographically, these regions are connected by the natural infrastructure, the Klang and Gombak river. This river is recently being advertised as River of Life (ROL). (Figure 2.2.2) Along the ROL, there are many existing historical and cultural buildings and sites such as Chinatown, Dataran Merdeka (Independence square), Masjid Jamek (Jamek Mosque) and etc. These sites have a relation to the culture and history of Malaysia. (Figure 2.2.2) Besides, ROL links to two existing cemeteries, the Jalan Ampang Muslim Cemetery and the Kwong Tong Chinese Cemetery. These two are the oldest cemeteries in Malaysia, which are the oldest archives in the city. Considering all the aforementioned factors, this area was proposed as the project site. It is an ideal location for the public memory building program construction.

Figure 2.2.1: 1.75km radius of Ethnic diversity study of the propose zone in Kuala Lumpur. Source: Author

b Gom Kla

Riv

iver

ak R RIVER OF LIFE (ROL)

LEGENDS CHINESE POPULATIONS

MALAYS POPULATIONS

INDIAN POPULATIONS

Figure 2.2.2: Checkpoint of Colonial Walk. Source: DBKL. (2020). Welcome to Dataran Merdeka KLQR Trail. KLQR. Retrieved June 15, 2022

KWO

Figure 2.2.3: Mapping of existing cultural and historical site in Kuala Lumpur city centre. Source: Author

1H 5 K R M WA LK

JALAN AMPANG MUSLIM CEMETERY

HISTORICAL & CULTURAL ZONE

CENTRAL ZONE

ONG TONG CEMETERY

NIRVANA CEMETERY CENTRE KWONG TONG FUNERAL PARLOUR

LEGENDS EXISTING HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SITE

ROL is therefore seens as the structure dividing the people either physical or metaphorical. In the project, the designer is treating the ROL as the way to build the connection, to connect people. People could also see this structure as one of the routes to commute in the future. According to the traffic study in the thesis research phase (Figure 2.2.5), the pedestrian experience in the zone is fairly convenient with the provision of existing infrastructure. So building a physical connection with ROL is not only to bridge people for memory-making, practically, but it may be an option to improve the city by promoting pedestrian movement. Since the river is surrounded by diverse program activities (Figure 2.2.3), the project of public memory-making with ROL will introduce different facilities and program spaces responding to the surrounding context. In short, the project aims to provide opportunities for public memorymaking along ROL. More urban analysis of ROL are done and presented in the next section to construct the strategies of designing the urban space.

HIS ADM

ST NI I M ST AD IN

Figure 2.2.4: Land use program mapping in Kuala Lumpur city centre. Source: Author

TIAL & RESIDEN IAL RC COMME

S NE

TION TRA N INIS IO ADM STITUT IN

I US B T AL RIC R T NT DIS CE

N TIO N A TR TIO U TIT

RCIAL

C CO UL M TU M RA ER L CI & AL

REC R ADM EATIO N INIS TRA AL & TIO N

AL & STORIC TION RA MINIST

COMME

AL & ATION RECRE ERCIAL COMM

EN & IAL T RC MEN E MM AIN CO ERT T

ADM

INIS T INST RATION ITUT ION &

HERITAGE ZONE

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC STUDIES

Analysis: The Colour range of yellow to red indicates fast to slow traffic conditions. It shows that the traffic condition is pretty congested especially in the morning and evening (Google Map, n.d). Synthesis: As Kuala Lumpur is a city heavily dominated and relying on vehicles, the idea to promote awareness of walking or biking through the public infrastructure arose.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT TRANSIT STUDIES

Analysis: Public transit planning in the zone can be considered quite sufficient and taken care of for public transporting especially street junctions surrounding the right bank of the river. Synthesis: Designing the circulation design for the entrance of the project integrating with the location of transit stations for connectivity and accessibility of the infrastructure.

PEDESTRIAN & BIKE ACCESSIBILITY STUDIES 者

Analysis: The red and blue curves indicate the location with the pedestrian path and the biking lane respectively. Clearly seen that there are more pedestrian paths than biking lanes around the river, yet, visiting the place by only footwalks or biking is not ideal and maybe risky. Synthesis: In addition to poor bike and footwalk-lane design is the climate of influences outdoor comfort level too discouraging the walk-ability. Thus, project design should consider bike and pedestrian access with natural canopies would be needed. Figure 2.2.5: Macro-analysis of the proposed zone. Source: Author (Based on Google map. Retrieved February 2022)

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.3 Accessibility study DANG WANGI TRANSIT

ROL has a pretty developed and complete public transport system surrounding it. They cover distinct program zones such as the office, commercial, historical and cultural zone. That means connecting these structure to ROL not only brings a diverse background of Malaysian but also connect people from daily activities (commercial and office) to the historical and cultural value site.

BRIDGE @ RIVER OF LIFE MASJID JAMEK TRANSIT

However, referring to the riverbank analysis along ROL (Figure2.3), the accessibility and connectivity need to be improved to be welcoming to the surrounding community. Also, many areas (without dotted line in bottom right diagram) have poor visibility and reachability to the ROL.

PASAR SENI TRANSIT

LRT (LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT) & MRT (METRO RAIL TRANSIT)

SEAMLESS APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

DANG DANG WANGI WANGI TRANSIT TRANSIT

APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

BRIDGE BRIDGE @ @ RIVER RIVER OF LIFE OF LIFE

PASAR PASAR SENI SENI TRANSIT

MASJID MASJID JAMEK JAMEK TRANSIT TRANSIT

SEAMLESS APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

ACCESSIBLE ZONE OF ROL

LEGENDS MIX-DEVELOPMENT

RECREATION

GREENERIES

TRANSPORT

Figure 2.3: Accessibility study of ROL. Source: Author

Figure 2.3.1: Transit hub next to River of Life. Source: Google Image

Figure 2.3.2: Example part of River of Life Physical and visual inaccessible. Source: Author

Figure 2.3.3: Example of the discontinue of walkway structure at River of Life. Source: Author

MIX-DEVELOPMENT

RECREATION

GREENERIES

TRANSPORT

Figure 2.3.4: Legend of accessibility study of River of Life. Source: Author

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.4 Demographic study

Job density is highest along the central axis of the spine from Jalan Ampang to Chinatown and west along Leboh Pasar Besar. The residential population is low and comprises either high-end apartments housing professionals or low-cost, migrant-housing for general workers and laborers. The majority of households are in a north-south central corridor with concentrations in Masjid India, Leboh Ampang/Jalan Gereja Precinct, and Chinatown. Findings show the lack of residents leads to minimal night-time activity, fewer ‘eyes on the street’, and a poor sense of community. It also shows that there is where the everyday activities zone (overlaping color).

LEGENDS EMPLOYMENT DENSITY

>=1

>1817

POPULATION DENSITY

>=1

>105

Everyday activities zone

Figure 2.4: Demographic study of ROL. Source: Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map.

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.5 Safe walk analysis

Through a day and night comparison of the same area, we can see a central node of blue emerging. This path links the two major transit stations in Downtown KL– LRT Jamek Mosque in the north and LRT Central Market in the south. This vibrant stretch is constantly used by pedestrians, is relatively well-maintained, and is busy with commercial activity, even at night thanks to an active night-time economy. Notable locations include Indian Mosque, Merdeka Independent Square, and RUANG, 2HK. Pockets of red on the periphery during the day show high-traffic areas that are more car-centric and less pedestrian-friendly. This means the paths are uncomfortable to walk along, as a result of factors such as lack of cleanliness, poorly maintained pavements and lighting, malfunctioning traffic crossings, or a lack of shade. As we transition from day to night, we see an increase in red areas.

LEGENDS SAFETY LEVEL

UNSAFE

SAFE

Jamek Mosque Stop

Central Market Stop

POINT REFERENCE Point 1: Convent Bukit Nanas High school Point 2: Indian Mosque Point 3: Jamek Mosque LRT stop Point 4: Merdeka Independent Square Point 5: Ruang, 2HK Point 6: Central Market Point 7: Central Market LRT Stop Point 8: Old Railway Station

Figure 2.5: Safe walk analysis or Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Source: Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map.

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.6 Building use analysis The built environment is dominated by commercial use making up to 52.7% of the district while use for public open spaces and unknown use is at an underwhelming 0.2% The central spine is home to significant historic monuments and natural assets. Historic monuments are iconic as they relate greatly to the formation of Malaysia. Perhaps, the numerous social and economic would be also benefits associated with a creative and cultural district that ties together existing heritage assets, cultural attractions, and creative enterprises. So, the opportunity exists to enhance the quality of existing cultural assets and the connections between them.

LEGENDS

HISTORICAL BUILDING GALLERY, LIBRARY, ARCHIVE & MUSEUM

PARK AND RECREATION

MEMORIAL

RELIGIOUS

COMMERCIAL

INSTITUTIONAL

MIXED-USES

TRADITIONAL TRADES

UNDEVELOPED LAND/ VACANT/ DERELICT BUILDING

TRANSPORTATION

PLACE OF WORSHIP

PUBLIC OPEN SPACE

CULTURAL INDUSTRY

UNKNOWN

RESIDENTIAL

LESS ACTIVE, CLOSE TO CDB MORE ACTIVE, CONNECTIVITY TO BE IMPORVED

ACTIVE AND HAPPENING SITE,

CULTURAL SPOT, HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURE, COLONIAL WALK

POOR CONNECTIVITY

OFFICE & HOTEL ZONE

HISTORICAL & CULTURAL ZONE

LESS ACTIVE , MORE GREEN ERIES, MORE PRIVACY

COMMERCIAL & CULTURAL ZONE

Figure 2.6: Building use analysis or Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Source: Author (Based on Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map.)

COM M CULT ERCIAL + URA L ZO NE

A RIC TO HIS ZONE

INAC INFR CESSIB LE ASTR UC ZON TURE E

AL + ORIC HIST TURAL CUL NE ZO

INACTIV E HIGHWA Y ZONE

CO MM ZO E R NE CIA L

ADM INIST RA ZON TION E

COM MER C ZON IAL E

O FF ZO I C NE ES

IO N ITUT INST NE ZO

33 E BL SI IAL S E RC CC ME E A N IN OM ZO C

Figure 2.6.1: Zoning of program of ROL. Source: Author

URBAN ANALYSIS 2.7 Strategies of Urban Planning

According to Ringas et al (2011), the collective memory of a city can be blended into the urban landscape, and people perceive it as a way of preserving aspects of the city culture. The project of public memory-making is designed by following these strategies: CONNECT Connecting people, connecting people to the existing cultural and historical sites with the corridor design intervention of ROL. This includes the consideration of the accessibility design of the urban corridor. COMFORT Making the river a comfortable and feeling-safe corridor to take. So that people would see it as a daily access route to take when traveling in the Kuala Lumpur city center. CREATE Creating possibilities and opportunities for public memory building with program and space design (responding to the urban zoning of ROL). People would be able to get some idea about other people’s cultures little by little every day through passive observation or community sharing.

Figure 2.7: Urban Planning Strategies. Source: Author

III.

URBAN CORRIDOR FOR PUBLIC MEMORY

URBAN PLANNING 3.1 Spatial Planning strategies Connect 01 _Connectivity is the key to promoting the connection either between people to people or people to the spaces. So, a typology of urban corridor infrastructure as a spine to connect all the existing historical and cultural sites is the most important strategy. To have a continuous journey to walk along ROL, additional walkway structures are proposed with several program facilities. In the future densified city, a city where the sustainable concept is promoted, the public transport will be the significant public hub. The river structure that has interlinked to these sites is the potential to be another daily common access route to take to a walk or biking distant destination. So, the transit hubs are to be the main entry points to the urban corridor.

Figure 3.1.1: Street hawker culture in Malaysia being brought to the Urban Corridor . Source: Malay Mail. (2020, December). Temporary roadside vendor [Photograph]. Yahoo!Mail.

Figure 3.1.2: Idea of Landscape zone. Source: The CityDeck / StossLU” 12 Aug 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed 16 Jun 2022.

Figure 3.1.3 Organic burial enhancing the spatial quality. Source: Kundig, O. (n.d.). Human composting [Illustration]. Geekwire.

Comfort: 02_According to the safe walk analysis and site visit, there are areas that have poor connectivity either physically or visually to the adjacent space and building. People feel unsafe taking the route. So, it is necessary to make the journey safe by designing seamless boundaries of the corridor to the surroundings. Also, providing more shade in the urban corridor is also important to create a comfortable environment in Malaysia. This is also effectively giving a sense of community to the urban corridor designed for public memory sharing. Create 03_ To boost the cultural sensory along the corridor in daily usage, the creation of evolving space is one of the facilities along the river to respond to the surrounding with commercial or eateries programs. Malaysia is a country that has a street food hawker culture. To imitate the existing culture we had in Malaysia, this structure provides canopies for temporal cultural business services such as breakfast selling vendors or orists. Proposing them in the corridor, bring the opportunity to cultivate the culture to the users of this public place which people could observe while taking the path. Memory is then able to introduce and familiar eventually. This structure will be called a Cultural canopy walk. The remaining zones are proposed to be either landscape walk or cemetery path as the secondary walk to go through ROL. To build a sense of belonging and to introduce space that recalls individual memory daily. It can also be a therapeutic journey to the community when people can take a break and sit down to talk to their late friends or families to relieve stress after a tense working day. Besides, that would also be another chance to talk to strangers either about past-story or recent stories.

APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

DANG WANGI TRANSIT

APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

MASJID JAMEK TRANSIT

PASAR SENI TRANSIT

SEAMLESS APPROACHABLE & REACHABLE

OFFICE & HOTEL ZONE

COMMERCIAL & CULTURAL ZONE

HISTORICAL & CULTURAL ZONE

COMMERCIAL & CULTURAL ZONE

Figure 3.1: Urban Planning Spatial Strategies. Source: Author

URBAN PLANNING 3.2 Urban plan zoning

LEGENDS CULTURAL CANOPY WALK

CEMETERY WALK

LANDSCAPE WALK

SCALE 1 : 30 000 @ A4

Figure 3.2: Urban Planning Zoning. Source: Author

ENTRANCE / EXIT CULTURAL ZONE

LEISURE SPACE (LANDSCAPE ZONE)

CEMETERY ZONE

FORMAL ENTRANCE / EXIT AT THE TRANSIT HUB

CULTURAL ZONE CULTURAL ZONE

ENTRANCE / EXIT

CEMETERY ZONE

LOWER NOISE ZONE

LEISURE CULTURAL SPACE ZONE (LANDSCAPE ZONE)

SOFT NOISE

ENTRANCE / EXIT

ATMOSPHERE

Figure 3.2.1: Conceptual collage for zoning of spatial experience design for the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

The zoning of the program is finalized with the intention of designing the journey in a spatial experience with changing atmosphere as illustrated in the collage. The entry point from the transit hub will be first connected to a more happening cultural zone where the crowd could gather for food or the morning market. Later, the next section of the corridor will only then be connected to the cemetery walk or even directly landscape walk depending on the surrounding program. The cemetery zone is imagined to be a calmer and tranquil corridor walk. After the cemetery zone, it will be a landscape zone as the buffer zone to transit to the cultural zone again. Emotionally, it brings people from a very sentimental mood to a more happening moment again before exiting the corridor. The whole experience design is intending to relieve and comfort the community from negative emotions with the urban corridor for memory construction.

CEMETERY TOWER

JLN AMPANG MUSLIM CEMETERY OFFICE & HOTEL ZONE

URBAN HISTORY ARCHIVE

COMMERCIAL & CULTURAL ZONE

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS HISTORICAL & CULTURAL ZONE

MULTIPURPOSE COMMON SPACE COMMERCIAL & CULTURAL ZONE

Figure 3.2.2: Location plan of the Architecture for Public Memory. Source: Author

CEMETERY TOWER

KWONG TONG CHINESE CEMETERY

According to Allen (2017), public memory can be understood as an ongoing choice made when a group of people (typically, a nation) remembers a particular part of its history, highlights that part of history within a container available for everyone to experience, and locates that container within a social, cultural, and political context. It can be thought of as a communicative process similar to creating a scrapbook or sharing one’s life through social media; both processes involve selection (one can’t include every element of life in a scrapbook or social media site nor can a group of people remember everything about its history), interpretation (some people will find a social image hilarious whereas others may see it as inappropriate, just as some people will interpret a public memory container differently than others), revisit (scrapbooks and social media presences recorded the past and allow to be recalled anytime). The Urban Corridor for Public Memory is not only designed for daily public memory-making but also being seen as a place to allow the lively communicative process to happen. Therefore, the corridor needs other structures or facilities to provoke the community to actively participate in some part of the journey. The new structures are proposed to enrich the urban corridor. The designer calls them architecture for public memory. In terms of functions, they should give the function of selection, interpretation, and revisit along the Urban Corridor. 01_Multipurpose common space is proposed in the commercial and cultural zone next to the Central Market (cultural center). It consists of an indoor structure and an outdoor open platform for seasonal cultural activities such as traditional dance practice or performance, cultural food fairs, traditional cuisine classes, or even traditional craft-making workshops. In a way to preserve the fading intangible culture. Similar to the program evolving space along with the ROF, this structure is meant to create more opportunities for the people to observe and interpret when entering or passing by the commercial and cultural zone, but this is for group activities. 02_ Urban History Archive is proposed in the historical and cultural zone together with Living Archive. It serves as a library to document the history of Kuala Lumpur. A place where people like to revisit the past with documented facts. 03_Living Memory Platforms Tower on the other hand is for voluntary participation to share individual memory with the public. Unlike the Urban Archive, it will evolve from time to time. This is a form of selectively contribution and acceptance. 04_Cemetery towers link bridges to the existing cemeteries to guide people from the existing “Archive“ to ROL.

URBAN PLANNING 3.3 Urban plan

SCALE 1 : 30 000 @ A4

Figure 3.3.1: Urban Plan of the Urban Corridor for Public Memor (Scale 1:30000)y. Source: Author

In this chapter, it is closed with the proposed urban plan of River of Life with a zoning of the facilities and location of the architecture for public memory. The Urban Corridor is designed to be a daily access route that triggers voluntary passive contribution to activity participation in public memory-making from individual memory. The continuous spine not only connects people with a sense of community but also to the existing historical and cultural sites but also to the new structures for the enrichment of the urban corridor for the archival cultural cultivation programming.

r rrido n Co mory a b r U Me ublic for P

Kwong Tong Chinese Cemetery

The oldest and biggest Chinese Cemetery in Kuala Lumpur.

Brickfield (Little India)

It was an open field where the brick was made, and it is a vibrant place dominated by Indian commercials.

Living Memory Platforms Tower Urban History Archive

Multipurpose Common Space

Jamek Mosque

One of the oldest mosques in Kuala Lumpur. Central Market Dataran Merdeka

It was a wet market in 1888, now it is a center for Malaysian culture. Independence Square where the Union Flag was lowered and the Malaysian flag hoisted.

Figure 3.3.2: Isometric of Urban Corridor for Public Memory Source: Author

IV. URBAN DESIGN

URBAN DESIGN 4.1 Site Plan In order to demonstrate the design idea for the urban plan zoning program, the thesis design develops in the central zone. That is also where the three new structures are proposed to locate. Areas rendered in red are where extension or addition of walkway platforms are proposed to complete the connectivity of the urban corridor. Other than the basic access structure, the landscape is the main medium to soften the corridor space so that people feel comfortable walking through. More trees are needed to provide natural shade to the walkway. The design idea and intention of the urban corridor will be presented in four scenarios with sections cutting through the different zone labels along ROL. Whereas the new architectures are proposed with schematic design. They are designed not only to integrate with the urban corridor design experience but also to activate certain existing inactive public spaces.

C’

D’

B B’

A A’

Figure 4.1: Master Plan of Central Zone (Scale 1:4000). Source: Author SCALE 1 : 4000 @ A3

URBAN DESIGN 4.2 Urban Corridor for Public Memory Scenario 01 Landscape walk next to the Central Market. Issue: The riverfront is facing the rear facade of the Central Market that looks unorganized and welcoming to people. Besides, they are obstructed by a ramp causing a poor visual connection to the ROL. Design solution: Improve the spatial experience between the Central Market and ROL, first, punctuating the ramp at the location of the potential secondary exist of the Central Market to allow direct access, second, The backlane could be beautified forming a backlane concept leisure space.

A A’

Figure 4.2.1: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 1. Source: Author

Scenario 02 Cemetery Walk facing Mosque Jamek Issue: There is already an existing corridor with well landscape design. However, the area is exposed to direct sunlight causing uncomfortable for walks Design solution: Treating the cemetery walk as an optional route to take other than the existing landscape walks, The lower level concrete river bank next to the existing walkway can be transformed for organic burial in the form of tree plantation. This will benefit the existing walkway by providing natural shades. Symbolically, the deceases are contributing to caring for the living people.

B B’

Figure 4.2.2: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 2. Source: Author

Multi-level landscape walk

Future parking spot

River of Life

Backlane of Central Market

Walking at the edge of the water

Side of Commercial buildings

River of Life

Back of Commercial shoplots

C’

Scenario 03 Linked space under the vehicular bridge. Issue: Discontinue walkway. The level of the existing walkway before the vehicular bridge is higher than the unaccessible existing riverbank structure.

Design solution: Connect the two structures with a ramp down to the space under the bridge to allow the direct connection.

Figure 4.2.3: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 3. Source: Author

Scenario 04 Cultural walk opposite inactive public square

the

Weakness: Absence of a walkway structure along the ROL. Both sides of ROL do not have much shed area. Design opportunity: The site is in the administration and commercial zone in front of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall. There are food trucks that stop next to the setback road to sell and serve meals for the worker during lunchtime. Seeing this as an opportunity, the community can enjoy their lunch together with the riverfront. Therefore, it is proposed to have a canopy structure as well as a cascading staircase for seating in front of the river. It does not only introduce daily life activities to the ROL, the canopy structure can be also used for vendors.

D’ D

Figure 4.2.4: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 4. Source: Author

Program evolving space setback from the river

River of Life

Existing inactive Cascading Landscape

Program evolving space setback from the river

Existing inactive Cascading Landscape

River of Life

DBKL Sqaure (Kuala Lumpur City Hall)

URBAN DESIGN 4.3 Monument of Public Memory

Figure 4.3.2: Illustration of Monument design for Public memory. Source: Author

Indeed, some Malaysian may think having the history of British colonialization of Malaysia is something that should not be celebrated as they were the main reason causing segregation of people. However, in the opinion of the designer, the three major ethnic populations are attracted to come to Malaysia mainly because of Malaysia. Even though it was not a bright history, in a way because of the segregation, people in Malaysia could somehow preserve their own culture. Nevertheless, each ethnic culture in today’s Malaysia is never the same as its original one, this is because of the influences from one another identities. So having to say, the history recorded how people were separated, yet the beauty of Malaysia having a multicultural context is also caused by that. So, this is the bright side of history that should be embraced and appreciated. Figure 4.3.1: Example of colonial architecture in Malaysia. (1) Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad (2) Ipoh Town Hall Source: Google image

British has manipulated Malaysia in many aspects in social, political, and even the environment. Same in architecture, many important buildings built in the period or after the coming of the British can be easily identified. Including basic usage architecture such as shophouses design evolved with arch element together with each ethnic architecture style. Therefore, the project also introduces a monument of public memory along the River of Life every 100m. An architectural element to remind people of the past frame the beauty of today’s Malaysia.

Figure 4.3.3: Illustration of Monument for Public Memory in the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

COLLAGE ILLUSTRATION Linked bridge

Figure 4.4.1: Collage Illustration of Linked bridge under Vehicular bridge. Source: Author

COLLAGE ILLUSTRATION Cultural Canopies walk

Figure 4.4.2 Collage Illustration of Program evolving space for Cultural walk. Source: Author

ILLUSTRATION Cemetery Walk

Figure 4.4.3: Illustration of Cemetery walk of the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

V. ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC MEMORY

ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC MEMORY 5.0 Architecture for Public Memory

Frame B

There are four types of new structures proposed for the enrichment of the urban corridor for public memory-making. This includes cemetery towers for the existing cemeteries, a Multipurpose Common Cpace in the commercial and cultural zone, an Urban History Archive, and the Living Memory Platforms Tower in the historical and cultural zone. In the thesis, Multipurpose Common Space, Urban History Archive, and the Living Memory Platforms Tower in the central zone are further developed in design. As mentioned, the Multipurpose common Space is proposed to be in the commercial and cultural zone (Frame A). According to urban analysis, it is closer to daily activities. So this structure is intended for interpretation of people through observation on a daily basis when they enter or exit from ROL. Whereas the urban History Archive and the Living Memory Platforms Tower are positioned in the historical and culture zone (Frame B). There are many existing historical and cultural sites surrounding this section of ROL. Besides, there are also existing public spaces which are underused. So proposing these two structures in this zone is aiming to not only activate the public spaces but also, more importantly, to connect people from the urban corridor to construct public memory in different ways.

Frame A

SCALE 1 : 4000 @ A3

ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC MEMORY 5.1 Multipurpose Common Space The existing condition of the site location proposed to have the Multipurpose Common space structure has a quite complete pathway design. However, it has never been in an active scenario because the site is not attractive and comfortable to visit. The adjacent buildings face the riverfront with the rear elevation of the buildings without considering the spatial impact on the ROL. It is often crowded in the Kasturi walk but people seldom will walking across to the back of the central market. The design of the Multipurpose Common Space aims to activate the site by providing a new function to the community. To have a better understanding of the context, a micro site analysis was done to frame the orientation and the position of the structure.

Figure 5.1.1: Site photo near Central Market. Source: Google Image. Retrieved February 2022

Site Analysis

Sun path study

Wind rose study

Accessibility study

Services zoning

Human density study

Traffic study

Figure 5.1.2: Site analysis of Frame A. Source: Author

The Multipurpose Common Space is to provide usage of space for all kinds of cultural activities such as traditional dancing classes, traditional cuisine cooking classes, or even traditional craft-making workshops. Other than that, this space can also be used for seasonal cultural markets or traditional food fairs. Some of the activities need to be indoor. So, the structure consists of an outdoor platform and indoor elevated space. The design intention of the structure is meant to have the best visual possibilities without interfering with the main walkway. Thus, the indoor structure is in a curvy arching form to maximize the view from the passer. The outer arch is facing a vehicular bridge connection, so considering it to be another access to the site, the curvy form also makes a statement to the visitor. Whereas the outdoor platform is a simple open wooden decking where people could gather for any informal activities like taichi or yoga sport when it is not in used for events.

Figure 5.1.3: Example activities/ program for the Multipurpose common outdoor space. 01_24 season drum cultural performance 02_ Open air dining culture 03_ Night market Source: Google Image Figure 5.1.4: Site plan of Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:1000). Source: Author

3 4

5 1

Central Market

Figure 5.1.5: Floor plan of Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

Legend 1. Outdoor activity decking space 2. Indoor multipurpose space 3. Storage 4. Locker space 5. Resting Lounge

The indoor open layout space is designed to have several possible scenarios uses. The space can be flexibly partitioned to have smaller spaces for groups of users for different activities. The left end of the indoor space is equipped with a communal lounge where people could gather when taking breaks from the activities also a mini viewing area to the ROL. Whereas the outdoor platform is connected to the lower level of the walkway that transformed from the riverbank.

Scenario 1 1/3 of the space using for craft-making art class 2/3 of the space using for dancing class

Figure 5.1.6: Example activities/ program for the Multipurpose common indoor space. 01_Traditional dance lesson 02_ Traditional cuisine class 03_ Craft-making workshop Source: Google Image

Scenario 2 Whole indoor area using for art and craft fair. Outdoor decking used for food fair.

Figure 5.1.7: Different scenario layout planning for Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

Future parking spot

River of Life

Back lane of Central Market

Figure 5.1.2: Section of Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

ILLUSTRATION Multipurpose Common Space

Figure 5.1.3: Illustration of Multipurpose Common Space from the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC MEMORY 5.2 Urban History Archive In zone A, the existing condition of the urban space is pretty well to use. There is a monumental zone on the right side of the river that is photogenic to visit, while on the left side of the river, there is an underground connected public space after the roundabout driveway. It is however inactive despite the interesting space located in the center of the roundabout, this is because it is hardly noticed by the community. On the other side of the ROL towards the North, there is also an open square (DBKL Square). On the right side and pattern landscape design opposite the square. All these areas are unfortunately never efficiently utilized by the public. The main reason is that people do not find a purpose to visit those spaces. Also, the riverfront walkway is discontinued after Parlimen St. (Jalan Parlimen). So in responding to the context, it is proposed to have new structures functioning as an archive at this site. Its objective is not only to connect people with the local historical and cultural background but also to activate the existing public space. The archives’ design is to integrate with the urban corridor design for public memory-making, enhancing the walking experience along the river of life. To have a better understanding of the context, a micro site analysis was done to frame the orientation and the position of the structure.

Figure 5.2.1: Site photo of ROL in Frame B. Source: Google Image. Retrieved February 2022

Site Analysis

Sun path study

Wind rose study

Accessibility study

Services zoning

Human density study

Traffic study

Figure 5.2.2: Site analysis of Frame B. Source: Author

The Urban History Archive functions as a conventional archive to store all the documents and material about Kuala Lumpur history covering the part of public history about the project. Public history is the lead of public memory. The public could visit this structure to review the urban, political, or even cultural history with documented facts. The structure is also equipped with a reading area (facing the tress at the monumental zone) for students and researchers. Other than those, the space next to the square is designed to be a temporal exhibiting area. As that is a program evolving zone space, placing the temporal exhibition space there will bring the crowd to activate the area. Whereas people who have more interest in reading material could start the journey of public memory-making from here, and grow their understanding of other people’s cultures by exploring the urban corridor. That is why the Urban History Archive is designed to be a linear form that responds to the natural shape of the river. Both ends of the building will bring people to the other end and cross the vehicular bridge forming the continuous connectivity of the journey of the urban corridor.

Figure 5.2.3: Program space required for the Urban History Archive. 01_Book and material storing spaces 02_ Reading space Source: Google Image

2 Legend 1. Podium connecting to Living Memory Tower 2. Fast food selling kiosk

Figure 5.2.4: Site plan of Urban History Archive (Scale 1:1000). Source: Author

Kuala Lumpur city hall

Cascading landscape

DBKL Square

Legend 1. Reception 2. Temporary exhibition hall 3. Permanent (up to 5000) books and material storing rack space 4. Storage 5. Reading space 6. Mini Lounge

Monumental zone

D’terbing Foodcourt

Figure 5.2.5: Floor plan of Urban History Archive (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

All the main spaces in the Urban Archive are designed to be open layouts. So that the furniture can be arranged according to the level of occupied with materials. In terms of materiality, the permanent exhibition space is enclosed with reflective glass, and the reading space and the temporal exhibition space with more transparent glass allow better visual connection to the surroundings. They are covered with arches framed envelop wall as the facade.

Scenario 2 Layout planning when the number of books reaches the 50% threshold and it can be arranged as the layout as proposed in Figure 5.2.5.

Scenario 1 Initial layout planning when there are not many books

Figure 5.2.6: Different scenario layout planning for Urban History Archive (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

D’terbing Foodcourt

River of Life

Monumental zone

Figure 5.2.7 Section of Urban History Archive (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

ILLUSTRATION Urban History Archive from Landscape walk

Figure 5.2.8: Illustration of Urban History Archive from the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

VI. LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER 6.1 Theoretical study

What is the Living Memory Platforms Tower? The Urban Archive is a conventional archive to document the history of the city which is the factor to form public memory in the community. Imagine the Living Memory Platforms Tower is also a kind of archive but is for more intangible things like memory. It is meant to have a cordial space for individual memory sharing as public memory is constructed from the sharing of individual memory from different identities. Why do we need a Living Memory Platforms Tower in the Urban Corridor for public memory? Living Memory Tower is a place where people selectively present and express their individual memory. A space where the public voluntarily participates to contribute their own understanding or perception of certain historical and cultural events. The Urban Corridor is to construct the public memory in a more passive way, and the Living Memory Tower is the place to visit when you are ready to open your ears and eyes to actively accept a different way of interpreting a historical or cultural event. What could it look like? Roland Barthes observed in relation to the Eiffel Tower that it “is the only blind point of the total optical system of which it is the center and Paris the circumference” (Barthes 1964). When speaking of the power of this public icon to capture the popular imagination both as a viewing spot for structuring the panorama that is Paris itself, and as symbolizing the city in a single sign, Barthes draws our attention to the significance of public monuments in the constitution of individual and collective meaning. Indeed, not all monuments have the iconic status of Paris’s chief visual symbol, but the role of public sculpture and monumental architecture in framing the geographies of everyday life and in anchoring our collective social memory cannot be underestimated.

Individual Memory

Visual symbol structure

Public Memory (Collective memory)

Urban Identity Figure 6.1: The impact Public iconic monumental architecture. Source: Author

Besides, according to Molavi et al. (2017), the degree of memorability of urban elements for people is significant and can lead to the identification of urban spaces. Therefore, urban elements such as shrines, bridges, towers, and even sculptures are symbols of urban identity and daily recognition of them rehabilitates collective memory constantly. In short, the Living Memory Tower is not only essential for activating individual memory with spatial and program design but the form itself should bring a statement of the identity of Malaysians to the community.

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER 6.2 Concept Development What are the programs inside the Living Archive? A strategy to foster urban public history should certainly exploit place memory as well as social memory. For example, place memory might include personal memory of one’s arrival in the city and emotional attachment there cognitive memory of its street names and street layout, and body memory of routine journeys to home and work. According to Connerton, cognitive memory is understood to be “encoded” according to semantic, verbal, and visual codes and seems especially place-oriented because images are much better retained than abstract items as such concrete items undergo a double encoding in terms of visual coding as well as verbal expression. (Hayden, 1997) With that understanding, the main function of the Living Memory Tower serves as a viewing platform for the city. Other than that, there are spaces and programs acting as a key to opening up the individual memory of the visitor. This includes a floating cafe, memory object displaying space, oral history recording and sharing space as well as organic burial. Food is an effective trigger for deeper memories of feelings and emotions, internal states of the mind and body. Food is also always the easier way to start a spontaneous conversation. Sharing stories and memories through food is such a common experience and can help build a sense of community and shared experiences. The floating cafe will also mainly serve traditional cuisine. Besides, anything can become a memory cue, especially the more personal, and more distinctive, the better. Studies show that even arbitrary, non-essential objects can become powerful cues for memory the memory object displaying space is to keep lifelog, photos, journals, diaries, souvenirs, jewellery, books, works of art, and many other meaningful objects that trigger and sometimes constitute emotionally laden autobiographical memories. Whereas the oral history sharing and recording space are literally for people who would like to contribute their own stories to the public. Nothing is better than listening story from the first-person perspective. Last but not least, some of the free spaces will be occupied for the organic burial. As it is the subject of a cemetery that inspires the project of archive public memory-making. A cemetery always gives the space a sense of harmony. All of these spaces and programs allow the storytelling or memory remembering reflecting on the view of the city. The concept of the Living Memory Tower design is to connect people with public memory by experiencing the spaces in a journey continuing from ROL and back to the ROL. It is not only to connect the people to one other but also to connect people to the urban memory as well as to connect the public memory to their everyday life.

Figure 6.2.1: Program design idea for the Living Memory Platforms. 01_Viewing purpose 02_ Food serving 03_Story telling 04_Memory object displaying 05_ Organic burial Source: Google Image

Conceptual sketch

Architecture design intention & idea

Multi-levels Multiple viewing height

Open platforms Visual transparency promote open attitude

Continuous circulation Continuing journey from the Urban Corridor

Inside out X Outside in Give a sense of informality to space

Overlapping levels Interconnect visitors with vision

More trees cover the open communal space. Build a sense of belonging to the space

Figure 6.2.2: Sketches of design concept and ideas of Public Memory Platforms Tower. Source: Author

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER 6.3 Design development 01_ The monumental zone is where the Urban Archive is proposed to be. The underground existing inactive public space is connected to the on-ground pedestrian path either by ramp or staircase. Two of the access way are connected to the ROL. Even though it is already well designed, people seldom explore that area. 02_ One of the access routes is connected to the landscape zone and the other to the program evolving space as indicated by the urban plan zoning. 03_ For the monumental zone, there is the Urban History Archive, as mentioned in the previous section, the building form of the Archive is designed to connect and continue the incomplete journey along ROL. The new construction of the Urban history Archive will also open up the lower-level river bank for access use. However, for the Living Archive, it is proposed to position the existing public space to activate that area other than its main purpose. The building form of the Living Archive is orientated aligning with the flyover to avoid interfering with the highway vehicular circulation. The height of the building is set to be 40m at this stage to have an aerial view angle of the city. 04_ Both structures are elevated. The Urban Archive is elevated to allow space for walkways. Similarly, for the Living Archive Structure, keeping the underground public space wide for the community to use. 05_ The vertical volume is broken into the small blocks for different programs and connected by the column structures. Symbolically, people in Malaysia are actually attached to one other because our cultures are interrelated. The void spaces are to introduce permeability either for visual or ventilation to the tower-like building. 06_ One of the blocks at the middle level is extended and bridging toward the ROL and attached back to the ground next to the Urban History Archive. Architecturally, this is the statement the Living Archive is trying to make, bridging people with memory sharing. Functionally, it is also to bring people to or from the Urban History Archive for further exploration of the history of the city or even directly back to ROL after visiting the Living Archive.

program evolving zone

Existing public space

landscape zone

Monumental zone

06 Figure 6.3: Design Development of Public Memory Platforms Tower. Source: Author

07_ The idea of urban corridor design, to connect people through walking from one point to the other is applied to the Living Memory Tower too. The small blocks are opened up to reduce indoor space and maximize open-air communal space. This brings a sense of informality to the space and the comfort to have spontaneous conversations with strangers which also promotes an open attitude to other people’s cultures.

08_ The height of each platform is adjusted to the right height to allow visual connection to the city from a different viewpoint. To see the river of life, the existing historical and cultural sites, and the panorama view of Kuala Lumpur. 09_ In between every platform, lighter structure metal decking is added to have the open-air continuous circulation walking up to the tower and to the bridging space. The direction of the bridging structure is extending the sight of viewing towards the everyday program zone that is the commercial and cultural region. 10_ Greeneries as the medium to build a sense of community and belonging to the space. Therefore, the green part from the urban corridor is spreading up to the Living Archive. This is also to cool down the outdoor communal space with the vegetation as natural shadings. The main platform is mainly occupied with normal trees except for the roof of the bridging structure to be the organic burial. The lighter structure decking is designed to be able to whole the organic burial pod. 11_ Introducing the arch elements to the Archives as a statement to the public on the political, historical, and cultural background of Malaysia, the bridging structure is partially walled by the arch envelop facade. 12_ Lastly, the urban corridor design of the landscape and program evolving zone is integrated into the entrance and exit of both archives. There is the canopies structure to shelter vendors and cascading seatings to sit at the edge of the river to enjoy the waterscape.

12 Figure 6.3: Design Development of Public Memory Platforms Tower. Source: Author

Figure 6.3.1: Conceptual section of Living Memory Platforms Tower Source: Author

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER 6.4 Drawings

Exis

Existing underground public space

ff po

Figure 6.4.1: Site Plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DNKL)

sting cascading Landscaping

DBKL Square

ory

ist

Ur ive ch Ar

Living

Memo

ry Plat

forms

Tower

Monumental zone

D’terbing Foodcourt

Lower ground plan (Entrance from ROL)

Figure 6.4.2: Floor plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:200). Source: Author

Legend 1. Entrance from ROL 2. Drop off area 3. Lobby 4. Lounge 5. Administration office

First main Floor Plan (Administration + Lobby)

First Mezzanine Floor Plan (Organic Burial)

Legend 1. Floating Cafe kitchen 2. Floating Cafe indoor space 3. Floating Cafe outdoor main dining space 4. Memory object displaying area

Second main Floor Plan (Floating Cafe)

Figure 6.4.2: Floor plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:200). Source: Author

Second Mezzanine Floor Plan (Organic Burial)

Third main Floor Plan - Bridging (Memory displaying space + Oral history Sparing space)

Bridging structure Roof Plan (Organic burial)

Figure 6.4.2: Floor plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:200). Source: Author

Legend 1. Memory object displaying area 2. Oral history sharing & recording space

Third main Floor Plan - Bridging (Memory displaying space + Oral history Sparing space)

Bridging structure Roof Plan (Organic burial)

Floors below

X Y

Roof Plan (Viewing platform)

Figure 6.4.2: Floor plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:200). Source: Author

Organic Burial on Main platform (Section X)

Organic Burial on intermediate platform (Section Y)

Figure 6.4.3: Organic Burial design idea (Scale 1:100). Source: Author

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER 6.5 Hierarchy of Space

Viewing platform (Panorama view to KL)

Bridging structure (view to CBD area)

Memory object displaying space Floating Cafe

(view to closer Historical and Cultural site)

Lobby + Administration

Dato Onn Roundabout

Figure 6.4.3: Section of Living Memory Platforms Tower (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

Main organic burial space

Oral history sharing space

Green lawn in front of D’Terbing Foodcourt

Memory object displaying space

River of Life

Monumental zone

100

LIVING MEMORY PLATFORMS TOWER 6.6 Materiality and Construction idea

Figure 6.5: Axonometric of Living Memory Tower Source: Author

101

Materiality design Metal cladding wall finishing facade and imprinted concrete color floor finishing for the main platforms as well as the roof of the bridge structure. Concrete blocks laying in a weave pattern to allow the entry of natural light and air into the Administration + lobby space.

Light structure expanded mesh metal decking for the secondary platforms supported with hollow steel frame. Memory object displaying area : Ultra-clear insulated double glazing glass wall to allow for visual. Oral history sharing space : Concrete blocks laying in a weave pattern to allow the entry of natural light and air into the room.

Structural concept Tower main platforms: Concrete columns and beams as the main supporting structural system to support the secondary steel frame Bridging platform: Metal truss system to hold the arch facade envelope.

102

ILLUSTRATION Elevations

North elevation

South elevation

103

Figure 6.6.1: Elevations of Living Memory Tower Source: Author

East elevation

West elevation

104

ILLUSTRATION Living Memory Platforms Tower

105

Figure 6.6.2: Illustration of Exterior perspective of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

106

ILLUSTRATION Living Memory Platforms Tower

107

Figure 6.6.3: Illustration of Exterior perspective of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

108

ILLUSTRATION Underground entrance from ROL

Figure 6.6.4: Illustration of Entrance from the Urban Corridor to the underground level of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

109

ILLUSTRATION Floating Cafe

Figure 6.6.5: Illustration of Floating Cafe of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

110

ILLUSTRATION Memory Object Displaying Area

Figure 6.6.6: Illustration of Memory object displaying area of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

111

ILLUSTRATION Oral History Sharing Space

Figure 6.6.7: Illustration of Oral History sharing space of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

112

ILLUSTRATION Organic Burial Space

Figure 6.6.8: Illustration of Organic burial on the Living memory Tower. Source: Author

113

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

Allen, M. (2017). The sage encyclopedia of communication research methods (Vols. 1-4). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc doi: 10.4135/9781483381411

Loo, Y. M. (2017). Towards a decolonisation of architecture. The Journal of Architecture, 22(4), 631–638. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2017 .1338412

Britannica et al. (2021). Malaysia - Settlement patterns. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Malaysia/ Settlement-patterns

Ringas, Dimitrios & Christopoulou, Eleni & Stefanidakis, Michail. (2011). CLIO: Blending the collective memory with the urban landscape. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, MUM’11. 185194. 10.1145/2107596.2107620.

Brown, A. D., Kouri, N., & Hirst, W. (2012). Memory’s Malleability: Its Role in Shaping Collective Memory and Social Identity. Frontiers in Psychology, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00257 Cox, Richard J (1993) The Concept of Public Memory and Its Impact on Archival Public Programming. Archivaria, 36. 122 – 135 https://core. ac.uk/download/pdf/12203348.pdf Hayden, D. (1997). The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History (The MIT Press) (F Fourth Printing Used ed.). The MIT Press.

Roediger, H. L., III. (2016, June 28). The Power of Collective Memory. Scientific American. https:// www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-power-of-collective-memory/ Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://maps.thinkcity.com.my/ think-city/maps/93954a80-8dbb-11e9-964e06765ea3034e/demographics-of-klccd#

Johnson, N. (2002). Mapping monuments: the shaping of public space and cultural identities. Visual Communication, 1(3), 293-298. Mako, Vladimir. (2014). Collective memory as a manifesto for cultural and social sustainable architecture. 2. 481-486. https://www.researchgate. net/publication/293110407_Collective_memory_as_a_manifesto_for_cultural_and_social_sustainable_architecture/references Milner, Anthony (2010), The Malays (The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific), Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-4443-3903-1 Molavi, Mehrnaz & Malekshah, Elmira & Malekshah, Elaheh. (2017). IS COLLECTIVE MEMORY IMPRESSED BY URBAN ELEMENTS?. 9. 14-27. Loo, Y. M. (2013). Architecture and Urban Form in Kuala Lumpur. Routledge.

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 0.1: A series of compilation of visualization of socio-economic crisis in Malaysia. Source: Google image

Figure 2.1: Key plan and Location plan (Scale 1:40000). Source: Author

Figure 0.2: Thesis framework. Source: Author

Figure 2.2.1: 1.75km radius of Ethnic diversity study of the propose zone in Kuala Lumpur. Source: Author

Figure 1.1.1 Demographic study of Malaysia in 2013. Source: Author (Based on Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal. (2021, July 15). Current Population Estimates, Malaysia, 2021 [Press release]. Figure 1.1.2: Map of Bumiputra and Chinese registered voters according to 2008 electoral district. This can be taken as a close approximation to the actual ethnic distribution in Malaysia. Source: A. (2008, April 19). Estimated population density in Malaysia in 2010 [Mapping]. Wikipedia. Figure 1.2.1: Mapping of Cemetery in Kuala Lumpur Source: Author (Based on Based on Google Earth. (n.d.). Google Earth. Retrieved 2022) Figure 1.3.1: The urban value of cemetery as a memory archive (monumental value). Source: Google image Figure 1.3.2: The cultural and heritage value of cemetery in space, time & event. Different ethnic group visit cemetery once a year. Source: Google image Figure 1.3.3: Types of burial method. Source: Author Figure 1.4.1: Definition of Public Memory. Source: Author Figure 1.5.1: Multiracial Malaysia. Source: AF.M.T.O.D.A.Y. (n.d.). Time to revisit Bangsa Malaysia’s significance, claim activists [Photograph]. The Asian Affairs. https://www. theasianaffairs.com/time-to-revisit-bangsaFigure 1.5.2: Diagram of Vision of public memorymaking. Source: Author

Figure 2.2.2: Checkpoint of Colonial Walk. Source: DBKL. (2020). Welcome to Dataran Merdeka KLQR Trail. KLQR. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://klqr.my/index.html#about Figure 2.2.3: Mapping of existing cultural and historical site in Kuala Lumpur city centre. Source: Author Figure 2.2.4: Land use program mapping in Kuala Lumpur city centre. Source: Author Figure 2.2.5: Macro-analysis of the proposed zone. Source: Author (Based on Google map. Retrieved February 2022) Figure 2.3: Accessibility study of ROL. Source: Author Figure 2.3.1: Transit hub next to River of Life. Source: Google Image Figure 2.3.2: Example part of River of Life Physical and visual inaccessible. Source: Author Figure 2.3.3: Example of the discontinue of walkway structure at River of Life. Source: Author Figure 2.3.4: Legend of accessibility study of River of Life. Source: Authorr Figure 2.4: Demographic study of ROL. Source: Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map.

Figure 2.5: Safe walk analysis or Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Source: Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map. Figure 2.6: Building use analysis or Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Source: Author (Based on Thinkcity. (n.d.). Downtown Kuala Lumpur Baseline study. Interactive Web Map.) Figure 2.6.1: Zoning of program of ROL. Source: Author Figure 2.7: Urban Planning Strategies. Source: Author Figure 3.1: Urban Planning Spatial Strategies. Source: Author Figure 3.1.1: Street hawker culture in Malaysia being brought to the Urban Corridor. Source: Malay Mail. (2020, December). Temporary roadside vendor [Photograph]. Yahoo!Mail. Figure 3.1.2: Idea of Landscape zone. Source: The CityDeck / StossLU” 12 Aug 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed 16 Jun 2022. https://www. archdaily.com/158661/the-citydeck-stosslu Figure 3.1.3 Organic burial enhancing the spatial quality. Source: Kundig, O. (n.d.). Human composting [Illustration]. Geekwire. https://www.geekwire. com/2020/human-composting-companyrecompose-raises-4-7m-hires-gm-ahead-2021seattle-opening/ Figure 3.2: Urban Planning Zoning. Source: Author Figure 3.2.1: Conceptual collage for zoning of spatial experience design for the Urban Corridor. Source: Author Location plan of the Architecture for Public Memory. Source: Author

Figure 3.3: Urban Plan of the Urban Corridor for Public Memory (Scale 1:30000). Source: Author Figure 3.3.1: Isometric of Urban Corridor for Public Memory. Source: Author Figure 4.1: Master Plan of Central Zone (Scale 1:4000). Source: Author Figure 4.2.1: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 1. Source: Author Figure 4.2.2: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 2. Source: Author Figure 4.2.3: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 3. Source: Author Figure 4.2.4: Plan (Scale 1:1000) and Section (Scale 1:500) of Scenario 4. Source: Author Figure 4.2.5: Collage Illustration of Linked bridge under Vehicular bridge. Source: Author Figure 4.2.6 Collage Illustration of Program evolving space. Source: Author Figure 4.3.1: Example of colonial architecture in Malaysia. (1) Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad (2) Ipoh Town Hall Source: Google image Figure 4.3.2: Illustration of Monument design for public memory. Source: Author Figure 4.3.3: Illustration of Monument for Public Memory in the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

Figure 4.4.1: Collage Illustration of Linked bridge under Vehicular bridge. Source: Author

Figure 5.1.3: Illustration of Multipurpose Common Space from the Urban Corridor. Source: Author

Figure 4.4.2 Collage Illustration of Program evolving space for Cultural walk. Source: Author

Figure 5.2.1: Site photo of ROL in Frame B. Source: Google Image. Retrieved February 2022

Figure 4.4.3: Illustration of Cemetery walk of the Urban Corridor. Source: Author Figure 5.1.1: Site photo near Central Market. Source: Google Image. Retrieved February 2022 Figure 5.1.2: Site analysis of Frame A. Source: Author Figure 5.1.3: Example activities/ program for the Multipurpose common outdoor space. 01_24 season drum cultural performance 02_ Open air dining culture 03_ Night market Source: Google Image Figure 5.1.4: Site plan of Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:1000). Source: Author Figure 5.1.5: Floor plan of Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:500). Source: Author Figure 5.1.6: Example activities/ program for the Multipurpose common indoor space. 01_Traditional dance lesson 02_ Traditional cuisine class 03_ Craft-making workshop Source: Google Image Figure 5.1.7: Different scenario layout planning for Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:500). Source: Author Figure 5.1.7: Different scenario layout planning for Multipurpose Common Space (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

Figure 5.2.2: Site analysis of Frame B. Source: Author Figure 5.2.3: Program space required for the Urban History Archive. 01_Book and material storing spaces 02_ Reading space Source: Google Image Figure 5.2.4: Site plan of Urban History Archive (Scale 1:1000). Source: Author Figure 5.2.5: Floor plan of Urban History Archive (Scale 1:500). Source: Author Figure 5.2.6: Different scenario layout planning for Urban History Archive (Scale 1:500). Source: Author Figure 5.2.7 Section of Urban History Archive (Scale 1:500). Source: Author Figure 5.2.8: Illustration of Urban History Archive from the Urban Corridor. Source: Author Figure 6.1: The impact Public iconic monumental architecture. Source: Author Figure 6.2.1: Program design idea for the Living Memory Platforms. 01_Viewing purpose 02_ Food serving 03_Story telling 04_Memory object displaying 05_ Organic burial Source: Google Image

Figure 6.2.2: Sketches of design concept and ideas of Public Memory Platforms Tower. Source: Author

Figure 6.6.5: Illustration of Floating Cafe of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

Figure 6.3: Design Development of Public Memory Platforms Tower. Source: Author

Figure 6.6.6: Illustration of Memory displaying area of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

Figure 6.3.1: Conceptual section of Living Memory Platforms Tower Source: Author

Figure 6.6.7: Illustration of Oral History sharing space of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

Figure 6.4.1: Site Plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:500). Source: Author

Figure 6.6.8: Illustration of Organic burial on the Living memory Tower. Source: Author

object

Figure 6.4.2: Floor plan of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:200). Source: Author Figure 6.4.3: Organic Burial design idea (Scale 1:100). Source: Author Figure 6.5: Section of Living Memory Tower (Scale 1:500). Source: Author Figure 6.6: Axonometric of Living Memory Tower Source: Author Figure 6.6.1: Elevations of Living Memory Tower Source: Author Figure 6.6.2: Illustration of Exterior perspective of Living memory Tower. Source: Author Figure 6.6.3: Illustration of Exterior perspective of Living memory Tower. Source: Author Figure 6.6.4: Illustration of Entrance from the Urban Corridor to the underground level of Living memory Tower. Source: Author

An imagination project dedicated to Mr. Lim Seng Hua, my late father. For the continuation of memory-making for someone you lost, just like they are still accompanying us in everyday life.

Ma s t e r T h e s is 2 0 2 1 / 2 2 D e ssau Inter na tio n a l A rch ite ctu re S c h o o l An hal t U niver sity De p a rtment 3 © 2 020/21

Master Design Thesis | Memory-making City | 2022

Articles inside

1.1 Background of multi-ethnicity in Malaysia

6.1 Theoretical study

1.3 Value of cemetery