Analysis and Interpretation

AI SEK KAI

Pudu Street Food Culture

Assignment 2 / Analysis and Interpretation : How does the typology of an alley affect consumer behavioral intentions in Pudu Wai Sek Kai? Name / Poh Jia Jou Student ID / 0327192 Tutor / Mr. Nicholas Ng

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CONTENT INTRODUCTION

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SPATIAL LAYOUT

09

PROPORTION

10

BUILT ENVIRONMENT

12

CIRCULATION

14

CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR

17

CONCLUSION

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REFERENCES

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Food is vital for humankind. It is essential for sustenance and survival. Within the limitless realm of food, street food plays a special role.

LEGENDARY HAWKER FOOD STREET

Pudu is an old area in KL that is full of hidden gems. Walking on the streets in Pudu, it’s not hard to bump into a hawker stall that has been around for more than 3 decades.

Whilst the hawker food stalls at Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Alor cater very much to the tourists and foreign visitors, local KL-lites make a beeline for Wai Sek Kai or Glutton Street, a nickname given to the hawker food stalls which open from 6pm each evening at Jalan Sayur, off the ever-busy Jalan Pudu.

One can have a full-on old-school, quintessential wai sek kai experience here.

04

HIDDEN LO C AT I O N Located at Jalan Sayur, off the ever-busy main road Jalan Pudu, the narrow street is not easily detectable by passersby at night. Better known to locals only, the nightlife of street food experience between buildings happen here.

INTRODUCTION

PUDU WAI SEK KAI

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Hidden in the narrow alley, why do locals enjoy buying and eating food in Pudu Wai Sek Kai compared to indoor dining?

CONCEPT IN BETWEEN Life between buildings is one of the most important city attractions - Jan Gehl The street between buildings comes alive in the evening, inviting people to join in as people are attracted to people. The arrangement of the food vendor stalls form an in between space framing the seating area. Open yet intimate environment encourages engagement.

Building

Life Between Building

Building

SPATIAL LAYOUT 06

Sheltered Walkway 1500 mm

Sidewalk 2500 mm

Alley 4500 mm

Sidewalk 2500 mm

Hawker Stalls

Seatings Informal Seatings Path

Hawker Stalls

INTIMACY The alley is sufficient narrow and rich in experiences, yet still wide enough to allow room to maneuver as mentioned by Jan Gehl, which creates an intimate, warm and personal feeling that encourages chance contact. Without overdimensioning spaces, walking through enables people to experience simultaneously what is going on at both sides.

Sheltered Walkway 1500 mm

SPATIAL LAYO 07

T R A N S PA R E N C Y The arrangement of hawker stalls along the street allows customers to witness the authentic, honest and pure form of cooking that most truly reflects the culture of the destination. The food preparation process at the hawker stalls create an attractive pedestrian space attracting customers to buy food through smell, sound and visual.

Alternative modes of interaction often occur between customers and vendors. The vendors are often very courteous, polite and friendly. They take pride in serving their food and making sure their customers are happy.

AT Plan NTS

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YOUT

VISUAL TTRACTION

People in action constituted to the alley’s main attraction. Live food preparation process encourages people to stop and watch the work in progress. Customers can see the food being prepared in front of them, and perceive it as “fresh”.

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L I V E LY A M B I A N C E A highly attractive alley to consumers wanting to experience the best of local culture. While sitting on the plastic chairs in between hakwer stalls, eating the freshly made food , consumers get to feel the lively ambiance of Pudu Wai Sek Kai. They get to immerse in the experience of hearing sound of vendors chopping and frying food, customers ordering food and people chatting, while consuming food.

Chopping sound

Frying sound

Ordering sound

Chatters

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Larger scale

Larger scale Smaller scale

PEDESTRIAN SCALE The hawker stalls are smaller in proportion following the human scale that contrast with the architecture surrounding.

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UNSHADED V E N T I L AT E D OPEN S PA C E

Unshaded seating gets vacant when raining.

BUILT

Malaysia has a humid climate, raining occurs almost all year long. The seating area in the middle of the alley is well ventilated but unshaded, being exposed to rain. When there is drizzling rain, the seating area will be vacant.

Sheltered walkway as seating

Vacant seating area when raining

Sheltered walkway as seating

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However, temporary canvas roof will be set up along the hawker stalls or tables and chairs will be moved to the recessed area under the buildings on both sides. Locals still get to enjoy the delights even when the weather is unfavourable.

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LINEAR Clear linear circulation. The hawker stalls, tables and chairs are arranged linearly on both sides of the alley forming an informal path in between.

Plan NTS

Main approach

CIRCULATIO

14

Circulation blocked by queues of people. The queue unintentianally forces people to stop walking and take a look at what’s happening. The stalls with long queues of people always capture attention, inviting more people to get the urge to join in the long queue.

CONSUMPTION

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CASUAL DINING Pudu Wai Sek Kai provides a conducive, relaxed and approachable environment for casual dining. The natural ventilated environment is suitable to be a gathering place for the community.

Consumers will not feel restricted by protocols seen in formal dining. People don’t have to control volume of voices or wear formal attire or have proper eating etiquette. Easily sharable meals, hand-held dishes, and mix-and-match options are available here. Food is served either by the vendors or self-service.

The closeness of street food encourages conversation. Engagement between people in street food markets is strong. Low to high contact intensity varying from passive contact (see and hear contact), chance contact, acquaintances, friends to close friendships occur in the alley. Compared with experiencing buildings and other inanimate objects, experiencing people, who speak and move about, offers a wealth of sensual variation.

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S T A N D & E AT People stand and eat while enjoy looking at the food preparation process of local authentic food. Dialogue with the vendors normally happen too while watching the food preparation process.

W A L K & E AT Walk and eat is a typical street food culture.

Consumers get to continue to explore the food street and be engaged with the surrounding during consumption process.

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S I T & E AT Friends, acquaintances or even strangers sitting together at a table enjoying their own food. Chance contact may happen between strangers. Conversation may take place as one recommends the must-try-food to others.

Close friends or families may order a variety of food, then share to have a taste of each dish.

Conversations spark up regarding the reviews of each dish. If the food suits one’s appetite, they might have the intention to repurchase it again.

It is common to see people joining tables as they come in groups with either family members or friends. They tend to make the environment livelier as conversation among large groups of people is louder. The lively scenario attracts passersby to stop and join in.

CONSUMPTION

Street food have created a fascinating food culture entirely at odds with the glistening, modern skyscrapers that dominate the Kuala Lumpur’s skyline. Working people in KL find street food to be a perfect solution to food access compared to indoor dining.

The quintessence of “the real” local, traditional food in Pudu Wai Sek Kai has successfully reunite the local community in todays’ era.

A new architectural language can be expressed by incorporating street food ambience indoors. With the understanding of how street micro architecture meet the community’s requirement and affect consumer behavioral intentions, restaurant owners can capture the essence of street food indoor, attracting more customers to their shop to consume by providing a better environment for the users.

CONCLUSION

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REFERENCES

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BOOKS Gehl, J. (2011). Life between buildings. Washington, DC: Island Press.

WEBSITE Admin, G. (2018). Jalan Sayur Food Street (Wai Sek Kai) - goKL.my. Retrieved from http://www.gokl.my/jalan-sayur-food-street/ Blyth, L., & Blyth, L. (2018). Healthy Eating Habits: Why Eating With Friends and Family Keeps You Young | Flavours Holidays. Retrieved from https://www.flavoursholidays.co.uk/blog/healthy-eating-habits-why-eating-with-friends-and-family-keeps-you-young/ [Kuala Lumpur] Night Market Food Street at Wai Sek Kai, Pudu - Restaurants - Chinese. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.chowhound.com/post/kuala-lumpur-night-market-food-street-wai-sek-kai-pudu-1012485 (PDF) Street Food. Culture, Economy, Health and Governance. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259857098_Street_Food_Culture_Economy_Health_and_Governance [accessed Nov 09 2018].

Pudu Wai Sek Kai: Legendary Malaysian Hawker Food in Kuala Lumpur. (2018). Retrieved from https://migrationology.com/pudu-wai-sek-kai-malaysian-hawker-food-in-kuala-lumpur/ Wai Sek Kai @ Jalan Sayur, Pudu - CC Food Travel. (2018). Retrieved from https://ccfoodtravel.com/2012/11/wai-sek-kai-jalan-sayur-pudu/