Theories of Architecture & Urbanism - Project 1

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architecture THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC2224) (ARC61303)

PROJECT PART B

NAME

:

Choong Lai Mun

ID

:

0313573

LECTURER

:

Mr. Nicholas Ng

1.0 INTRODUCTION Brickfields is located along the Jalan Tun Sambathan where it formerly known as Jalan Birckfields. The name Brickfields was named because the place was once a brick industry. Today, Brickfields have become a multi-racial town with high percentage of Indian community, thus it is also known as the Little India. Little India Brickfields is totally a different world when compared to nearby

areas such as Bangsar. Brickfields is Malaysia’s official Little India and used to be a simple residential neighbourhood just outside KL but was recently transformed into a wide street with Indian stores and restaurants run by the country’s Indian community. With the presence of Indian community around the area, there can be found a lot of churches as well as Indian temple that are attended by the Indian community.

In this project, zone C of the Brickfields has been selected as the site to be study, which is the section along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. As this section is away from the main road of Brickfields, which is the Jalan Tun Sambanthan, it mostly house residential buildings, schools as well as religious buildings.

2.0 ANALYSIS Along zone C, there are total of 3 streets that form the main area of zone C. It is Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad as the main road and a few branches from it, which is Lorong Abdul Samad, Jalan Berhala. In all these 3 streets, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad holds a very important element as a path to provide direction to the people. What made Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad as a memorable and directional path was that there was a concentration of special use or activity along the street. It was not a very strong one but when compared to some other streets, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad may give a slightly prominence in the mind of observers who have been to that street. If one had walked

Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad where school is on the left and church is on the right.

along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, he or she would not have missed out places or buildings such as churches, schools, or temples as these places do not just have a specific characteristic in terms of visual or architectural, it also host specific activities that attracts attention of observers. These activities will then store in the memories of observers as like what Lynch mentioned that people seemed to be sensitive to variations in the amount of activity they encountered. However, as Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad made its street identifiable and having a great continuity by the specification of activities, it ended up giving a small confusion to the observer once it reaches the intersection road of Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4. This was because once the observer crosses Jalan Tun Sambanthan, the area and uses of buildings had totally changed. There were more commercial used buildings and also lacked of landscape unlike what observer were gone

through in the beginning of Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, making it unidentifiable to the users that walk along the road. As for the smaller scaled streets that branched out such as Lorong Abdul Samad and Jalan Berhala would give some confusion as both has small scale as well as leading to dead ends.

In terms of edges, the strong edge that can be seen that creates Brickfields is no other than the Klang River that is located at zone C. This strong edge does not only have a strong visual but also in terms of permeability as it prohibits any access to it. As one might think Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad would have been a great edge that divides zone C and D when looking on the map, it is not that persuasive. This is mainly because both sides of the buildings along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad Jalan Sultan Samadusage after that intersection commercial on both sides before in the paragraph have same kindAbdul of building are churches and schools as mention above. The only edges that can been seen separate zone C were none other than the south end part of Jalan Tun Sambanthan as well as Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4 which gives a distinct separation in terms of kinds of building usage as mentioned from the paragraph above, both edges are penetrable as both are streets.

View of Kland River as the edge of zone C

For district in zone C, externally it is identifiable as this district is occupied by buildings such as schools and churches and it is very memorable to any observer that walked along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. Moreover, it also has a clear idea to the observer as where this part of district will ends with the south end part of Jalan Tun Sambanthan and Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4 as mentioned from the previous paragraph. However when speaking about zone C independently, there were a lot of confusion. If one were to give direction to the Havil International School, he or she would only be able to be directed to zone C or Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, then one will might get lost in the midst of that zone. This is because within the district, the buildings were all much disorganized and introvert, making it less distinctive.

Church on the left and school on the right along Jln Sultan Abdul Samad which not very appealing

In general, within zone C has quite of a weak node that would provide direction of strong impression to the observer, as it does not have a strong physical form nor an impactful space for user experience. This makes the whole district of zone C less memorable and lack of characteristic as there is not such of a space where user can walk through. In another word, it could be said that the junctions of the area zone C are more to introvert, giving user minimal directional sense. For example, as one was standing at the junction where S.R.J.K (C) St. Teresa, there weren’t any point of interest that would give an impact to him or her, it leaves no memory to the user as user could feel that all buildings and road as if they were turning away from him. However, if one would really need to pin point a node, it would definitely be cross-junction between Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4. This can been seen because of its large scale of junction road when compared to other junctions in zone C. Other than that, it would also definitely because of the two strong landmark landed right on the junction, giving observer a choice of direction, and both buildings are more uniquely stand out compared to other buildings around it. Unlike the example mentioned previously, this junction gives a great impression of telling observer that they are very welcoming, making observer to be able to make decision and thus making it memorable.

Strong node on the intersection of Jln Tun Sambanthan 4 & Jln Sultan Abdul Samad

Another strong nodes can be found at the east part of zone C where the intersection between Jalan Tun Sambanthan and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. This junction gives a very strong impression to the observer with its large scale of space as well as its surrounding context, which includes buildings and landscape, making very memorable if one had been through that junction.

Strong node on the intersection of Jln Tun Sambanthan & Jln Sultan Abdul Samad

There are a few landmarks present in the area of zone C that can be considered as a point of reference for the observer such as a striking yellow commercial building on the corner in front of the junction between Jalan Tun Sambanthan and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. This building has a striking color as well as physical form as compared to its surrounding context, making it uniquely memorable.

As one walking along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, there is also a landmark on the left where the Church of Our Lady of Fatima located. This building was considered as a landmark was mainly because of its building function as well as its location right in front of the junction. However, as one continue walking along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, his or hers image of the church as landscape started fading away. This is because as one walks until the end of the street, he or she could notice there are more than 3 churches and most churches have the same characteristics such as white brick wall, pitched roof, small-scaled building, etc. In addition, most of these buildings also tend to blend into its environment, making it less noticeable and identifiable. One might not be able to get

.

notice in one look. Another similar situation is the uniquely designed overhead bridge located at the junction of Jalan Rozario and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. At first look, one might think it would be a good landmark as it would be able to give great directional sense to observer since it has a unique design and strategic location. However as one continue walking down Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, there are two more similar overhead bridges, making the previous one less significant. All these landmarks ended up became a landscape that would give confusion to observers instead of giving a sense of direction to them. On the other hand, as one walks until the intersection between Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, there is definitely 2 strong landmark, which are the Central Vista building, and JK Lim building. Both buildings match the essence of what makes it landmarks where both are large in scale and very easily identifiable from far, especially the Central Vista Building, which has a unique faรง ade that stands out from other building fabric.

View of 3 overhead bridge along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad with similar design

3.0 COGNITIVE MAPPING

4.0 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

The issues found in the area of zone C of Brickfield are the lack of characteristic in the area.

If someone were to asked for direction in that area, it would be a tuff one for the person to describe and point the exact location of a specific building. This is because there were too many similar building fabrics with similar building usage repeating each other and almost all were deem to be more introvert where it blends into the context. In conclusion, the strongest 5 elements are normally found on both of the end of Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad that is where these elements form zone CC and these elements have successfully giving direction to the observer to enter into the zone C as they were strong the memorable as mentioned from the analysis paragraph above. As for the 5 elements that can be found inside of zone C, those are more towards the weak ones as mentioned earlier. These elements are what forms zone C of Brickfields. Through the cognitive mapping that had done, it can clearly be seen on how it relates back to what have been mentioned from the analysis. The beginning of the route, which is the intersection between Jalan Tun Sambanthan and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad on the west part of zone C, has a clearer image of the memory that is almost similar to the exact map. However, as the path continues on, the arrangement and order buildings were somehow mixed up, whether it should be the church comes first, or the school, or was it the residential building. And finally at the end of the route of zone C, which is the intersection of Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4 and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, there were then a clearer image again.

On the other hand, this could also be said in another way even though zone C of Brickfields have lacked in the 5 elements. According to Lych, the environmental images are the result of a twoway process between observer and his environment. The image that is developed limits and emphasizes what is seen, while the image itself is being tested against the filtered perceptual input in a constant interacting process. Thus, the image of a given reality may vary significantly between different observers. (Kevin lynch, 1959) Even though, one may say that zone C has no strong characteristics, which give no direction. It may vary from some other observers such as someone that is a Christian. He or she may be able to differentiate all the 3 churches that is located in zone C. From the writing by Charles Jenks titled “Semiology and Architecture�, he mentioned that the presence of relationship and connection between language, thought and reality just like the semiotic triangle. There is a symbol, a thought and a representation. He then applies it to architecture proofing it by stating that when we see a building (symbol), we have an understanding (thought) of it and then we put it in words (representation). The representation and understanding of the signs are influenced by our background and past memory. Just like what it is now, if the observer with a Christian background who always attend church, he or she may be able to clearly identify the significant of each churches located in that area.

5.0 REFERENCE Jencks, C., & Baird, G. (1969). Meaning in architecture. London: Barrie & Rockliff the Cresset P. Kevin lynch, (1959). The Image of The City. United State of America: Publication of the Joint Center for Urban Studies Kuala-lumpurws. (2016). Kuala-lumpurws. Retrieved 4 June, 2016, from http://www.kualalumpur.ws/attractions/brickfields.htm Purdueedu. (2016). Purdueedu. Retrieved 4 June, 2016, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/02/ Themobilecitynl. (2016). Themobilecitynl. Retrieved 4 June, 2016, from http://themobilecity.nl/2009/05/08/review-kevin-lynch-the-image-of-the-city/ Shorensteincenterorg. (2016). Shorensteincenterorg. Retrieved 4 June, 2016, from http://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Tips-for-Writing-Analytic-ResearchPapers.pdf