SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architecture THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC2224) (ARC61303)
PROJECT PART B
NAME : Nicolas Wong Xiao EN ID: 0314377 LECTURER: Mr. Lam Shen Fei
1.0 INTRODUCTION The given site for this project is located in PJ Old Town. Petaling Jaya is a city that was developed during British Malaya in 1950s. This city was developed due to the overpopulation of the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Petaling Jaya witnessed the growth of population size and geographical importance. During old times, 800 houses are constructed on the area known as " Old Town" today. The earlier housing areas were fenced off from the surrounding area to prevent people from assisting the communists. The first two main roads built in Petaling Jaya were called "Jalan
1" and "Jalan 2". Road 1 was later named as Jalan Templer while Road 2 was named Jalan Othman. PJ South from Section 8 to PJ Old Town, had the first settlements, which were established around 1953. As development progressed, PJ North, on the other side of the Federal Highway was developed. The first shopping complex in Petaling Jaya was Jaya Shopping Centre, located in Section 14 was built in 1974. Petaling Jaya progressed rapidly due to the massive rural-urban migration. Petaling Jaya is divided into several sections. Some are subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods, for example SS5D. Besides that, Petaling Jaya also comprises the affluent township of Damansara. A prominent landmark in PJ is the Kota Darul Ehsan arch which symbolically marks the boundary between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. This arch straddled the Federal Highway which was originally the only highway link between Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. However, many links now exist as alternatives to the congested Federal Highway.
Figure 1.0 Kota Darul Ehsan arch marks the boundary between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.
2.0 COGNITIVE MAPPING In order to carry out this project, a cognitive mapping has been done to understand the 5 elements on site. A cognitive map is a type of mental representation which serves an individual to acquire and recall the information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment. Cognitive mapping was introduced by Tolman in his article "The cognitive map in rats and men"( 1948). Cognitive mapping refers to the indoctrination of large-scale environments, allowing the people to visualize images in order to turn visualize images into memory and make use of such memories to aid navigation. The
cognitive map is generated from a number of sources, both from the visual system and elsewhere. Much of the cognitive map is created through self-generated movement cues. Inputs from senses like vision and hearing are all used to deduce a person’s location within their environment as they move through it. This allows for path integration, the creation of a vector that represents one's position and direction within one’s environment, specifically in comparison to an earlier reference point.
Figure 2.0 Cognitive map drawn after site visit.
3.0 COGNITIVE MAPPING ESSAY Throughout the site visit, I managed to get the 5 elements that mentioned in Kelvin Lynch: The Image of the city. The 5 elements are paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. These 5 elements are determined by my own experience on site. After went through the site visit, I found out this site is actually a skewed square plan.
Figure 3.1 Red frame showing given site is a skewed square.
As I enter the site from the Federal Highway direction, I firstly reach a big round about. I define this round about as a landmark on site. From Kelvin Lynch theory, landmarks, the point references considered to be external to the observer, are simple physical elements which may vary widely in scale. There are several huge fountains in the middle of the round about which allow outsider easy to recognize the site. Landmark should be something to easy recognize which helping people to get the direction right.
As I walk along Jalan Penchala, I find out that this site is having different kind of walkway which form up the paths. Paths are the channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. These can include streets, paths, transit routes, or any other defined path of movement. It is important to note that the paths an individual identifies may not correspond to a traditional street network. These are often the most predominant items in an individual's mental map as this is main mechanism for how they experience their city. As I walk along the road, pedestrian walkway are provided which I can walk safely on the road. Cars
are moving on 2 directions road side which give me a sense of secure. After I walk around the whole site, I find out that all the internal buildings on site are all mostly connected with alternative small roads. This caused the paths on site look like a spider web. The paths on site actually bring difficulties for an observer to walk properly on site. I actually lost myself quite a few times while trying to get out from this "spider web" paths. Furthermore, the paths are not well planned as there are many dead end paths on site. When I walk into the residential areas, I realize all the paths are mainly for vehicle access only. Pedestrian can only barely walk on the road which is dangerous because they cannot see the car coming from backside. This situation is happening within the whole residential area on site.
Figure 3.2 Lack of pedestrian walkway within the residential areas.
Although the main paths on the 4 sides on the site are well considered, but the internal paths need to improve again to ensure safety of pedestrian and also easier circulation on side.
While I am having my site visit, I feel that the district on site are categorized into different category. Districts are "medium-to-large sections of the city". They are typically twodimensional features, often held together by some commonality. The individual often enters into or passes through these districts. According to Lynch, most people use the concept of districts to define the broader structure of their city. The districts on site can categorized as residential, commercial, religious and educational. All the commercial areas are located at the outer layer of the site.
Figure 3.3 Site plan showing district on site.
I personally feel the arrangement of districts on site is good. Commercial area (public area) are cover up the residential area (private), giving a sense of protection. As there are not much commercial activities going on in the residential areas which can reduce all the unwanted noise effectively. The placement of commercial area encourage activities occur on outer layer only which can prevent unwanted people to walk through all the residential areas, peeking activities in the house. Arrows are showing people are going out instead of bringing people into the residential areas which are private areas. Another good point of the districts on site are the placement of religious and educational areas. I find out that all the religious and educational areas are sandwiched in between residential areas, which bring convinces to all the residents.
Figure 3.4 Chinese temples located along the road on residential areas.
Figure 3.5 Primary school and Hindu temple can be found within residential area.
The arrangement of schools within residential areas ensure the safety of children and prevent them to play by the roadside where vehicle are on high speed. After going few rounds on site, I find out some of the spot have higher density of people. When I reach on food court, the amount of people here are so much that form the node on site. Nodes are points within the city, strategically located, into which the individual enters and which is often the main focal point to which she or he is traveling to or from. There are often junctions, a crossing or converging of paths. They often have a physical element such as a popular hangout for the individual or a plaza area. In many cases, the nodes are the centers of the district that they are in. However, the nodes on this site are located at the corners.
Figure 3.6 Food court is a node on site where people are gather around.
Besides the food court, the junction on site is also node on site. While people are standing at the junction, they make their decisions on where to go. This action is repeated every few minutes by the junction because people are gather around here. Bus stop where people waiting for bus on site is also one of the node because people gather at here. Edges on the site are quite clearly defined. Edges provide the boundaries that separate one region from another, the seams that join two regions together, or the barriers that close one region from another. They are linear elements, but are not the paths along with the individual experiences the built environment. They can be physical edges such as shorelines, walls, railroad cuts, or edges of development, or they can be less well-defined edges that the individual perceives as a barrier. The edges on site are defined by the curbs located in the middle of the roads. These curbs act as boundary lines for each section. The edges formed the site into a skewed square shape.
Figure 3.7 Road curbs act as boundary lines on site.
This site have many others landmarks besides the roundabout mentioned above. This site is well known for its Assunta Hospital which is a landmark on site. This hospital is a private hospital where resident around Petaling Jaya know about this hospital. There is a well-known church beside Assunta Hospital, which is the Assumption Church. However, some of the locals said Assumption Church is more popular than Assunta Hospital. There is also a landmark named Kwan Inn Teng Foundation. It is located in the middle of residential area. PJ Old Town Market is a well known landmark where it is already located at here for many years. Resident around this area come here to get their food sources.
4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, after went through this site visit, analysis are made based on Kelvin Lynch's theory. By applying Lynch's theory, I managed to defined all the elements on site clearly. The edges on site are clearly defined by the boundary lines. Jalan Penchala, Jalan Othman, Jalan Selangor and Jalan Templer are connected to form up this section. Using Lynch's definition of districts and by analysing the map, two districts can be clearly defined. The commercial districts where by a lot of activities and noises are going on. The residential areas are quiet areas which plugged in with educational and religious area. Landmarks act as attraction to attract outsider to this site. However, not all the elements work effectively on this site. The paths on site are problems that should be solve. If the paths are not solved, this may cause threat to all the users on site. However, the orchestration of these elements has merged and worked together to bring up the beautiful image of this town. In addition, Lynch believes the city should not be only organized, it should speak of the individuals and their complex society. A result of the wellmixed greatness of the image of PJ Old Town, whereby it is not just well organized, but poetic and symbolic as well. Still, " The Image of the City" is a classic work and can be reread as a fresh work in this age. Lynch' division of mapping/learning/shaping can well be applied as important questions that can be posed for each locative media project.
5.0 REFERENCES
Downs, R., & Stea, D. (1973) Image and environment; cognitive mapping and spatial bhavior. Chicago: Aldine Pub Kelvin Lynch (1960). The Image of the City Understanding Neighborhoods Through Mental Mapping: An Application of Kevin Lynch's Theory Using Universal Design for Learning Principles, from http://www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/enactAIM_hilary/
Architecture Urbanism. Retrieved June 03, 2016, from http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot.my/2010/09/kevin-lynch-image-of-city1960.html