Land Thievess

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Fu Zhuo Joe (MArch\ Associate Professor Erik L’Heureux)

The direction of this thesis emerged from the research that delves into territorial disputes between formal developments and the existing informal habitations.

Like the situation in Kampung Skudai kiri, the ferocious erection of towers along the coast creates a Duo city tension that contrasts the Iskandar masterplan with the sprawling nature of Johor Bahru. The existing masterplan’s zoning and programming methodology denies the city’s nature of informal growth.

Therefore, through architectural form, the project takes on the position to manifest the open-system originally present in the sprawling nature of JB, and todesignarobustpieceofthecitythatchallengesthetraditionalwayofplanning (zones and programs), which sees any form of informal growth as a threat to the city’s formal structure.