Urban Theory

Urban Theory for Residential Care Centre

TU PI LIAN (FELICIA) 0326492

Urban pattern acts as a language to identify an image of a city. This patterns are formed either by the designer of a city or unconsciously formed by the activities of the communities. Urban patterns are visible in different scales, from region and town, to a smaller scale which is the neighbourhood, buildings and rooms. This structure is clearly defined in the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (1977), where he classified the patterns into towns, buildings and construction. As for the urban theory for the Urban Design Studio, the patterns are focused on the town scales. Christopher Alexander did mention that “no pattern is an isolated entity�. Each pattern can exist in the world, only to the extent that is supported by other patterns�. Similarly, in the design of a Residential Care Centre for the Urban Design Studio, each of the patterns integrated are said to be somehow related or connected to each other. This urban patterns are elaborated in two classifications based on the book of A Pattern Language and on the Malaysian urban pattern.

The site is located at the city centre of Penang island beside the UNESCO World Heritage site within the buffer zone. There is future planning by the city council of Penang to connect the Penang Island with LRT as another mode of public transportation for the people to move around. The interchange for the LRT will be located next to the site together with some landmarks such as KOMTAR where the bus terminal is located, 1st Avenue and Prangin Shopping Mall. The first pattern deals with the context and site surrounding, site designed as an Interchange (1). This interchange serves to connect the LRT terminal with the bus terminal located at Komtar by its accessibility and permeability of the site. As to shorten the walking distance between both of the terminals, the centre of the building programmed to be food streets (2) where to act as a pit stop for people to take a break from their journey before proceed to the next location. Connectivity between different transportation is relatively important as to ensure the web of transportation in Penang to be workable and efficient.

Christopher Alexander did also emphasis and elaborate on the importance of connectivity between different modes of transportation system in his book.

Food street (2), is a unique Malaysian urban pattern which could be found in lots of places in Penang as Penang is a food paradise. As mentioned before during the elaboration of the first pattern, the centre of the site is programmed to be a food street. The purpose of food street is to relocate the food streets along Jalan Kimberly as the traffic along the streets becomes hectic with lots of cars and buses passing by, hence turning the area into a dangerous place for people to eat and order food by the road side. The food street designed on site will be alfresco type, as to keep the dining spirit and experiences of Jalan Kimberly.

In relation to the hot temperature on site which might affect the movement of pedestrians and cyclists around the site especially people from LRT terminals to bus stations, the pedestrian walkway and cyclist pathway are designed to be green streets (3) by adorning them with lots of trees and shrubs along the way. The green streets are able to reduce temperature and provide a more comfortable environment for the movement of pedestrians and cyclists. Besides, this greenery along the green streets act as a barrier and clearly defines the boundary between the pedestrian, cyclist pathway and the vehicular pathway to ensure safety.

A shaded walkway enhances walkability in the city. Except for the green streets, the tropical veranda also named as five-foot walkways, along the street facing facades creates a covered path to protect pedestrians from being exposed to the sun. It is very common to find five foot walkways along row of shop houses in Malaysia especially in Penang. The site is not only surrounded by old shop houses but there is also a row of old shop houses on the site for other functions and to sustain the residential care centre. By duplicating the five-foot walkways (4) into the buildings which is designed

to be located along the retails shops at the ground floor area of the residential blocks, the main purpose is to connect the pedestrian walkway from the green streets into the buildings and to the KOMTAR area.

There are three main blocks for the residential care centre. One block functions as bicycle parking with facilities (bicycle rental and workshop, lockers) provided as to promote a cycling friendly environment. Designing a cyclable city aims to reduce the vehicular on the road which will help in reducing traffic congestion and air pollution around the site. Bike paths (5) are placed around and within the site as to build a cycling network to allow safety and easy accessibility for the cyclist to the site and the LRT station.

A few abandoned shop houses remain on site for the purpose of dry market in the morning, pasar malam at night and bazaar during the weekends. Conserving the old shop houses (6) is to retain the memories of the site. As Professor Robert Powell (2016) mentioned in A Malaysian Pattern Language, “Old buildings are the repository of a nation’s memories. It matters not if they depict the colonial heritage, the Malay heritage, the Chinese heritage or the heritage of the Indian and Sri Lankan communities, they are all valuable assets.” Having the abandoned shop houses to be of mixed usage differentiated by day and night time aims to effectively utilise the buildings. Having two different groups of tenant on the rental space for the abandoned shop houses is able to reduce the cost of rental and maintain the survival of local markets. Meanwhile, the mixed usage is able to ensure the safety of the area especially during the nights. Having night activity in the abandoned shop houses is to avoid drugs addicts using the abandoned shop houses which had caused fire in the past.

Currently, Penang has an aging population with 10.2% of the residents being older than 60.

The old people are everywhere (7) in Penang, mostly working as hawkers in kopitiams. As to address the issue of aging population, the aim of the building design is to attract the younger population back to the area by providing a live-work-play environment. Christopher Alexander mentioned in A Pattern Language, “Old people need old people, they also need the young, and the young people need contact with the old.” Bringing back the extended family of the elderly around the area is to bring back the value of ‘family togetherness’. The extended family helps to balance back the community by having a community that is able to sustain the give and take of growth or life cycle.

As the elderly are the main communities around the site, the health care centre (8) becomes a need or so called the basic facilities to be provided. A health care system is capable of keeping the body and mind of the elderly healthy. Health care centres reduce the burden of hospitals and effectively enhance a healthy community by encouraging healthy living instead of treating illnesses.

The health care centre includes the medical department, physiotherapy department and also the counselling department is to ensure that the elderly stays healthy in both body and mind. There is a learning centre provided in the residential care centre to allow the elderly to learn and do some hobbies together with friends and families to keep their mind occupied and active. In the future, the health care centre will also benefit the extended family who will be the main people dwelling in the residential units as the health care centre provides day care services for the young couples who need people to take care of their babies or children when they work.

Currently in the high-rise section, housing patterns tend to segregate different types of household (families, young couples with children, couples, singles) by putting them in different levels or in different blocks. The residential units in the residential care centre tend to break the monotony of isolated design by having different types of housing on one floor as each floor is being repeated.

Christopher Alexander said that "people need support and confirmation from people who have reached a different stage in the life cycle, at the same time they also need support from people who

are at the same stage as themselves" The household mix (9) brings interaction between the neighbourhood, and it is important in building a balanced life cycle of a community. A common land (10) or the shared spaces could enhance the interaction between the neighbourhood by increasing the chances of face to face contact.

A common land (10) plays an effective role in bringing people together. A lobby, corridor and centre court could also be categorized as common land. On each floor of the residential units, a shared space is provided for the neighbourhood to do gardening and have activities together. This shared spaces benefit the neighbourhood as people can exchange ideas or as a learning ground. This common ground creates another type of pattern in the city, which is the vertical greens (11). The vertical green is a continuity of the green belt from the ground crawling up to the buildings. Vertical greens enhance the visual and is able to reduce the temperature on site especially for the residential units. Hence, the use of electrical appliances to achieve a comfort internal temperature will be reduced.

"In the tropics, people are always attracted to water, be it at the sea front, a canal, a pond, a lake or a river." said Professor Robert Powell. Water also acts as the common land for the community especially in the tropical areas for gatherings or meetings. There is a canal located next to the site. The canal is designed with shallow paddling pools and fountains as to allow children to play around with natural water. The side of the canal turns into steps for the elderly and parents to sit and enjoy watching the kids while playing with water. The communities of different ages are able to spend time together at the canal as water is a favourite among people of all age. Playing in the water (12) is another urban pattern which could be easily found in tropical countries especially in Malaysia.

The canal actually plays an important role in the life of the community during the past. This canal is the main route for transportation into Penang during the olden days. Having the old shop houses built surrounding the canal clearly shows that how the canal enhances the wealth of the area and the community. As time goes by, the transportation mode from boat changes to vehicular, the canal is slowly ignored and becomes smaller and smaller as to close up to build roads. As to remind people about the past, the canal is designed with a musical fountain as to celebrate the grand history of the canal and allows people to gather around for musical fountain shows. The elderly will perhaps be telling story of the past to their grandchildren while watching the musical fountain. Celebrating water (13), is to bring back the memories of the past and walk down the memory lane and also as a place for the community to gather and interact with each other.

Urban patterns are to be seen in many cities, either it is repetitive or vary across different cities in similar or different scales. Urban patterns help people to remember and look at the cities differently as urban patterns speaks about the identity, characteristics, uniqueness and essence of a place and its communities. Urban pattern is actually a type of language, language on transferring the image of the city by our vision, through interpretation and allows us to identify and understand the spirit of the city. It is interesting that different people perceive the city differently based on the patterns which catch their intention and interest. For my design, the urban pattern which is integrated into the Residential Care Centre are urban patterns found around the sites, which allows my building to form a new identity and at the same time maintain the characteristics of the place. The aim is to have my design be in harmony and blend well with the surrounding buildings.

List of Urban Patterns: 1. Interchange (A Pattern Language) 2. Food Streets (A Malaysian Pattern Language)

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Green Streets (A Pattern Language) Five-foot Walkway (A Malaysian Pattern Language) Bike Paths (A Pattern Language) Conserving the Old Buildings (A Malaysian Pattern Language) Old People are Everywhere (A Pattern Language) Health Care Centre (A Pattern Language) Household Mix (A Pattern Language) Common Land (A Pattern Language) Vertical Greens (A Malaysian Pattern Language) Playing in the Water (A Malaysian Pattern Language) Celebrating Water (A Malaysian Pattern Language)

REFERENCES Christopher.A. (1977). A Pattern Language. New York: Oxford University Press.

Robert.P. (2016). A Malaysian Pattern Language.