SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architecture THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC2224) (ARC61303) PROJECT PART B
NAME:
Hooi Wei Xing
STUDENT ID:
0318523
LECTURER:
Ms Ida
SUBMISSION DATE:
6/5/16
1.0
Introduction of Site
Figure 1 Little India during Deepavali (Source: TourismSelangor.my, 2013)
Little India, located along Jalan Tengku Kelana is the biggest Indian street in Malaysia and has a lot to offer from Indian garment to robust electrical appliances from India at reasonal price. The street is also home to countless authentic Indian cuisine and herbs. The colourful street from the striking saris hanging from shops to the snacks and sweetmeats on sale from shops and roadside stalls are hard to disregard as well as carefully preserved heritage architecture of the Colonial Shop houses. Even with some renovation works, most of the buildings are still preserved in the way they were built century ago. Little India is the perfect epitome of what you get to see in India especially the street, people, decoration, colours of rangoli, traditional wear from the gorgeous sarees, bracelets to many other accessories. During Deepavali, the Indian festival of lights, the street is astoundingly transformed into a colourful spectacle of lights. Little India is also located in close vicinity to many other significant governmental and authority buildings as well as the Royal Palace.
Figure 2 Klang Heritage Walk Infographic (Source: TheStar, 2014)
In September of 2014, in the effort to conserve and preserve the rich heritage, Klang Municipal Council (MPK) president Datuk Mohammad Yacob introduced the Klang Heritage Walk – The Royal Town of Klang to help promote the brick and mortar of historical buildings and their importance in shaping the town to enable the people to better appreciate its value. Many of these historical buildings have impacted the social-cultural, economic and political climate of the Selangor town over the years and aims to preserve cluster of colonial sights, places of worship, schools, remnants of an earth mount forth and other repurposed royal buildings.
1.1
Introduction of Cognitive Mapping
Figure 3 Cognitive Map of Little India by Mr Sharul, Admin of PPAS Library
Tolman first introduced the cognitive map in his article "The cognitive map in rats and men" (1948), it discusses to the encoding of large-scale environments into memory and the use of such memories to aid navigation. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “cognitive� itself is defined as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. Kevin Lynch's The image of the City (1960) has significant influence to the concept of Cognitive Mapping as it focuses the environmental component of spatial memory, introducing the "imagibility" and the discussion of spatial cognition into the discourse of architects and urban planners. Physical forms of the images of the city can simply be classified into the five types of elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks which can be analysed after extracted from the cognitive map drawn.
2.0 Path Analysis
Path are generally the channels which the user customarily, occasionally or potentially moves and are the predominant elements. The environmental elements are arranged and related when the user observe the city along these path. The highway function as a main artery that brings in outer traffic into Little India which includes Jalan Tengku Kelana and Jalan Jambatan Kota. Whereas secondary routes are smaller arteries that directs traffic into smaller route and finally to the specific building. Little India is well connected by pedestrian walkway that encourages walking within the district. The most prominent path to be analysed is the shophouse’s Five-Foot-Walkway of Little India.
Figure 4 Five-Foot-Walkway of Little India (Wei Xing, 2014)
While walking along the frontage of the shop houses along the Jalan Tengku Kelana, the path is being obstructed by racks and display of goods from the businesses which makes the experience memorable when navigating your way through the busy and somehow chaotic trading and negotiating activities. By just looking at the walkway, user is able to get a sense of the space even before engaging the other sensors as the mind would already have a preconception of the bustling street (Pallasmaa, J., 2012). Another human facet element of the path is that the passer-by will have their sense of smell stimulated by the rich and flavourful spices and traditional snacks displayed along the walkway. In terms of architecture
language, the five-foot frontage has an uneven ground level due to inconsiderate renovation done by the owners of the shop.
Figure 5 Uneven floor level of Five-Foot-Walkway (Wei Xing, 2014)
Figure 6 Sketch of the Five-Foot-Walkway of Little India (Wei Xing, 2014)
Reasons of such alteration may varies from avoiding their shops from flooding to matching to the new road level to have a better visibility from the main road. Some of the brick and mortar 2 storey colonial shop houses are also being rebuilt into a more than 3 stories steel and glass modern shop lot. These inconsiderate renovation disrupts the architectural skyline of the heritage buildings but interestingly allow the age of the shop houses to be identified by judging on their microstructure such as the level of the five-foot-walkway, faรงade, materiality as well as their height.
3.0 Edges Analysis
Edges are linear elements that are perceived as boundaries that divides a district into quadrant based on their similarity of function which may include walls, buildings, or shorelines. The visually prominent edges in Little India are mainly defines by the 3 roads of Jalan Jambatan Kota, Jalan Tengku Kelana and Jalan Kota Raja and the Klang River whereas the visually less prominent edges consist of the boundaries of the Klang City Park.
Figure 7 Klang River from Jalan Tengku Kelana Bridge (Wei Xing, 2014)
Figure 8 Sketch of the Klang River (Wei Xing, 2014)
Kelang River serves as an edge that divide the site of Kawasan 1, Little India and the Kawasan 15, Klang Town across the river. The two sides are connected by the two vehicular bridges of Jalan Tengku Kelana and Jalan Jambatan Kota. The KTM railway Track laying side by side with the Kelang River also create an
involuntary barrier that create a stop to any form of development on the river shore. It also avoid pedestrian from walking towards the river which may raise safety concerns. The memory of the identity of this edge is generally a waterway sandwiched by two deserted linear and endless green soft-scape followed by the railway track and hard-scape of buildings when viewed from the bridge’s pedestrian path. This pattern gives an idea of how the landscape pattern transitioned from sandy soil to solid ground that’s suitable for erection of manmade structure.
Figure 9 Garden Pagoda along Jalan Istana and Beside Klang City Park (Wei Xing, 2014)
On the other side of Little India, the retaining wall and slop around the Klang Royal City Park deters people from entering the park without using the proper access. The wall and slopes also acts as an edge of the green lungs without disrupting the contour of the existing hill to make way for the connecting path of Jalan Istana. This edge also create a spatial and temporal dynamic path to the jogger that wish to jog along Jalan Istana as the walkway is generally shaded by the trees on the hill and there is even a resting garden pagoda prepared near to the entrance of Alam Shah Palace Entrance.
4.0 Districts Analysis
District are generally an area of the city that the observer can mentally go inside of which have some common character. History of Klang could be dated back to as early as the 14th century for it’d tin mining. It was announced the capital of British colonial administration for Selangor on the 1875 until 1880 before changing to Kuala Lumpur. The district went through continuous morphing that shapes Little India today. Little India has a concentrated and mix of government offices and authority buildings with Colonial shop houses and religious institutions as well as the Royal Palaces which make Little India very unique with its diverse function and architecture elements.
Figure 10 Commerical District of Little India (Wei Xing, 2014)
The primary path of Jalan Tengku Kelana cutting through the centre of Little India creates the linear, street-front district of the commercial and business district. The eye-catching signage’s, movable racks for display of Indian goods and playing of loud Bollywood music is significant enough to have a strong identity and atmosphere of Little India. The eventful street with concentrated vehicular and human activities create a very unforgettable special and temporal dynamic to the observer.
Figure 11 Clusters of Governmental and Authority Buildings (Clockwise: Royal Gallery, Post Office, Klang Courthouse followed by the Klang Fire Station. (Wei Xing, 2014)
Whereas the secondary path branching out from Jalan Tengku Kelana will leads to clusters of governmental and authority district such as the police station, fire station, the post office, Royal Gallery, Klang Courthouse, Syabas Headquaters and Klang Town Council Office. These cluster of districts possesses physical characteristics that differs from the commercial district in-terms of texture, space, form, building type, use, and degree of maintenance. Most of these districts have standalone buildings that are in larger scale. They have very specific purposes and people are less unlikely to loiter around these building unless the building itself have a very rich historical background such as the 100 year old fire station and the repurposed Royal Gallery.
5.0 Nodes Analysis Nodes are focal point, intersection or loci of the city. Usually at linkages when more than one vehicular or pedestrian path converges into an intersection such as junctions, traffic light intersection or a pedestrian crossing points. It could also be an activity nodes which acts as a resting point or an informal meeting point for pedestrians.
Figure 12 Playground beside the Sultan Sulaiman Field (Wei Xing, 2014)
Figure 13 Sketch of path cutting through Klang City Park (Wei Xing, 2014)
Figure 14 Sketch of landscape and fountain of Klang City Park (Wei Xing, 2014)
Playgrounds beside Sultan Sulaiman Field and Klang City Park are very wellknown nodes for families with children to spend their free time. These thematic concentrations are usually occupied in the evening especially during the weekends. On the other hand, Klang Royal City Park which is also a node, is the biggest green lung in Klang Central with a very notable fountain from the very busy Jalan Istana intersection. A place where many locals and tourist drop by for a relaxing walk and
break from the hectic city. This mini gateway with green canopy is distinctive from other un-landscaped city which gives it a memorable user experience (human facet).
Figure 15 Flower stall along Jalan Tingkat (Wei Xing, 2014)
Figure 16 Cendol truck along Jalan Taliair (Wei Xing, 2014)
Flower Stalls along Lorong Tingkat and Cendol Stall along Jalan Taliair are examples of nodes with cultural related activities. The row of flower stalls sell flowers mainly for Hindu prayer ceremony reflects and have direct relation to the heritage
and tradition of the street of Little India. Whereas the cendol truck allow visitor or even locals to quench their thirst with the traditional Indian desserts. The two street scenes act as vibrant meeting grounds for social interaction proved that human activities can carried out on the socially well-planned environment without influence of any dramatic architectural effects, colors, material or forms of the buildings. (Gehl, 2011)
Figure 17 Intersection Along Jalan Tengku Kelana (Google Map, 2016)
Figure 18 Sketch of Intersection Along Jalan Tengku Kelana (Wei Xing, 2014)
Along Jalan Tengku Kelana, multiple junction nodes can be located where vehicle and pedestrians stop temporary while waiting for their turns to move. Although shapeless, these intersections are important because they heighten the
attention of city observer as decisions must be made to weather to move forward or cross to the opposite lane.
6.0 Landmarks Analysis Little India District, is home to a concentrated of landmarks that make this area very significant being the religious institution hub, authority centre as well as a heritage zone. Numerous landmarks in Little India does not only help user to remember the places but also act as a guide to move around the area.
Figure 19 Sketch of Masjid Klang India (Wei Xing, 2014)
Klang Indian Mosque, being the only mosque in the district and have a dominant hierarchy of architectural language that clearly stands out from the other shop houses in terms of height and ornamentation. The unique architectural elements of minarets and dome can also be noticed along Jalan Tengku Kelana as well as a few streets away. The mosque is classified as a distant landmark as it gives observer a directional orientation when walking along Little India.
Figure 20 Sketch of Istana Alam Shah (Wei Xing, 2014)
Alam Shah Palace is the official palace of the Sultan of Selangor where all the royal ceremonies take place despite having 2 other palaces. Built in the 1905 with 111 years of history which is known to the locals and tourists. It’s prominence as a landmark is justified by its function, monumental scale as well as materiality of the whole building as well as rows of royal palm at the main gate.
Figure 21 Sketch of Klang KTM Station (Wei Xing, 2014)
Klang KTM Station which is one of the transportation hub for traveling to and from Kuala Lumpur. It also acts as an arrival point for Klang visitor that used the KTM as well as a starting point to discover the Little India. The building itself is singled out
from its context of row of colonial shop houses for its specific function and building layout which is along the railway track instead of perpendicular to it. This landmark has a high concentration of human traffic and activity as well as high density of vehicles along the entrance.
Figure 22 Sketch of Klang Fire Station (Wei Xing, 2014)
Klang Fire Station, being the first notable landmarks upon crossing the Klang River from Kawasan 15 to Kawasan 1. Although the striking red paint work on the faรงade is eye catching to passer-by, it is only a local landmark where only visible only in restricted localities as the building is only single storey and surrounded by other at least 2 storey high shop houses.
7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, pieces of our memory in relation to every details that seen in Little India have made this place significant and memorable. Although the majority focused on the “identity and structure” of elements but at certain point, they would carry “'poetic and symbolic” significance when the elements are being appreciated for its historical past. One problem in testing people's knowledge of familiar environments discovered by T Kitchin, R. (2000) is that it is impossible to control for individual differences in experience. As each individual’s image of a given reality may occasionally shift its type when viewed from different circumstances, scale and perspective. Ever since Little India is transforming into a hybrid commercial and tourism hub, the physical significance and perceived image of the streets have been strengthen and would hold different significance to different party. The study on the physical legibility of Little India its association with the users reflects the importance of environmental images as identifiable elements to provide physical and functional characteristics of places as perceived by the user. The sense of place is established through the ability of the physical, social, cultural and intellectual elements to evoke strong images to observer. Through the study of the 5 elements in “The Image of the City”, we are able to analyse architecture and urban forms in relation to relevant architectural theories and also critique the relationship between architecture and it’s social, cultural and intellectual context. It is essential in an urban planning to associate the characteristics of structure and environment, providing significant functions in creating a recognizable, memorable and meaningful places for the dwellers.
8.0 References Downs, R., & Stea, D. (1973). Image and environment; cognitive mapping and spatial behavior. Chicago: Aldine Pub. Gehl, J. (2011). Life between buildings: using public space. Island Press. Kevin Lynch (1960). The Image of the City. Kitchin, R. (2000). Cognitive mapping: Past, present, and future. London: Routledge. Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The eyes of the skin: architecture and the senses. John Wiley & Sons. S., & Photos EDWARD RAJENDRA edward@thestar.com.my. (2014). Heritage Walk in Klang features significant colonial buildings. Retrieved June 05, 2016, from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2014/09/25/a-stroll-through-timeheritage-walk-in-klang-features-significant-colonial-buildings/ Tolman E. C. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review, 55, 189-208.