City of Dualism

CITY OF DUALISM Bukit Bintang - Jalan Alor Chan Jia Xin 0319565 Evelyn Lai Kah Ying 0322732 Lai Yik Xin 0323388 Lee Hui Qin 0322991 Ng Zheng Si 0322585

JALAN ALOR – JALAN BUKIT BINTANG -Part of the Golden Triangle area in Kuala Lumpur -Located behind Jalan Bukit Bintang and a short walk away from Changkat Bukit Bintang -Can be reached by walking from the shopping malls in Bukit Bintang and Bukit Bintang monorail station -Formerly known as the Red light district of Kuala Lumpur - A unique food destination in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

- A sharp contrast to trendy Jalan Bukit Bintang with high skyline

JALAN ALOR – JALAN BUKIT BINTANG

FIGURE GROUND ANALYSIS

Figure-Ground Analysis

GEOMETRIC REGULARITY Regular geometry made up linear city block at inner city where mixture of different geometry at the urban node.

URBAN STREET Deform grid street pattern and high density of city block.

Building Footprint Study Area Open Space

Higher density of city block in residential area which leads to higher density of human population. Hence, it diverse into different areas towards urban node.

Figure-Ground Analysis

TYPOLOGY City typology: Deformed Building typology: Linear & Point Linear building at inner city and gradually change to point typology building towards the urban node side.

Building Footprint Study Area Open Space Point Form Building

Point typology building: Shopping Mall, Tall buildings (Commercial) Linear typology building: Shop houses, terraced house (Mix-used between commercial and residential, residential)

Figure-Ground Analysis

URBAN GRID Irregular, no distinct arrangement of building blocks and range of street orientation.

URBAN FABRIC Fine Grain focus at the inner city & Coarse Grain at the urban node.

Building Footprint Study Area Open Space

Fine grain – with narrow frontages, frequent storefronts, more intersections, traffic is slower and safer.

Coarse grain – open up to wider spaces which isolates users from the space with the public realm.

Figure-Ground Analysis

SOLID AND VOID The ratio of void : solid at inner city side is smaller than urban node side as the inner city side consists of many intersection streets that connecting to the major street which is at the urban node. building footprint open spaces

Inner city side – residential areas where the street (void) is used by the residents.

Urban node side – Shopping complex (commercial area) where the major street and open spaces (void) is used by public users (local and global).

Figure-Ground Analysis

SCALE Smaller and humanising built form at the inner city side. It has a smooth transition of building scale from inner city to urban node as the form transits from linear to point form.

building footprint open spaces

15m x 15m block

Inner city side – more private area (residential area) hence smaller scale built form.

Urban node side – public space (commercial area targeted on tourists) hence larger scale built form.

FORM

FORM The buildings in Jalan Alor have similar element on the faรงade, create a horizontal rhythm in visual. The building along the journey to Jalan Bukit Bintang gradually varies in height and emphasized on verticality at the nodes of Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Point Linear

MOVEMENT PATTERN

MOVEMENT PATTERN DATA - City is divided into smaller parts.

- Type of function and activities was built according to the street orientation.

Main road Subsidiary road Back lane

URBAN MOBILITY Personal movements -linked are between commercial area.

Touristic movements -interaction between amenities and landmark.

Personal movements Touristic movements

PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT PATTERN-DAY TIME During the day time The shops along Jalan Alor were closed, the movement is a minimal, only the locals who live there come for groceries and lunch. Less pedestrian movement compare to Jalan Bukit Bintang.

PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT PATTERN-NIGHT TIME During the night time The stalls and restaurant along Jalan Alor start to set up. More pedestrian movement compare to Jalan Bukit Bintang.

ACTIVITY

LAND USE DISTRIBUTION Diverse of activities are happening along Jalan Alor and Jalan Bukit Bintang, however mainly are for commercial uses.

Commercial Institutional Commercial - Residential

ACTIVITY USE DISTRIBUTION

VIBRANCY-DAY During the daytime, there is more activity going on in Jalan Bukit Bintang than Jalan Alor. Less shops and restaurants are operating in Jalan Alor

Purple gradient indicates vibrancy of the area

VIBRANCY-NIGHT During the night time, there is more activity going on in Jalan Alor than Jalan Bukit Bintang. Hawker stalls, tables and chair are set up along the road. The culture in Jalan Alor is stronger and more robust than day time compare to Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Purple gradiant indicates vibrancy of the area

SOCIAL DIMENSION Serial Vision 1

Form

Scale & Proportion The height of building gradually increases from Jalan Alor to Jalan Bukit Bintang. The scale of the buildings in Jalan Alor are more appropriate to human scale which gives a sense of humble and create an intimacy between the buildings and the users. In Jalan Bukit Bintang, the larger scale building tend to attract people’s attention.

Form

Faรงade & Material The faรงade of buildings in Jalan Alor composed of similar elements in a horizontal rhythm that creates familiarity to the users. In Jalan Bukit Bintang, various types of material and arrangements are introduced, shows a sense of intimidation.

Activity

Local to Global The restaurants and hawker stalls along Jalan Alor offer local eatery while the in Jalan Bukit Bintang, the presence of retail stores offers international brands products. Stronger local culture can be found in Jalan Alor.

Movement Pattern

Disconnectivity to Connectivity The linearity in Jalan Alor promotes movement at a pace that is unsuitable for users’ engagement with the surroundings. In Jalan Bukit Bintang, there is nodes that acts as gathering points, enhancing the relationship between the pedestrians and their surroundings.

TEMPORAL DIMENSION Serial Vision 2

DAY

NIGHT

Multiplicity to Singular Point

DAY As a starting point of journey, the verticality of building such as shopping malls and commercial blocks can be seen apparently. The user may experience a distracted mind by various height and form of high rise building.

NIGHT The distraction reduced by the lit up shopping mall which pulls all attention on itself.

Web of Transport System

DAY High linear movement of pedestrian and vehicle around the public transport station and main road due to the working time. There are overlapping of multiple transport network.

NIGHT The covered pedestrian walkway along the way to station become narrower as homeless people will shelter or sleep by the roadside, create a stronger linear axis of movement.

Engagement at Both Side

DAY High vehicle flow in linear pattern as the road is connecting the main junction with the other side of the city. The inconsistency of building faรงade and height give as sense of chaos and distract the focal point.

NIGHT The vehicle flow decrease apparently after the working time, increase the pedestrian density and thus promote the engagement of users at both sides of the road.

Nodes

DAY Necessary activities such as hawker stall and fruit stall are carried out at the starting point at the junction which is an intersection point of culture, commercial and residential, increase density of people and vehicle flow.

NIGHT The junction become a drop off point for taxi and other transport, create high vehicle and people flow, as the linear road had become a vibrant plane for business.

Desolated- Busy

DAY The building serves two function at different level which are commercial (GF) and residential (1stF). Few business operated. Limited linear vehicles & pedestrian movement create a desolated environment.

NIGHT The upper floor residential level become invisible because of the illuminated shop sign. The eatery starts to extend their business out to the road which turn the linear road to a plane. It offers different choice to the public.(Robustness)

COLLAGE CITY

Collage City

Coarse Grain – Fine Grain

Connectivity - Disconnectivity

High Scale – Low Scale

In Flow – Out Flow

Local - Global

Solid - Void

Coarse Grain- Fine Grain Fine grain are arranged closely to each other, which induces a continuous flow of pedestrian movement, thus circulating in a mannerly order which is in linear form.

This provides opportunities for the users to discover and explore Jalan Alor.

Coarse grain buildings limit the variety of angles for users when exploring the area.

Coarse Grain Fine Grain

KEY ELEMENT: Building Form

High scale – Low scale High scale buildings which are mostly located in Bukit Bintang attract people to look up.

Low scale buildings are much more appropriate to human scale. Most of the low scale buildings are with narrow frontages, frequent storefronts and minimal setbacks from the street. This induces tactual intimacy, which gives people a sense of familiarity.

High Scale Low Scale

KEY ELEMENT: Building Form

Local - Global Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Alor comprising both global and local features.

Local low rise buildings (traditional shophouse) and hawker stalls are concentrated in Jalan Alor while high end buildings with globalised activities are concentrated at Jalan Bukit Bintang.

The local and rustic food culture in Jalan Alor creates a dualism city together with the international landmark and cuisine in Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Global Local

KEY ELEMENT- ACTIVITY, BUILDING FORM

Connectivity - Disconnectivity Due to the close arrangement of the fine grain building in Jalan Alor, linear movement pattern along the street is emphasized. Thus, the focal point of the street is the end of Jalan Alor which induces the users to walk towards the focal point. This causes the lack of engagement between users and their surrounding, thus “disconnectivity”.

Whereas in Bukit Bintang, nodes serve as gathering points, which allow users to engage with the surrounding, thus “connectivity”.

Connectivity Disonnectivity

KEY ELEMENT: Movement Pattern

In Flow – Out Flow (Pedestrian) During daytime, the residence in Jalan Alor leave their living places to work, showing an outflow of pedestrian from Jalan Alor, leaving stagnancy in Jalan Alor.

During night time, crowds including tourists, walk from Bukit Bintang to Jalan Alor to explore the local eateries in Jalan Alor. This creates an inflow of pedestrian in Jalan Alor which actually injects vibrancy into the street.

In flow Out flow

KEY ELEMENT: Movement Pattern

Solid - Void Void in between solids serves as public realm for users.

Due to the void in Jalan Bukit Bintang is larger than the void in Jalan Alor, the quantities and size of public realm is larger compared to Jalan Alor. Thus, there are more gathering spaces in Bukit Bintang.

Also, the number of intersections of voids are more in Jalan Alor which creates permeability for the users, alternative path to weave around the building, thus encouraging continuous flow of movement in Jalan Alor.

Area with larger void

KEY ELEMENT: Building Form, Movement Pattern, Activity

Area with smaller void

Conclusion In this urban city with a prominent dualism character, it allows tourists to explore the cultural hearth of Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Alor, also to experience the vibrancy of this hectic city. Although the contrast of Jalan Alor and Bukit Bintang occurs in terms of different dimension, yet, it still creates a harmony relationship among the users with the city. The built form, movement pattern, activities and function of the buildings have shaped the big picture of this dualism city.

COMPARISON OF 3 CITIES

Dimensions

Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur

Social dimension - Mix of local and global activities.

- Aims to become a world class city

Kuching, Sarawak

George Town, Penang

- Cultural hotspot attracts tourists with the promote of their art, culture, tradition and crafts.

- More cultural and heritage activities on going

- Giving a sense of modernization of the city.

- Cultural historical conservation area.

Temporal dimension

-During daytime, inflow of people due to working hours.

- During night time, the city serves as entertainment for tourist and local.

- The city is more vibrant at night and busy in the morning

- Kuching waterfront serves as a recreational and entertainment hub, thus crowd during daytime is lesser than the crowd during night time.

- Cultural activities become tourist attraction, which causes a packed city.

- Tourist spot such as the mural attracts tourist in the daytime .

- During night time, the crowd is lesser as the mural is less visible .

Dimensions

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Kuching , Sarawak

Georgetown, Penang

Visual dimension

- Majority of the buildings are in big scale. which gives an intimidating feeling to the users.

- Vertical layering of movement pattern creates a chaotic scenery.

- Waterfront becomes the focal point of Kuching, thus a node.

- Unique cultural townscape represents the British era from the end of the 18th century which gives a sense of antiqueness

- Connectivity of transportation creates a linkage between places, eventually enhance the relationship between the users and their surroundings

- Boat links the traditional village with the developed city.

- Proposal of the curvilinear pedestrian bridge provides an intimate pedestrian experience.

Functional dimension

- A distinct boundary between developed city and traditional village.

- Public transport less efficient compared to Kuala Lumpur due to the lower density of population in the city.

- Most of the tourists like to cycle to enjoy the historical city.

WISHES OF TALES Andrea Kuala Lumpur is the city I like the most among these 3 cities. Even though the hustle and bustle life gives a sense of hectic to this city, the advanced technology and extensive public transportation making it convenient and efficient. It provide connection and shorten the distance between destination and destination. Despite it is an urbanisation place, the cultural value is yet preserved by promoting local food to the tourists in Jalan Alor. And also, the night life in Kuala Lumpur which is contrast to daytime gives vibrancy and liven up the street

Evelyn My favourite city is Georgetown in Penang. The rich culture of different eras has rich influence in the architecture of the building.

The traditional five- foot walkway serve as a buffer zone between the shophouses and the vehicular land. It offers the users an engagement with the environment. Georgetown has a rich pedestrian walkway network. The distance between the place to place are close to each other due to its small scale. The poor public transport can be neglected due to the walkability in the city.

Zheng Si Kuala Lumpur is my favourite city as I like the coexistence of cultural and modernism in Kuala Lumpur. I am amazed by the dualism of this city, which actually makes this city more interesting. Most people's perception of Kuala Lumpur is a hectic busy city, but if we explore and feel the city, the cultural part of the city is still preserved. Efficient public transport connects places , also linking the user with the surrounding. It also offers a great opportunity for tourists to explore the different side of Kuala Lumpur.

Jessie Compare to Penang and Kuching, I prefer Kuala Lumpur although it is not too safe compare to the other two cities. It has the most mixed function in one place such as a mix of commercial with residential area. For example, Bukit Bintang is a commercial area while Jalan Alor is a cultural eatery with residential areas which creates a dualism of the function. It also creates a more social and harmony place for the tourists and locals, which made this city thoroughly a vibrant place to be in.

Yik Xin Kuala Lumpur is my favourite city as compare to the rest. After my personal experience in the city, I like the sense of contrast when we walk through the journey from Jalan Alor to Jalan Bukit Bintang. The coexistence of these two different jalan form the city of dualism. One cannot live without the other. In the aspect of building form, movement pattern, activity, human and food culture, these two jalan create a huge contrast yet a very interesting collage of city.

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