Final Project: Kajang Art Centre (The Archive)
The studio runs through two projects: project 1: urban study on place making aspects; project 2 comprises of architectural strategy and design development. The site context is Jalan Tukang and Jalan Sulaiman, Old Town Kajang. There is a real life scenario to reactivate the urban spaces in order to connect to the urban community. The studio project is collaborative with a research project at Taylor’s University and the scenario of the future vision for the area to be:-
a) a place for the community
b) with an active frontage of the streets.
The project is about improving the spatial and social qualities of an urban node within the Old Town of Kajang. There are two sites at the convergences of historic streets of urban blocks. The blocks are fragmented and built in different period of times due to evolution, hegemony of private sectors and fire accidents. Some parts of the blocks are also attempted for conservation by the location authorities. The urban issue being the city that is ‘displaced’ in its spatial character and social quality. For example, locals have been displaced by immigrants, street as public spaces has been displaced by cars, traditional business has been displaced by contemporary service based businesses, walkable and cycle routes have been fragmented by new developments. The students are challenged to interpret various possibilities of the KAC (Kajang Art Centre) in order offer urban intervention that identifies the distinctiveness of place, without disrupting the locale character. To what extent the KAC could offer to such an urban intervention? The local Chinese and Indian cultural groups are needing a ‘place’ for transforming the urban young towards a revival of indigenous performing arts, mainly dance and music. The KAC is mainly for the primary & secondary school students and if needed for the young adults.
The KAC is a place for learning the performing arts with a public space impact and performing space as a public space. Your objectives should be:
1. Attempt to respond the issue of displaced city
2. Remnant spaces to be effective public spaces.
3. Programmatic aspects to be connecting to the urban communities.
4. Façade and scale to be part of the urban block.
Chosen Site: Site B
The Art Centre is for all, catering to multi user groups. It will be a focus for a diverse variety of cultural, learning and recreational opportunities. In this module, we shall define the Art Centre as a “place which provides access to activities of learning of performing arts and of social meeting for an urban/suburban community”. The scheme for the Art Centre should strictly span a total floor area of minimum 1200 m2 and maximum of 1300 m2, and comprise between 3-5 storeys within its block lot. Sufficient floor area must be allocated for the design of a public realm, circulation and ancillary functions reading, discussion that is required for an Art Centre of this scale and type.
Total built up area : a minimum of 1200 m2 to a maximum of 1300 m2
Learning activities : 60%
Spaces for Public Realm : 20%
Services and circulation : 20%
Issues on Site
Urban Gap of Liveliness
Kajang is deemed as a displaced city, due to its development and modernisation over time, locals tend to move out leaving shophouses to be bare and some may remain running but not for long. As a result, many parts of Kajang has now been displaced by modern development, street as public space has been displaced by vehicles and routes leading to old shophouses, were fragmented by new buildings, creating urban gaps between the old and new identities of Kajang. Kajang is now a place where people only visit for its famous Kajang Satay and daily necessities, lacking the vibrancy and liveliness in the city itself.
Design Intention
“Refocus on the Collective Memories of Kajang Through Art and Time”
The Kajang Art Centre invites the people of Kajang to a place where the community could experience the variety and diversity of Kajang. Locals and many visitors should visit its uniqueness and the art centre is intent to become a dominant catalyst to bridge the gap between both sites through the universal language of art, to be appreciated by the community. Kajang Art Centre could show a commitment to the creativity and stories of Kajang, it is a bold and pioneering stance where the process of how people engage and transit through time and art making is the key to intervene the urban issue. There is a little bit of history in all of us and if we can connect it all together, then it will come to life.
Design Concept
“Fusing the Transition of the Presence of the Community with the Faded Past of Kajang”
Finding cultural, social and historical values from the existing community and weaving them into the Art Centre, for different users at different time, it provides a flexibility and regenerative to the public. Local community needs a beneficial attractor, to provide opportunities for different users to interact through sharing of information, adopting memories and learning historical ideas from the old blood (the legends of Kajang), while the art centre act as an art learning platform, such as the art of performing, culture, and social, inviting the new blood (the millennials) to participate in this vibrant experiences together with the community.
Facade Design
Revealing Through the Fragility of the Modern
The modern facade of the new developments in Kajang has a broken narrative to the adjacent traditional shophouses' urban wall, a lack of in-between coexist at the existing site, a striking contrast of old and new which required a medium to balance both past and present face of the urban fabric. Thus, by designing a movement of fragility (Perforated Wired Rusted Metal Panels), slowly unveils what is within (the vibrancy of Kajang's art) in the Archive Art Centre.
