ARC2224 THEORIES OF ARCHITEECTURE URBANISM

PROJECT: THEORIZING ARCHITECTURE (PART 2)

ESSAY

NAME: FIRASAT MAMUN MOHAMMADSTUDENT

ID: 0306623
TUTOR: MR. SHEN FEI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 EXTERNAL FACTORS

3.0 CONCLUSION

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4.0 REFERENCES

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The submission in Part 1 required me to choose and architect and focus on a

theory of his; hypothetically an analysis was made to see how it would reflect if the
theory was applied here in Malaysia.
The chosen architect was a prominent architect, Robert Venturi, whose works
are endless and has had huge significant impacts on urban design and architectural
style. One of his theories that I focused in part 1 was the highway strip theory
represented perfectly through Las Vegas in Nevada, USA. The theory represents how a
place could be regenerated in an urban scale with the focus of development on either
side of a highway. Using different methods and elements from his design style, making
a highway stretch a center of attraction for connecting the people from all different
directions and districts.
Connecting Malaysia and the area of focus were the developments on the LDP
highway stretch, at the Damansara area especially on west side of the highway starting
from the 1 Utama Shopping Centre followed by the colorful IKEA, Kidzania and The
Curve all the way to PJTC. The recent development of the office district next to PJTC is
also a crucial node on this highway stretch as it gives major access to other highways.
A further analysis on the area allowed me to focus on a specific place and that
being Empire Damansara. Empire Damansara is located in a prime location in Petaling
Jaya and can be accessible easily from different directions through some major
highways which are New Pantai Expressway (NPE), Kesas Highway, Federal Highway,
Penchala Link and Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP). By the connection of
highways, it takes only 5 minutes to Mont Kiara, Sri Hartamas, Petaling Jaya, TTDI and
Bangsar; 20-30 minutes to Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC).

Empire Damansara is a leasehold development and it comprises of 7 buildings

within the 5 components, which are 24-storey Empire Residence with 277 units; 39storey Empire Studio with 641 units; 24-storey Soho 1 with 389 units; 27-storey Soho 2
with 328 units; 12-storey office building with 1 unit; 7-storey detached office with 6 units
and 2 & 3-storey retail shop with 29 units.

2.0 EXTERNAL FACTORS

UNORTHODOX FAADE

Robert Venturis major style is seen whereby the approach is very unorthodox;
the usage of ideas in a different contextual way is the main factor.

Residence/hotel (left) and Empire Studio (right)

At first glance, both the buildings look a standard office building with glass
facades, but the key factor here is the fact that they both turn out to be residential and
not office. Only at close look and after going into the building, it is possible to deduce
that they both are places to live and not work. The building of interest is the Empire
Studio shown in the picture above on the right. It is a 39 storey building that only houses
studio apartments for people to be rented, leased, etc.
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The Empire Studios faade tells a strong story of what its meant to be. The
major material being glass reminds of all the steel construction of office buildings in
Manhattan, New York. It symbolizes post modernism on its and signifies the role of this
building in the surrounding context. As it is amongst the tallest buildings within its area,
it naturally becomes a landmark to the people coming from far away distances. The
buildings glass faade reflects a lot of light and hence it adds the value to grab attention
of the people. The contrasting bright red colour stripes going around the front of the
building in a smooth manner eases out the massiveness of the tall structure when a
person is looking at it.

Tall structures from left (Empire studio, Soho 1, Soho 2

The position of the building is also to an advantage, as it is situated on one of the

corners of the site. The building also curves around on the front facing side allowing
maximum views, both from inside and also outside as it can be seen from far.
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The smooth glass faade is possible as the architect has not included any
balconies on any of the units. This has become an advantage to not only the faade to
be much smoother but also adding more space inside for the people living there.

A typical floor plan of Empire Studio shows all units in

any given floor without a balcony.

CONNECTIVITY

With the central courtyard located in the middle, Heritage Lane is a place full of
people and restaurants. Its called the heritage lane as it is supposed to display
Malaysias culture through food and through the architectural style. The whole place
consists of 4 main voids whereby it acts as openings for natural daylight and wind
circulation.

Main entrance to the courtyard (heritage lane) from the road

The architect used this courtyard as a mode of connectivity between buildings an

even with roads. The user is compelled to use any given entry points as it is easily
accessible from all directions. Connectivity through circulation is very important thing in

design and can be further divided between horizontal and vertical connection. The
location of intersection between horizontal connections across the courtyard between
two points is usually the place there is a connectivity vertically created by the architect
with the use of metal stairs.

The above diagram shows how the horizontal connectivity relates to

the location of vertical connectivity

Robert Venturis theories suggested that connectivity of macro areas are one of
the most important factors that tie up urban design into an astonishing art. The factors
usually dont change when thought of connectivity when designing and focusing on a
smaller scale. Hence the courtyard creates a link between the basement parking to all
the way to the first, second, and in some cases third floor. The users can get even
better experience from the views at higher floors of the courtyards in relation to outside
and inside. The voids in the courtyard act as viewing points, whereby people can look
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up or down to experience the place visually. The experience is enhanced due to the
positions of the voids to match the sun path at various times of the day.

The images show horizontal continuity and vertical connectivity of spaces in the courtyard

Connectivity therefore is crucial as has the potential to change a design

drastically to suit with the desired movement. People these days use circulation in their
daily lives without realizing how important each decision of an architect was when he
was thinking to connect two or more spaces in a design.

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MATERIALITY (BRICKS)

Bricks have been used a source of building materials throughout history from
Egyptian Pharaohs using them till today in common building construction. Though
todays bricks are different than that of 5000 years ago, but the essence is still the same
whereby they are at the end of the day just baked clay. With sustainability in mind for
present architecture standards and the effort to reduce the Carbon Emission levels and
minimize greenhouse effect, is possible with the use of clever materials for construction
and design.
One example is to use sustainable materials such as recycled bricks. Bricks from
demolished buildings maybe reused to make a new design that could benefit from the
sustainability issues. These bricks are known in Malaysia as Huru- Hara bricks and a lot
of architects have taken initiatives to use these recycled bricks as part of their
construction materials.

The above picture shows such example of recycled bricks located in Heritage Lane, Empire
Damansara

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The Heritage Lane in the Empire Damansara uses these recycled bricks as
major part of their construction techniques. Sometimes it is very unorthodox and
contrasting to have something very old but that resembles modern architecture
typologies. Venturi always loved to take things off- context and place them in a different
setting. The same is seen in Heritage Lane whereby the old bricks are part of the
modern sustainable design of the place.

The above picture shows the texture of the brick

The recycled bricks used in Heritage Lane mainly on the walls are not coated
with any additional material such as paint or finishes. The architect promoted the
rawness of the material to pop out and contrast within the other modern buildings that
usually mounts steel and glass as their major materials. The marks on the bricks still
remain from the previous construction and therefore the bricks have a strong
background story of where it was used and how. Therefore the place getting the name
Heritage Lane makes more sense now for the people actually experience something
more vintage in the timeless present world.

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The architect was clever to make sure the only the smoother bricks were used as
flooring in a public place as, if the texture was not smooth it can make a person feel
very uncomfortable, specially a person in stiletto heels and walking. Although the floor
bricks have slightly more gap between one brick to another when compared to the filling
between the normal ceramic tiles and has the potential to make someone feel a little
uncomfortable, I guess the fact is that they are sustainable and it creates a different
atmosphere for people to experience the place.

A picture of the type of bricks used and comparison of fills with that of glazed ceramic tiles.

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3.0 CONCLUSION

To add on, the factors that mentioned above has had significant butterfly effect on
the socio culture of the place. With the place standing out and showing contrast to all
that we think is normal is the fact that it deserves a deeper look and relate to how the
designs can impact the society.

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4.0 REFERENCES

Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. Learning From Las Vegas.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977. Print.

http://www.archdaily.com/490178/empire-damansara-ong-and-ong

http://empiredamansara.com/condo-details/

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