School of Architecture, Building & Design (SABD) Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture

Theories of Architecture and Urbanism (ARC61303/ ARC2224)

Project ‘Life Between Building: Using Public Space’ Part 2: Comparative Analysis Essay

Name: Lim Jern Jack Student ID: 0317139

Tutor: Mr Nicholas Ng

Content 1.0 Introduction Page Number

1.1 Site Intro……………………………………………..…...2-3 1.2 Contact Points………………………………………..…...4

2.0 Analysis……………………………………………………..….5-11 3.0 Conclusion…………………………………………………..….12 4.0 Reference…………………………………………………..…....13

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1.0 Introduction 1.1 Site Intro

Red line indicates the boundary of Chinatown Kuala Lumpur.

Chinatown Kuala Lumpur and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge are the

chosen sites of this project. Chinatown, in the central region of Kuala Lumpur, is situated next to the junction of Klang River and Gombak River that owns abundance of pre-war shophouses and landmarks such as Central Market, Petaling Street, Guan Di Temple, Sri Maha Mariamman and so on, which make this site rich in cultural attributes and business opportunities. Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock is the main path that segregates Chinatown KL into upper and lower districts, in which the upper district acts as an old financial node where all the banks can be found there whilst the lower district has more religious and institutional buildings. The cultural values of the original community of Chinatown remains the same even though most of them have moved out from there due to high rental fees of the shophouses. Various kind of activities take place in the site because of the psychological attachment of the original community on their cognitive landmarks such as Tun H.S.Lee Wet Market, temples and food stalls, and furthermore, the site has been shaped into a tourist spot where it meets the new iconic development that brings the influx of foreign workers at construction sites. The site is continuously moulding a new form of community from diverse backgrounds with assimilation that affects the patterns of social activities owing to the urban spaces designed over there. It is interesting to see how this new formation of community comprises of original community and foreigners interact in the redeveloping domain.

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The stretch of Massachusetts Avenue from Lafayette Square to the junction.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts Avenue is the main street that connects

Cambridge and north-west of Boston over Charles River. The main focus of the site is from the junction of Mt Auburn Street and Massachusetts Avenue to Lafayette Square. Along this avenue, there are stores, restaurants, banks, government and religious buildings in which the residential areas are further branched off from the avenue. It is equipped with public amenities such as bus stops, subway stations and bicycle lane. This has reflected the government and citizens’ awareness and stress on the public transportation system to create a better human movement pattern in town. The simple, low rise residential neighbourhood situated adjacent to the avenue encourages residents to walk to it instead of taking private transport that limited parking bays can be observed on site. According to Traffic, Parking & Transportation Department of Cambridge MA (2016), the effective hours for public parking lots are up to 4 hours only to limit the number of private drivers on the road, and to encourage walking and cycling. This scenario has led more opportunities of social activities to occur in the public realm that the interesting part of this site is that the streets are well designed to sit, walk and cycle.

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1.2 Contact Points

Contact points are the outdoor activities influenced by different conditions in public spaces such as necessary, optional and social activities in relation to the degree of contact intensity as mentioned by Gehl in his ‘Life between Buildings’ 1986. In the following analysis, the discussion will be focusing on the activities happened in both Chinatown KL and Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge according to the type of activities at different nodes or landmarks that share similar qualities in comparison with the degree of contact intensity.

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2.0 Analysis

Privatised parkings could be observed during daytime in front of Sri Maha Mariamman Temple.

Religious buildings are always undoubtedly one of the important elements in a

domain. In Chinatown KL, Guan Di Temple and Sri Maha Mariamman Temple are staying close to each other along Jalan Tun HS Lee. Hence, privatised parkings can be observed on the pavement alongside the road especially during the events held by the temples. These pavements are intentionally designed and served as a walking path for pedestrians and at the same time act as a buffer zone between the five foot way and the driving road. The misuse of the pavement due to the absence of bollards which can secure the proper usage of the pavement, has formed an interesting contact point amongst the worshippers. They use the space at the main entrances of the temples as a greeting point or a spot to huddle in small groups. This social activity takes place in a publicly accessible space spontaneously from medium to high contact intensity, which is acquaintances to close friends that is indirectly supported by the necessary activity, prayers. The period of this social activity is usually short due to the lacking of seating areas or a leisure place to conduct a deep talk.

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The pavement next to First Baptist Church Cambridge with a sitting area shaded by the trees.

However in the context of First Baptist Church Cambridge, the pavement by

the side of the church is designed for both walking and sitting with a row of trees to give some sun shading during the summer or day time. This situation would conduce to a more relaxed and pleasing atmosphere that allows social activities to occur in a longer period of time. Similarly, the social activities happen in this site are also relying on the necessary activity, which is worshipping. The contact intensity might be slightly different from Chinatown KL because of the presence of neighbourhoods nearby the site that people prone to walk to the church instead of driving. In addition to that, the policy implemented by the local government, as I mentioned earlier, promotes walking rather than driving has created a better ambience for the church and its surrounding. Therefore, passive contacts tend to happen in this site where people sit and read under the trees along the pavement on their own, giving a contrast that higher contact intensity could occur inside of the church because of the linear circulation of the pavement does not serve with a specific purpose as the church does, but as a leisure node to allow people to enjoy themselves (Sully, A., 2015). Le Corbusier (1927) once said that architecture is a matter of harmonies, it is the pure creation of the spirit, whereas in my opinion, the religious landmarks in both contexts perform as congregated nodes that blend the respective community in an urban form intentionally and unintentionally with their surrounding street designs.

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Advance Tertiary College stands out from the low-rise shophouses served with parking bays at the front.

Tun HS Lee Wet Market was filled with elders who were doing grocery shopping.

According to Gehl (1986), the character of outdoor activities are greatly

influenced by physical planning and often depending on the exterior conditions if the weather and space are inviting. However in the situation of necessary activities, it is more or less compulsory because the activities involved require a greater level of participation, such as going to school or to work, running errands, shopping and so on. As a result, institutional buildings such as schools, offices, government buildings and markets are the spaces that necessary activities can take place. In Chinatown

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KL, Advance Tertiary College (ATC) near to the end of Jalan Petaling is where the necessary activity occurs. College students could be observed in front of the 11-storey college during the daytime, being fetched by their parents to and from the college. Even though there are a few parking lots in front of the college, students still take the space as a waiting spot or drop off point as the height of the college is able to give shade from the morning and noon sun, and if it is raining, they will take the main entrance as a rain protection area to wait for their parents. The contact intensity is low from passive contacts to chance contacts. The reason being is that ‘waiting’ is the action that students do on site, and the chances of having conversation is relevantly low because they are mostly concentrating on their smartphones or looking at the vehicles that are probably their parents. The changing social pattern caused by the advancement of technology has interfered the interaction amongst people especially the youngsters. This situation could be observed here and it has drastically reduced the possibility of contact points to happen as people rarely notice the matters that happen around them. Conversely, in context of Tun HS Lee Wet Market, it is made up of the original community of Chinatown that are mostly elders and some foreigners in minority. In this site, customers who are purchasing their grocery, have a higher contact intensity with the hawkers who are friends or even close friends to them. They would bargain or have conversation about some topics. Therefore, the pattern of social activity in the wet market is disparate from the college which encourages more contact points to happen without the interference of technology.

The US Post Office in New Classical Architecture has a wide flight of stairs inviting people to the

inside.

In ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’ (1983), Frampton claimed that the importance of arriere-garde position to create a resistant, identity-giving culture whilst having discreet recourse to universal technique. The US Post Office

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Cambridge in its New Classical Architecture is a good attempt to continue the practice of classical and traditional architecture. Along the stretch of Massachusetts Avenue near the post office is mostly government buildings, offices and banks which are the places for necessary activities to take place. However, I infer that the presence of these buildings has led to the absence of sitting areas due to the high concentration of people during office hours is needed to be circulated out from the domain during peak hours. Consequently, people would sit on the stairs at the entrance of the post office that is not intentionally designed as a sitting area, but instead, as a symbol of continuing the Neoclassical Architecture that gives a sense of Federal Architecture for the public building. This social activity is an extension of the necessary activity where people who are running errands can be observed on the street, approaching towards the direction of the post office to deal with their business. This situation is well merged with the necessary and social activities that passive contacts have occurred amongst them unconsciously. The attempt of the New Classical Architecture is able to fit into this social pattern regardless of the age group that let it differ from the context of Chinatown KL, which has a more diverse community that people may know very little about each other because of the constant changing of demographics, commuting and migration patterns that are happening over there (Mylott, E., 2009).

The entrance of Petaling Street Flea Market from Jalan Hang Lekir is inviting by red lanterns.

According to Pallasmaa (2005), the authenticity of architectural experience is

grounded in the tectonic language of building and the comprehensibility of the act of construction to the senses. In my opinion, the architectural experience through senses is vital to create memory of a space that would affect a person’s perception

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towards a place. Placemaking in this case is to mould the identity and sense of a place, which is essential to an urban issue. In Chinatown KL, Petaling Street Flea Market is cope to the market of tourists where the original residents in this area have moved out due to the high rental fees of shophouses and high human traffic that makes the street overwhelming with people, and hence no longer suitable to serve as a residential place. The optional activities with passive contacts by the tourists can be observed here. Petaling Street Flea Market comprises of Jalan Petaling itself and Jalan Hang Lekir that extends from the middle of Jalan Petaling. Jalan Petaling is covered with sun-shading canopy that fails to protect from the rain. Thus, the environment turns unfavourable during the rain and people will stay away from the site that terminates the optional activity to take place because it relies greatly on exterior conditions.

A sketched rendering of Lafayette Square in a bird eye view.

Lafayette Square during the daytime full of people.

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Meanwhile, in Lafayette Square, Cambridge, the roads situated at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street were realigned and a pedestrian plaza was created as part of a larger reconstruction of Massachusetts Avenue from Central Square to Memorial Drive (Community Development Department, 2011). Surface reconstruction included a new roadway, sidewalk, lighting, street trees and street furniture and features to enhance safety for pedestrians and cyclists. The new plaza includes trees, landscaped areas, seating in the form of seat walls, benches and tables with chairs, art, pedestrian lighting, and space for community events. As a result, the overall traffic volumes throughout the area have generally decreased with a significant reduction of 23 percent along Massachusetts Avenue between State Street and Village Street (John, W., Jason, P., & Heather, L., 2009). This has indirectly created a more favourable environment for pedestrians and cyclists to approach and make use of the square. The site is created to reduce the heavy vehicle traffic and reserve the space for optional activities to take place. The contact intensity could be low to medium, passive contacts to acquaintances, because the public realm is served for everyone to use. Children might take the space for community event as a playground, and because activities as attractions could attract people and contribute to part of the view for people who are sitting on the benches to stay longer. Therefore, Lafayette Square which is less exposed to raining compared to Petaling Street Flea Market has allowed a higher possibility for optional activities to take place.

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3.0 Conclusion

Based on Gehl’s theory, observations made on people and human activities are the greatest interest to investigate the relationship of social activities patterns, the type of contact points and the varying degrees of contact intensity between two cities. The meaning of contact point to me is not only relating to the outdoor activities conducted by an individual or a group of people, yet more importantly, the comprehension of the cultural values that leads to the dissimilarities on design elements of each city, and the way that people react towards the outdoor spaces in eastern and western contexts that differ due to the variance of weather. Chinatown Kuala Lumpur which has a more diverse and complex background compared to Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, has taken less considerations on the street design to cope with the need of community. Thus, it is vital to encourage a more appropriate usage of the street and pavement with the improvement on public transportation in order to reduce the vehicle traffic in the domain, and lastly leads to a better living environment for the people in the area.

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4.0 References Community Development Department. (2011). Lafayette Square. Retrieved

November 20, 2016, from http://www.cambridgema.gov. Corbusier, L. (1927). Towards a New Architecture. London: The Architectural Press. Frampton, K. (1983). Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture

of Resistance. n.d. Gehl, J. (1986). Life Between Buildings: Using Public Spaces. New York: Van

Nostrand Reinhold Company. John, W., Jason, P., & Heather, L. (2009). Lafayette Square: Post-Construction

Evaluation Cambridge, Massachusetts. Stoneham: Greenman-Pedersen. Mylott, E. (2009). Urban-Rural Connections: A Review of the Literature. Oregon: n.d. Pallasmaa., J. (2005). The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Great

Britain: Wiley-Academy. Sully, A. (2015). Circulation Concept. London: Springer. Traffic, Parking & Transportation Department of Cambridge MA. (2016). Parking:

Time Limits. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.cambridgema.gov.

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