Abstract Within the Malaysian context, older commercial buildings of today’s metropolitan cities represent the lost origin and identity rising from the rapid development. Older commercial buildings include in-active shophouses and office buildings being left vacated or being used as storage area (Archives: Businessmen shying away from pre-war shophouses in Kuala Lumpur. Yip Yoke Teng. April 2012.) .

Overtime, this has created a sense of social detachment where spaces have lost its level of vibrancy; suspends the local community between the local culture and the on-going development within Kuala Lumpur.

My dissertation aims to tackle the older commercial building paradox by proposing a mixed-use social venue within these older commercial building’s enclave that functions as a meeting place for all users between local community and visitors: to allow interact and socialize through architectural design and culture experience using adaptive re-use; while simultaneously serving all communities with commercial services and accommodation.

Keywords: Adaptive Re-use, Existing, Older Commercial Building, City Centre, Mixed-use Typology

City Centre is on the transition sites which local community travel to and from, as part of the greater journey across Kuala Lumpur’s outback. Visitors come to City Centre because it is the major city and gateway to other destinations across Kuala Lumpur.

Enclave based on ethnic:For example, Chinese enclave is generated around Jalan Petaling, Jalan Tun HS Lee and Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock.

Malay enclave is generated around Jalan Sultan.

Indian enclave is generated around Lebuh Pudu

Enclave based on price zoning:Zone 1 is surrounding by the boundary road of Jalan Ampang, Jalan P.Ramlee, Jalan Perak, Jalan Conlay, Jalan Kia Peng and Jalan Binjai.

Enclave based on price zoning:Zone 2 is surrounding by the boundary road of Ampang-KL Highway, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan P Ramlee, Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Tun Razak.

Enclave based on price zoning:Zone 3 is surrounding by the boundary of Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Kuching, Jalan Maharajalela, Jalan Hang Tuah and Jalan Pudu. It is an oldest business district in Kuala Lumpur.

Enclave based on Nightlife DistrictThe Golden Triangle roughly covers the area north of Jalan Pudu, south of Jalan Amapng, and west of Jalan Imbi and Jalan Tun Razak.

Lebuh Pudu

Jalan Sultan

Jalan Petaling

Jalan Tan Siew SIn

Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman

Jalan Ceylon

Jalan Sultan Ismail

Jalan Imbi

Southern Area of City Centre Nothern Area of City Centre

Jalan Raja ChulanJalan Bukit Bintang

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The project is a hypothetical application to explore and demonstrate how adaptive re-use concept can be used to infill the gap between the northern city centre and the southern city centre. It is the intent of this dissertation to respond upon a design problem: the southern City Centre enclave paradox; to explore how adaptive re-use address the problem and achieve the objective of amalgamating the existing culture.A stagnant development is a problem which results in the enclave paradox between northern and southern City Centre; creating the gap.

Recurring themes of this dissertation is as followed:- Improved social interaction amongst communities.Imperative to achieve this outcome where a comprehensive research and ideas are tested to achieve a design outcome.- Enhanced surrounding environment.- How the proposal will affect the surrounding area is important. How the new proposal engages with the surrounding context will be addressed.- Impact on local community.The end result of the proposal and how it affects the local demographic in term of dispersion of people concentration and navigation will form the rest of this dissertation.

Main ObjectiveTo propose a mixed use adaptive re-use development which operates 24/7 within southern part of the City Centre enclave where visitors and locals can meet and interact while simultaneously providing services to the community.Sub Objective- Understand how an amalgamation of locals and visitors together with the cultural development can be achieved.- Explore the urban context of chosen site and explore through within the limiting constrain of existing building guidelines and land usage considerations for adaptive re-use.- Explore contemporary architecture, organization methods, precedent examples and to relate and apply gathered knowledge to the dissertation’s design phase.

This strategic zone is the city centre of Kuala Lumpur. The zone which covers 1,813 hectares is bounded by major highways namely Jalan Tun Razak from the east to the north, Mahameru Highway to the west and the Middle Ring Road 1 to the south. The zone covers the hills of Bukit Nanas, Bukit Ceylon, Bukit Tunku and the river valleys of Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak.

The City Centre comprises a number of historic and recent major business commercial nodes interspersed with residential recreation and cemetery areas. The symbolic centre of the nation, Merdeka Square, is located within the City Centre as are the City’s most notable landmarks, The Petronas Twin Tower at the KLCC and the KL Tower.

The City Centre comprises a number of historic and recent major business commercial nodes interspersed with residential recreation and cemetery areas. The symbolic centre of the nation, Merdeka Square, is located within the City Centre as are the City’s most notable landmarks, The Petronas Twin Tower at the KLCC and the KL Tower.

Moderate Commercial GrowthIn order to moderate commercial development in the City Centre, land use changes to accommodate new commercial development to the exclusion of other uses shall not be encouraged. New commercial or mixed-use development shall be considered in areas where high quality residences are proposed.Emphasis shall be placed on upgrading existing office and commercial areas to include high quality residential accommodation and the creation of comprehensive mixed development precincts incorporating commercial, financial, hotel, entertainment and cultural uses with a high residential component.

Urban Character of the City CentreThe character of the older urban areas in the City Centre such as Chow Kit, Jalan Petaling, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Bukit Ceylon and Pudu shall be preserved and the infrastructure and building quality and general living and working environment upgraded. Conservation and preservation plans for heritage areas will promote a pedestrian friendly ambience and maintain the rich diversity of streets pattern and building vernacular that these areas display.

Significance of Research/ProjectThe outcome of the study will create a revitalization of the traditional shopping areas into a multi-storey mixed-use development; which consist of retail and residential; will be demonstrated through a design project in order to promote adaptive re-use architecture. This can be used as a baseline building for future multi-storey complex planning in order to advocate the diversification of local and international commercial hub; reflecting the zoning and connectivity of commercial spaces in regardless of old or new buildings in all parts of the city in Malaysia.

Methodology

Literature review on current adaptive re-use concept, remodeling architecture on existing fabric.

Literature review on the urban catalyst theories to gain principles that contribute to the current urban context.

Literature review on the architecture transformation to review on current mixed-use building typology.

Case study on multi-storey adaptive-reuse mixed-use typology to identify issue.

Conforming principles with the end users in Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

Data Collection

Site Analysis

Questionnaire

End Users

Professionals

Guiding Principles

Case Study Precedents

Design Exploration

2.0 Research Design: Methodology and Methods

2.1 Data Collection ApproachThe data collection approach is (1) ‘to study the relationship between the new development of modernism in the vibrant metropolitan cities and the existing older traditional urban culture in Kuala Lumpur City Centre’; (2) ‘to identify the principles of adaptive reuse that contributes to revitalization of older commercial buildings in Kuala Lumpur City Centre’. The aim is to understand the concept of urban catalyst and study the building performance against the built environment. To achieve this, data collection is used through:- Literature Review- Quantitative Research Methods

2.1.2 Case Study ApproachThis section consists of research process on observational theoretical investigation (case study) and precedence studies on published projects. It involves the process of documenting observation in diagram, drawing, mapping, data collection, experimentation and exploration of research topic to address research problem.

Sunset ElectricSeattle, WABy Weber Thompson

The Papillon Street Mall

Former Japanese army headquarters

Mixed-use Development, Castle Street, Dublin

2.1.3 Spatial StudiesObjectivesTo identify spatial opportunities and issues of the current mixed-use development. Targeted user groups can be found along the study; thus to analyse and identify the relationship of the space and end user.StrategyThe spatial studies will be done through diagram mapping and photographic studies.LimitationsSpatial studies might differ through time.

2.1.4 Site AnalysisObjectivesTo identify site opportunities or issues in current multi storey mixed development. Besides that, identify the strength and weaknesses of the site thus several environmental issues at the surrounding area. Define the target user groups for development.StrategyThe site studies; connectivity and permeability on site, thus the environmental issues will be done through a series of diagram mapping and photographic studies to identify potential spaces in generating social interaction among users. LimitationThe analysis or studies will differ after several weeks due to environmental issues.

2.1.5 Questionnaires SurveyObjectivesTo understand the concept of adaptive reuse and mixed-use development in the Malaysian context through questionnaires survey. This study is important to gain an overall understanding of the local concept of the future urban catalyst in the City Centre.StrategyThrough the study of literature review, a set of questionnaires will be designed to identify the concept of adaptive reuse and mixed-use development in the local layman context. The set of questionnaires will be distributed around the selected site to the local community. Data collected will be analysed and key themes contributing to the concept of adaptive reuse and mixed-use development will be obtained.LimitationThe limitation of questionnaires survey is the possibility of having an incorrect data during distribution.

2.1.6 Precedent StudyThe area of study for this dissertation also includes precedence studies into real world situation on the adaptive re-use multi-storey mixed used building and urban social spaces as well as their hypothetical counterparts. Precedent studies are done to study concepts behind the works of Architects in terms of designing for multi-storey mixed-use building. The aim for conducting a precedent study is to extract principles that can be learnt from practicing architects.

2.1.7 InterviewInterview session is being conducted to add-on knowledge from the expertise based on their level of experience and practical skills on the field for the on-going and future development. 2.1.8 Design ExplorationThe design test will be carried out to explore the ideas obtained from case studies and data collection. This will be done through exploration of ideas within a design project. 2.2 Expected OutcomeAt the end of this research project, a model being designed for the selected site. The model designed will not only be used by a single tenant. Various tenants will be doing their businesses together with communal spaces to increase the level of vibrancy; thus relationship among enclave can grow. The research project aims to achieve a multi—storey, developed, vibrant, cultural commercial hub within the older context of the City Centre.

Timeline

References• Housing Themselves. (n.d.).• TRANSFORMATIVE RENEWAL AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY. (1940), 8(4), 17–38.• Clara, S. (2008). Transformative architectural design.• Successful, T., & Revitalizaion, U. (2004). The Urban Catalyst Concept.• Charlotte, C. (2009). The Transformation of Architecture : Design for of New Mexico.• No Title. (2003), 32(1), 54–55. doi:10.1024/0301-1526.32.1.54• The Appeal of pre-war shophouses.pdf. (n.d.).• Kongsombat, P. (n.d.). STUDY ON URBAN CATALYST FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT Case study of IMS / Solaria

Plaza and Hotel Il Palazzo, (8), 3–6.• Reversible urban entities Improving public-to-private continuity. (n.d.).• Durmus, S. (n.d.). Change and Transformation in Architecture : On the Concept of Zeitgeist, 8(1), 23–36.• Logan, D., & Attoe, W. (1989). The concept of urban catalysts, 1–6.• Analysis of Existing Fabric. (2005.).• Cantell, S. F., & Huxtable, A. L. (2005). The Adaptive Reuse of Historic Industrial Buildings : Regulation Barriers , Best

Practices and Case Studies Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Urban and Regional Planning Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, (May).

• Studies, C., Adaptation, I. N., Historic, I. N., & Environments, U. (n.d.). SHAPING THE FUTURE.• Ref Profit History.pdf. (n.d.).• Practice Guidebook for Adaptive Re-use of and Alteration and Addition Works to Heritage Buildings 2012. (2012).• Alias, A., Ali, A. S., & Wai, C. K. (2010). New Urbanism and township developments in Malaysia. URBAN DESIGN

International. doi:10.1057/udi.2010.24• Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020