Inspiration
This project ask for us to design a 300 square meter mediatheque located at Tropical Spice Garden, Teluk Bahang, Penang. The recommended program is exhibition space where Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are taken into consideration as the backbone to support the idea.
Penang Immigration Mediatheque
Teluk Bahang
I approached the project based on my site analysis, where I attempt to improve the existing condition of the site as in socially, culturally, economically and environmentally. So I started the project by developing programmatic relationship between Penang culture and the public.
Knowing that when British expanded into Malaya in 1870’s, they established plantation, making Penang prospered. Migrants started to move in but some of them are forced by the colonial authorities or the local recruiters. For more than three decades Malaysia’s economic growth has been driven in part by the large numbers of migrant workers. Penang has become the ‘temporary’ home for more than two million documented migrants. Many more than that are undocumented are living precarious lives on the margins of society. But very little is known or understood about their everyday lives, their voices have been silent.
Therefore, I wanted to create a platform to embrace these migrants and to celebrate them for being such an important part of our present and that they will also be an important part in the future too.
Knowing that the earliest migrant was Indian followed by Indian Muslim, Malabara, Merican, and Noordin before the Chinese influx at 1900, the radial form of my building was designed based on the circulation to show the timeline of the immigration. For each section of the exhibition space, the exhibits are showcase based on Penang’s economic status as well as the migrant timeline. While walking along the exhibition space, the timeline will showcase in many forms of exhibition as in film screening, painting, photograph etc. I also attempt to design the wall height and the roof based on the “timeline” which is from low to high, making a directional circulation along the exhibition space. This is to create a clear visual explanation of the history of the relationship between migrant and Penang’s economy for the public, just like telling a story.
Since my site contour includes flat surface and gentle slopes as well as a tree with 3.5 meter height in the middle, the solution proposed was to maintain the site condition as much as possible and at the same time, creating an architecture interest to the public. Therefore there is courtyard in the middle of my mediatheque, conserving the tree. Besides,the pedestrian circulation was designed according to my neighbourhood’s domain with the intention where the public will walk along the slopes and also walk through the mediatheque orderly. For instance, my neighbour is having “future of Penang” as his domain, so my entrance and exit were designed to follow the programmatic flow which is from old penang (my mediatheque) to the future of Penang. I intended my architecture to bring about a different atmosphere within the building, giving the public a much more suitable environment to cater the domain.
The design comes to life and begins to take on a course of its own. Decisions are no longer toiled over, they flow from the design itself, leading us to stretch our imaginations, to think beyond what we see in everyday life, create something new and also to be inspired.
Thank You.