Design Inspiration
This semester’s final design project seems to be a little more laid back but more enjoyable as we try to piece together the bits and pieces of knowledge that we learnt from the previous semesters. Everything starts to be incorporated into our design and I come to see the finer details in our design. As compared to our previous semesters, this semester’s site is way larger and gives us more room for designing a larger building. I love the fact that it is a cultural centre which serves the local and international community that is in Johor Bahru.
As a rapid developing state that sits on the most Southern tip of mainland Asia, it has many benefits from this land which I call home (budak Jaybee). Being my home town, it naturally inspires me because I can really connect to this site. Coming from this state gives me a sense of patriotism and therefore inspires me go further to designing something for this Urban Forest. Back in my “younger” days, my dad used to bring my siblings and me to Hutan Bandar to play at the water park but unfortunately it is run down now. I have also been to this place for curriculum camps which is super creepy as there is a grave yard right next to it (gave me the chills).
Besides that, my inspiration has come from the site itself. As they say, the site will show you what can be done and what cannot be done. The site context played a big role in inspiring my many ideas from the lake to the contour. From observing the crowd who comes there and also their behavior. Things started to get interesting as we piece the puzzle together. The inspiration comes from what is already there.
The project started off with us having to figure out what are the main issues of this current place and finding out solutions to this issues. The whole process of researching and gathering information get really interesting when we start to think of what we want to do in there. For a start, I noticed that Johor Bahru has had this event called the JB Arts Festival for 13 years consecutively but they never had a proper venue for their performances. Having gone to a few of this events yearly, it has always been held in town under a propped up tent with plastic chairs. I found that with Johor Bahru’s rapid growth, something has to be done to make this event livelier for locals and tourists alike. Therefore my main activity would be performances such as musical, comedy, theatres, and dances. To incorporate this performance into Hutan Bandar was my main objective and I have done so by creating an open amphitheatre which can house up to 500 people or more due to its double story configuration. I want the public to come to this place and enjoy what’s going on there but at the same time do not hinder those who just want to have a good jog around the park.
Thought this crowd gathers mostly at night, this doesn’t make the place dead during the day. From studies and also observation through the week that we were there and also personal site visits, I noticed that in the morning many joggers come to this park to have their morning exercise. They never go through the current building as there is a gap which allows them the short cut straight into the park. This issue have been solved by directing them to the lobby which leads them to the park. They would have to go through the spaces and experience it before they can enter the park. This would make the space livelier as compared to the current layout. During lunch hours, students start to pour in to the food court which is located on the west side. Most students hang out there as they provide drinks and also food which they could eat before or after their school hours. Seldom would we see anyone coming towards the park because there is really nothing or no where they could sit comfortably and have a drink. In response to this issue, the lobby has been created in a way that the roof and also trees shade this sitting/lepak area. The café and library also would attract students to come to this place for a drink or just to sit back and enjoy the view while reading their books. This location will be the hub for students during lunch hours and families during the night time.
Lastly, how can we be Malaysian if there is no food! The restaurant that is located in the vicinity works alongside the type of performance that would be happening. For instance if we have the band from Japan playing, the food served there would be in the Japanese cuisine. If a performer comes from Indian maybe we will have chapatti, tosai and murru on the side. For times when there are no performances, the restaurant will rotate between different countries to showcase different food to their customers to eat. I believe that this restaurant would add on to the already awesome performances.