Project 1: Ideas & Theories in Urbanism
In this assignment, students are required to study the literature on urbanism prior to the site visit. The theme of is "Tropical Cities" which focuses on cities in Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown and Kuching. Each group of students are given a city and are required to explore the various ideas/ theories/ social situations that prevailed in the historical and contemporary times. The analysis has to come from two perspectives, namely the contextual aspects of the city and the conceptual translation of the urban design theory in the selected project. Our selected city to be analysed on is Kuala Lumpur, in which we further focused on Jalan Enam, located in Sentul.
​
Learning outcomes:
-
Develop formal attributes of a number of key examples of the design of the cities in the East, during the historical and contemporary times.
-
Identify, discuss and critique various urban design theories and ideas.
Shown below is the presentation slides produced.
Through this project, i gained knowledge on the various theories of urbanism and its application along Jalan Enam, Sentul. It is crucial to have balanced development in a city in order to produce a harmonious environment for the benefit of the users.
Project 2
Project 2 is divided into two parts, 2A and 2B. This project requires students to document the spatial form of the city to note the key attributes that influences the urban form. The objectives are:
-
to characterize the urban forms through Serial Vision
-
to establish the relationships and roles of the three urban design elements
-
to identify distinctive aspects or patterns in the layout.
Basic urban techniques like figure ground, serial vision, collage city, syntax etc will be introduced to the students as a means evaluating the spatial and social patterns in the city.
​
Learning outcomes:
-
Identify, discuss and critique various urban design theories and ideas.
-
Explain how ideas, cultural values (intangible) and topography and other site conditions (tangible) can offer to significant perceptions and experiences
-
Record through and present the fundamental urban research techniques in spatial and perceptional studies.
Project 2A: Journal on Urban Sketches & Photographs
In this assignment, students are required to document the city spaces based on the locations selected to establish the relationship and roles of three urban design elements, namely form, activity and movement pattern. Besides that, students are also encouraged to focus on the urban structuring principles. Throughout the site visits, students are required to capture photographs of tangible or spatial and intangible or social contexts of the location selected. Online research is also to be conducted on another two cities, in terms of tangible and intangible aspects. The city that was selected to be studied was Petaling Street in which site visits were conducted to produce the photographs and sketches attached below.
Project 2B: Mapping the townscape
In this assignment, students are to focus on the significant cores of Kuala Lumpur, in which our selected core was Central Market, situated near to Petaling Street. The aim of this assignment is to coin our own theory for the city. The objectives are to:
-
Characterize the urban forms using figure ground diagrams and to study the urban elemens using "Collage City"'s layering concept.
-
To establish the significance of serial vision
-
To illustrate the urban distinctive characterand to coin our own theory for the city following significant patterns between the typologies of form and the visual qualities above
Shown below is the presentation slides produced.
Through this project, i learnt various techniques to evaluate the urban elements of a city. This project has helped me to view the selected city from a different perspective in terms of form, activity and movement pattern which contributes to the theory that we have derived out for this city: City of Vitality.