Architecture aims at Eternity

PJ old town is a place that is full of a sense of familiarity with the communities living there for decades.  It is a place that is self-sustaining with the presence of necessary facilities such as a market, hawker center, schools, hospital, etc, along with the self-supporting living pattern of the local communities.  Yet, due to the rapid development ongoing in other cities that formed a contrast to the pace in PJ old town, the young people have decided to move out for better contingencies.  A sense of dormancy is then developed within the communities when there is no inter-generational bonding and interaction that allow possible future evolution.  

 

The main design intention in this tropical high-rise dwelling is to support inter-generational bonding and living by introducing a series of interconnected “common lands” evolving from a public ground plane to private territory. As mentioned in the book “A Pattern Language”, one’s immediate neighbors are less important in modern society especially now when it comes to the rising trend of high rise development. There is a phenomenon where the residents that are staying in high rise find themselves entirely isolated from the social fabric. Therefore, a common land must be provided as a social necessity as vital as the streets.

 

“Without common land no social system can survive.”