Re-examining Community Architecture: Interview on Wong Chiang Her's Old Town Botanic Gardens

Send us Fan MailAn intriguing interview with the author of the Old Town Botanic Gardens, Chiang Her, expressing his thoughts on his design thesis journey in 2019-2020 session. We felt the concept as one of the most excellent ever done by a design thesis student from UM, however controversially it is a master planning project, which is deemed "lack building" but that is why it is such a good project. How architecture uses the natural environment to create a presence of a "natural structure".Chiang Her explained that: Petaling Jaya Old Town is the oldest planned township in Malaysia but sadly, nowadays it is been tagged as a “Dead Town”. In fact, the town is not dead at all it just needs some improvements to make it more attractive and charming to live in. In this design thesis, it identifies the following issues: (a) The town is lacking of a formal, open space to dignify its identity; (b) School children are lacking of sufficient opportunity to engage with outdoor and natural education and (c) The KTM tracks on the southern edge is not serving the town efficiently.From these issues, it derived to the design titled: “Old Town Botanic Gardens” which is a shared common in service of health, education, transportation, outdoor activity and immediate neighbourhood identity. The site contexts including the immediate neighbours, topography and existing programmes are studied and induced a derivation of a series of gardens and architecture which are all connected by a continuous & covered corridor named “The Spine”. The Spine forms the elevation of the whole botanic gardens, but it is more than an elevation, it is an edifice, a series of formal entrances into the gardens. Link to drawings: https://designthesis.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/wong-chiang-hers-old-town-botanic-gardens/Support the showDo subscribe for premium content and special features which will help to support and sustain Talk Architecture podcast on a more in-depth explanation on design thesis and processes. These special commentaries and ‘how to’ explanations are valuable insights and knowledge not found elsewhere!