zlgdesign

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:54:00 +0000

the recent ong siew may lecture series held in singapore took a turn when zlg presented this building. the conversation went off on an interesting tangent when we talked about sustainability in a way that was different. for us sustainability meant we could keep the look and feel of a building for a very much longer time, without having to do strange things to it, like destructive building extensions or modifications. this is one of the very latest images of the challenge park skate centre, showing how the most simple elements are used, without too much concern for decoration. the strong geomtery of the roof and the slender columns allow for such modifications that would not take the design concept away from it.

www.zlgdesign.com

sir peter cook lecture tour of asia

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:38:00 +0000

the sir peter cook lecture is now closed for bookings. we are very thankful to all of you who have come to support this event, we are over subscribed by at least 100 persons, so our thanks to all colleges and universities who have generously sponsored their students to come to this great design event. most of all thanks to andrew james of populous who in the first place has agreed to underwrite this event to enable malaysians to enjoy sir peter's talk.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Huat LIM worked for Lord Foster, Zaha Hadid and the late Ron Herron in the eighties in London and then later moved to Nimes and Lyons in France to work for Francois-Jourda Perraudin Architectes in France. Huat trained at the Architectural Association London under the tutorship of Sir Peter Cook, before moving on to work for Lord Foster in 1984, and is now registered member of the Architect Registration Council of the UK since 1987. Huat taught briefly at the Bartlett London, with Sir Peter Cook and David Dunster. Huat LIM has been employed to work on very large and complex buildings, a career spanning over 22 years, principally at Lord Foster’s London’s Stansted Airport, the Nimes Mediateque Museum, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank's HQ at Canary Wharf [originally designed for a speculative office during a design competition with Ken Shuttleworth], the Masterplan for King’s Cross Redevelopment, and later at Imagination Limited’s Jubilee Line Extension for London [with the late Ron Herron of Archigram fame]. During this period Huat worked with Imagination Limited's Gary White and the famous Roland Paoletti who hailed from Hongkong's Railway Authority.

Back in Asia after some 12 years abroad in London, Nimes and Lyons, Huat worked on GDP’s Asia Broadcasting Centre [very fast track USD 45 million broadcasting studio project built under 10 months] and their NTV7 Radio and Television Studios. Huat was also engaged to work with design teams to win Ken Yeang’s Singapore National Library Competition and LDY’s entry for the Xian International Airport Competition. Huat's main contribution to zlgdesign profile is with the avenueK and Kenanga Wholesale City project.

Susanne ZEIDLER hails from Frankfurt and studied art history before her postgraduate term at the Staedle Schule under the tutorship of Professor Peter COOK, and later at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London. Susanne moved to Malaysia in 1992, and now lives in Kuala Lumpur and is Executive Director and Senior Partner at zlgdesign. Her most significant contribution to zlgdesign is the BOH Visitor Centre which has since won wide public recognition. Susanne is no less of an architect than she is a designer, having delivered most of the interior design projects for the firm, namely the I-Zen, Puncak Dana and the MK Land Interiors and Show Unit designs. Her training in London after a stint in Germany at the Frankfurtschule under the tutorship of Sir Peter Cook of Archigram fame, has given her an interesting edge through her very broad but yet distinctive cultural style to her work at zlgdesign.

Susanne was instrumental in the delivery of the BOH Visitor Centre. her many months on site helped put together a very unique and unusual solution to the external cladding of this long and narrow building, which has since won the Barbara Cappochin Award from Padova, Italy and the recently issued Cityscape Singapore Real Estate Corporate Building Award for its Sustainable and Responsible Construction.

www.zlgdesign.com | philosophy

promenade

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:33:00 +0000

view of the external taken from entrance, showing facade designs

this is clearly a low to medium cost development, scheduled to go on the market sometime early next year. currently the density needs to be brought down to about 350 units to the entire project. the land area is about 10 acres, the site enjoys proximity to a thick forest, and lush greenery. there was also no denying the fact the site is extremely difficult, very tight and has limited access.

www.zlgdesign.com

sustainable development primer

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:11:00 +0000

An Approach

Any enterprise who is an internationally recognised brand must embrace a quality system for their product. This primer is to be derived from a strong philosophy. Their approach for a green development must be all encompassing, including the appointment and selection of all experts and specialists engaged for any of their project. To this end the developer or Enterprise must engage specialist teams assigned to undertake such programmes as sustainability developments must signal an equally elaborate and sophisticated approach methodology in their Implementation.

Enterprise need to take a long view in terms of their development [product] to culminate in deliverables of the highest quality. Their long term plan in terms of manifestation of all their projects may commence perhaps with this Primer.

Picking the Right Team

A fundamental resource for this primer will be the choicest Project Manager. They make or break the scheme of things and will be key to the master framework for setting up intelligence at various levels for the rest of the team, being their sub-consultants, and also other experts to be employed or engaged for more detailed designs, for instance harnessing wind if anything or recycling ground or brown water. The Project Manager necessarily oversees the appointment of all consultants and advises on the overall programme strategy and objectives. They also make recommendations to enhance design quality from the start, as well as protecting the interest of the Enterprise as their Client, including the demarcation and outline of all planning and architectural aesthetics and general artistic direction of the specified products within the development. All prerequisite Endorsements and Certification [culminating in a Design Guide or Quality Manual] of all presribed activities will have been properly managed and guaranteed. Such considerations will give rise to a sound investment on the part of the Developer or Investor, if not for the households and communities benefiting from it.

Adopting a New Philosophy

Our natural resources are fast depleting. Luxury is to be measured in the new terms, i.e. open space is no longer considered wasteful, rather a measure of success, a new paradigm in town and country planning. Significantly we are aiming at returning the park concept to neighbourhoods. Open space and high density are designed to be mutually beneficial as we find tall buildings fast becoming a formula for a quality urban design strategy - without question. We need to write into our Design Guides that development parcels must adopt high rise buildings, as many as possible. With this increased density, we emphasize the resultant open space and parkland as key features to the Scheme. Cash flow benefits to adopting this strategy are obvious, as indeed the reduced footprint or plinth area, yet another bonus to the development. As Project efficiency rises, and the site deterioration is brought to minimum we have the beginnings of a new philosophy to the business of delivering development products at the scale that all enterprise must aspire to embark upon. The second equally important agenda for the project is one of delivering the framework but not the finish products. This is an environmentally sound investment plan for both developer as well as investor. The final definition is held by end user, the masterplan is defined in its final form by actuality and not design.

About Being Green

This primer can benefit any developer in terms of measurable impacts on the environment from the word go. In business terms it is already very substantial what developments such as this can contribute to a corporation's positioning in the global market. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development will define how such activities and projects can add to the overall management of world resources abut more precisely the communities and households derived from such development. A fundamental change must immediately take place for the business operations side as well as how they wish to be perceived and how they wish the development to work as a marketing tool for their larger vision of embracing the green policy. One of the ways to promote this ideology is to use recyclable materials and engage only the most sustainable materials in every aspect of construction from start to finish. An urban Design Guide is adopted to control the implementation of all buildings for all future developments.

Another good reason why this blueprint or primer can make a big difference is the underlying concept of letting Nature inform the any or all of the built work that is to be derived from the masterplan. The built form and the supporting infrastructure of the plan makes borrowing everything from Nature essential to best protect any investment. What is to be achieved in a green masterplan is the experience and not the design.

Implementation is Everything

It is extremely important to ascertain from the onset that the mix must have been well investigated and researched to deliver the commercial aims of the Development. Each product within the masterplan must have been well defined, by economists but also Architects and Designers, and then programmed carefully to be delivered to as prescribed in a project schedule [in which other term is known as phased]. Here is actually the crux: The success of the masterplan is simply its execution, more than its concept, reflecting a an exacting calculated form at each phase of the work, delivered to condition the development to achieve a certain density at the right time, and a certain flavour or character at any one given time. This is how it needs to be phased, not against some commercial agenda, although strictly speaking this is also a note-worthy consideration. They are not at all mutually exclusive. Demographic studies and physiological and other socio-ecological maps of the development are tracked and retraced until final stages of the development has been accomplished. This so called Blueprint is time mapped and appraised through a development wide design manual and development guide, serving as a monitoring device throughout all of the implementation phase. We also expect each phase to morph and evolve almost organically and with measured and calculated unpredictability. If the masterplan achieves its target prematurely so much the better. If we exceed its target any given time, whereas the built form or the urban plan has not achieved the final stages of completion as planned, the project would have reached maturity in advance of its due completion, and this would be totally acceptable result. At each phase of the work the project data is fed back into an intelligence programme which decides its final fate, whose form we can expect to differ greatly from the original.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:43:00 +0000

lee residence seen from neighbouring lot

zlgdesign is pleased to advise we now have over 115,ooo unique readers of our blog at wordpress. We hope to keep everyone updated soon with site photographs of several new projects, the most recently completed work is the Lee Residence and Challenge Park.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:13:00 +0000

a late evening view

This instant we are exploring bravely with our good clients to next steps towards making point 92 a white gleaming sculpture, opaline, and glittering with light. Not yet completely resolved is the external lighting: we continue to explore white light, and we investigate internal lighting for the elevated courtyard, the other iconic feature of this humble office building. The approach level, aligned to the arrival point is most brightly illuminated to mark the main entrance.

www.zlgdesign.com

lee residence

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:34:00 +0000

view from neighbouring lots
©2008.zlgdesign

David Lee residence is one of those smaller but more important projects we do simply because of the opportunity to test ideas, and also to put forth a theory for colours, materials and their compositional complexity that can be reduced to a more simple form. Built to a very tight budget, the projects demonstrates how typical residential buildings can be made to look totally ordered without losing their charm as complex structures with complex design briefs, in particular private houses. This 5,000 sqft bungalow will be a leased property, designed to meet with a very broad market expectations without loosing its unique personality. Now already in the second year of construction, the project is looking very reductive in design, completely devoid of any 'stylistic' notions, completely in keeping wth the spirit of making his a simple, budget conscious, natural finished minimal piece of work.

www.zlgdesign.com

point92

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:36:00 +0000

point92 has been modelled on fundamental elements, one of which consist of a balcony shared between many floors of office space. The white cladding is finished in great contrast to the more natural and vegetated external space, carved out of this luminous envelope. As many as 6 floors have a view of this vertical space, in which animated lighting can be introduced and much outdoor activities can take place, a grand break out area, protected from the elements by rainscreen and such like cladding designs. To eliminate the need to bend the floors the planting strategy for this area takes the form of a simple potted tree, or a bench, which can be rotated and re-arranged at will; plants are located to face west.

www.zlgdesign.com

climbing centre

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:44:00 +0000

the climbing centre facade openings
©2008.zlgdesign

As we proceed to add the internal finishes and make good repairs and tidying up the M/E we see the building slowly completing in phases, the ceiling is undergoing review for enhancements of the specifications, and we are also tending to the need to place plants and more external lighting in readiness for operations to come into place. The facade looks incredibly white and bright from the lightweight blockwork [CSR panels] that used for the skin of the climbing hall. Horizontal slots seen from afar are vents mounted flush to the wall, these serve to let fresh air and daylight to come through to the hall, whereas some are for natural ventilation in case the air conditioning system is turned off at off peak hours to save energy.

back to main page | www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:39:00 +0000

skatepark entrance now lit up and ready
for nighttime activities
©2008.zlgdesign

At this time we are seeing the electrification of all the buildings an surrounding landscape, and also installation of the skate bowl and the specialist works. Interior decoration and Fit out works to the offices and administrative rooms are underway, and the final touches to internal building signages commence in the next weeks. The bold articulation of the eaves remain a pronounced feature of the building and th eslender columns amplify the philosophy of keeping everthig minimal and bare.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:59:00 +0000

view from across the highway approaching the town centre
©2008.zlgdesign

Point 92's latest edition, white armadillo, or however we wish to name it, has a large interconnecting void that offers lush greenery and landscaped courtyards that slowly climb around the corner of the building. These are break out areas , planted with trees, that are to be used as roof terraces. From here it is possible for engineers to design systmes to bring in fresh air for a naturally ventilated atmospheric condition. The 'hole' is made large enough to be seen from afar, we think at night it can be lit by a number of different ways.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:40:00 +0000

Point 92 now to be named 'porcupine" or otherwise the armadillo, is lovingly seen from the running tracks and jogging trails surrounding the still green neighbourhood of damansara perdana, one of the last remaining enclave in petaling jaya offering very high quality investments for retail and commercial buildings. The sales target are very high but we can expect good publicity from this eye-popping 'iconic' design. Some have called this the Gucci Handbag....

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:13:00 +0000

night view of skatepark: entrance steps
©2008.zlgdesign

At night we see the effect of the ceiling floating above the open plan of the skate park. The columns have been designed to be as slender as possible, supporting the lightweight metal roof. Lighting consists of randomly placed fixtures recessed into waterproofed cement boards.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:11:00 +0000

image of point92 with
elevated courtyards ©2008.zlgdesign

Whilst we work towards tightening the budget on this project a new direction has evolved: to cut out facade for areas where we don't really need it and enhance the presence of balconies and elevated external terraces on the elevation. This is likely to bring down construction costs, but more importantly it should also reduce heat build up inside these tall atriums given that we do not wish to use any form of mechanical fans or venting systems to provide convective cooling to these areas.

Carving out the atrium into the building block as is now the case brings about better internal lighting, and should furhter reduce glare, and help cut electricity consumption greatly due to the deeper penetration of daylight into the floor plans.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:35:00 +0000

The simple 11 storey high skin of point92 is shown here made from small panels of three different materials; wood, glass and cement boards are arranged randomly on a metallic frame. The total facade area of 8,000 sqm will be articulated with multi-storey atriums and high ceilinged voids and vast balconies beyond this layer of glass and wood. Estimated cost is around USD 100 per m2.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:32:00 +0000

Onyx is a new tower with 5-storey specialty retail podium, rising to nearly 40 stories, the tower will house boutique hotel-managed offices with KLCC views. Accessible from 5 minutes walk from the Petronas Towers and the nearby LRT Stations of KLCC and Jalan Sultan Ismail. The prestigious location gaurantees explicit identity and exposure to retailers and office workers alike. The targetted podium retail revenue and GDV comes close to USD60 million. The open plan offices will be let and managed by hospitality managers offering the best services in the region.

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:53:00 +0000

kresidence facade detail: photo taken 2008

Kresidence has a very finely detailed facade design comprising two layers of transparent glazing at full height. The top part above the penthouse is an elegant layer in aluminium louvres to conceal water tanks and services. Perforated facade skins allow apartment living rooms to open out to the wide balconies outside offering great views to KLCC Petronas Towers and the surrounding cityscape. Glazing material is adequately soundproofed, and reflective in some parts. The soffit is of cement boards, painted RAL 9010 white, with recessed ceiling lights.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:08:00 +0000

Parcel one celebrates nature in all forms, vast open terraces, leisurely covered forested walkways and secret gardens, some more elevated some sunken and more intimate than others. Four majestic towers offer views into the centre stage of kenny heights a celebrated design comprising elegant drop-off points and the signature piazza, iconic in its landscaping concept simply because it is powerful enough to pull together upto 70 acres of high density developments. Parcel one is perhaps the only development with a terraced car park structure with more than 600 metres worth of brilliantly designed elevation, carved and undulated on all the three sides, the roofs bending and folding to let daylight into the lower decks where over 1200 cars are parked, needing very little wayfinding devices, but also able to frame views into other immediately adjoining parcels in particular the hospitality and retail segments. Such is the excitement of this development given its curvilinear plan and geometry.

White and crystalline glass and facade details emanate sophisticated ivory-like towers, the paired tower arrangement greets the arriving visitor and resident with symmetrical grandeur, the gentle sweeping of the ingress routes take a gradually rising road network around the extremities to arrive quickly at the lobbies, whereupon public realm begins to engage the open landscape. Centred on this lushly vegetated deck are pools of water, and twin daylighting eyelids, soft mounds and folds of greenery that shape the receding and blurred edge of the deck, altogether making this no less a forest in its own right. sculpted pieces and old banyan trees mark the otherwise spare landscape.

High spec lifts take residents up the towers, all rising to no less than 250 metres, a mix of medium sized apartments and super penthouses with private pools and resort ensuite master bedrooms, accessible directly from the ground floor. Upto 5 lifts serve each tower, total privacy is gauranteed to all of the units, some with more than one access. Many units enjoy living rooms with panaromic views of up to 12m of glazing, whereas others enjoy double height glazing of the most impressive proportions. the end units boasts all round views, every room has a view, every room a master suite in its own right. No two apartments are exactly alike, the unit mix guarantees that each investment bears unsurpassed individuality, design and character.

www.zlgdesign.com

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:44:00 +0000

PutraJaya's Skate Park has a roof-line ridge design that is made from steel channel, welded connection, painted and mechanically fixed to roof edge. Slender columns support the big roof, with white painted cement board soffits. Much of the entrance is kept very simple with wash aggregate and cement finishes applied to almost all of the visible surfaces including ramps and the steps leading to the elevated arrival point.

zlgdesign | challenge park | main page

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:25:00 +0000

The ramp leading up to the elevated levels of the skate park looks into an arrival area with high ceilings, with the car park drop off and entrance to the right. Early photos show the planting of trees as part of the larger landscape strategy to reinstate all of the trees removed at the beginning of construction. Sports persons and VIP personnel take the route below this deck through a tunnel leading to the Skate Facility on the opposite side. Beyond this point we see the hills separating this facility from the second building which is the Climbing centre.

www.zlgdesign.com | challengepark | mainpage

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Miri Towers were designed as pair of gateway buildings, each one for separate clients. The boulevard leads to the waterfront city, and will have landscaped streets and recreational activities throughout its entire length. The towers are designed to be green, the upper levels open up to terraces and decks that have lush trees and courtyards planted to give a natural forest ambiance. The towers are designed also with a high ceiling for the recption floor with an immaculately detailed soffit whose designs are inspried from the hull and keel of boats.

mainpage | zlgdesign

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:00:00 +0000

zlgdesign was commissioned some years ago to develop the Waterfront Project for the Miri City of Sarawak. Two twin towers were presented, forming a gateway to the City Centre, the podium has a marked splay to accommodate the base of the 30 storey office towers. The facade has a receding glass line interspersed with heavily bladed louvre walls, rising slowly to a multiple volume penthouse accommodation at the top floors. These premises offer a panaromic view of the city and the new waterfront.

www.zlgdesign.com | mainpage | designmatters

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:59:00 +0000

early 3d study of massing for KResidence and Tower B

We find it so extraordinary that after nearly 8 years working on this project, that people still wonder who actually put the buildings together, and that the question still arises who designed the podium and architecture of the towers. Its also unbelievable how far some people go to disguise facts. Indeed many firms including the Consultants themselves claim to be the designers. We are puzzled, and equally amused.

zlgdesign worked on the original Wong and Ouyang Scheme from 2001, and ever since the proejct never looked the same. One only has to review the locations of the lifts shafts, the styling of the facades and also the internal workings of the podium plan and the tower configuration and styling of the shape of the towers themselves. zlgdesign added two new entracen canopies and also removed and deleted the skylight for the podium and added two new floors above for the Spa and the recreational facilities for the two towers. At this time we worked with Christian Liaigre for the preliminary layouts, and Morita for the Showroom.

Massing studies from the beginning resolved to make both towers similar in fenestration but different in fenestration and final detail of glazing. We wanted KResidence to be generally white and creamy, whereas for the Hotel on Tower B the skin can probably take on a very transparent facade, but not with move-able or retractable screens, with possibility for colours and patterning. The podium on the other hand has a louvred wall with a powder coat finish.

avenue K | zlgdesign | home

huatlim@gmail.com (huatlim) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:21:00 +0000

@2005.zlgdesign:view of the atrium

Avenue K's most immediately recognisable feature is its white floor, conceptualised to promote a museum like feel to the whole building, beautifully finished in resin white RAL 9010 tone, with power float hardener and aggregate imported from the UK, selected in accordance to a durable colour pallette. The glazed "shop-fronts" lend themselves to becoming a video wall, designed for larger than life projection of animated films and cinematic images in the near future. The 17m tall atrium also looks up to a precision jet black perforated metal ceiling, designed in collaboration with master builder Shinwa Metals. The ground floor currently connects to the neighbouring KLCC Petronas Towers underground Light Rail Transit station.

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