zlgdesign

Point92

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:08:00 +0000

Simply named after the size of the site itself, this formidable building perches on a sloped site, overlooking Damansara Perdana and its ribbons of roads. The punctuated façade is similar to all of ZLG Design’s works and that is not to say that the appeal is lost. In fact, the play of ambience through the incorporation of day lighting with façade treatment is a tried and true timeless aesthetic, as are the impeccable play of materials the architects are known for. “Although the brief called for office development, we had this idea that much of the work place products that are available today had not played creatively on issues the likes of day lighting, ambience and materiality of the façade,” says Huat Lim, Managing Director of zlgdesign. “Instead, nearly all office developments emphasise efficiency and maximum density as overriding concerns and aims over design and aesthetics , let alone their simple functionality in terms of critical ambience and spatial plan.”

Staying true to their intention of creating an ambience that includes the context to the inside of the building, visitors will get to experience a breathtaking view of Damansara Perdana as they arrive at the lobby through a slowly rising escalating step way above the drop off. The arrival deck allows visitors to drink in the view by providing randomly placed precast concrete benches that encourages respite while wooden lanterns with marine plywood ceilings buttoned tightly against a raw concrete under croft creates a soothing canopy. The reception desk with a pandomo recessed and undulating rebated wall greets the visitor and reminds them of the graphics and geometry of the building’s façade walls.

“As an office plan, the generating feature of the floor plate is in fact a cut-out space which comprises of several levels of voids connected through gardens and meshes of vertical planting. The centre support column is braced to either side with different thickness of beams each corresponding to different floor forces framing the vertical space that is the garden,” explains Huat Lim. There is also a special screen that rises several levels in the façade and made of layers of greenery supported on a series of steel wire ropes pulled between the floors. The terraces beyond the screen is specially lit and designed grandly to give the viewers from outside a peep into the garden, adding an ethereal touch of a floating mysterious garden within a floating building by the hillside.

To overcome the problem of building on a slope, the design opted for Lafarge cement to create an in situ concrete wall instead of the usual precast concrete solutions. “Not only was it necessary to use metal formwork in sets to meet with a target schedule, we were also informed of the uniformity issues if the façade was casted in regular sequences. Hence the randomly casted sequence.” Huat Lim adds. To give better moment connections and easy casting as well as minimise bulging and honey-combing of the surface concrete, part of the floor slabs had to be casted together with the wall elements. Elegantly rising from the slopes, the slanting walls in the façade continues the natural geometry of the site while the rectangular punctuations complement the ever developing built environment in Damansara Perdana. Light permeating through the punctured façade promises a soothing and safe ambience, highlighted further by the backing hills as well as the warm and raw colours of the chosen materials and finishes. There is no denying that this is a much anticipated addition to the trendy workplaces that seem to centralise upon this hilly area.

Courtesy SPACE magazine @2012

Venice architecture biennale

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:46:00 +0000

The vessel (final draft)

Malacca surprisingly enough draws many parallels to Venice. The water body surrounding the peninsula of old Malaya has brought about the congruence of cultures to come together and manifest in the voices of today's artisans, craftsmen and architects - a tapestry that is now the modern architectural feat that is both Malacca and Venice. Our Straits of Malacca echoes the Grand Canal in trade, history and spiritual growth in the realms of culture, finance and the arts.

The Rialto Bridge mirrors its wonderful cousin - the wooden bridge in old Malacca. During the Portuguese occupation days, royal warriors once fought here. This modern day world class tourist destination was famously known as a point of many contentious and vigorous trades. Similarly the arsenals of Venice, once a defence mechanism at the now famously visited Arsenale – is a station and laboratory for tremendous artistic expressions, ideas and the ‘raison d'être’ for this architectural exposition in Venice. An event that commands creative individuals to issue their contemporary voices, Malacca similarly echoes this in its own history of Dutch, British and Portuguese influence which spurred into Malaysia's multicultural and multilingual identity. Traveller and trader alike, the Venice of Asia begets today's fine art and modern expressions in both a cultural and intellectual sense. We see this as the common ground of any form of architecture. Both Malacca and Venice are similar in nature in their respective diverse history and critical cultural contribution to their nations.

The evolution of maritime architecture in both historical cities resonates in the marine and wooden materials selected for the Malaysian installation – a structure to anchor, protect and capture the individuality of 30 Malaysians. Ruskin's diary written in 1840s Venice, reminds us of the fundamentals and foundations of architecture through his essay ‘The Seven Lamps of Architecture’. Our core theme of Voices verbalises the four of the ‘Lamps’ – Sacrifice in presence at the Biennale, Truth in the choice of natural materials – wood, Life in the craftsmanship of the exhibit and Memory of the relationship and common ground Malacca and Venice share. It is through our Noah’s Ark that we express our desire to collectively cultivate and regard creativity at any place and time. The vessel represents the travelling echo of voices – sailing across boundaries and differences, from one vessel to another through intellectual waters to propose knowledge, intelligence and philosophical truths for those who seek to embrace and enjoy.

Our voices are captured in a small but unified floating vessel, elevated to give way for water to pass below and the journey continues as Venice receives our ideas through the exchange of voices. Through trade and exchange of past and present, we find Sir David Chipperfield's quest for common ground.

written by huatlim for the creative team
Biennale (malaysia)

kenanga taxi stand

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:34:00 +0000

The design for the taxi stand at kenanga was not only unusual it did not meet any of the aesthetic criteria set down by the local authority. It took a lot of effort to convince not only the officers at the municipal but our own clients who saw no benefit in designing something different. We must have fought everyone in the team, including the QS, the structural engineer, the main contractor, the end user, the facade department of dbkl, everyone including the road and drainage department of kuala lumpur. There were accusations that zlg were delaying the project, in fact the client battled to rid of this design initially. They even took sides with the authority! What a tiresome exercise this was and how incredibly difficult it is to propose the simplest things sometimes. How we feel it so important that the general public take more learned awareness towards their environment, all of the built forms that surround them in their lives and that they cannot allow antiquity and ancient laws hold meaning back from their reality of good and simple design.

So whatever it is that makes this a sustainable design comparable if not in fact superior to what is in the books ouhgt o be made known to all. Foremost its all concrete, so its not nuclear science, and its also totally maintenance free, there is no skylight (we had it before) or tediously but poorly detailed glass panels anywhere, no rust prone metal balustrades posing corrosion issues, no metal deck roof, no unsightly plastic rainwater downpipes or unnecessary roof gutters and no costly waterproofing membranes to maintain or worry about and ghastly black gaskets or unsightly silicon joints (associated with glazing work) to this design. Surely the authorities can appreciate this approach if what seems to be of their concern is vandalism and poor upkeep or maintenance.

The best part is it costs a fraction of what is already out there, and takes no science to build it. Just a lot of passion and faith.

kenanga facade

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Study for kenanga facade involves a number of decisions pertaining size of openings and thickness of the precast grc panels. We were also aware that in some areas the holes are glazed and in many of them they remain open to the elements thereby attracting other limitations. It was necessary to think of ways to discharge incoming water and also grime and dirt from outside.

In the longer elevation we can see the first lower rows of facade responding more to retail lots thereby being more closed up whereas toward the top, just before the roof we had to keep the windows or openings totally open for ventilation for the car park floors.

kenanga

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:11:00 +0000

The lower ground floor of the kenanga building boasts an f/b area filled with light and endowed with vertical planting wall. The street and pedestrian walk ways look into this space whereas the shops on this level similarly looks into the surrounding buildings beyond the street.

kenanga

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:42:00 +0000

The facade started as a grid of openings casted into a series of solid reinforced concrete panels. Each panel is secured mechanically to rc columns and floor slabs and lifted into place and assembled in situ sealed and grouted all round the edges. A total of 1600 panels were assembled in this way for the facade.

kenanga

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:43:00 +0000

the elevated car park in the kenanga wholesale city (KWC) project is on 7 levels above ground and they serve more than 1600 car parking bays. The external facade is a perforated concrete wall made from precast grc and are mechanically fixed to rc columns and steel posts which are prefabricated and fixed between floor slabs. This building is in fact as tall as a 23 storey structure. It was completed within 30 months from concept design to the finished building. It has more than 800,000 sqft of lettable floor and at least 300 lots of retailers. The total GFA is approximately 1 million sq feet.

maple residence

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:57:00 +0000

House remodeling with new linear kitchen and boutique furniture (if there is such a thing) placed centrally to a merged living and dining and kitchen space. Polished concrete and calcium silicate floor treatment.

kenanga

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:43:00 +0000

Kenaga lower ground detail with f&b lots opening to a terrace with vertical planting. This space is directly accessible from public walkways on the ground floor.

the promenade

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:28:00 +0000

A masterplan study and redevelopment of a parkland with sloping ground in east malaysia. Approach road enters a plateau and an elevated reinforced concrete deck offering views into distant valleys. Low density residential property with precast concrete walls and block work facade with custom openings throughout the elevations.

kenny heights

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:09:00 +0000

masterplan for 100 acre kenny heights redevelopment comprising low density housing and commercial hub, located opposite the istana negara (royal palace).

commercial and arts centre

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:58:00 +0000

A recent study from last year for a modern commercial hub next to pavilion kuala lumpur for an international school, an arts centre and a retail development.

zlgdesign new palette

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:49:00 +0000

we return to our original plywood house palette for the office design. Conceptually a library and laboratory and studio rolled into one, a rustic conservatory and science lab merging together.

grass hotel

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:11:00 +0000

Grass hotel is located right across from klcc twin towers this could be ten minutes walk. It will bear signature raw concrete grc precast panels with geometrical patterns and shapes and plenty of vertical planting. The base houses 250 parking bays of car park an elevator parking system we will design together with korean engineers. The footprint is extremely tight making this an impossible site for a great reception, generator set rooms and refuse chambers all on the same level.

phoebe house: we do residences too

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:04:00 +0000

The phoebe house is perhaps our best example of like minded people don't think alike and unlike minded people think alike. Both client and architects are from totally different cultural and intellectual backgrounds but both seem to agree easily on all design fronts and direction and aesthetics for almost every element of the house. Great, we are happy. Lord foster (Norman) used to tell me, architecture is about people.

point92 is nearly ready

noreply@blogger.com (huatlim) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Aren't we the happiest bunch now that the facade of point92 has gone up and up and the concrete envelope seem slowly to complete itself around this 160,000 sqft of office space without much hindrance. We note the white lafarge cement panels will be needing a lot of critical protection against all forms of pollution but we specified formcrete 007 knowing very well it will impregnate and seal the cement. Also now that is has been sold to a oil and gas company we are even more delighted than ever.

sustainability at challenge park

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

We were delighted with the recent ong siew lecture series held in singapore which took a turn when zlg presented this building. The deeply intriguing conversation went off on an interesting tangent when we talked about sustainability in a way that was different. We always wanted very much to embrace sustainability which 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 geometry of the roof and the slender columns allow for such modifications that would not take the design concept away from it.

sir peter cook lecture tour of asia

noreply@blogger.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

noreply@blogger.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

noreply@blogger.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

noreply@blogger.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

zlgdesign blog hits 115,000 readers

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

we now have over 115,000 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.

noreply@blogger.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

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

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

noreply@blogger.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.