project 2 ioi boulevard and jane jacob

CH’NG XING YUE 0310425 THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ARC2224]

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Puchong, a developing township in the Petaling district is linked to Kuala

Lumpur and Putrajaya, the two major capitals of Malaysia. The building studied is IOI

Boulevard which is located at Bandar Puchong Jaya, near to the center of Puchong,

with its front facing the Damansara-Puchong Highway(LDP). IOI Boulevard was

developed by IOI Properties Berhad Group as a commercial development comprises

of entertainment, retails and offices, and was completed in 2010. The building

consists of six blocks with 36 retail outlets and eight storeys office outlets (IOI

Boulevard, n.d.).

Figure 1.1: Puchong interconnecting Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya

(Google, 2015)


Figure 1.2: Location of IOI Boulevard

(Google, 2015)

For this study, the book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by

urban writer and activist Jane Jacobs (Project for Public Spaces, n.d.) is analyzed in

which she stressed on the importance of diversity for a city to be successful

economically and socially. As what Jane Jacobs stated in the conditions for city

diversity, the four conditions she discovered which makes an area successful

economically and pleasant to be in are:

1. The need for mixed primary uses

2. The need for small blocks

3. The need for aged buildings

4. The need for concentration

For further discussion, the three external contributing factors on the architecture

of IOI Boulevard that will be related to the four conditions for city diversity are:

1. Users

2. Economy

3. Circulation


2.0 CONTENT

2.1 Users

In this study, users as an external contributing factor is defined as the

relationship between the users and the uses in IOI Boulevard. In the book, Jacobs

(1961) advocated on the importance of a place having mixed primary uses, serving

more than one main function, to ensure the presence of people on certain common

places on different schedules and purposes. Besides Jacobs (1961) also stressed on

the need for an adequately dense concentration of people regarding their purposes

there. This is because she believed that people are the source contributing to the

liveliness of a place. With a higher concentration of people in an area, a safer place

is created, and wider range of uses and services can be supported (Allen, 2011) as

higher demand leads to higher supply.

Currently, IOI Boulevard comprises mainly of eateries, educational centers,

banking, offices, beauty salons and retail stores. There are also a few special shops

such as pet store, body training centers and music stores. Generally for the building,

offices are more concentrated on the upper floors; retails at the ground floor.

Figure 2.1.1: During lunch and dinner hours

In Figure 2.1.1, blue represents less active spaces and orange represent

more active space. Due to larger portion of the building consisted of eateries and

offices, the concentration of people at the ground floor level usually peaks during

lunch and dinner time while the offices are quiet due to people leaving for break.

Even though retails placed at the upper floors keep the upper floors with the

presence of people, yet the concentration of it is not enough compared to the

amount of office outlets.


Figure 2.1.2: During non-peak hours

Figure 2.1.3: Most shops being inactive for the most of the day

Figure 2.1.4: Certain shops close during daytime due to low concentration of people

(Ch’ng, 2015)


Figure 2.1.5: Higher concentration of people at bank

(Ch’ng, 2015)

As seen in Figure 2.1.2, offices are occupied during working hours,

meanwhile most of the ground floor retails are inactive due to low concentration of

people. Only certain parts of the building where the banks and coffee shops are,

have higher flow of people throughout the daytime. This creates an uneven spread of

human flow throughout the day, causing certain parts of the building to be dull and

quiet for most of the time. Hence many spaces are underused, and mob scenes to

happen during peak hours.


Figure 2.1.6: During night time

Figure 2.1.7: Only certain areas of the building are active at night

Figure 2.1.8: Pedestrian walkways were quiet and deserted at night

(Ch’ng, 2015)

After dinner time at night, only places such as bars are active. This leads to most of

the building in an unutilized state as shown in Figure 2.1.6 and most spaces seem

dead and unsafe even with the 24-hours security patrol and CCTV surveillance.


Figure 2.1.9: The atrium of IOI Boulevard constantly in an underused state.

(Ch’ng, 2015)

Through observations, the atrium area of IOI Boulevard named the Palette, is

the main wasted asset which could be used to draw in people. The lack of diversity

of shops in the atrium area to the shops at the external perimeter of IOI Boulevard,

and the sight of empty space result in less people wanting to turn into the area thus it

acts mainly as a corridor for passerby (Allen, 2011) to their desired destinations

somewhere else.

More variety of retails should be available to increase the attractiveness of the

place, giving people more choices and reasons to go to IOI Boulevard. The variety of

the businesses should not only be in the services they provide, but also the timing of

the users to use it, to create a continuity of users in the building throughout the day.

Moreover, diversity in terms of the primary use of the place reduces the competition

between businesses as each provides different products and services.


2.2 Circulation

Circulation can be understood as the means by which access through and

around a context is provided (Puusepp, 2011). In this study, it is defined as the

accessibility of IOI Boulevard. A building’s circulation can be directed through the

arrangement of its spatial layout and border elements, and are sometimes controlled

to allow different opportunities for movement (Puusepp, 2011), making the spaces

more interesting to walk.

Figure 2.2.1 Walkways in IOI Boulevard

(Ch’ng, 2015)

Figure 2.2.2: Jacobs, J. [Images Explaining Small Blocks]. (1961).The Death and Life of Great

American Cities. NY: Vintage Books.

As seen in Figure 2.2.1, efforts had been done to create a comfortable

walking path throughout IOI Boulevard where there are arcades and wide pedestrian

paths with vegetation and grand entrance statements with fountains. It was intended

to create an inviting space for people to use the building, yet not many stop by in the

building, especially the atrium area. The problem with the building is there are not

many turning points entering the atrium area. This causes the building blocks of IOI

Boulevard to be perceived as two long blocks by users who walk instead of the

actual six building blocks. Thus small and shorter building blocks are needed for


higher turning opportunities and chances to take alternative routes to arrive to the

same destination as suggested by (Jacobs, 1961). By doing so, more commerce can

be created as people will be taking different routes and passing by retails from

different paths (Allen, 2011) as explained in Figure 2.2.2. A higher and better spread

concentration of people can then be induced, keeping the building active.

Figure 2.2.3: Ground floor plan of IOI Boulevard

Backlane Access to lift lobby

Walking path


Figure 2.2.4: First floor plan

Even though in Figure 2.2.3 the blocks seem to be broken down on the

ground floor plan with many accesses, but the circulation is actually vertical upwards

as these access leads to either the basement car park or the upper floors rather than

to other parts of the building of the same floor. Such planning eases the users with

the close proximity of each lift lobby placed from one another. However the

disadvantage of having such duplex design is, it hinders people on the upper floors

from walking to other adjacent shops on the same level due to the obstruction by the

common wall.


Figure 2.2.5: The turning point only acts as an access into the basement parking

(Ch’ng, 2015)

Because of the long block design, to travel from one shop to another shop,

one is forced to take a long route around the perimeter of the building as shown in

Figure 2.2.3 (in purple). This restrict the movement of people from inside out, or

outside inwards, inhibiting the permeability of the building. As a result, the will of

people to walk around exploring the shops in the building is reduced due to

inconveniency. This explains that even when different primary uses are very near to

each other geographically, practically they are blocked off from each other due to

them not being able to mix together effectively (Jacobs, 1961).

Figure 2.2.6: The deserted entrance during daytime and people passing by

(Google, 2015)


Figure 2.2.7: The circulatory relationship between IOI Boulevard and the adjacent roads

As seen in the ground floor plan in Figure 2.2.3, the main entryway into the

atrium area is through the two main entrances. The position of the main entrances

facing two of the major roads (indicated in purple in Figure 2.2.7) in the area makes it

worse as the high volume of cars creates a boundary to the pedestrians coming from

the perpendicular directions. People from the surrounding prefer to walk following the

direction of the roads(indicated in red in Figure 2.2.7) instead of turning into the

seemingly dull atrium, making the entrances serve as a corridor connecting one

block to the other rather than an entry into the atrium area. Hence the atrium area is

discrete and isolated from the circulation outside. As a result, the alfresco retails at

the outer perimeter of the building to be more successful than the retails in the atrium

area, which close down or being replaced more frequently.

IOI Boulevard

Front

entrance

Back

entrance


2.3 ECONOMY

The study on economy is defined as how the economic factors influence the

business and vibrancy of IOI Boulevard. Through observations over the years, shop

lots in the building tend to change ownership quite frequently. This could be

explained through the high rental price as IOI Boulevard is considered a new

construction, and the lack of concentration of people throughout the building. This

proves Jacob’s idea of the need for an area to have buildings varying in age and

condition, especially old buildings with lower values (Jacobs, 1961). Aged buildings

are crucial because it enables economic possibilities and creates a sense of place

for the area. At the same time, the affordability of aged buildings also encourages

new businesses to emerge (Jacobs, 1961). With the emergence of new and different

businesses, only will a place be vibrant and constantly renewing itself.

Figure 2.3.1: Selling and rental signs can be seen around IOI Boulevard

Figure 2.3.2: Shops being replaced

(Ch’ng, 2015)


In IOI Boulevard, businesses that have stood still for years are mostly larger

enterprises such as chain stores, chain restaurants, and banks as these businesses

are well subsidized and have high profit making them able to afford the costs of new

construction (Jacobs, 1961) compared to smaller individually owned business. To

quote one of Jane Jacob’s famous line, "Old ideas can sometimes use new

buildings. New ideas must use old buildings" (Jacobs, 1961, p.188). The line

explains how a new and creative business or idea needs the freedom to experiment

and because it is new, the possibility of the business not being able to borrow much

money for a startup from financial institutions is higher. The high cost of new

construction also increases the risks taken by business starters, making it harder for

new ideas to evolve and grow through trials and errors. On the other hand, older

buildings depreciate hence a lower income is needed for a business to sustain itself,

increasing the chances of survival for new businesses.

Figure 2.3.3: More lively street of the older buildings(right) compared to IOI Boulevard(left)

(Google, 2015)


Figure 2.3.4: Older nearby shop lots full with customers

(Ch’ng, 2015)

Due to IOI Boulevard being a newer construction compared to the

surrounding buildings, the price of products and services generally cost more than

the older businesses in the area. Therefore the amount of customers in the

restaurants at IOI Boulevard is lower than the restaurants of the neighboring shop

lots during peak hours. Usually only bars are the active ones at night, as IOI

Boulevard mainly serves people with higher income yields. During night time,

restaurants in the building do not have much flow of people as most people in the

area preferred to hangout in cheaper neighboring places with more crowds. This

contributes to the problem of limiting the people that actually visit the building,

discouraging the diversity of people in ages and incomes to use the building.


3.0 CONCLUSION

IOI Boulevard is not considered a complete failure as over the years, the

replacement of shops has created more diversity in the types of businesses and

services. This is actually an evolutionary process of the building merging to the need

of the neighborhood. Even so, changes has to be done in order to attract mass of

people into the building and ensure the building intermingles the users and uses.

Figure 3.1: The atrium of Publika on a weekday night

(Ch’ng, 2015)

In an article, Kent (2009) stated a place has to evolve continuously to remain

relevant to the context and to be a desirable hang out spot, contributing to the vitality

of everyday life of the local community. As a suggestion, more public events should

be held in the atrium of IOI Boulevard on a regular basis, as what Publika (Figure

3.1) has been doing for years and succeeded in it. By doing so, more people could

be brought into the atrium making the building livelier and the retails in the atrium

area to have more potential customers. More importantly, it binds people socially and

creates a sense of place to the locals and continues attracting people after their first

visit by creating an impression of being an exciting place.

It can clearly be seen that the four conditions for diversity proposed by Jane

Jacobs are crucial in determining the success of a place and are each correlated;

one condition by itself could not possibly contributes to the success of a place.

These ideas should be applied in larger scales developments enabling the making of

a healthy city and a better place for the people to live in.

(2363 WORDS)


References

Allen, M. (2011, September 29). Jane Jacobs: Urban Ideas. Retrieved April 20,

2015, from http://urbanspacegallery.ca

Google. (2015). [Map]. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/maps

IOI Boulevard, Bandar Puchong Jaya. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from

http://www.propwall.my/bandar_puchong_jaya/ioi_boulevard/987

Jacobs, J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. NY: Vintage Books.

Jacobs, J. [Images Explaining Small Blocks]. (1961). The Death and Life of Great

American Cities. NY: Vintage Books.

Kent, F. (2009, August 18). Moving Beyond the "Smackdown" Towards an

Architecture of Place. Retrieved from http://www.pps.org/blog/moving-beyond-the-

smackdown-towards-an-architecture-of-place/

Project for Public Spaces. (n.d.). Jane Jacobs. Retrieved from http://www.pps.org

Puusepp, R. (2011). Generating circulation diagrams for architecture and urban

design using multi-agent systems (Doctoral dissertation, University of East London,

London, England).

Theedgeproperty.com. (2009, January 21). Winds of change at IOI properties.

Retrieved from http://www.theedgeproperty.com/my/content/winds-change-ioi-

properties

project 2 ioi boulevard and jane jacob

Education

architecture of ioi

higher concentration

dense concentration

presence of people

chng xing yue

introduction puchong

center of puchong

city diversity