Project Part 2: Comparative Analysis Essay

Student Name: Patricia Kong Weng Yee

Student ID: 0315837

Tutor’s Name: Mr. Nicholas Ng

Date of Submission: 28.11.2016

THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND

URBANISM

(ARC61303 / ARC 2224)

Introduction of Site 1: Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur

Petaling Street, known as Chee Cheong kai by locals, is a famous street located in

Kuala Lumpur, which is known for its haggling culture. The street is usually crowded

with locals as well as tourists especially in the Petaling Street Flea Market. Located in

a medium sized commercial, educational and residential district, the street has dozens

of restaurants and food stalls which serves most local favourite dishes.

Figure 1: Location of Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur

It was originally centered on Market Square which is located at Jalan Tun H. S. Lee.

It was popular in the olden days as the land there was higher than the rest of the town

and was therefore less prone to floods.

Petaling Street has various landmarks. Well – known landmarks that are visible are

the entrances of Petaling Street Flea Market which is also known as “Green Dragon”

due to its wave – like roof structure. Build in the year 2003, the street is pedestrianized

and is transformed into a pedestrian shopping mall. The street is also regarded as a

heritage site due to its history.

Figure 2: One of the entrances into Petaling Street Flea Market, also known as

‘Green Dragon’

The flea market is considered as one of the contact points as well on the site. This is

due to its ease of transportation access to the bus transit station and the availability of

cabs nearby the street. This helps the connects the people from the commercial district

to the surrounding residential and educational districts thus increasing the chance of

having various activities such as social, necessary and optional. The entrance of the

flea market whereby these transportation network intersects becomes the major node

for interchange.

Aside from that, there are smaller nodes such as Merchant’s Lane, a famous hipster

café nearby located just a few blocks south away from Petaling Street Flea Market. It

is known due to its variety of food and its aesthetically pleasing interior design. The

café, as often as many people are interested in dining there, it shows possible of

medium degree of contact intensity where those who dine there might run into their

acquaintance or possibly their friends.

Figure 3: The interior view of Merchant’s Lane

Various development are taking place and slowly weaving into the lives of the

community residing in Petaling Street thus making Petaling Street an historical yet

modern city. Although there are many interesting things and facts about Petaling

Street that can be further explored, I have decided to focus on the several contact

points on the intersection point between the whole entire Jalan Petaling where the

entrances of the well – known Petaling Street Flea Market are located and the hipster

café known as Merchant’s Lane, with Jalan Sultan.

This intersection acts as a focal point of the site as it houses the busiest traffic and

has high density of different classes such as the locals, students, tourists, and foreign

workers. Other than Petaling Street Flea Market and Merchant’s Lane, there are

Nanyang Art Supplies and Lantern Hotel. This intersection point is usually full with

vehicles and human movement as it is located close to the Pasar Seni LRT and bus

stop. Besides that, there are a few budget hotels around thus bringing in more tourist

to this site. This thus has given me the opportunity to study and explore the different

engagement of people and also the uniqueness of this place.

Introduction of Site 2: Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Cambridge, a city located in Massachusetts, which homes the well – known Harvard

University, is a medium sized commercial cum residential district. The laidback

Massachusetts Avenue (also known as Mass Ave) which is a major street that is 16

miles long that connects to according to its official website, various district zones that

attracts residents and visitors regionally. The zones which the street has connected

were the industrial zones to the suburbs, passing through colleges and bustling

commercial strips.

Figure 4: Location of Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge

Formed at the end of the nineteenth century from separate roads, it connects to a road

that was once called East Chester Park at the south of Chester Square and also West

Chester Park in the north of Chester Park. Being the center of commercial activity due

to its length, there are many pedestrian traffic created as most of the buildings that fills

both side of the avenue are mostly apartments, shops and restaurants.

Although there is not much knowledge about the history that I could have provide about

this site, but the intersection I have chosen to focus on would be the intersection

between Massachusetts Avenue and Sidney St. There are a few landmarks that can

be found alongside this avenue. Some such as a famous coffee shop brand,

Starbucks, Walgreens and Lafayette Square.

Introduction to Jan Gehl’s Life Between Buildings

The book “Life Between Buildings” by Jan Gehl talks about the three types of activities

which could be done in public spaces. He also talks about the importance of space

planning in order to create opportunities for such activities to happen and also the

types of activities that can be done in the public spaces alone. Activities such as

necessary activities, optional and social activities. Necessary activities are defined as

activities that are compulsory or needed to be attended. Activities such as daily tasks

are included in this category. Optional activities are defined as activities that are done

if needed or if one participates in. It can be done only to those favour the conditions of

the activity. As there are necessary and optional activities present, it would often form

resultant activities which in other words, can be phrase as social activities. In this

category of activity, presence of others in public spaces are fairly needed in order for

social activities to happen. Life Between Buildings also talks about the intensity of

contacts whereby it ranges from passive contacts to close friendships. This is to show

the range of opportunity for meetings and daily activities in public spaces.

Comparative Essay

Figure 5: The contact points in Petaling Street

Figure 6: The contact points in Massachusetts Avenue

Similarities

Based on the contact points found in each site, there are some similarities between

both of the site. The first similarity would be the intersection of two roads were used

as the main contact point. This is due to the possibility of an iconic or an obvious

landmark nearby the area which makes the intersection easily known. For example, in

the Central Square Cultural District where the intersection between Mass. Ave and

River St. is, has The First Baptist Church, a church whereby it is one of the known

landmark in town. As for Petaling Street, it would be the iconic “Green Dragon”

entrance located at Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan.

Secondly, the degree of contact intensity at both site are almost similar whereby there

are mostly passive contacts amongst the people. For example, at the Carl Baron Plaza

in Massachusetts Avenue, passive contacts are maintained among passer-by as there

are frequent stopover benches, various storefront and shaded sidewalk which

encourage people to stop, look and see. This is although through the setbacks of the

buildings that various opportunities for social activities can happen such as Park(ing)

Day where it is usually held on a specific date where metered parking parklets and

bike lanes are made into a temporary public space. This helps the high pedestrian

sidewalk to encourage opportunities for optional and social activities. In a similar way,

Jalan Petaling in Petaling Street is originally a street for cars but was pedestrianized

in order to encourage more optional and social activities to happen.

Differences

The differences that can be found in between the site are the availability of space to

sit in both site as stated in Gehl’s theory where he talks about activities and seating

preferences. For example, along the sidewalks of Mass. Ave, there are few benches

provided for people to sit and rest up before heading to another destination. This allow

the people to form a strong visual connection between the pedestrian and the

storefront where it would encourage the pedestrian to window shop. With the addition

of shades created from the tress, the pedestrian would linger more at the site. In

contrast with Jalan Petaling where instead of benches premade on the site with

shades, the pedestrian relies on the five-foot way of the shop lots in order to rest for a

short while. The pedestrians would eventually find a nearby restaurant to sit. The lack

of space that can be found in the shop lots at Jalan Petaling causes the prevention of

social and optional activities to happen. This causes the space to not be of any used

of any activities.

Aside from that, it would be the attractions on a pedestrian street. Mass. Ave has a

few attractions. Attractions such as the wide variety and transparent storefronts, and

street performance are held at the open space near the street. This encourages

pedestrians who are just passing by or heading to the subway station to stop and

watch the performance. This will increase the degree of contact intensity between the

pedestrian and eventually create opportunities for social activities to happen at the

site. In contradiction to Mass. Ave, Petaling Street does not have any attractions on

the pedestrian street. The possibility is not only due to the lack of open space but the

lack of necessary and optional activities on the site.

Discussion

In Jan Gehl’s Life Between Buildings he talks about how the necessary activities and

where the outdoor areas are of a quality would create optional activities, only then

social activities would occur. He stated that the character of social activities varies

depending on the context in which the activities have occur. This starts his focus on

public life and the areas which the activities had taken place, making building design

become a means to an end. He emphasizes that life between building was a dimension

of architecture that deserves a more careful treatment in ways that social interaction

and perception and the sensory experience of a city life can take place. This can

enable us to prepare a meticulous planning building process by understanding these

spaces between buildings as Gehl once quoted “First life, then spaces, then buildings

– the other way around never works”.

Based on the observation between the two site, it seems that the planning of the town

that resides on Mass. Ave is more prominent that the planning at Jalan Petaling. In

regards to the space provided in Jalan Petaling, if considered well, the space could be

of better usage and this will encourage more people to linger around the area more

and also more exciting activities can happen. Thus, creating opportunities for tourist

to understand the historical past of the place while experiencing new things there. The

usage of sidewalks in Mass. Ave are used with much consideration to the pedestrian

that with even the setbacks of the building aside, several kinds of activities can be

performed. Besides that, with the nearby station and the available cab transport

service, it can be improved more by placing them somewhere slightly further from the

main attraction of Petaling Street. This is due to its heavy traffic conditions during lunch

breaks and after school period which caused the site to be quite busy. It would cause

an uncomfortable sense due to the sound of the car honking and an unpleasant

environment that possibly made the requirements for the three types of activities to be

low. The pedestrian will not stay for long in situations like that and would rather stayed

somewhere less hectic.

In conclusion, I feel that the public space which creates these sorts of event in both

site is moderate as only a part of the street had some identity to it. The church in Mass.

Ave and the ‘Green Dragon’ at Petaling Street was the most distinctive and therefore

are probably the most experienced by the pedestrian in the city.

References

Gehl, J. (2011). Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Island Press. Retrieved

from

https://books.google.com.my/books?id=X707aiCq6T8C&printsec=frontcover&

dq=jan+gehl+life+between+buildings+thesis&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=on

epage&q&f=false

Tan, M. (2015). Kuala Lumpur Trave Guide. Wizio Publishing. Retrieved November

27, 2016, from

https://books.google.com.my/books?id=sRzRCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT64&dq=abou

t+petaling+street&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=about%20petalin

g%20street&f=false

Zoning Ordinance Map. (2011). Retrieved from Cambridge CDD @ 344:

http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/zoninganddevelopment/Zoning/Maps.aspx