Friday 6 October 2006

FloOr PLan n RoOf PLan


Floor Plan:
The yellow line is the 6m setback
and the blue line is the land that being elevated 0.5m.
Roof Plan:
The skeletal roof top at the entrance indicates welcome to invite the children into the kindergarten.

1 comment:

ian ng said...

OK..this is a good scheme. The building is broken up into little blocks so they have group identity and the scale has been broken down--so it's comfortable for children. (ONE big block can be quite daunting to children.) It’s like a little funfair with stalls here and there for the children to visit! And that’s wonderful for children!

Another strength of this scheme is the “protected space” or “defensible space” that has been created by putting this village funfair all on one level that is raised 0.5m above the vehicular platform. The children are therefore within an enclosed pen. You should therefore have some form of balustrade of barrier, low fence, whatever to further delineate this village boundary. But remember that this barrier does not have to follow the building setback line. You must decide what kind of space you want to create for this village compound when you set out its boundary. You must also decide how you want to use the space around or outside the village. For cars, and what?

The feeling of defensiveness (and therefore security) is further made stronger by the way the building blocks look onto the central shared space—like the padang or the market square in a village. This central common, share space I imagine is also the main circulation space and visual connection space between the blocks. You should therefore make this connecting space stronger by emphasizing it. Make it a transition space full of activity. Allow outdoor (but roofed over) activities to happen here. And a tree or two in this "padang" would be appropriate.

I presume you are still keeping the idea of the exploded rectangular block, or the cut-up mooncake if you like. You must therefore make that obvious. Maybe all those walls that were originally joined together can all be glass walls/doors/windows, and the perimeter walls of the original rectangle can all be quite solid with very few openings. This will not only make the original block quite obvious it will also give you noise protection from Jalan Gasing.

As for the roof plan I see that it is basically made up of 3 parts, which is a good move. Too many broken parts will make this scheme confusing. You have connected 2 of these parts with a pergola, which is a good move because you are beginning to tie the roof together. You should have more tie-ups to “unite” the building. Don’t use flat roofs in your scheme as you need the feeling of lightness in your little village. Some part of your roof may need to be higher than others to give the roof articulation.

Remember to give the car parking just enough space, and not more than enough. Sheltered parking would be nice. Ramp?

There’s nothing wrong with this scheme. Just move….and move fast.