Dedicated to learning how to appreciate architecture and design buildings. Ian is an architect and tutor at various universities.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Khoo's Site
After an arduous struggling war with I, K & V today, I believe that all of us have encountered countless problems which are driving us crazy. For the Khoo’s site, Ian has arisen a new issue to me and also some of you which is the - 5 bucks thingy( entrance fees of the Khoo’s Kongsi). In my opinion, I would try to insist on what I am doing. Here are the points, since the area (private area) of Khoo Kongsi is an un-conspicuous area where ppl wouldn’t appreciate and only small amount of ppl (ppl who is Khoo, ppl who likes ancient temple architecture) visit khoo kongsi, so my idea is to make that place from a private area to a public area in order to carry forward and enhance the essences of Khoo and the fascinating architectures of khoo rather than the 5 buxs (another suggestion: DONATION boxes can be placed inside the temple lolz..). Letting ppl coming in to that place, can make that place become lively and brightsome, make use of the Cannon Square & stages, open to public! everbody give comments pls
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10 comments:
hehe!!sorry!!!i m not the one doing site but i would like to leave some issue for u guys...as i got mention to eu jin (ian should know)be4... The site used to be a private space be4..until now...it become a limited public space...we r taking the space inside the khoo kongsi as our site...means we will have full control over the site..it become the "public space" without limitation...so...u guys may have to figure out the entrance and the circulation is quite important as i think since we are changing the neighbourhood context...the khoo's people juz might not be happy!!!However..it is juz my point of view...either insist or not...i left it to u!!
Eujin:
its more like thinking the whole khoo site as a box that was planned from long time ago being a box for the khoo's only, and even for now they charge whoever who wants to enter,and if we were to change this place into a public place which is opened to all, it might offend whoever is staying there or another word, breaking the box and looses its function it was once built or planned for.Ian have suggested to me that for anyone of us whose design is to open this private place , u could have remain the wall and still get the view of whatever is happening if u have a first floor approach , and only allowing entrance from the other side(shop houses area).This will also allow your place as a public space ,having the view of whats going on inside the temple which is supposed to be private ,and not offending the actual idea of a box.Thought of having this public space only for the khoo island and only cater to those who are there but it doesnt sound right either cuz a public space is usually to bring everyone together even from the outside .thx and still tinking of ways to solve this thing.
hey, this is such a heated topic...i just cant resist but to join in. so here's my tot, since khoo kongsi's temple and ur design space is nicely nestled in a cannon square. if i were to take up that site, i would want to be more bold and propose to protect the temple from harm like how we will provide shelter for our parents when they grow old next time and create a glass with louvers kinda canopy that forms my building and go over into the square and cover the khoo temple, and why stop there, i would just pop the whole thing over the entire square. my reason being that since the khoo kongsi is one of the archi relics found in penang sheltering it from rain and shine will be my building's duty. this will be followed by creating a more controlled communal space for people to enjoy khoo kongsi and ur building. and this means ur design doesnt requires a roof, this maybe good for some of the trades that may want to bring outside in or have no boundary, this will truely blend the square, temple, and ur building together as one........i think....thoh im not too sure what ian will say when he reads this haha...so ya, thats my tot, go out of da box and into the square...hehe...
Ok, this is good..real good.
Eujin takes the left brain (rational) approach to the problem and has analysed it well. It's basically a question of security, which is tied in to the relationship between public and private spaces. The RM5 gate fee is actually a form of control by Khoo Kongsi (KK) on the kind of people they let in. It's more than just a mere maintenance collection. KK is in fact one of the top tourist destinations of Georgetown and Penang (some say also in Butterworth..) They do get a lot of traffic, not just family and boring people like tutors interested in ancient architecture..ha. And they need to filter out undesireables like vandals and bomikiachos.
So your design needs to recognise this community-need. (The Khoo Clan are part of the community, right?) They need to protect their heritage (like SH says.) If you're gonna break their line of security (allow access from your grounds into the Square--and vice versa--then you have to make sure you design in an equal degree of security control.
Eujin does recognise the vantage point (place of good views) from the site into Cannon Square and of the unbeatable Clan Building. And, really, if you don't have this view then this site is one of the worst of the lot.
He sees the Khoo island block as a box. Good metaphor. Here's another:
Maybe you can think of blowing a transparent balloon into a coloured bottle where an ant colony live. Then grasshoppers can enter the balloon at the mouth of the bottle to spy on the colony without suffering an ant attack. And the ants would be quite safe from the grasshopper invasion, although they can see each other eye to eye.
Dear Ol Jon takes the right brain (imaginative) approach with his idea of a hovering cover. Quite brilliant, really. WWKS? Make it work and fight for it.
My uncle used to varnish furniture under a cherry tree on the backstreet of my grandma's shophouse in Raub. Yeah..the same grandma with the black iron safe..haha.... (kelv,ruth&fred I'll show you the shophouse tmr.) So passers-by would watch him, chat with him, buy from him, just observe him at his traditional trade. A neat, little, relaxed visitor centre, I'd say.
He's gone back now to the Valley of Dreams in China, the shophouse is sold, and the cherry tree is dead. It's time to build a sophisticated architectural tree in Penang.
And as Jon would say: hehe..
:D.. lots of arguments here which is good ! after reading all the extraordinary and splendiferous comments from you all *go out to the box and into the square*.. i think my points are immature and not to be firm enough, got to solve it ... thank you for everyone. and keep it up ~~ post more of ur opinions so that we can point out our own standpoint which is somehow very helpful!! this will be very fun!
haiz...i feel like so good doing on this site!!So many ppl can share n discuss wif u!!Somemore analyze!!haha!!Well, is fun and enjoyable!!!ONE thing is tmr i will be going bek to penang...who ever need my help to take photo or smtg needed can act. sms me (0164554080) or johnathan..lester..benson and jinno!!!gogogo!wish u guys all da best!!!
Ha..same gang going up wanna enjoy only...any excuse for a holiday...free Maggi mee in Jon's house somemore
For jon's idea, can refer to norman foster's buildings. Particularly, Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum. Both have the glass roof stretching to cover the space between buildings as mentioned by jon.
Both are, as far as I can gather, internal, enclosed & climatically controlled spaces. I had imagined Jon's suggestion to be something more tropical. Something that dealt with layers and filters, screens and shades, like Tay Keng Soon's work. Maybe even with moving, flapping members.
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