Holcim Malaysia - Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction

Structural impression.

Malaysian project wins Holcim Awards "Next Generation" Encouragement prize

November 27, 2008 - A Malaysian vision for sustainable construction was awarded a "Next Generation" Encouragement prize at the Holcim Awards ceremony for Asia Pacific held in New Delhi.

Project description: Tree protection facility for green urban transformation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
In an era where more than half of the human population lives in cities, the way we extend the city is extremely important to determining our future. In this project we developed a construction solution for city planning in tropical climates. Coming from the tropical region ourselves, we have a true feeling towards how the city grows in providing a better environment for inhabitants to become part of the city.

Urban expansion typically removes trees and makes open plazas without any consideration towards the scorching sunshine which is the major consideration in any form of construction in tropical regions. When new trees are planted into this urban environment, the blazing sun is their biggest enemy where the glare of sun comes from every direction – not only the direct sunlight but also from the reflection of the surrounding building and heat radiation from concrete flooring.

These are the factors where we could see how the trees in our urban environment pathetically dying after all the efforts of transplanting them from the nursery. There is something certainly not right when every time we walk by the streets in the urban environment or even the housing area in Malaysia, the trees are barely growing, leaving just branches with hardly surviving leaves hanging and losing its nature of being green shade for the enjoyment of the public space users.

One of the most important urban planning elements suggested by eminent builders and planners since ancient times is the open plaza or square which carries a significant role in creating an image and character of the city. Nevertheless, this western form of urban solution has to be adjusted to suit our tropical climate where shading is part of the crucial condition for a public interactive environment. Thus, the idea of trees acting as the most aesthetically pleasing shading devices becomes an important way for creating an urban public square to hold any form of nodal activities. We therefore propose the idea of a tree-retaining construction system where the significance of a tree as shading device could perform from the beginning of the planting process until the tree has matured enough to sustain itself as the green shade creating thermal comfort for the urban dwellers.

We look into the idea of how sustainable construction could solve the ultimate problem in tropical cities, especially in the realm of urban public space. This structure will encourage a new way of enjoying an urban outdoor environment in Malaysia, where disproportionate levels human interaction have been confined to heavily air-conditioned indoor environments.

Main author: Chin Keng Ho, student, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Built Environment, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.