Theories of Architecture & Urbanism [ARC 61303]

Project : The Image of the City

PART 1 : IDENTIFYING 5 ELEMENTS OF SUNWAY RESORT CITY

Student Name : Tan Cui Zhi [ Charlene ]

Student I.D. : 0320826

Lecturers : Pn. Nor Hayati Hussain

Dr. Lakshmi Priya Rajendran

Ms. Ida Marlina Mazlan (tutor)

Mr. Lam Shen Fei

Submission Date : 28 September 2015

Introduction To Sunway Resort City

Beauty lies on the eyes of the beholder, however commonplace the sight may be. At marveling

how man was created, and then exploring how humans’ cities were cultivated and organized, a

sense of vanity flow through my veins. Like a piece of architecture, the city is an abstract

representations of interval: they provide methods for expressing ideas and concepts – “…a thing

perceived only in the course of long spans of time.” (Lynch, 1960, page 1). City design is therefore

a temporal art of two-dimensional notion of surface and shape, and three-dimensional abstraction

of space and form. Nevertheless, as in any pilot study, the purpose was to develop thoughts and

approaches, rather than to prove facts in a final and determinate way. (Lynch, 1960, page 14).

This little project will consider the visual quality of my daily experienced of the city in presenting

a series of illustrated diagrams of the 5 elements of the city form (Lynch, 1960) through a walk

via the city to school, to grocery stall, and to stationary shop. Analyses were made of the city

named ‘Sunway Resort City’ or more popularly known as ‘Bandar Sunway’. With a bit of its formal

and conventional overview, Sunway Resort City (SRC) is Malaysia’s first fully integrated township,

situated in Subang Jaya. Transformed from an 800 acres of derelict mining land, SRC has

evolved into a bustling and flourishing township comprising of condominiums, office towers, hotels,

convention centers, amusement water park, iconic shopping mall, as well as world-class

education and healthcare alongside the finest in retail and commercial facilities.

To analysis any city is a reductive process, like a site analysis, it does not determine a plan but

is the background upon which creative decisions can be made. In my analytical process of looking

at the image of the city, Lynch (1960) studied of the city images will be refer to. In brief, Lynch

recognize the city images which are referable to physical forms, can be classified into five types

of elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. These elements are defined in the

following pages respectively.

“We are not simply observers of this spectacle, but are ourselves a part of it, on the

stage with the other participants.” (Lynch, 1960, Page 2).

Paths

“……helped tie the city together, and gave the observer a sense of his bearings

whenever he crossed them.”

-- Lynch, 1960, page 54.

My drawing process is like a journey along a braided path. The path is marked by

crossroads, difficult terrain, and barriers that are hard to negotiate. At times, the

path is an enjoyable stroll through a process of adventure and discovery.

Edges

“They are the boundaries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity.

……They are lateral reference rather than coordinate axes.”

-- Lynch, 1960, page 41.

I realized the image of a given physical actuality does occasionally shift its type

with different circumstances of viewing. The edge of my trail, become a path for

the driver.

Districts

“……the observer mentally enters “inside of”, and which are recognizable as having

some common, identifying character from the inside, and occasionally can be used

as external reference as a person goes by or toward them.”

-- Lynch, 1960, page 66.

The city, a heart of great showbiz region, decorates itself with symbolic meaning

and entertainment activity, with large and presumably distinctive buildings,

intensive shopping, and with a basic pattern: its almost regular grid of streets.

Nodes

“The intensive foci to and from which the observer is traveling.

……moments of shift from one structure to another.”

-- Lynch, 1960, page 41.

The elevated lanes of the city’s Bus-Railway-Transit (BRT) is an example of

detachment horizontally to the city below. When city travelers arrived at stop-

points of the transport way, there a sense of arrival into Sunway Resort City.

Landmarks

“They are frequently used clue of identity and even of structure, and seem to be

increasingly relied upon as a journey becomes more and more familiar.”

-- Lynch, 1960, page 48.

Sunway Pyramid, the well-known iconic shopping mall in the city. What that

building once must have looked like in the earlier centuries? Along the main road

of the city you see the lion head from distant, filling in the absent space with

its imagination and making whole of the city’s void.