THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM[ ARC 2224 ]

PROJECT 1 ( PART 2 )THEORIZING ARCHITECTUREESSAY

TheoristJane Jacobs

Case StudyParcel 4, Putrajaya ( 4G1, 4G2, 4G3 and 4G4 )

Surayyn Selvan0309818

TutorMr. Lam Shen Fei

1.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY

In her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs points out the failures in modernist urban planning ideas by making careful observations on city life and deduces suggestions to counter these failures. Focusing on the chapter The Peculiar Nature of Cities, Jane Jacobs correlates the effectiveness of a city to the circulation of the people in the city. In this chapter, she highlights three main ideas to create an effective city, which are utilizing sidewalks to ensure the safety of the city and promote contact between the city dwellers, using neighborhood parks to liven the city spaces and using city neighborhoods to draw in people. For this case study, these following topics will be studied in an architectural point of view to understand the effectiveness of Jane Jacobss theories: the effectiveness of a continuous network of circulation and spaces, the implementation of diversified programmes to promote cross circulation and finally, the importance of security and surveillance to ensure the comfort of the city dwellers.

2.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE STUDY

Picture 1: Map of Parcel 4 in Precinct 4, PutrajayaParcel 4 in Putrajaya consists of The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environments, The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia, Department of Fisheries Malaysia and The Ministry of Youth and Sports. Designed by Veritas Architects Kuala Lumpur for Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd, the towers are located at the end of the main axis of Precinct 4, Persiaran Perdana. According to the architects statement, the plan of the towers is formed from the motif of four interlocking circles, in the tradition of geometric Islamic form. The four towers consist of 18-storeys on a 6-storey podium and rank among the lowest 10% energy consuming office buildings in Malaysia. Using this parcel, Jane Jacobs theories will be used to measure the effectiveness of the planning of these towers in terms of its circulation, programmes and security.

3.0 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CONTINUOUS NETWORK OF CIRCULATION AND SPACESJacobs (1961) states that sidewalks should be used to promote contact between strangers. The city is full of strangers and the only way a city becomes non-obsolete would be when these strangers form trust amongst each other over a sum of casual, public contact at a local level. This basically meant that cities should have continuous networks of circulation and spaces that would result in lively and interesting streets. In order to achieve this level of contact, several factors come into place to encourage it: the diversity of programmes as well as the safety and security of the city, which will be explained later on.

In a more architectural context, buildings should aid in promoting contact between people. The Parcel 4 towers are located along Lebuh Setia which is a main link to Precinct 7 and Precinct 9, on the East-West Axis, along the North-South Axis, it is placed at the end of Persiaran Perdana offering a gateway to the central boulevard through the symmetrical shape of the four towers [ refer to Diagram 3.1 ]. Zonings as simple as allocated parking spaces also play an important role in the meeting of strangers in the city. Despite having basement car parks for the towers, there are allocated parking zones on the northern and southern ends of the towers. It can be seen, however, that the northern end has a higher chance of promoting contact as opposed to the southern end because there are several strategies that form nodes along the sidewalks, which are the kiosks, bus stops and resting benches [ refer to Diagram 3.1 ].

In spite of all these initiatives, it is apparent that a majority of these strategies are not being put to full use due to the simple fact that the weather in Malaysia does not condone it. People would rather spark conversations in air-conditioned areas instead of the outdoors regardless of the presence of shade. So, features such as benches become redundant if not in context with items such as bus stops or the kiosks. Despite all of this, one very strong strategy would be the placement of the community surau located in Lot 4G3, where the tower for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environments is located [ refer to Diagram 3.2 ]. The surau is a religious meeting space specifically to the Muslim community and offers a place to promote contact between strangers. In the car park basements, underneath the sky lit atrium between the tower and the podium, sunken gardens were designed [ refer to Diagram 3.3 ]. This is a redundant space as car parks arent usually places for meeting or conversations. The idea of the placement of gardens in spaces like these however could be implemented in a more public setting to enhance its effectiveness. The users of the car park are limited to the office staff and not so much to the general public. Similarly, along the eastern ends of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environments, there are sky gardens that provide a break from the internal office spaces [ refer to Diagram 3.4 ]. However, it is not open to the public and therefore is only limited to the users of the office. Interestingly, the concourse atriums were designed in a curved manner offering an almost seamless transition from the boulevard to the building [ refer to Diagram 3.2 ].

4.0 THE IMPORTANCE OF PROGRAMME DIVERSITYJacobs (1961) mentions that by diversifying programmes within a city, the amount of contact between people would increase. Essentially, parks offer that form of diversity through a public yard fashion, which meant that parks should be intricate through subtle expressions of difference throughout the space, centering which she describes how parks usually have places within them that is commonly understood to be the main focal point, sun and enclosure which basically meant that these parks were usually bordered by buildings to offer a form of privacy and in return a sense of security. However, this has to be supported by the fact that there is a diversity of people to populate and enliven the neighborhood. Jane Jacobs stated that parks that imposed a single and dominant usage with a limited schedule of users would often result in the depopulation of a park. It is important for spaces like these to be placed strategically where there is a mixture of classes that could optimize these public spaces.

Besides that, it is important to have programmes such as stores, bars and restaurants as they promote the crisscrossing of paths. Jacobs mentions that these programmes give reasons for people to use the sidewalks and could be used to draw people to places of non-interest. Substantially, activities generated by the users of these programmes will draw other people into doing the same.

Unfortunately, this is where Parcel 4 is severely lacking. All four towers contain the same spaces such as the 18-storey office tower, six-storey podium, the atrium and sky gardens [ refer to Diagram 4.1 ]. Due to the monotony of the programmes, there is very little reason for the office users to cross paths. Nonetheless, it can be seen that within its individual buildings, Parcel 4 offers plenty of opportunities to form contact. This in turn means that there would be a lack of promotion of contact between towers. Besides that, Putrajaya is the federal administrative city and therefore a majority of the buildings are government buildings with set schedules. The only time these spaces might be used is during the lunch hours and after office hours. This suggests that the majority of the time, the public spaces provided would become obsolete. For example, based on the circular plan of Parcel 4, a centralized space was generated to function as a meeting ground for the four towers [ refer to Diagram 4.2 ]. This supports Jane Jacobs idea of having a centralized space. However, the idea is ineffective in this context due to the lack of diversity and routine work hours. This is beside the fact that the space is located opposite the roads and have very little shading ground. All these factors, deters users from occupying the space resulting in an unused public space. Contrasting her idea of having subtle expressions of differences to encourage intricacy, Persiaran Perdana is a long, flat stretch of street with no change in landscaping [ refer to Diagram 4.3 ]. Although, this may be due to the fact that the main focus would be on the Prime Ministers office located on the northern end of the axis, it creates a very uninteresting landscape for people to stop and take in.

5.0 SECURITY AND SURVEILLANCEIt is the fundamental task of the city streets and the sidewalks to keep the city safe ( Jacobs, 1961, pg. 30). When the users of these streets feel safe, it promotes a more comfortable environment for the users to experience. It is very important for a street and sidewalk to be safe because it adds to the idea of forming trust within the city as mentioned earlier in Topic 3.0. The main idea was that the more people there were, the higher the surveillance of an area and this would directly affect the security of the space. The above factors in Topic 3.0 and Topic 4.0 play a very important role in drawing in a crowd to ensure spaces are utilized. She then deduces that there are several ideas to take into account to establish a sense of security. Firstly, there must be a clear distinction between the public realms and the private spaces. Secondly, there must be constant surveillance on the streets by those whom are utilizing it a majority of the time. Finally, there must be regular movement on the streets to add to the surveillance. All these points lead up to the idea that buildings must border the spaces in order to provide a peace of mind when using the streets and sidewalks. Besides that, Jane Jacobs also mentions that streets and sidewalks must be lit with bright streetlights to offer assurance of their safety to the users.It can be seen that the Parcel 4 towers border the main circulatory paths, Jalan Kemerdekaan and Persiaran Perdana [ refer to Diagram 5.1 ]. Lebuh Setia would be considered the least safe for pedestrians to maneuver due to the fact that the building only borders one side of the street and the other side is a completely open space. Similarly, the southern and eastern end of the Parcel would have a higher risk of suspicious acitivites occurring due to the fact that there is a lack of public buildings but have services and ongoing construction, there is no pedestrian movement and a majority of open spaces. Lot 4G1, The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia would be considered the safest border to utilize because all the sidewalks are bordered by buildings that are utilized [ refer to Diagram 5.2 ]. In relation to the idea of having regular movement on the streets, Persiaran Perdana would be considered risky as well because there is little to no form of pedestrian movement. As mentioned before, this is due to the fact that the accessibility of the space is disrupted by the distance between the buildings and the fountain area [ refer to Diagram 5.3 ]. The sidewalks directly adjacent to the buildings offer a safer path to maneuver on. 6.0 CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, the main concept of Jane Jacobs is to promote contact within the city by analyzing factors such as the diversity in programmes as well as security and surveillance to measure the effectiveness of a city in relation to the circulation of the city. She places the importance of having well circulated spaces to ensure the liveliness of the city. Parcel 4 in Putrajaya has managed to support a majority of her ideas but in the Malaysian context, some of Jane Jacobs theories are difficult to implement due to the differences in culture, weather and building regulations. This can be seen especially in the idea of having a centralized space in a public area to promote crowd attraction. This is not to say that Parcel 4 is wrong in its design strategies and planning. Nevertheless, by using her theories, it can be seen that there are many ways for architects and urban planners to take into account the success in building an effective city.

7.0 REFERENCESJacobs, J. (1961).The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York:Random House.

Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment Presentation Panels. (2010). Courtesy of Architect. Geneva: Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Tay, L., & Vin, L. (2007). VERITAS 1987-2007. Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan: Veritas Management Sdn Bhd.

Wendt, M. (2009). The Importance of Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) by Jane Jacobs to the Profession of Urban Planning. Retrieved April 2, 2015 from http://www.sppa.udel.edu/sites/suapp.udel.edu/files/The Importance of Dealth and Life.pdf.