Globalization is somehow the most important force that has been shaping the soci- economic landscape of many countries during the past decade. Malaysia is one of the fastest globalizing economies of the world. From the reference of history of Malaysia, as it is located at a strategic sea- lane position in South East Asia which brought in a lot of trades and foreign influences. Hindu and Buddhist cultures were imported from India lead the early history. Besides that, Islamic culture has had a thoughtful influence on the Malay people in Malaysia. Followed by then, it was the influences which brought by the Dutch and British who came for trading and based in several parts of Malaysia.
The architectural style’s development in Malaysia started from pre- colonial years through colonial time and later to independence. As a result of a multi racial country, the architectural development is also influenced by these various cultures due to migration and trading of the Chinese and Indian during colonial era. Many other foreign cultural heritages and birthrights that existed in colonial time had affected the country’s development and apparently on the heritage buildings which are still remained until today.
Since the country’s economy grew ahead of expectation at the 1970s, buildings like condominiums, resort hotels, commercial office spaces and shopping centres were built and eventually formed a many facets of skyline. As the shopping centres and office buildings were erected, corporate and private clients start to desire for a more ‘global’ look for their projects. This causes the architecture become more approached to form, function and imagery when the architects grew more aggressive. For example, appearance made from glass towers and curtain walling to portray ‘fashion’.
Along with the increase in urban immigration and middle class cause a demand in residential housing all over the country. Though large housing estates, distinguished by endless rows of link houses were criticized as insensible design but they are still the median of residential. Besides that, condominium living has became an image of affluent with the favorite option of higher class community. It results in more high- rise designs by marketing than by architectural values.
Vernacular restoration, Islamic symbolism and tropical design have all entered the vocabulary of Malaysian architectural identity. The strongest evident to show the implication of vernacular architecture to modern building design is the resort hotels. They achieve to strive a design which its environment reflects the surrounding cultural heritage but has yet still can be seen as a commercial or residential architecture. There goes a quick growth during the 1980s and there are several monumental building projects being built in the 1990s. These mega projects are such as the Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC), the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), and the new garden city of Putra Jaya. They have undeniably remained as the architectural landmarks until the 21st century.
Figure 2- Malaysia skyline in modern days
The first image shown is the architecture of Kuala Lumpur during the olden days until the year 1939, the architecture started to tend to follow Western fashion by then. Whereas the next image shown the Malaysia skyline in modern days. It depicts a vast different in terms of the outlook and image of the urban landscape that projects to everyone as well as it shows how the city grows throughout the years into what we can see today. Each distinctive building has formed a landmark to the certain place which has brought in population and the prosper of tourism. Anyhow, most of the building in the country has its own distinct which applied some cultural elements into the design. This shows that Malaysia is a developing country but in the meanwhile it still remains its own identity without blindly erecting buildings which are having more or less the same design throughout the globe.
Globalization’s effects on skyscrapers and their accompanying a style of architecture, perhaps use it as an icon for the country, forms a symbol of unity and power. An example would be the imposing and impressive form of our prized skyscrapers such as the KLCC Towers, The Telekom Tower and The KL Tower. Evidence of their influence is seen when global events such as BASE jumping, Tour de France, or movies are made within their vicinity. Furthermore they are known icons of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia that can be seen in brochures, advertisements and other media-related promotions worldwide. Refer to www.kltowerjump.com/main.html, http://gotravelplace.com/2009/earth-hour-malaysia-joint-with-klcc-twin-tower-black-out-with-others-wonders/, http://runwitme.blogspot.com/2008/02/kl-towerthon.html, http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Media/Videos/2009/09/Kuala-Lumpur-2009-Petronas-Towers-Spanish.aspx
Besides that, it has increased sharing of cultural “products”. Skyscrapers can be a showcase of local culture, art and economic ambition. Locally, the skyscrapers built here have ingrained local aesthetic design and culture into their form. When viewed by foreigners they act as silent ‘ambassadors’ representing the place they are built upon.
On the other hand, skyscrapers can be iconic places where business may be transacted upon, a proper premise for business is as important as the dressage of business people when in a serious meeting. Skyscrapers can convey the seriousness and prestige of a business meeting or deal those international diplomats or business people require when they meet from various parts of the world and so it increases multinational business and industrial activity. For example, the Petronas Twin Towers.
Figure 3- Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur
3.2 Development of Technology
As time goes by, the country and technology get more developed. Architects are able to design and build taller buildings by using advanced technology like computer softwares to illustrate the mock up of the skyscrapers or some other buildings. The Petronas Twin Towers is the world’s tallest twin towers and iconic twin building of Malaysia, which consists of 88- storey- high with two 44- storey side towers linked 170 metres above street level by a sky bridge. It is the new headquarters at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre since 1998.
Even though the design of Petronas Twin Towers reflects a dynamic image, but is also take the local tropical climate and Islamic architectural traditions into consideration so that it is all within Malaysian cultural context. The shape of the towers’ floor plate is based upon two interlocking squares forming an eight- pointed star; eight semicircles are inserted into the re- entrant corners or angles. This building form shows how important is geometry in Islamic architectural tradition.
Figure 4- Floor Layout Plan of Petronas Twin Towers
As you can see how important does the technology helps in designing the building especially high rise buildings with many levels or complicated design. Technology has saved a lot of time and energy for human being in order to produce effective work.
3.3 Environmental Sustainability
Globalization of architecture in Malaysia has increasingly brought threats to natural resources and environmental sustainability. In order to protect the environment, stringent limitations are places on pollution and waste. More trees are being chopped off for the development of land, therefore the air quality turns bad due to the mass constructions ongoing. Certain usage of reflective building materials such as glass could reflect sunlight and causes surrounding temperature to rise, on top of that, there are lesser trees to absorb heat and carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the vehicles. Haze, is then formed. It has been an ongoing problem in Malaysia as well as other Southeast Asian countries. Thus no matter how spectacular globalization in architecture has brought to Malaysia, it still causes pollution to the environment which is quite a serious drawback consequence.
3.3 Drawbacks of Globalization
Figure 5 & 6- Menara Telekom Malaysia
Menara Telekom (Menara TM), also known as Bamboo Tower, is the headquarters of Telekom Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. This building has a height of 310m with 55 floors, which has influenced by a sketch of “bamboo shoot”. The unique part of the tower is its 22 open skygardens swapping every three floors. The unique curvy structure has formed an exclusive signal for Malaysia by signifying a young bamboo with strong foundations at its root and little leaves sprouting. Come to think of it, bamboo is actually a Chinese symbol of longevity in Chinese culture. So the building does not designed to depict Malaysia’s culture but just design for the sake of applying one another’s idea and apply it on their own design by “borrowing” from different countries.
(pictures of sunway area will be taken later)
This updated draft seems more structured and focused and is certainly an improvement from the previous week. However, the subchapters need more analysis and explanation i.e. 3.2 this subchapter does not really show how globalisation has improved building technology in Malaysia - perhaps you need to show these developments and how they impacted the architectural and building industry. 3.3 needs evidence on the statements you made regarding the environment. You may use research done by environmental groups to validate this. The drawback subchapter (which you also labeled 3.3) shows good promise as it looks into issues like misrepresentation of culture and also socio-economic issues - all of which are very controversial and interesting to debate. You should look to build on that.
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