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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN

ARCHITECTURE CULTURE & HISTORY 2 [ARC 1323]

Project: Architecture Heritage Building Analysis

SMK Maxwell

Name ID

Ang Boon Cheong 0315560

Poh Wei Keat 0303646

Ling Teck Ong 0303127

Brandon Ang 0302955

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Table of Content

No. Topic Page No.

1 Table of Content i

2 Abstract ii

3 1.0 Introduction 1-5

4 1.1 Differences: Before and After 6-8

5 2.0 Building Analysis 9-10

6 2.1 Columns 11

7 2.2 Doors 12

8 2.3 Entrance Portal 13

9 2.4 Windows 13

10 2.5 Structures and Materials 14

11 2.6 Comparison between two buildings 15-16

12 3.0 Conclusion 17

13 References 18

14 Appendix 19-22

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Abstract

School Maxwell Secondary School

Old name Maxwell Road School

Motto Disco UT Serviam - I Learn That I May Serve

Established 1917

Type Government non-boarding all-boys secondary school

Affiliations Malaysia Ministry Of Education

Grades Form 1 - Form 6

Location Jalan Tun Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Colors Royal green and blue

Abbreviation Max-So-Well, Maxwell's

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Maxwell School or Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan was established in the year 1917

(Sheppard, 1983). It was a school for boys except form 6. It is located at Tun Ismail Road which was

formerly known as Maxwell Road in the center of Kuala Lumpur (Figure 1.2). The school was named

after Sir William George Maxwell, the chief Secretary to the Government of the Federated Malay

States. Maxwell school was not just the oldest school in the north of Kuala Lumpur but also one of the

oldest in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. A student of the school is known as a Maxwellian. Maxwell

School opened its doors to 110 students and five teaching staff on 1 June 1922. At present there are

approximately 1500 students and more than 100 academic and non-academic staff members

(Sheppard, 1983).

During its pre-war days, it functioned as a feeder school for the Victoria Institution. By 1933,

the school was shut down to the public due to the recession, but was opened as a private school from

1934 to 1938 (Sheppard, 1983). It was then given to the Trade School for their use. During the

Japanese Occupation, it was used as a camp for the Japanese Kempeitai. After the war, the school

was used as a hostel by the newly formed Technical College which now named as University

Technology Malaysia until 1953, when, in September, the school was re-opened as Malaya's first

Modern Secondary School. Today, the Maxwell School is still housed in the same building and had

remained a secondary school ever since (Sheppard, 1983).

The school originally consisted of two blocks which is A and B, the present day main block

and the gymnasium block, which is now the library (Figure 1.3 to 1.5). The school consists of a two–

storey structure which was later extended to a block of solid masonry construction. The main building

has an H-shape layout, and is designed in the Neo-Renaissance style popular of the period featuring

keystone arches, balustrade colonnades and coupled with massing that dictate strong forms, which

can refer to the elevations plans (Figure 1.6 & Figure 1.7). A decade later, three blocks of building

were added. They were block C, a three storey building and function as classrooms, labs and

canteen, Block D, a seven storey building containing science laboratories, store and classrooms. The

third building- Block F was also single storey and it was used as carpentry cum metal workshop. The

Figure 1.1 below is the layout plan to show out the detail layout of Maxwell School.

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Legend:

A - Afternoon Session Supervisor's Room T1 - Toilet (Male)

E - Internal Examination Unit T2 - Toilet (Female)

S1 - Senior Assistant's Room T3 - Toilet (Staff)

S2 - Senior Assistant of Students' Affairs Room

P2 - Prayers' Room (Female)

Figure 1.1 Maxwell School layout plan

(Source: Sia, 2000)

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:

Figure 1.2 Site Plan of Block A and B Maxwell School (Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 1.3 Ground Floor Plan of Block A

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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Figure 1.4 First Floor Plan of Block A

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 1.5 Ground Floor Plan of Block B

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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Figure 1.7 North East Elevation of Block B

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 1.6 South East Elevation of Block A

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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Maxwell Secondary school was a 90 over years old building. During this period, there are lots

of changes occurs in terms of overview of the building, function, physical, social, political, economy,

cultural aspects, architectural styles and building materials as shown in (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1: Differences in aspects of Maxwell High School before and after it was built:

Before Differences After

(Source: Sia, 2000)

- Wall and column are plain

white in color

- The school are surrounded by

lots of plants

Overview

(Source: Maxwellian, 2008)

- Wall and column are painted light

orange and brownish red

- Trees surround the building are

reduced

1917-1952

Year

1953-Now

Originally a primary school for boys

Function

Secondary School

Consists of 3 blocks, Block A, B and C

Physical

Newly added 3 blocks, Block D, E and F

110 students and 5 teaching staffs only

Social

1500 students and more than 100 academic

and non-academic staff members

Ruled by British government and then

by the Japanese

Political

Local government non-boarding school,

Malaysia Ministry of Education as affiliations

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Bad economy due to war period.

Includes a hall, a gymnasium and 13

classrooms

Economy

Economy developed. Includes a hall, 34

classrooms, three workshops, five science

laboratories, computer room, resource

centre, canteen, bookshop and own “Mini

Sports Complex” outside school compound

Practiced Colonial-period traditions

Cultural

Focuses in sports. There are four sport

houses, and every year they compete

on sports day

Renaissance style Architectural

Style

Renaissance + Moorish designs

Bricks and clay tiles Building

Materials

Concrete and metal

As in overview of the Table 1.1 above, Maxwell Secondary School in the early years is

painted in plain white color while now it is refurnished and painted with light orange and brownish red.

It looks more colorful and aesthetic. The building last time was surrounded with lots of trees and but

now was reduced. Maxwell school was first function as a primary school at the end of World War II. In

1933, the school was shut down to public due to recession. Then it was opened as a private school

from 1934 to 1938. During Japanese Occupation, it was used as a camp for Japanese Kempeitai.

After the war, the school was used as a hostel by the newly formed Technical College until 1953

September; the school was re-opened as Malaya's first Modern Secondary School.

In the physical aspect, as you can see in Figure Maxwell School consists of 3 Blocks, Block

A, B and C in the early years. Block A is the very heart of the Maxwell School. It consists of the main

hall, sixth-grade classes, school office and prayer room on the ground floor and is the access center

to the upper level. Block B is Block of single-storey block with operation room, 7 decades hall,

Textbook Loan Scheme Store, sports room and employee restroom. Whereas Block C is a four-

storey block with science laboratory, moral rooms, canteen, class levels 1,2,3,4 and 5. Now, it newly

added 6 floors academic blocks, Block D and E with arched openings along the corridors. It was first

used in 2012 to accommodate Form six students. Lastly, Block F is double-storey block that houses

the woodworking workshop rooms, self-management, plumbing, computer lab and the art room.

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Next, in social aspect, Maxwell School opened its doors to 110 students and five teaching

staffs on 1 June 1922. During the early years, Maxwell school was a school for boys only. The main

social area of the students at the time was the hall. At present, there are approximately 1500 students

and more than 100 academic and non-academic staff members. Maxwell school now open to female

students to study for form six. Canteen and “Mini Sports Complex” later was added in and become

the main social area of the students. In political aspect in the pre-war periods, Maxwell School was

controlled by British government. At the end of World War II, British move students from Victoria

Institution (VI) to use Maxwell school for few months due to renovation of VI building. Later on,

Japanese came and converted the school into military headquarters. In 1947, it was reopened as a

secondary school and now it is under the local government and the Malaysia Ministry of Education as

affiliations according to what stated in (Chin, 2011).

Economy during the early period was pretty bad. There are only 3 blocks of buildings, a hall,

a gymnasium and 13 classrooms. Later on, economy developed and 3 new blocks of buildings were

added to accommodate the increasing population of students. In 1973, the school acquired a portion

of neighboring land and they enlarge the compound and built the “Mini Sports Complex”, science

laboratories, computer labs and workshops. Libraries were added but one of it later converted to

offices of Principal Chef Assistant. In cultural aspect, Colonial period traditions were practiced during

the early years and some still remains (Chin, 2011). Building materials like bricks and clay tiles were

used during early period to build the old blocks of buildings. Now, concrete were used to build new

blocks of building with metal structure and built in with lift facility.

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2.0 BUILDING ANALYSIS

The design and features of the two blocks is typical of the colonial era structures bearing

with Moorish designs. Moorish denoting the style of architecture used in Spain from the 13th to 16th

century, characterized by the horseshoe arch Also Morisco, Moresco. The school consists of a two

storey structure with arched openings along the corridors, typical of many of the school buildings that

were built that time. There is a veranda on sides of each storey, high ceilings and broad stairways

which depict typical colonial architecture. While the modern-day Ministry of Education has added

rectangular-shaped blocks to the school, the distinctive "H" shape of the main block is still one of the

more interesting features of Kuala Lumpur.

The walls of Block B are plastered brick shaped to give the impression that it was made out

of large dressed masonry blocks. This makes for an imposing building with its own sense of dignity

and strength (Figure 2.1). Semicircular arches in Blocks A and B are expressed in different ways.

Arches in Block A are supported by columns of Tuscan and Ionic orders repeated throughout the

building. In Block B, the arches frame the doors and windows. Although the two blocks emphasize the

semicircular arches in different ways the two buildings are unified with one common architectural

vocabulary which is the semicircular arch with a keystone. Semicircular arches is a strong structure

often found in bridges and aqueducts, forms a half circle and is a major feature of all Roman

architecture. A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch,

which is the final piece, placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the

arch to bear weight (Figure 2.2 & 2.3).

Figure 2.1 Large dressed masonry blocks of Block B

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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Descriptions of some of the interesting architectural elements in the buildings follow. These

include the columns, doors, entrances portals and windows.

2.1 Columns:

Column or pillar in architecture is a structural element that transmits, through compression,

the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below, in other words a column is a

compression member. Block A has columns of the Tuscan and the Ionic order. The former is an order

of Roman origin (Figure 2.4). One of the columns is basically a simplified Roman Doric which is

characterized by an unfluted column and a plain base, capital and entablature having no decoration

other than moldings. Columns on the ground floor are grouped in three types of arrangement: single

small column, twin small columns and a larger single column.

Figure 2.2 Block A façade showing the arch and the keystone

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 2.3 Block B façade showing the same semicircular arches and the keystone

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. It usually has a

base and the shaft is often fluted. The Ionic order dates from the 6th Century BC from the Greek

colonies of Asia Minor. It is characterized by the spiral volutes present on its capital (Figure 2.5 &

2.6(A)). The fluted column typically had molded bases and is supported by an entablature consisting

of an architrave of three fasciae, a richly ornamented frieze, and a corbelled cornice. The Roman and

Renaissance versions are often more elaborated, and usually the capital volutes are at forty five

degrees to the architrave.

Columns of the Ionic order can be found on the first floor. These are slightly different from

the original classical order as previously described. First of all, they are unfluted like the Tuscan order.

Secondly, the cornice and frieze are not ornamented. However, they are characteristic of the Ionic

order in that the volutes are at forty five degrees to the architrave (Figure 2.6 (B)).

Figure 2.4 The Tuscan Order in the school

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 2.5 The Ionic Order

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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2.2 Doors:

In Block A, there are three types of doors which are presumed to be original (Figure 2.7). One

particular door was chosen for recording because of its workmanship and appearance. It is a four-

panelled door with a ‘mouse-molded’ (double curved) panel bead of the British Victorian style. This is

an internal door with a high frame and a fan-shaped tracery above the door. In Block B, there is no

trace of its original door (Figure 2.8).

Figure 2.7 Block A original door Figure 2.8 Types of doors in Block B

(Source: Sheppard, 1983) (Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 2.6 (A) The Ionic Order in the school

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 2.6 (B) The Ionic Order

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2.3 Entrance Portal:

A ‘portal’ can be defined as a doorway, gate or entrance usually emphasized by its size and

stately architectural treatment (Figure 2.9). The main entrance of Block A is a modified version of the

early 19th Century Classical Revival temple-front doorway of the ‘Federal & Empire Period’ In the

classical portal the Tuscan columns support an entablature surmounted by a pediment which is

decorated with a Greek fret but in Block A Tuscan columns support the first floor of the building. The

entablature is then supported by Ionic columns at the first floor.

2.4 Windows:

The design of the windows in Block A is the same as that of the doors. However, the

design of the windows in Block B is vary. One appears to be a modified version of a geometric shape

(Figure 2.10). Another window is shaped like the form of ventilation holes located in the walls of the

toilets. These are encased in green coloured Chinese ceramic tiles. It is difficult to ascertain the

reason for the presence of this Asian element in a building which is predominantly European in

architectural vocabulary.

Figure 2.9 Entrance portals

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

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Figure 2.10 Block B windows

(Source: Sheppard, 1983)

2.5 Structures/Materials:

These buildings are of masonry construction with timber roof trusses. Stairways are

concrete and sos are the baluster and columns. Brickwork of both blocks use English bond. English

bond is a brickwork bond having alternate courses of headers and stretches in which the headers are

centered on stretchers and the joints between stretches line up vertically in all courses (Figure 2.11 &

Figure 2.12). This bonding not only increases the structure but also enhances the appearance of the

construction.

Figure 2.11 English Bond (Source: Sheppard, 1983)

Figure 2.12 English Bond

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We decided to make a comparison between Maxwell Secondary school and St. John

Institution (Figure 2.13) which also known as Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St. John. This is because

these two schools have the same background which only for boys and once ruled under the British

government western school which we found interesting.

Table 2.1: Comparative study between three buildings with the same typology:

Differences Maxwell Secondary School St.John Institution Mfantsipim School

Original layout of the

building

two block storey with arched

opening along the corridors, a

verandah on sides of each storey,

high ceilings and broad stairways

two storey with wood

structure and a brick

pillars and verandah

Rectangular shape

tropical style building

Location Malaysia Malaysia Ghana

Number of buildings

added after decades

later

Least Most Moderate

Architectural design Moorish & Neo-Renaissance Romanesque Colonialism and

modernism

Main colors Plain yellow and brown red Red and white Plain yellow and

brown red

Maxwell school originally consist of two block storey with arched opening along the

corridors, and there is a verandah on sides of each storey, high ceilings and broad stairways, after a

decade three block of buildings are added whereas St. John Institution originally also with two storey

but with wood structure and with a brick pillars and verandah situated in Bukit Nanas. Over the years,

various buildings were added including hall, science block, gymnasium, two lecture halls and a Form

6 block which is more than the buildings added in Maxwell School High School.

The design of the Maxwell School is Moorish design and St. John Institution is

Romanesque architecture design. The Moorish design in Maxwell school is shown in the columns and

arches which are strongly influenced by Moorish architecture. In the other hand, St.John School is

famous for its imposing red and white-brick main building with Grecian-Spanish influences. Besides,

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the main colors of the Maxwell School are plain yellow and brown red while the St. John Institution is

red and white.

Another building that we would compare is Mfantsipim School (Figure 2.14). Mfantsipim

School is a high school in Cape Coast, in Ghana. It was established by the Methodist Church in 1876

as an all-boys secondary school dedicated to fostering intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. Its

foundation name was Wesleyan High School and the first Headmaster was James Picot, a French

scholar, who was only eighteen years old on his appointment. The original building is a rectangular

block with tropical design which uses the “atap” roof. The architecture design which changed lately is

different from Maxwell School, which uses European colonial and modernism style. The school was

originally designed by Fry and Drew for the extension project of Mfantsipim School. They applied the

design style into the school dormitory site which can be seen in the elevation the whole block (Figure

2.15). The materials used to build the building are the same with the other two buildings which mainly

concrete. The main colors of the building are quite similar to Maxwell School, which are light yellow

and brown red.

Figure 2.13 St. John Institution

(Source: Super, 2013)

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3. CONCLUSION

In summary, based on the research we conducted on Maxwell High School for the past few

weeks, we have acknowledged some learning outcomes. Firstly, we learned to interpret architectural

language in relation to the development of Western architecture between Industrial Revolution and

post-World War 2. For example, Maxwell school was built by the British government during the war

period and this turns out one of the starting point of the development of Western culture into our

country. We get to know the history and background of the old aged schools and how it slowly

develops in term of urban layout and architecture. For instance, Maxwell high school was established

in 1917 and was once a primary school with only 2 storey structure. Many blocks of buildings were

added later on which extended to a massive area. Furthermore, we also get to differentiate the way in

which many varied factors contribute to the development of form. Examples of the aspects are like

political, social, economy and function. Lastly, we manage to gain the ability to extract important

information and present them in our own style which is important to our future studies. For example,

we manage to take down the important points of information from book and retranslate and write

them into our own meaning and this comes in handy for our future presentation.

Figure 2.14 Mfantsipim School (Source: Kay, 1984)

Figure 2.15 Dormitory Site of Mfantsipim School

(Source: Jessica, 2013)

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References:

Chin, Y. (2011.). Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Maxwell. Retrieved June 5, 2013, from

http://maxwellgreatalways.blogspot.com/2011/10/sekolah-menengah-kebangsaan-

maxwell.html

Jessica, H. (2013). Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, Ghana. Retrieved July 2, 2013, from website:

http://transnationalarchitecturegroup.wordpress.com/tag/colonialism/

Kay, K.(1984). Moba’ 84. Retrieved July 2, 2013, from website:

http://www.moba84.com/Mfantsipim.html

Maxwellian. (2008). SMK Maxwell. Retrieved June 5, 2013, from flickr website:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxwellian/4649126109/

Sheppard, M. (1983). Memorial Prize: Volume 1. Kuala Lumpur: Badan Warisan Malaysia.

Sia, K.C. (2000). SMK Maxwell Online. Retrieved June 5, 2013, from geocities website:

http://www.geocities.ws/smkmaxwell/layoutplan.htm

Super, U. (2013). Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St.John. Retrieved June 5, 2013, from

http://www.stjohn.edu.my/

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Appendix:

Changes by Brandon Ang

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Response by Ang Boon Cheong

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User & Context by Poh Wei Keat

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Concept by Ling Teck Ong