1.0 INTRODUCTION

Damansara Perdana is currently a fast-developing township developed majority by MKLAND

Holdings Bhd. and Tujuan Gemilang Sdn. Bhd. in the projects of Empire Damansara and PJ

Trade Centre and Point 92 respectively. Damansara Perdana is located within the Golden

Triangle of Petaling Jaya between the town of Mutiara Damansara and Bandar Utama.

Whether business, leisure, convenience, entertainment or residential that we were all looking,

can be found in this busy township. In the central of Damansara Perdana, there are high rise

commercial office buildings, apartments, condominiums and to the edge, there are shop

houses and terrace houses. This township provides abundant lifestyle with its ease of

accessibility through Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP), SPRINT highway and North Klang

Valley Expressway (NKVE).

Point 92 is located at Damansara Perdana, by zlgdesign and was completed in late 2012. The

building is named after the size of the site, sitting on a relatively small site measuring 0.92

acres consists of 13 storeys office and 6 levels of carpark with a total built up of approximately

140,000 square feet. Point 92 is a certified green building by implementing green strategies

such as condensate water recovery system, rainwater harvesting for irrigation purposes,

waterless urinals and water efficient fittings. Point 92 has been awarded with provisional of

GBI certificate.

Point 92 was designed by Huat Lim from zlgdesign. Huat Lim, director of zlgdesign, wanted to

do architecture more than engaging into human experience, but also deep philosophy behind

the work. He does not want his work to adapt or embrace into mainstream typology of

buildings, but to grasp their stance and start off with conceptual design in the way of an artist.

Huat believes that architecture is about people, never about style or about “beauty” contests.

Zlgdesign’s design ideas is that a building can share multiple typologies and encircled with

more than one function. Zlgdesign’s approach is to move away from mainstream typological

firms, to design ambiguous spaces that exhibit various combinations in the final execution.

“If it doesn’t engage or connect with one’s emotion, or if it’s just not involving enough, we’ll

probably just throw it out the window. We won’t want to take that thing all the way to the

end…If it’s not intriguing enough, and doesn’t hold any mystery or surprises then I guess it

really isn’t worth developing…the drama isn’t going to be there by the time one is finished

with it, not enough to sustain the experience”, says Huat.

2.0 EXTERNAL FACTOR (USER)

During design stage, “users” are one of the external factors considered by the architect of Point 92. Huat approaches is to provide user a distinctive experience in a working environment than a typical office place. Upon arriving to Point 92, a welcoming ramp is concealed by a row of trees leading to the public square with a sculptural staircase. The form of the sculptural staircase are compromised with integrated benches and the environment are interlaced with greenery landscape that create a conductive space for casual meetings between work peers.

Figure 2.1 shows the public square and the sculptural staircase Source: Arch daily

The breakout area that spans from level 5 to level 12 creates a landscape deck for an office workplace. The landscape concept provide a more conductive environment which encourages interaction between work peers. The open space also gives a good connectivity with nature which could reduce the social ills in such high density workplace.

Figure 2.2 shows the breakout area from level 5 to level 12 Source: Arch daily

Local marine plywood panels are used within human touch on the walls and benches of most public realms. The significant façade of the building are made up natural white concrete and low-e double glazing glass. Materiality plays an important role in providing a different sense of experience to the users. The glass and the pattern of the façade provides sufficient natural lighting at comfort level while minimizing the energy consumption of the building. Meanwhile, opening of the chamfered façade are covered with fixed glass by an angled window to shield from direct sunlight while providing ambient lighting to the interior working space.

Figure 2.3 shows the chamfered wall of north-east Source: Tujuan Gemilang

The lighting quality of the interior working spaces are superior and sustain enough for the users to work comfortably. The site has been planted with more than 500 trees which is able to reduce the ambient temperature by 2 degrees. The excessive amount of trees ensure a breath-taking outdoor space for the users after working for long hours. The sense of nature can be captured in an exaggerate office building in the central of a developing town is very occasional. In the morning, fresh air and pleasant scent from the trees could enhance the user enthusiasms to work as they walk in at the breezeway.

Figure 2.4 shows the quality of breezeway in the morning Source: Arch daily

As far as the intention of Point 92 are resolved, the design features are responding to the user’s experience. The theory of phenomenology are be applied in Point 92. Phenomenology acknowledges the implemental of sensory design in order to institute experiential, architectural space. Phenomenology in architecture are about the manipulation of space, light, shadow and material in delivering an impact to human senses. This theory contrast rationalism by evaluating the quality as it affect the sensitivity of human perception, than developing a mechanical sense of reasoning. The function of a built form is rather tangible, but to observed and perceived by the human. Architecture is designed to serve human needs, therefore buildings are design with emotion and perception for human to experience and

interpret. Christian Norberg Schulz stresses that “the environment influences human beings, and this implies that the purpose of architecture transcends the definition given by early functionalism”. The designs delivered by Point 92 are focused towards the human sensory and experience such as, the arrival experience at the sculpture staircase, the plays of ambient lighting of the facade, increasing the comfort level of the users, the breakout area for work peers to relief and interact, the use of distinctive materials in the sense of touch. Huat stresses that “although the brief called for office development, we had this idea that much of the work place products that are available today had not played creatively on issues the likes of day lighting, ambiance and materiality of the façade. Instead, nearly all office developments emphasize efficiency and maximum density as overriding concerns and aims over design and aesthetics, let alone their simple functionality in terms of critical ambiance and spatial plan.”

3.0 EXTERNAL FACTOR (CLIMATE)

The choices of material of Point 92 are responding to the local tropical climate in terms of

sustainability and comfortability. The entire external envelop of the building are built out of

agilia concrete (natural white concrete) including the most significant façade of Point 92. The

entire white concrete was manufactured in Malaysia and was casted in situ because the

building was sitting on a cliff. The unique agilia concrete was used because of its properties

that this concrete could free flow to ensure the consistency of the façade. Agilia concrete also

provides white finishes naturally without having to paint which could reduce the maintenance

cost in the future. Moreover, the white coloured external envelop of Point 92 reflects the

heat very well from the sunlight, reducing the heat gain to the interior work space. Huat has

this idea to add some soft touch to the building, since it is entirely solid concrete, he uses local

marine plywood to clad the walls in the interior lobby and the exterior of the breakout area

(public realms). Marine plywood are used to withstand against the local hot and humid

climate and attain its lighting quality when it reflects.

Figure 3.1 shows the close up image of marine plywood cladded on wall

Source: Arch daily

The openings of the chamfered walls on the north-east and south-west are constructed with

fixed glass by an angled window shielding the interior space from direct sunlight. The interior

work space eventually gain natural lighting while minimizing the heat from the sunlight.

Figure 3.2 shows the angled window (Coubusier window) fixed on the chamfered wall

Source: Design Boom

The excess usage of glass in Point 92 is to obtain natural lighting to reduce overall energy

consumption. There are several ways to resolve the excessive heat gain from the massive

installation of glass. The arrival lobby hall was mostly enclosed by glass but the lobby was

shaded by the office block hovering on top. The glass on the façade are installed with low-E

double glazing to reduce and balance indoor temperature while minimizing the energy

consumption.

The front façade of the building is facing the south-east towards a highway. The façade is

orientated to south-east to obtain the morning sunlight to the breakout area at level 5 to level

12, and by the evening, the breakout area will be cooled and shaded encouraging work peers

to enjoy the outdoors. The chamfered walls are orientated to the north-east and south-west

so that at every hour during day time, the windows on the chamfered walls could gain natural

lighting.

4.0 EXTERNAL FACTOR (GEOGRAPHY)

The geography and typology of the site are considered by Huat because the site was unusual

as Point 92 was sitting on a cliff. The site was located right at the intersection of two highways

(LDP expressway and SPRINT expressway) and at the main access from LDP expressway to

Damansara Perdana. In addition, the landscape typology of the site is very much higher than

the highways. These factors open up the opportunity for Huat to make the building iconic to

the town. The design of the façade was meant to be significant because of its strategic spot

representing the town.

Figure 4.1 shows Point 92 located at the intersection of two highways

Source: Google Earth

The typology concept of the town Damansara Perdana consisted of the balance between

green landscape, low rise and high rise buildings. Nevertheless, Point 92 design concept

blends and respects the original concept of the town, by adding 6 levels of car park podium

graced with natural vertical planting, also blending with the neighbouring context filled with

trees.

Figure 4.2 shows the car park podium blending with its neighbouring context with greens

Source: Design Boom

The office block creates a floating effect because the arrival lobby at ground level was covered

mostly with glass and supported by pilotis. The unique façade and floating effect can be

viewed by the motorist through the highways. The design strategy is to capture the prevailing

winds on the cliff by having the office block hovering on top, providing free moving spaces

below ensuring the ground level are natural ventilated.

5.0 CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, I have to agree that architecture are created to serve human needs. Just

like the master planning of Damansara Perdana which consisted of entertainment, leisure,

residential, business and etc. All these needs have transform into a flow in life, everyone

needs to work, eat, entertain, and sleep. Some lower rank people are living to fulfil these

basic needs as a human meanwhile some people are having luxurious lifestyle. Going back

to the building Point 92, the architect was well considered to serve the user as an office

worker. He had created ambiguous spaces, appealing ambient lighting, distinctive sense of

material and etc. But what really cost all these to happen? It is the cost and the resources I

concerned. The materials used in Point 92 were unusual and expensive. Marine plywood are

very expensive wood that generally used in boats to withstand hectic waves and climate.

Moreover, agilia concrete is a natural free flowing concrete which is also costly. We could

argue that the client is rich but what about the environment and resources used to produce

these concretes and woods? We had invested all these just to achieve the experience. What

about the others? The lower tier people around the world are starving. My question to the

world are “do all these really worth it?” or it is better if balanced out the rich and poor?

6.0 REFERENCES

Danny H. (2013, June 7). zlg design: point 92 office building in malaysia. Retrieved from http://www.designboom.com/architecture/zlg-design-point-92-office/

Point92 / Zlg Design | ArchDaily. (2013, June 13). Retrieved from http://www.archdaily.com/386153/900-zlg-design

Huat L. (2014, May 5). point92: phenomenology | zlgdesign. Retrieved from https://zlgdesign.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/point92-5/

Huat L. (2012, August 10). zlgdesign: point92: concept statement. Retrieved from http://zlgdesign.blogspot.com/2012/08/point92-concept-statement.html

David S. (n.d.). Phenomenology, Place, Environment, and Architecture: A Review. Retrieved from http://www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/seamon_revieweap.htm