THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

NAME: LOO GIAP SHENG

ID: 0310390

TUTOR: MS. IDA

SITE: DAMANSARA PERDANA

Damansara Perdana is a developing city consisted the majority of commercial and residential

district. Damansara Perdana have the potential to develop into an urban district because of

its strategic location at west of the intersection of two busy highway. Empire City, PJ Trade

Centre and Menara OBYU are the significant buildings which made the place well known.

Damansara Perdana never had bad traffic issues because the circulation and the district are

well distributed. Damansara Perdana city is different from other cities because greenery can

be found in every corner of this city. Damansara Perdana offers a stress free place to work at.

The work-life balance concept for people in the city is fair because the commercial and

residential are managed evenly.

The quote “The city can be transformed into a power station.” from Dr. Steffen Lehmann can

be found in Damansara Perdana. The quote stating that the city can generate and supply

energy for itself independently rather than consuming from the power generating station.

Damansara Perdana is indirectly applying this theory into the city because of its green scape.

For example in Damansara Perdana, trees provide fresh and cool air in the morning and it

reduces the usage of air-conditioning. Trees also provide good shading to the users, providing

more comfortable public spaces. In addition, lower cost of production is required maintaining

a tree than excessive usage of ventilation mechanisms. Having plenty of greenery around the

city helps in reducing the heat island effect which will cool the city. Embracing all these

benefits reduce excessive usage of energy. The saved energy eventually reserved for other

purposes. In other words, saving energy is a reverse energy generation to the city.

Image 1.1 shows the greenery found on the pavements and divider in Damansara Perdana. Source: google maps

In Damansara Perdana, majority of the buildings were made up of concrete. Concrete is a

sustainable building material that has high thermal mass. Concrete has low maintenance and

easily available which made concrete efficient in the market. In the city, concrete act as the

heat absorption material that absorb the heat from the sunlight. Eventually, the heat from

the sunlight to the city is reduced. The city is cool with least effort and least energy

consumption.

Image 1.2 shows the consistent of concrete used in the buildings in Damansara Perdana. Source: google maps

In my opinion, there are still room of improvement for the city Damansara Perdana. The urban

planner should introduce water harvesting in this city. Water harvesting can be a concept of

generating resources for the city itself. Water harvesting system can be incorporate in every

building so that more architects will practise this system. The harvested water can be used to

water the trees around each building respectively. Furthermore, solar energy can be effective

in tropical country. Besides the common used of solar panels in buildings, solar panels should

be used for street lights and traffic lights as well. Although solar panels can be costly, long

term usage of solar panels benefits over the electrical energy in terms of cost. These methods

can make the city self-sufficient as a power station.