shop|House|2.0

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Kuala Lumpur is becoming overcrowded with a high demand for living spaces. Concurrently, urban housing is becoming unaffordable for urbanities to own a living space. In this upsurge of urbanization, the demand for providing variety, quality & affordable shelter in Kuala Lumpur is becoming one of the most pressing challenges among rule makers & designers. Striving to re-define the future urban housing typology in this pilot project, we explored potential architectural solutions to rejuvenate the neglected urban shop houses into new prototypical affordable housing typology to cater for the increasing demand for affordable housing within the urban area.

shop|HOUSE|2.0 epitomizes the evolutionary idea of transforming dilapidated shop houses within an urban area into an alternative affordable dwelling typology to meet the needs of growing middle income urban dwellers and offset the lack of affordable housing available within urban area for a more balance inclusive sustainable community and livable city. During the process of mapping out the potential site, we identified an abundance of neglected double-to-triple storey shop houses scattered around the city of Kuala Lumpur, which have become redundant due to the changes in the economy. These neglected shop houses are chosen as the basis of this project as we see huge opportunities arise from them to be re-established and adaptive reused into local businesses, which unlocks the potential possibilities of utilizing the available airspace above the existing buildings for affordable housing. The proposed outcome is a prototypical affordable housing typology which can be potentially replicated to the other sites giving low-cost housing a new identity.

We have used a 3m x 6m steel framing grid, which towers over the shop houses as a support system for the modular designed two-bedroom and co-living apartments. Each of the units are composed of lightweight walls and pre-cast floor slabs for easy constructability which will reduce the overall construction costs and grants flexibility for future expansions. The unification of the shop houses to the newly developed housing above have been accomplished. We have taken one of the shop houses and re-used it as a housing lobby and a private café for the urban dwellers.

Overtime, families will eventually grow and as families expand so does their units. The building design introduces an expandable housing concept, which allows a 3m setback on each of the building’s façades allowing future expansions based on the families’ specificities. By executing this design, this allows the family to remain instead of them having to move. Additionally, we have embraced social community by applying various spaces which enables community engagement. One example is the inclusion of cascading forms, where we eliminate the end units to make way for communal gardens. Residents can enjoy leisurely strolls and views of the city. Likewise, these communal areas encourage residents to start urban farming where urban agriculture brings people together with a common interest — food.  

By combining these techniques of reviving the neglected shop houses, implementing modular systems, expandable housing and community spaces these balance out a sustainable community and liveable city for an alternative affordable housing typology for Kuala Lumpur.