Look who’s breathing down Patrick’s neck…
Priceless moment: A bemused Patrick Lim, the developer of the Penang Global City Centre, turns to look at heritage conservationist Loh-Lim Lin Lee as she presents the PGCC Campaign Group’s grave concerns about his mega project during the Penang Local Government Consultative Forum on 23 November. On Patrick’s right is Nasrine Seraji, the PGCC master planner. Seated behind the pair are half a dozen activists and others critical of the PGCC, including environmentalist Gurmit Singh (in blue shirt) who mocked the proposal to put up wind turbines, pointing out that the country just doesn’t have enough wind for it to work. Lots of hot air, yes… but just not enough wind, sorry guys! (Photo credit: PHT)
One of the questions raised was: “Carbon-0 is really carbon off-setting or carbon trading, isn’t it? Buy carbon reduction projects elsewhere (and) leave all the carbon emissions of PGCC in Penang?”
Patrick replied, “I don’t know about the carbon off-setting you are talking about.”
But on page 19 of the glossy PGCC launch booklet, it is clearly stated:
After efforts to reduce energy requirements and maximize renewable energy sources are exhausted, carbon offsetting can neutralise the remaining emissions associated with the city to achieve carbon zero status.
- Lipstick on the PGCC gorilla
- End of the road for biofuels?
- A phone call from Fox
- Unspinning Patrick Lim’s spin on his Penang mega project
- Architect Nasrine Seraji exposes PGCC developers’ greed
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As a practising Architect , I am disappointed that another ignorant American firm being used as a pawn in a highly (questionable) land transfer in Malaysia where the developer Patrick Lim is in cahoots with the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
This game that international developers play by using superstar architects to ram through stupid schemes that have not been thought through properly is old and out of date, it has happened to at the World Square Sydney Development where a Malaysian developer brought in Kenzo Tange to front it to disastrous effect.
As a practitioner of 12 years in the field of environmental architecture, I know for a fact that the technology is there but the payback periods are way, way, way too long for any Malaysian developer to be serious in proposing it “The project aims to be carbon-neutral. A central mechanical system will utilize trigeneration, including wind turbines and a thin-film photovoltaic facade.” The facade of sustainability used by Patrick Lim is for the sole purpose of getting the scheme through not for any serious implementation of sustainability.
I am sure the Penang public will not be conned into this silly game.
Christopher Alexander the influential American Theorist and practitioner once said
“Piecemeal growth is based on the assumption that adaptation between buildings and their users is necessarily a slow and continuous business which cannot, under any circumstances, be achieved in a single leap.”
Keep up the good work Mr. Netto
Below an article in the Architectural Record (a dumb publication by the American institute of Architects), something like that would be in the “outrage” section of the Architectural Review ( a more critical and publication of Architecture out of the UK )
Asymptote to Spice Up Penang’s Skyline
November 27, 2007
By Rebecca Ward
During the 18th century, spice attracted both traders and pirates to Penang, an island harbor for ships on the Strait of Malacca in Malaysia. Now, government officials are hoping that 21st-century vanguard architecture and luxurious beachfront resorts will once again draw international visitors to the island—this time, investors and tourists. To aid in the effort, municipal authorities have tapped Asymptote Architecture to design a $7 billion, 256-acre mixed-use complex called Penang Global City Center (PGCC).
Lise Anne Couture and Hani Rashid, principals of the New York–based architecture firm, unveiled their design for the nearly 11-million-square-foot PGCC development in September. Their project takes the form of two sinuous, 60-story steel-and-glass-clad towers that reach skyward from a stagelike plinth. The towers will house luxury residential units and five-star hotels; the plinth will function as a public plaza and contain retail, a performing arts center, and a convention center.
“(Our project) is a harmonic assemblage of distinct historic and cultural references set against contemporary dynamics of fluidity, transformation, and flux,” Rashid says. Asymptote drew on Penang’s heritage of Chinese, Indian, and Arabian influences to create fenestration patterns inspired by arabesque motifs. “The towers allude to Asian mythical symbols and Islamic minarets,” he adds.
But the PGCC will also have a high-tech, sustainable sensibility: The project aims to be carbon-neutral. A central mechanical system will utilize trigeneration, including wind turbines and a thin-film photovoltaic facade.
Penang’s government expects to begin construction in 2008 and finish by 2012, but it is facing criticism about the site’s master plan, overseen by the Parisian firm Atelier Seraji. Opponents say that the PGCC fails to provide enough affordable housing and that it will create traffic congestion.
Lin-Lee has our support all the way, I wish there were more Penang ppl who are willing to standup for their rights.
Guess its the Penang way, you go gal and we shall support you from the back, hopefully with lots of CASH contribution.
Interesting what the Star reported about resdienet association and TBRA meeting on SUNDAY.
MPPP beware
Dear sir,
We are trying to fight a proposed development plan by IJM Properties SDN. Bhd. Could you please have a look at our website:
http://www.savetamanmelawatihill.com/
Any additional information/comments/advise you could provide us would be useful.
Sincerely,
mahen