Wanna peek into the future…?
From one sorry-looking tower to another two: This is what the PGCC will look like from Komtar - but please, please remember that there are going to be 38 other high-rise towers in front of the crooked twin towers!
Just read a Star report that says Penang Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon has rejected ’suggestions’ (I thought they were demands) from NGOs for more public hearings on the PGCC. He was echoing State Local Government Committee chairman Teng Hock Nan’s statement on Sunday that there would not be any public hearings on the project.
Apparently, such public hearings involved legal process and were not something that could be held many times, said Koh.
Many times? Hey, there hasn’t been a single public hearing (for the public, that is, and not just nearby residents) on the PGCC.
And legal process?
Pray tell us how a public meeting was held in June 2002 for the MPPP project to upgrade and beautify Little India - a project which was puny in comparison to the PGCC.
Look at how they talk down to us and take us as fools. This is why we really need to have elected local councils so that the Council and other local authorities will be more accountable and answerable to the people. We need real participatory democracy.
Well, folks, the general election is around the corner… lest Koh and Teng forget.
- Public meetings for lamp-posts - but not for PGCC
- PGCC the biggest land scam: Guan Eng slams Koh and Teng
- PGCC: Council to hear nearby residents’ concerns
- After stalling RM25bil project, PGCC Campaign Group calls for Local Plans in Penang
- PGCC: Now you don’t see it…
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Many willmake some money & some will make PLENTY of money… but what kind of a PENANG will you be leaving for your children & theirs… and for the rest of Malaysia?
Think long term, for the children and what is beyond. If we do not show the power of the people, what are we left with today ??
KTK be transparent, let us have our say , what are you afraid off ?? You are the executive we are just peaople !!
Let us have our SAY !!
NO to PGCC
Firstly I would like to begin on a more positive note. Why the attack on contemporary architecture? The towers are not ‘crooked’, they are just fluid in form reflecting international trends. Kudos to Asymtote, the architects for their inspiring tower designs which has made Penang the talk of the international architecture community. Yes we are in the 21st century, and new buildings should reflect the time we live in.
In defence of Ken Yeang, the internationally acclaimed Penang-born architect who designed Menara UMNO, I would like to say that although it may not work in its entirety but Menara UMNO is a key building in the development of a more sustainable commercial architecture in the tropics, and has been internationally recognised as such. Again, compared to buildings like KOMTAR, Menara UMNO represents a uniquely modern Malaysian aesthetic in contemporary architecture… thank God they didn’t make the architect put a dome on top of the building.
Secondly, yes there is a major issue with congestion once this mega-development is complete. The density will make the PORR useless in its original conception.
Ah… such is the Malaysian planning process. The same occurred in Kuala Lumpur with KLCC. While foreign consultants (who designed most of the key buildings in KLCC, i.e. Twin Towers, Convention Centre, Troika, etc) were concerned with the effects of density on local transportation the planning authority’s reply was ‘its already congested anyway so it wouldn’t really matter’.
Satu lagi projek kerajaan Barisan Nasional. Take your grouses to the polling booths people. You voters deserve the government you voted for.
In reply to David, and other internationally focused architects.
Asymtote’s winning design was for the entire Turf Club site not one iconic building-group shoved in one corner behind 38 nondescript towers. It was an masterpiece of adaptable and sculptable urban engineering based on a sound organic concept very much in tune with Asian cultural mores.
What Hani Rashid produced in 2005 -to quote the inspirational, though often way-beyond-most-of-us - Ar. William Lim reflected Lim’s belief that ‘the East creates an order from the complexity of apparent randomness through intuitive wisdom and a holistic approach’.
What we have now - as presented in September 2007 - is a ‘marriage’ between two prize winners, first and joint second.
Our Parisian friend has brought a more Eurocentric approach which- as’ William Lim describes -traditionally creates the dynamics of change and exploration within the intellectual context of rationalism and analytical thinking’ (William S. W. Lim, 1998: 25). It is rather a public forum to test out if these two diametrically opposed approaches can work hand in hand! And it would appear, one that the international and local judges tried to avoid.
In defence of Ken Yeang, and Datuk Lim, the competition and the Asian Design Forum were just what the Malaysian architecture profession needed - an infusion of dynamic ideas. Unfortunately the construction industry is not so lucky. The Menara UMNO in Penang, for example, whilst it has created some exhilarating spaces, locally it is simply not understood - hence the cardboard covering the windows and the jaga’s clothes hanging up in the open-to-the-public-view fire escape- a local decorative feature prehaps?
What’s more the building does not bear close scrutiny when it comes to details, building materials and implementation. How often do we find award winning and notable architects work is shoddy when we look up close - we can’t all look at these buildings in glossy magazine and coffee table books, some of us use them.
One can only hope that to save us all from the embarrassments recently experienced over the much hyped Putrayjaya building defects and the costly repairs- either the construction industry smartens up or we make sure only the truly capable are employed.
As for the planners… overseas they are now referred to as Development Controllers… one can understand why.
Yes the PGCC is in the international architectural arena, urban futures and in particular Zero Carbon futures are under much scrutiny. Whilst sucesses are celebrated believe me they like nothing more than failure. I for one will be following this intently.
I have started a facebook link for PGCC Watch. Enjoy postings if you have an account there.
[...] of what the PGCC would look like from Komtar. KL Dude has had a go on photo editor with the earlier picture of the PGCC Twin Towers posted on this blog; only this time he has actually added the 38 towers in [...]
[...] of what the PGCC would look like from Komtar. KL Dude has had a go on photo editor with the earlier picture of the PGCC Twin Towers posted on this blog; only this time he has actually added the 38 towers in [...]