PSI LEAD
MASTERPLAN
DESIGNER
BIODIVERCITY
BIG with HIJJAS A+P
BiodiverCity does not just look different, it performs differently. A network of biologically rich corridors and social destinations are interwoven to create a resilient and holistic approach that is responsive to the dynamics of water, accommodating diversity in communal experiences rooted within Malaysian heritage and newly established BioHabitats. Districts are efficiently connected below the BioPlatform’s surface to increase the efficiency of goods, services, and regional mobility, while maximizing pedestrian safety throughout the public realm.
Above-ground streets not only move people but also serve as BioMobility corridors for plants and animals. Urban space is shared, layered and connected throughout each island. A water, air, and land based autonomous public transportation network ensures a personalized 360 degree approach to mobility. BioProgramming promotes an interactive and mixed-use public interface. BioBuildings are designed to perform, clad in living facades that shade and covered in productive rooftops that capture and grow on-site BioResources: water, energy, and food. District amenities becomes destinations. Inclusive Icons for both locals and global visitors bring character, spectacle, and communal strength to the city.
The three diverse islands: The Channels, The Mangroves and The Laguna; are conceived as urban lily pads, organized by a cellular structure of urban districts interspersed with, and connected by, natural patches and corridors for habitat. Taken together, these systems allow a reduction in carbon footprint by more than 50% with an increase in habitat value by more than 200% as compared to a conventional development of equal scale.
The Penang BiodiverCity will be a cultural, economic, and ecological capital for Malaysia, Southeast Asia and the globe. An extension that celebrates both the heritage and innovation that characterise Penang. A home for growing economies, growing communities, and growing ecologies, at the Crossroads of the World…
Finalist
02
UNION BAY, PENANG
TEKUMA FRENCHMAN with EOWON
From its historic trade port along the Malacca strait to a booming Electrical & Electronics manufacturing hub, Penang has always been a rich confluence of East and West. Our project is intended to bring the province into its future, but also holds the opportunity to create a new model of development between land and sea, tradition and technology, city and nature, and East and West. It is with this in mind that the proposed masterplan is called ‘Union Bay, Penang’.
Celebrating and bringing local communities together in the form of a 21st century harbour, creating a new productive district that leverages the international airport to export both homegrown ideas and goods globally, and pioneering a new way of living with the sea in the context of climate change and resiliency, Union Bay will be in the image of Penangites and their ambitions.
Rather than solely gazing towards the sea, the masterplan looks to Penang main island to sculpt its islands, and leverages the abundant local resources and opportunities – ocean tide, international airport, manufacturing clusters, fishing communities, cuisine and culture, mountains and water, stitching itself to the island to protect and enhance the entire southern shore of Penang island.
The objective of the masterplan is to restore and enhance the marine ecology and the innovation ecosystem. Any land reclamation project stands to disrupt the ecology and inhabitants of the sea and the land —the fish and the fishermen communities. The objective of the masterplan is to strengthen this ecosystem, not degrade it. By adopting the principle of resilient place-making; society, nature, infrastructure and economy can thrive in unity adapting to global environmental change, while creating a unique urban setting that celebrates local culture encouraging innovation and growth.
Finalist
03
PENANG SOUTH ISLANDS
FOSTER + PARTNERS with GDP ARCHITECTS
Our vision for the new Penang South Islands is of a masterplan that forms a natural extension to Penang island. A city set amongst tree-lined rivers and canals, a new archipelago that celebrates Penang’s multicultural heritage and places it unquestionably at the forefront of environmentally-led, sustainable 21st century urban development.
Any long-term masterplan must be strong enough to establish an undeniable identity, but flexible enough to enable endless possibilities as new ideas emerge over the coming decades. We believe that our proposal sets a sustainable model for Penang’s development with a richly diverse archipelago of new communities and neighbourhoods at every stage of its development.
Covid and the Climate Emergency will expedite increasingly rapid change in the way we do everything. The space between buildings, the way we move and even the way we breathe. Penang South Islands is a unique and exciting prospect for a once-in-a-generation chance to define a vision of the future, a vision for a new series of islands that will allow Penang to grow in a more sustainable way. This project will be at the forefront of this new way of thinking.
As designers, we believe that we have a particular responsibility to protect and enhance the environment, so sustainable design considerations are among our highest priorities. Our considered solution makes the Islands faster, easier and cheaper to build, but also makes them more liveable, enjoyable, sustainable and more environmentally sensitive. Put together, this will let Penang show off its innovation and commitment to a sustainable future, becoming a world-leading exemplar for responsible development.
Finalist
04
THE SUN FLOWER ISLANDS OF PENANG
MVRDV with aLM ARCHITECTS
The Sun Flower Islands of Penang represent a unique opportunity to work alongside natural systems to generate new ways of living with natural ecologies, rather than against them, and can serve as a precedent design model for long term resilience for coastal communities in the face of climate change and the impact of the fourth industrial revolution.
At the heart of the master plan is a resilient design strategy that enhances the interdependence of natural and human systems, leveraging these to enrich Penang’s existing strengths. In their formation, the three island clusters work with existing tidal dynamics to enhance water quality for local fishing communities, to prevent erosion and build resilience by working with rising sea levels and flood conditions. At their foundation, the islands work in line with natural systems and support natural and human habitats. A whole host of landscape conditions promote a rich biodiversity of plant and animal life, while in the built environment, an expansive solar forest draws energy from the sun, maximising the surface area of the entire built development to support human life on the islands.
Beneath this canopy, green neighbourhoods grow with a diverse mix of housing types that promotes high quality living experiences with abundant natural light, shading, and cooling strategies. The same strategies apply to the innovation hubs, porous commercial office buildings and hotel towers, while drawing vegetation deep into the building form to create a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor environments, providing space for retreat from urban life.
This organic urban fabric organises streets in a human-scale, craquele texture, making them green, lively, and inviting, by maintaining pedestrian and sustainable mobility dominance and strategically dedicating vehicular thoroughfares in places of key connections. A wide range of architectural building types and iconic public places, such as the fishing community’s marketplace, as well as a rich array of public spaces, serve to articulate different island identities, ascribing unique attractions for each while augmenting existing social and economic strengths to ensure Penang will continue to grow and blossom.
Finalist
05
ALUNAN PENANG
UN STUDIO with ARCHITECTS 61
We invite you to think of the new Penang as a cluster of islands, to see Penang as an Archipelago, based on the symbiotic relationship of existing and new systems that support the ecological, social and economic growth of Penang.
Penang’s vital relationship with Water inspires our proposal as a symbiotic relationship embodied through the concept of rhythmic waves. `Alunan Penang’ is interpreted in a variety of ways: the mixing and blending of people from all walks of life, from local families, fishermen and tourists, to young entrepreneurs. The masterplan is designed to facilitate new and harmonious encounters, relationships and ways of working and living together.
Rhythmic Waves also encapsulates ideas of generating vitality and animating life. Water will not only introduce new species to the area, but will also act as a catalyst in establishing new patterns of collaboration with the main island.
Alunan Penang, as our guiding concept, will create dynamism and flow, enabling new waves of societal movements to take place in technological innovation, in addition to a revival of traditional crafts and stewardship of resources or governance practices. The layers of Mobility, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Culture, Heritage and of course Nature, upgrade their networks throughout the Penang Archipelago. In such systems, the part strengthens the whole, therefore Alunan Penang becomes an opportunity for the whole of Penang.
With Alunan Penang, we design for a Holistic Penang. We make space for all ingredients that contribute to this goal. We organize our story in a way that brings together this multi-layered process. In the following presentation, we make space for Water, Nature, Health, Communities, New Connections, Tech Entrepreneurs and the Future of Alunan Penang.