Design Vision
Designed to nestle among the heavily landscaped estate to create an oasis for PETRONAS, the new Petronas Leadership Centre is a sprawling campus in Bangi. The campus is designed to encourage interaction, collaboration and enhance future learning experiences through innovative learning spaces.
The design objective is to distil the essence of experiential journey into a sanctuary as respite for the participants and maximum collaborative encounters across all employees, transporting the relaxed learning environment that retains the integrity of the corporate culture. This translates to a focus on creating a legacy that transcends imitation or pastiche. At the same time, there was an impetus to break away from traditional campus planning, to innovate to adapt the design to the locality whilst celebrating the root of the organization.
Design Concept
Knowledge is fluid, flowing and growing. Like water ripples, where a small action may reverberate into a bigger impact, the design form is derived from these inspirations which also subtly resonates with the PETRONAS’s oil and energy core business.
Technology
In anticipating future learning experience and to achieve spatial flexibility and adaptability, various technology was incorporated in the design.
Rotating LED immersive screen. This is technology was developed together with the LED supplier to achieve intended immersive experience.
Transparent OLED screen is one of the earliest introduced in Malaysia to allow display whilst maintaining transparency of the glass wall surface.
Sensors which include light control motion sensor for efficient use of electricity, leak detection sensor to minimize water wastage due to leakage and CO2 sensor for optimum indoor air quality for user comfort.
Automated Operable Walls to achieve flexibility in teaching room configuration to meet learning programmes and usage.
Innovation
The innovative solutions incorporated in the design includes:
Circular multi-purpose hall with surrounding LED walls that create immersive experience to the participants. This will provide a more impactful knowledge transfer. The LED on the wall also can be rotated to face outside of the hall and can be viewed from outside if needed.
Innovative layout where learning blocks and residential blocks are combined to encourage connection thus encouraging sharing
Incorporating deep wells that draw low temperature underground water that cools the area surrounding the building.
Sustainability
Some of the sustainable Design solutions adopted which include:
Site planning. Approaching it from microclimatic strategy, the campus master plan use lake and landscape elements to lower the surrounding ambient temperature.
Building orientation where the long facades face north and south directions.
Natural Ventilation optimisation. Only 60% of the total area in the building is naturally ventilated which significantly reduced energy usage in the building. Curved forms encourage a wind tunnel effect that naturally cools the buildings. The building skin is designed to induce and promote natural ventilation without compromising on the rain penetration.
Natural Light optimisation. While building envelopes also shade the facades from extreme sunlight while allowing natural light into the space.
Rainwater is harvested and grey water is recycled for water conservation. Excellent indoor environmental quality is achieved through extensive visual and physical connections with nature.
Recycling initiatives, including aerobic digester composting from garden and organic Fertilizer is produced and reuse for landscaping upkeeping.
The building has achieved GBI platinum rating and targeting US LEED platinum certification soon.
Community & Humanity
The building is set away from the road so that users can experience sense of arrival and prestige as they approach. Internally, there is no barrier to movement. The spine circulation space serves as a unifying element that bonds the users.
Bukit Raja Convention Hall, located in Bandar Bukit Raja, Klang, is designed with the concept of 'Convention in the Garden.' Spanning 43,000 square feet, it features a banquet hall that can accommodate up to 1,000 people, a cafeteria, a VIP room, as well as auditorium and seminar room facilities.
The building's facade design draws inspiration from the patterns and motifs found on the seal of the fourth Dato Ungku Kelang, known as Dato Ungku Naga Mengulur, who ruled around the year 1700. Dato Ungku Kelang was a powerful leader along the Klang River.
Another motif incorporated into the design is the nine-petalled cape flower, which has been associated with the Selangor sultanate and is the official state flower. This motif is widely used in royal attire and regalia, including that of the Sultan of Selangor.
Nestled at the cornerstone of a traffic circus within Penang Science Park North in Simpang Ampat, is Ghee Hiang Manufacturing Co. Sdn. Bhd.’s newest industrial facility. Ghee Hiang, a heritage brand and cultural icon spanning almost 170 years, started off producing traditional pastries before becoming synonymous with teel-seed oil; a gift normally bestowed on mothers who are in confinement. Its logo, a waving infant inside a red circle, is instantly identifiable. Ghee Hiang gained success through many years of careful expansion and growth and as such, the theme for this facility was to reflect the ideology of natural growth.
This ideology is prominent on a site scale, as the 2 to 3-storey facility sits humbly, fittingly, yet distinctively within its industrial context. Both roofscape and streetscape portray a universal architectural language, with the extensive use of Zincalume® steel (AZ150). The facade is a unified collage of texture and color, complemented by building elements that matches the steel. A captivating design statement is displayed by two halos made of steel, painted in red and inter-connected by a curvaceous roof at the front building. Inspired by the kernel of the teel-seed, these halos symbolize longevity and infinity, and are instantly recognizable from the streetscape.
The construction of this 4 acre facility was fueled by the increasing global demand for Ghee Hiang’s teel-seed oil. The facility is separated into 2 parts; the first, a 3 storey building, enclosed by a roof curvature made of Zincalume® steel with Activate™ Technology (AM150), that is open to the elements yet shielded by functional customized Zincalume® louvers, mirroring the canopy layer of the forests. A production area and office space occupy the first two levels, with a recreation and event space on the top floor. Three gigantic steel columns symbolizing the Sesamum indicum tree form the support for the curved roof. At the rear, two single storey buildings divided by a corridor for forklifts, are warehouses for raw materials and finished goods from production line. The second part of the facility is where the finished goods are packed, stored before being shipped out to customers worldwide.
As the facility is for production of food, building materials specified and used have to comply with GMP requirements to ensure safety and quality of the end product, as well as for ease of maintenance. The steel roof of the warehouse is left bare to ensure that the raw material can dry out, aided with natural ventilation via 3 angled bays of fixed louvers, custom-made in Zincalume® steel.
The entire facility is finished with Zincalume® wall cladding together with exposed bare concrete and facing brick that demonstrate the honest approach of the manufacturing process. The patterned facing brick contrasts pleasantly with the selected cladding and different tones and shadows are noticed at various times of the day. With time, a natural patina will coat the surface of the brick facade.
Rainwater is drained through carefully sculptured stainless steel gutters and rainwater down-pipes. The form of the logistic buildings is elementary thereby ensuring the texture, finishes and colour of the materials are given the opportunity to shine. Expanded galvanized wire, normally used as fencing, is shaped to act as a barrier at the balconies.
As a footnote, the entire facility was constructed and completed during the Covid-19 times, when there were strict restrictions on logistics of raw material and skilled labor was scarce. As the form of the buildings is unpretentious, extra effort was undertaken to ensure the cladding, louvers and extrusions were all precisely dovetailed during installation. The completion of this facility demonstrates the design’s team aspiration towards excellence and innovation.