Two towers -one lift
at KL hostel
TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEPT., MALAYSIA
owners
IVERSEN, VAN SITTEREN & PARTNERS
architects and structural en-
gineers for phase 2 (hostel
blocks, catering unit, re-
creation unit, and work- shop unit)
STEEN SEHESTED & PARTNERS
LANGDON & EVERY
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structural engineers for phase 1 (admin. block, lec- ture blocks and equipment blocks)
quantity surveyors
THOMAS ANDERSON & PARTNERS
mechanical engineers
LIM KAH NGAM (M) LTD.
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contractors (phase 1)
LOW KENG HUAT CONSTRUCTION CO.
contractors (phase 2)
TWIN multi-storey towers, served by a common lift housed in a free- standing structure, contain the hostel accommodation and are the focal point of a new telecommunications training centre completed recently in Kuala Lumpur.
The rectangular, windowless lift structure allows egress at only three levels, where covered ways link the two towers.
The training centre caters for two types of courses - recruit training for new trainees and in-service training (refresher and specialised courses) for existing trainees. The majority of the in-service trainees at the centre are family men who require some degree of privacy and the facilities and ameni- ties of home from which they are temporarily separated. For this reason and because of a limited site area the hostel accommodation takes its un- usual form.
Apart from the access bridge links
Hostel towers and central lift structure
at every third floor, the two towers are completely detached structurally. Each contains a sequence of single and double bedrooms with built-in furni- ture, beds, study desks and wash basins.
The sequence is arranged at half floor intervals, giving easy and econo- mical access to the rooms direct from the stair landings. Good through ven- tilation is achieved by means of a cen- trally placed stairwell; this opens at the bottom and is carried through the roof to create a 'stack' effect, inducing draught upwards.
Utility rooms, common rooms, bag- gage rooms, toilets and laundry faci- lities are situated at strategic points and the hostels include four self-con- tained warden's flats, two in each block occupying half the fourth and eighth floor levels.
The rest of the telecommunications training centre, regarded as one of the foremost of its kind in S.E. Asia, com-
prises a network of double and single storey blocks inter-connected by covered ways.
The centre, built at a cost of M$ 7.5 million, is spread over a prominent site of approximately 11 acres along Jalan Gurney, Kuala Lumpur. As the layout plan shows, the possibilities of the site have been exploited to the full, with the centre proper set back away from the busy main road and 'buffered' from it by the playing field.
It consists of a fully air-conditioned administration block, two lecture blocks and two equipment blocks, a workshop unit, the hostel blocks, a catering unit and recreational facilities.
The project was a joint undertaking by the International Telecommunica- tions Union and the Malaysian Gov- ernment. Of the capital employed, about M$3 million was contributed by the United Nations Special Fund and the remainder was borne by the Malay-
Far East BUILDER, January 1969.
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