115) skan ibla
NEW BUILDINGS ARE CHANGING THE FACE OF KUALA LUMPUR
By I.A.L. Concannon, Commissioner of Town and Country Planning
Left, night view of 14-storey students hostel completed as part of the La guage Institute, for the Federati Government. Right, 12-storey Suleimar Court built by the Federal Housin. Trust for the Municipal Council. Be low left, modern architectural style : a feature of the low-cost housing pro ject. Below right, Federal House which houses a number of Federa departments, won an internationa design competition held by the Federa Government.
Kuala Lumpur, with its fine natural setting, good water supply and excellent transport facilities, is ideally suited to fulfil its role as the Capital of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.
Its physical growth over the past 50 years has been rapid from an area of some 10 square miles and a population of 45,000 in 1910, to 37 square miles and a population of 315,000 in 1957.
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During this period the urban limits have extended in all directions, and the volume of wheeled transport has increased enormously, giving rise to difficult traffic problems, particularly in the old parts of the central area where the road pattern remains very much as it was when laid down 70 years ago.
Notable features of post-war development include modern multi-storeyed flats and office buildings tower- ing nearly 200 feet above the ground, and the new housing estates such as Kenny Hill and Ulu Klang Heights, where exciting designs can be seen as stimu- lating examples of the ability of our new generation of Malayan architects.
This healthy and progressive approach is also evident in the more recent residential and industrial building at Petaling Jaya, the new town started in 1953 by the Government, which already has a popula- tion of 25,000 and is proving a successful experiment in official enterprise.
In the past two years, in the quiet and secluded Pantai Valley between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya in the south-west, the Language Institute and new University of Malaya have rapidly taken shape with some striking buildings of contemporary style, in a rural setting which has been planned to form a park-like buffer link with the parent town.
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER
VOLUME 14, NUMBER 3