17.4
PROBLEMS OF LI
TO many Asian countries seeking
to provide adequate, modern accommodation for its peoples in cities and towns, so crowded already with buildings that the only possible large scale housing development is skywards, the building of low-cost multi-storey flats is obviously the
answer.
But, it is an answer which involves first of all the solution of many problems. For building. say, two blocks of 16-storey flats at a cost of just over $M1 million, as is now being done in Loke Yew Road, Kuala Lumpur, must pose difficulties and compromises have often to be reached.
For example, considering the soil conditions there. would not a raft
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foundation instead of piling be more economical and just as strong for this praticular project?
And in place of the usual bricks. would not hollow blocks be cheaper and just as suitable for infill panels? Besides they are lighter and require no plastering.
Also, how many lifts would be needed? Would not one lift for each block, capable of taking 10 passeng- ers each at the rate of 160 feet per minute be enough to cater for the 430 people living in each block?
Again, the design of the building must be in the simplest possible form yet without sacrificing the aesthetic value.
FLAT
Those, as the Kuala Lumper Municipal Architect, Mr. S. P. Chow found, were some of the problem which had to be solved in the Loke Yew Road scheme, started in January this year and expected to be com pleted by the end of the year.
And solved they have been, with the result that the approximate cost of each square foot of utilised floor area for this project is only $M6,50
This is low compared to cost in normal multi-storey flats which car go up to $15 per square foot
The project is the fourth low-cost multi-storey block of flat being built - in the Federal capital. The first was the 12-storey Suleiman Court flats: the second, the nine-storey flats at the
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!
98
36
KIT.
KIT.
BED RM.
LIVING ROOM
LIVING ROOM
BED RM.
BATH BATH!
ele
LIFT
CO R
R
DO A
BATH
DN
LIVING ROOM
BED RM.
KIT.
UP
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TYPICAL
노
FLOOR
PLAN
S C A LE
8
16
24
32 FT
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 17, NUMBER +
Page 100Page 101
-COST USING
junction of Loke Yew Road and Shaw Road; third. the Sungei Besi Hats.
With these flats having been and being built not only in Kuala Lumpur but also in various other parts of the Country. Malaya is reaping the ex- perience necessary to overcome the The difficulties of erecting multi-storey flats at a low cost.
being
The two blocks now built in Loke Yew Road will be 152 feet tall and have 172 flats with eight lock-up shops on the ground floor.
Each flat will have a floor area of 400 square feet including individual Balcony and a complement of rooms consisting of a living room, a bed- room, kitchen, bath and WC.