Porosity Architecture - Palm Oil Training Center & Flood Relief Center

Porosity architecture

Void as the oxygen of the building

Public space as the oxygen of the city

Palm Oil Training Center
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Disaster Convertible Center

At Kampung Parit Medan,
Bukit Serampang,

Ledang, Johor, Malaysia

The proposal tries to challenge the building function of both training center and disaster relief center within the climatized opacity of the sub-urban site. It is the first time that such a program has been brought together under one roof. The center is located at outskirts of the city of Tangkak which is Kampung Parit Medan.  The area was occupied by agricultural land which was only recently overrun by dispersed residential development.  The design strikes to become the innovation training center for MPOB and provide opportunity for the local to learn new agriculture and skills. Meanwhile it will be flood relief center for the victim of Kundang Ulu during flood season, the spaces will be convertible.

The building is designed to promote professional training, research; innovation and learning in the different areas of agriculture and to showcase the importance of water & flood management. By virtue of this massing and its open relationship with the immediate surroundings, the project becomes porous and permeable. This architectural porosity will allow residents, students and disaster victims to find new relationships from formal to informal education, luring the community inside while providing awareness on sustainable approach and more job opportunity to locals.

From a distance the structure looks like a Green sloped with 3 layers. The design adapts the building to the longitudinal landscape, and makes reference to the work carried out inside. By stratifying the training center into three main zones interspersed with green pores garden, the building break down the clear boundaries between inside and outside.  The open space located within the site appears as part of the green area and the building. The education atmosphere can then be experienced from within and from the open space.

The building will become an icon of the MPOB, projecting an image based on technological leadership and innovation. At the same time it respects and interacts with its surroundings, making the most of the elongated site to organize the functional program of the premises working from the top down, with public areas at the front part and spaces for specialized activities on the rear part of the site.