Archisteem 40: Re-Innovate The 70's Terrace in TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

Today's curated project: Re-Innovate Terrace in TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

So here we are, the first time post with Wordpress about my Archisteem Curation series of housing projects around the world, which as of now mainly focus on Asia country and the tropics. Today, my curation will turn back to Malaysia, my home country. In Bangsar and TTDI, there are a lot of middle-class suburbs terrace houses which sized at around 20'x70' lot. Most of the houses were built in the 60s and 70s and some of it had become old and rusty. It is interesting to put the challenge on how to re-innovate the existing terrace design into a much friendlier and sustainable one.

This renovation project of a residential individual house is led by DRTAN LM Architect, a local Malaysia architect and took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The project covered an approximate 150m² of 2 stories typical terrace unit and was completed in 2015.

---

This is an interesting renovation project done by a local, prestigious architect who revamped the 70's single-story terrace house into a double-story. The facade uniquely stands out from its predecessor and I would very much prefer the new one which has a lot to offer than the later.

With large openings and secured by glass balustrade and minimalist security door grille and gate, the house became connected with the surrounding. This is an important aspect of a tropical house whereby it will make the house feel bigger and comfortable. We definitely do not want to be stuck in a stuffy, humid and hot space. However, it is always a challenge for the architect to ensure the heat is filtered but only allowing the daylight to penetrate through.

Being one of its kind, there are several new features in this terrace to make it more ventilated within the building. In most of the existing terrace house in Malaysia, the residents always face a similar problem of poor ventilation. This is due to two sides of facades were blocked by individual rooms which then cut off the cross ventilation. Therefore, the architect opts for another way to create this air current which is by introducing built-in vents that suck out the hot air through two openings to the top of the roof. This will create a "stack effect" that pulls the cold air in (ground floor) and force the hot air out (roof), which then created a natural air flow happening within the house. As long as there is air movement, the overall room temperature of the house will drop.

In this project, I am amazed by the vents feature that also allows the architect to put a bathroom in the middle of the terrace house. Previously, it is a big taboo to do so as the bathroom will become damp and dark. Plus, not being able to ventilate, the bathroom will accumulate moss and odd smell. The two vents pipe that ventilates the central space also brings in daylight through reflection. It is a killing two birds with one stone strategy! At the same time, the house has an added spacious maid's room which I am surprised by that too. The owner is very generous to provide such living space for the helper in the house which reflect his good personality. The kitchen which was often put at the back of the house is also shifted to the center and ventilated with the vent. This is a genius way to rearrange the space configuration within a limited space of a terrace lot.

What do you think about this kind of terrace design? Do you want to get one of this?

---

Source of images used and reference article. Click here

---

Hope you enjoy the curation. If you have any projects that you wished to be curated, do drop a comment to me. Any critics and suggestions about my curation are welcome!

---

This is an #archisteem post.

A new tag that is to curate our existing built environment and also future built environment development. Want to know more? Read here.

---

Join us @steemitbloggers Animation By @zord189

---

My referral link for @smartmarket & @smartsteem

---

Find me at @kimzwarch

<br /><center><hr/><em>Posted from my blog with Wordpress <a href='https://wordpress.org/plugins/steempress/'>SteemPress</a> : http://kimzwarch.vornix.blog/2018/07/19/archisteem-40-re-innovate-the-70s-terrace-in-ttdi-kuala-lumpur/ </em><hr/></center>