1.
Architecture Digest
Find out more
ABOUT
Ar. Don Cheong
BONUS :
Sneak peek on
2
PROJECTS
Special interview with
Ar. Don Cheong
EXLUSIVE
INFO ON THE
BACKGROUND
OF
DPLUS
Associates
Introduction to Construction Industry
2.
An ARCHITECT is a person who
plans, designs, and oversees the
construction of buildings.
content
•COMPANY PROFILE………………………………………. 1
•AR. DON CHEONG’S PROFILE………………………… 2
•LIST OF PROJECTS…………………………………………. 3
•PROJECT 1……………………………………………………… 4-5
•PROJECT 2……………………………………………………… 6-7
•Q&A………………………………………………………………… 8-9
3.
Associates
DPLUS
Dplus Associates Sdn Bhd
is established by Mr. Don
Cheong in collaboration
and association with a few
d i r e c t o r s o f v a r i o u s
technical and specialist
in building industry.
Dplus Associates Sdn Bhd
is set to gear towards
creating "passionately
inspiring designs.”
It has been registered since 2011,
the directors have each under their
wings an average of 10 to 30 years
of experiences. The firm belief that
team work is important for the
e x e c u t i o n o f a s u c c e s s f u l
architectural program and a
successful final product.
T h e s p a r k o f p a s s i o n i n
Architectural practice has lead to
the success of the company. The
company now is moving towards
finer details such as Interior,
furniture and Industrial Design. For
better communication with the
clients, they have also developed a
3D illustration and Animation
Studio. Therefore, they could cover
a large scope of works in the area of
design. In order to have a complete
solution for clients’ needs, they have
to collaborate and work with the
wider fields of consultants such as
engineers, surveyors, graphics and
branding designers.
DON CHEONG ARCHITECT
DPLUS ASSOCIATES SDN BHD
No. 39-2, Jalan Radin Anum 1
Taman Seri Petaling
57000 Kuala Lumpur
4.
AR. DON CHEONG’S PROFILE
BA(Hons), H.Dip.Arch(UK), LAM, APAM and RIBA.
In 1987, there was a recession
period in Malaysia. According to
Mr. Don, most of his friends took
accountancy, computer science
and business, he on the other
hand was determined to take
architecture. He went to ask
PAM about his choice in choosing
architecture during that time.
After meeting PAM, PAM told
Don about the recession and the
cons in becoming an architect.
PAM asked Don what is his
second choice in his career, and
Don answered “interior design”.
In the end, PAM told Don to just
take architecture.
Don Cheong went to pursue his
studies in Howl School of
Architecture, United Kingdom.
He graduated in UK and came
back to Malaysia in 1992.
Whilst under employment, he
worked on housing projects, 5-
star hotel development, Resort
development, golf and non-golf
clubhouses, and master-planning
of an island resort.
He then went on to set up his
own architectural practice Don
Cheong Architect in 1999.
During the early years of the
practice, he has worked mainly
on individual residences and
interior design. Later on, he has
managed to secure low-rise
housing, high-rise housing,
f a c t o r i e s , c o m m e r c i a l ,
institutional and master-
planning of townships.
In 2011,he established Dplus
Associates Sdn. Bhd, expanding
the projects over from his
practice. As the managing
director of the company, Don
overseas the well-being of the
company in its entirely. He focus
on the direction and marketing
strategies of the company. His
passion in design allowed him to
play a key role in the finalising
solutions.
Managing director of the
DPLUS ASSOCIATES
SDN BHD.
5.
LIST OF PROJECTS BY
DPLUS ASSOCIATES SDN. BHD.
High Rise Residence
• Suria Valencia - Lot 2086
• Suria Residence - Lot 1725
• Suria Court - Lot 630
• Star Garden Melawati
• Mahkota Residence - Lot 779
• Mahkota Residence - Lot 1121
• Balakong Service Apartment -
Lot 3160
• Molek Vista Condominium
Low Rise Residence
• Suria Tropika
• OCR
• Layang-layang
• USJ11 terrace houses
Individual
Residence(Bungalow)
• Datuk Zain’s Bungalow
• The Trilogy
• Villa Shasha
• Ark
• Lim’s Residence
• Arte House
• Crombie’s House
Industrial/Factories
• Signature Corporate Park
• Suria Park - Lot4631
• Semenyih 1888
Education/
Institution
• YPC College
Master planning/
Landscape
• Signature Corporate
Park
• Layang-layang
• Lahad Datu
Interior Design
• Hijuan
• Limus
• Lahad Datu
• Kiara Valle Penthouse
• The Trilogy
• Ark
• Arte House
• Suria Park - Lot 4631
• Semenyih Lot 1888
• Star Garden - Malawi
• Molek Vista
Condominium
6.
M a h k o t a R e s i d e n c e ,
Bandar Mahkota, Cheras.
• Mahkota Residence is a
condominium located in
C h e r a s , S e l a n g o r. T h i s
residence consists of three of
eight storey blocks and offers a
total of 67 units, which comes
with built-up ranging between
1,066 sf and 1,222 sf.
• All units in residence come with
spacious 3 bedrooms and 2
b a t h r o o m s . A m o n g t h e
f a c i l i t i e s o f f e r e d a r e
swimming pool, clubhouse,
children’s playground, jogging
track, sauna, surau and 24-
hour security.
• T h e r e a r e a l s o a l o t o f
amenities located closely to
Mahkota Residence which are
Mydin Supermarket, Tesco,
Carrefour, Econsave, AEON
M a h k o t a C h e r a s , A E O N
Cheras Selatan, Sungai Long
G o l f a n d C o u n t r y C l u b ,
Columbia Asia Hospital and
Kajang Hospital.
• Moreover, there is also an
upcoming MRT station being
developed near Mahkota
Residence. Besides that, this
residence is linked to numerous
roads and highways such as
Jalan Pahlawan, Persiaran
Mahkota Cheras 1, Persiaran
Mahkota Cheras 2, Lebuh
Utama Tun Hussain Onn,
Jalan Sungai Long, Cheras -
Kajang Highway and Silk
Highway.
• This residence was developed
several years ago and currently
this residence comes with a
subsale price which begin from
RM400,000 onwards. The
monthly rental is RM1000 and
above. This residence is
strategically located closely to
numerous residences and it
only takes a short drive to
reach neighbouring towns such
as Kajang, Bangi, Kuala Lumpur
and Serdang.
7.
Mahkota Residence
Client: Cheras Hong Soon Dev. Sdn. Bhd.
Ar. Don Cheong role
As the boss and architect for this
project,he gave directions to the staffs
and the team on their tasks. He
oversees and manage on what they
have to do.
“An architect is like a conductor in
an orchestra. An architect needs to
know about every profession and
what they do in the construction
industry.”
So, the first thing
he did was
accepting a project
proposal from a
client. Then, he met
up with the client
and we discussed
about the building
requirements. He
did a 3D sketch
free-handedly and
showed it to my client. When the client
was satisfied with the model, he picked
a team to start drafting the project.
They finalised the ideas for the project
and make the other drawing for the
other construction teams.
Pre-Construction
When distributing the drawings to
other parts of the construction team,
he chose a contractor to make contract
with in order to initiate the
construction itself. At this stage, he
and the construction teams had to be
in constant communication to make
sure that each and every one them
fully understand the drawings and
attend to any problems beforehand.
During Construction
During construction,he spent most of
his time on site in order to make sure
that the construction work is on time
and on track with our schedule. This
way any problems were dealt with on
the spot and quickly moved on to other
parts of the project. The designers,
surveyors,
consultants,
contractors and
construction
workers have to
work together.
Hence,
communication
plays a very
important factor in
carrying the tasks
on site.
Post-Construction
Here, most of his job were closely
related to the end-users, clients and
customers. In any case if a client is not
satisfied with their work, then they
still provide support and tolerance to
tend to their complaints and try to
compromise to the best of our abilities
as a company.
Duration: 3yrs +
8.
• USJ 11 is a residential precinct located in Subang Jaya. It is in between
USJ 4, USJ 5, USJ 9, USJ 12 and USJ Taipan USJ 10. It comprises 2-
storey terrace houses, 2-storey semi-detached homes, an apartment
called Arcadia, and a condominium and townhouse building called Sri
Bayu. There are a few rows of shoplots within the area as well. The
price of the terraces are from RM860,000 to RM3,300,000. The
monthly rental is RM1,300 & above.
• The semi-detached houses have built-up size of 3,825 sf with land area
of 45 ft x 85 ft. Each comprises of 5 + 1 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.
Meanwhile, the terrace houses have built-up area from 1,650 sf and
with land area from 22 ft x 75 ft.
• There are a lot of facilities near there such as 24-hours security,
outdoor parks and playgrounds, football field, children’s
playground, basketball court, futile court and shop lots.
• The advantages of staying in USJ11 is that it is neither too near or too
far to LRT and train stations.
• USJ11 is within walking distance to Taipan Business Centre.
• The highways connected to UJS11 include New Klang Valley
Expressway (NKVE), Shah Alam Highway (KESAS), New Pantai
Expressway (NPE), Subang Airport Highway and Damansara -
Puchong Highway (LDP).
USJ 11 Terrace Houses
“House of Lancaster”
9. USJ 11 Terrace Houses
“House of Lancaster”
• According to Mr. Don, the process of constructing a building is all
the same for architects. Its just a matter of what kind of buildings,
the types of materials used, the building requirements, clients
wants and needs, cost of building, site or location, purpose of
building and many more. But the general or skeletal process are
practically similar.
• The terrace houses shown in the image above are one of his first
projects in 1993. As you can see within a row of terraces there are
different styles of housing design. These design are based on the
client’s requirement. This allow the client to feel that their home is
unique to itself. Hence, exhibits the specificity and diversity of
housing.
• The duration to built terrace houses is about 18 months depending
on the size of the project. This makes the company more desirable
because despite their multiple projects, they are still able to keep
the standard of the building. Whilst at the same time, keeping the
buildings’ sense of individuality.
10.
Q: What are the roles of an architect in a certain project?
A: An architect is like a conductor in an orchestra. An architect needs to
know about all the profession and what they do in the construction
industry. So that he or she can give direction to staffs and other teams. An
architect is involved in all the stages of the construction. From start until
the end. The architect needs to go to the site to check on the progress and
also make sure that nothing is wrong.
Q: What responsibilities does an architect have?
A: The architect has a lot of responsibilities. As an architect, you will need
to design the building, think about the building's style, safety and
sustainability. Architect also has to take note about the taste and needs of
the client.
Q: What kind of qualities should an architect have?
A: An architect has a very big responsibility in construction industry. So,
the first thing is that being an architect, you need to have a sense of
responsibility to all projects/work. An architect should have perseverance
as you need to do sketching and drawings again and again if the sketching
got rejected. An architect also should have a sense of timing. He/She has to
know how to manage his/her time and don't procrastinate.
Q: What did you do as a junior architect?
A: I mostly did odd jobs in the office such as sweeping the floor, cleaning
the toilets, sharpening pencils, printing plans etc. I also did some small
projects. Mostly detailed projects. For example, I sketch small rooms or
bathrooms for a certain project.
Q&A
“An architect is like a conductor in an orchestra.An
architect needs to know about all the profession and
what they do in the construction industry.”
11.
Q: Do you think that the rise in technology changed the way architects
work now? How?
A: Yes, of course. During the old days, architects use paper to sketch their
proposals, plans etc. But now, majority of the architects uses laptops or
desktop to draw out their plans. Because of technology, people nowadays
don't use their imagination anymore. The clients want the architects or
designers or anyone to show them the photorealistic picture. They don’t use
their heads to think what colour matches with what colour anymore. Clients
will ask for the photorealistic pictures.
Q: Did you have any small projects back in the UK when you were
studying?
A: Yes. I did had some projects in UK. But the projects were small scale. For
example, small cottage, toilets and wash rooms, and more.
Q: What do you think about the projects in UK compared to in Malaysia?
A: When i was still in the UK, there were some small projects such as
building a small homestay cottage like in Malaysia. But the difference are the
bricks in the wall. Because UK has 4 seasons, their walls are two bricks thick
while in Malaysia, it is only one brick. And there is a gap between the two
bricks for air(called cavity). In UK they don’t have toilets in every room but
in Malaysia, we have toilets in every room.
Q: What are your advices to us as a professional architect?
A: You can go to work part-time in an architect firm after foundation. Just to
test out wether you like the job or not. You should ask lecturers or architects
about how will you be a successful architect. They will judge you by your
work.
Q&A
12. Special !anks To DPLUS Association
EDITORS
• Alison Tang Ing Ee
• Christina Chua Yi Mei
• Chong Yi Hui
• Boon Li Ying
• Ch’ng Phei Woon
FNBE MARCH 2015
