1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN Centre for
Modern Architecture Studies in Southeast Asia Bachelor of Science
(Honours) (Architecture) THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE &
URBANISM [ARC61303] [ARC2224]
Project Theorizing Architecture (Individual)
Name: Ling Teck Ong
ID. NO: 0303127
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ARC61303] Page 1

2. Table of Content:
1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..3
2.0 Analysis
2.1 Climate…………………………………………………………………..4-5
2.2 Theories: Sustainability………………………………………………6-8
2.3 Materiality……………………………………………………………..…8-9
3.0 Discussion & Conclusion…………………………………………………..…10
4.0 References…………………………………………………………………….…11
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3. 1.0 Introduction
This project is to express and convey an understandi ng of the architect’s
theory through a direct interviewing and analysis of the architect himself and the
buildings. In the following essay, architectural theories about the relationship of
architecture and urban wi ll be discussed. The relationship between architecture and its
social, cultural and intellectual context is also analyzed and critiqued in the writing to
interpret the architect’s architecture in relation to relevant theories withi n the
contemporary.
Architect Karlson Goh Kar Sheng is chosen to discuss and sharing his own
thought of the relationship about architecture into theories. Ar. Karlson received his
architectural education at the University of Melbourne College of the Arts, Australia from
1998-2002. Upon graduation, he worked in Malaysia until he obtained his registered
professional Architect APAM at 28 years old in year 2006. He opened his own Architect
firm and become principle of Arkitek Karlson in 2008. He focused on the global
discussion and developments within contemporary architectural context and ways to
solve problems of development within the local culture. Ar. Karlson believes each form
is dictated by individuality, the need or sustainability while keeping in mind the
dichotomy of a design and its need to be practical and suitable for the surrounding site
context. He is now a partner of DMP Architects Sdn Bhd.
Among all the successful projects from Ar Karlson Goh, Bungalow House
Type M-L is selected in this task to be analyzed and study about the theories of
architecture. Bungalow House Type M-L is located at LOT 34736, Saujana Impian,
Bandar Kajang, Daerah Hulu Langat, Selangor in Malaysia with the built up area of 198
meter square. This is a project that Ar. Karlson Goh is fully in charge of it. This house is
built during year 2013.
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4. View of Bungalow House Type M-L
2.0 Analysis
2.1 Climate
In climate condition, Malaysia is a tropical country that will experience
abundant on rainfall and high humidity. It is extremely impossible that one whole day
that sky is completely clear like the other country during low rainfall period. Malaysia
receives approximate 2500mm of rain water in a year. Next, Malaysia do also has
abundant of sunlight that each house can receive an average of 6 hours of sunlight per
day.
Bungalow house Type M-L designed by Ar. Karlson Goh surrounded by a
lot of greenery. He designed based on the local climate and has a strong relationship
with it. The orientation of the house and the sun direction is an important issue to
consider about. The bungalow is facing toward the west and back of the house faced
east. Beautiful sunset and sunrise can be seen in both directions. Besides hat, it also
brought in sufficient natural lightning and air flow in taking into account the sun path and
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5. wind circulation, and strategically employing application such as double glazi ng and
operable window with UV-resistant blinds to counter the heat and glare. This bungalow
was properly shaded using louvers and greenery to solve the overheating problem.
Openings can be seen most of the places in the house, this allow the ventilation to take
place as well. Shed roof also used to allow natural sunlight and ventilation.
Figure 1: shed roof and double glazing window
Other than that, Ar. Karlson designed a pool (26m²) which provided a
relaxing area for the occupant. Cooling effect will takes place while the air flow passing
through the pond and brings into the building. The reason of design a pol beside the
main area of the building is to allow the cool air takes place at the main area during
cooling effect occurs. To enhance the garden dining experience, trees and flower was
planted at the space outside dining room. This dining room is actually cooled since the
trees provided shading and also create an interesting shadow play at different times of
the day.
Figure 2: cooling effect and pool
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6. 2.2 Theories: Sustainability
Sustainability includes sustainable building, design and operations.
Sustainability is the collection of policies and strategies employed by companies to
minimize their environmental impact on future generations. Ecological concerns, such
as the environmental impact of pollutants, are balanced with socio-economic concerns
such as minimizing the consumption of limited natural resources to maintain their
availability for the future. Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize
the negative environmental impact of buildings by efficiency and moderation in the use
of materials, energy, and development space. Sustainable architecture uses a
conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built
environment.
D uri ng a buildi ng’s existence, it affects the local and global environments
via a series of interconnected human activities and natural processes. At the early stage,
site development and construction influence indigenous ecological characteristics.
Though temporary, the influx of construction equipment and personnel onto a building
site and process of construction itself disrupt the local ecology. The procurement and
manufacturing of materials impact the global environment. Once built, building operation
inflicts long-lasting impact on the environment. For instance, the energy and water used
by its inhabitants produce toxic gases and sewage; the process of extracting, refining,
and transporting all the resources used in building operation and maintenance also
have numerous effects on the environment.
The design of Bungalow House Type M-L begins at the point of create
environmentally sound and resource-efficient buildings by using an integrated approach.
Ar. Karlson proposes three principles of sustainability in architecture. Economy of
Resources is concerned with the reduction, reuse, and recycling of the natural
resources that are input to a building. Life Cycle Design provides a methodology for
analyzing the building process and its impact on the environment. Humane Design
focuses on the interactions between humans and the natural world. These principles
can provide a broad awareness of the environmental impact, both local and global, of
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7. architectural consumption. The study of sustainability allows him to become more self-aware
and make him a preservationist and a social activist.
As a cultural activity, architecture is conceptual, a matter of shaping
memory into plans, plans into things that can be sensed by other people. Architecture is,
thus, a variety of communication. The mode of its thinking connects architecture to a ll
culture, but the mode of its realization distinguishes if radically from other types of
communication. To be architecture, an idea must first be realized in materials.
Materialization raises complexities not met in verbal communication. Materials limit
concept. Just as every building records intentions, so does it record situation, the
resources in the scene that curtail intentions and make all buildings compromises
between wi ll and circumstance. The final form of the house was derived through
application of sound design fundamentals and understanding contexts of the site,
climate, culture and heritage. While it has hints of familiarity, the house point to a new
direction in the country’s architecture. The house is a meeting of Architecture, as art of
function and Architecture as custodian of the environment.
It is easy to imagine progressing from houses as ‘‘machines for li ving’’ to
inhabitants who behave in much the same way. The features of the bungalow design
have been discussed on how it actually incorporated with natural and passive design to
make it a green residential building. Ar.Karlson focus of which is the design process.
The strategies are wide-ranging: from stack ventilation; to designing for flood risk; to
noise control; to urban landscape design; and so on. A sustainable building architect
may be engaged early in the design process, to forecast the sustainability implications
of building materials, orientation, glazing and other physical factors, so as to identify a
sustainable approach that meets the specific requirements of a project.
Figure 3: stack ventilation
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8. In addition, Ar. Karlson also makes his design to adapt according to social
conventions and family needs of the time. The importance of being able to create a
home that could cater for such changes in social conventions and embody a spatial
programme flexibility that could adapt according to growing families was therefore key in
satisfying the needs of modern Malaysian family.
2.3 Design Strategy: Material
Despite the importance of materials to overall building sustainability, quantifying
and evaluating the sustainability of bui lding materials has proven difficult. There is little
coherence in the measurement and assessment of materials sustainability attributes,
resulting in a landscape today that is littered with hundreds of competing, inconsistent
and often imprecise eco-labels, standards and certifications. This discord has led both
to confusion among consumers and commercial purchasers and to the incorporation of
inconsistent sustainability criteria in larger building certification programs such as LEED.
Various proposals have been made regarding rationalization of the standardization
landscape for sustainable building materials.
Bungalow House Type L is generally constructed by reinforced concrete,
structural frame, including floor built on RC piles, walls and substructure. Concrete is a
friend of the environment in all stages of its life span, from raw material production to
demolition, making it a natural choice for sustainable home construction. The
predominant raw material for the cement in concrete is limestone, the most abundant
mineral on earth.
Figure 4: concrete structure
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9. Concrete made with fly ash, slag cement, and silica fume, all waste by products
from power plants, steel mills, and other manufacturing facilities. Concrete builds
durable, long-lasting structures that will not rust, rot, or burn. Life spans for concrete
building products can be double or triple those of other common building materials.
Concrete minimizes the effects that produce urban heat islands. Light-colored concrete
pavements and roofs absorb less heat and reflect more solar radiation than dark-colored
materials, such as asphalt, reducing air conditioning demands in the summer.
Concrete can be produced in the quantities needed for each project, reducing waste. Ar.
Karlson did think that after a concrete structure has served its original purpose, the
concrete can be crushed and recycled into aggregate for use in new concrete
pavements or as backfill or road base. He also chose concrete as as the material for the
bungalow because concrete can be easily found in our country and is easy for
transportation.
Besides that, glazing has been used by Ar. Karlson for window to allow sunlight
to enter and, strategically employing application such as double glazing and operable
window with UV-resistant blinds to counter the heat and glare. Energy-efficient lighting
such as LED and water conserving fixture were installed as well. Sustainable lighting
has to do with energy savings and they can be accomplished or achieved with more
efficient light sources like LED. Furthermore, it also provided the user a view to the
greenery outside. In term of architecture, materials play important roles in it. Materials
that been chosen in the building might affect the outcomes of the building. The materials
blend together with the nature very well and it doesn’t makes the buildi ng stand -alone
but in the context.
Figure 5: UV-resistant glass
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10. 3.0 Discussion and Conclusion:
This definition of sustainability does not specify the ethical roles of humans for
their everlasting existence on the planet. It also fails to embrace the value of all other
constituents participating in the global ecosystem. The need for finding long-terms
solutions that warrant continuing human existence and well-being is far more compelling
than that of finding a proper terminology to describe the human need. In this respect,
the debate on the terms “green,” “sustainable,” or “ecological” architecture is not terribly
important.
In the nut shell, everyone has to help save the world. Because the way we are
going there won’t be any forest left, there won’t be anythi ng left because we are just
killing everything. So this is very important that everything has to be sustainable so that
we can continue living and our grandchi ldren will have something to look at: animals,
meadows, anything.
Bungalow House Type M-L has no doubt in representing its designing architect,
Karlson Goh Kar Sheng. Overviewing from his childhood background, educational
exposure and working experiences, the bungalow house that designed by him shows
his perception and theories towards architecture today. From the analysis of the
external contributing above, the approaches of the architect in designing the bungalow
have been implemented thoroughly from climatic aspect, sustainability and materiality. It
is definitely a country house that represents the Malaysia context architecture yet not
abandoning the knowledge that he learned from the western country about the modern
architect theory.
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11. 4.0 References
D.M. Roodman and N. Lenssen, A Building Revolution: How Ecology and Health
Concerns are Transforming Construction, Worldwatch Paper 124, Worldwatch Institute,
Washington, D.C., March 1995, p. 5.
Kim. Jong-Jin(2012) Introduction to Sustainable Design. Retrieved November 6, 2014,
from
http://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resources/compendia/ARCHpdfs/ARCHdesIntro.pdf
Ross Spiegel and Dru Meadows, Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product
Selection and Specification, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1999.
Sustainable Earth Technology(2013) Sustainable Architecture. Retrieved November 8,
2014, from http://www.sustainable.com.au/sustainable-architecture.html
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12. Ar. Karlson Goh Kar Sheng Climate
1. Designed according to the
prevailing wind
2. Prioritized sustainability
issue in design
Theories: Sustainability
Materiality:
1. integrated shed roof inside
the design
2. use concrete as main material
to build the bungalow
3. use energy efficient light
Childhood
Education
Childhood
Working
Experience
Childhood
Theory of Architecture:
-Sustainable architecture is architecture
that seeks to minimize the negative
environmental impact of buildings by
efficiency and moderation in the use of
materials, energy, and development
space.
Architecture Evidence:
-Bungalow House Type M-L
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