Penang Global City Centre (PGCC), Awesome architectural design!! Options

[fadlee]

Penang Global City Centre

Architects:
Asymptote Architecture,
New York

Principals:
Hani Rashid +
Lise Anne Couture

MEP & Structural Engineer:
ARUP, New YorkDavid Scott,
Partner in Charge

Facade Design Consultants:
Front Inc, New YorkMark Simmons, Partner in Charge

Penang Global City Centre in Penang, Malaysia as designed by the award-winning, New York - based firm Asymptote under the leadership of architect Hani Rashid, will be the 21st-century symbol for Penang on both local and global scale through the simultaneous embrace of natural landscape, contemporary urbanism and innovative, energy-efficient design. This project is an opportunity to create a new image for the city of Penang by creating a precinct that is complementary to the existing character of the city and takes advantage of the lushness of the surrounding mountainous landscape by pulling it into the urban fold. The inter-twining of the two creates a new model for rich and dynamic urban landscape.

Penang Global City Centre is nestled at the base of the nature reserve of Penang Hill and overlooks to the sea beyond. The city’s two towers are to be landmarks of outstanding architectural quality that stand out on site as emblems of the new development.
Other design hallmarks of the development are an observation tower and the site-specific, original sculpture designed by internationally renowned artist Frank Stella.

Every aspect of the design for Penang Global City Centre incorporates the latest in cutting-edge, sustainable design and engineering innovations including building-integrated wind turbines; a high-performance facade with integrated, thin-film photovoltaics; high-efficiency central mechanical systems utilizing trigeneration; comprehensive storm water management and water recycling. The incorporation of these elements into the design represents the highest commitment to the creation of energy-efficient and environmentally conscious architecture. The projected result is a development that will have net-zero carbon emissions, and unprecedented aspiration for a project of such monumental proportions and programmatic diversity.

The programmatic distribution of Penang Global City Centre creates a diverse, yet dense and dynamic, urban environment that is attractive to a variety of users, from local residents and workers to visitors from the region and beyond. The site’s mixed-use program includes a performing arts center, a convention center, a hotel, condominiums, commercial, and office space. The complex will also host a range of recreational activities in a variety of natural settings and provide outdoor public spaces that can accommodate urban functions, such as gatherings, festivals, exhibition and outdoor performances.

This post has been edited by fadlee: Dec 16 2007, 03:20 AM

[fadlee]

[fadlee]

15 years to complete RM25b Penang City Centre
By DAVID TAN
September 2007

BUTTERWORTH: The RM25bil Penang City Centre (PCC) project by Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd, an associate company of Equine Capital Bhd, will take 15 years to complete.

Equine holds a 25% stake in Abad Naluri, which is developing PCC on the 260-acre site where the Penang Turf Club is presently located.

The PCC is one of the projects highlighted in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) blueprint.

Equine executive chairman Datuk Patrick Lim said two award-winning architects, one each from New York and Paris, would design the project.

“Hani Rashid from Asymptote Architecture in New York will design the architecture, which includes two iconic towers, while Nasrine Seraji from Atelier Seraji in Paris will design the master plan,� he told reporters after the launch of the NCER Penang portion blueprint by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday.

Lim said the PCC master plan would be unveiled in September while the project would be launched in eight to 12 months.

The first phase would involve the development of a 26-acre park, and road infrastructure to smoothen the traffic flow for the project, he said.

“The park will be connected to the Botanical Garden. We will use the technologies such as thermal treatment, to develop PCC into a carbon-free city,� he said.

“We want to make PCC the first such city in the world. Shanghai is planning to be carbon free, but we are ready to implement the technologies to make it happen in PCC soon.�

Lim said the PCC project would have two five-star hotels, commercial and residential properties, and a state-of-the-art cultural centre.

Lim said there were many options to fund the project, including joint ventures and issuing capital bonds.

“We are also applying for MSC status to attract information and communications technology companies to set up regional offices at the park.�

On the Penang International Equestrian Centre in Batu Kawan, Lim said Abad Naluri would start work on the centre once construction work commenced on the second Penang bridge.

This post has been edited by fadlee: Dec 16 2007, 12:43 AM

[fadlee]

Asymptote to Spice Up Penang's Skyline

November 27, 2007
By Rebecca Ward

During the 18th century, spice attracted both traders and pirates to Penang, an island harbor for ships on the Strait of Malacca in Malaysia. Now, government officials are hoping that 21st-century vanguard architecture and luxurious beachfront resorts will once again draw international visitors to the island—this time, investors and tourists. To aid in the effort, municipal authorities have tapped Asymptote Architecture to design a $7 billion, 256-acre mixed-use complex called Penang Global City Center (PGCC).

Lise Anne Couture and Hani Rashid, principals of the New York–based architecture firm, unveiled their design for the nearly 11-million-square-foot PGCC development in September. Their project takes the form of two sinuous, 60-story steel-and-glass-clad towers that reach skyward from a stagelike plinth. The towers will house luxury residential units and five-star hotels; the plinth will function as a public plaza and contain retail, a performing arts center, and a convention center.

“(Our project) is a harmonic assemblage of distinct historic and cultural references set against contemporary dynamics of fluidity, transformation, and flux,” Rashid says. Asymptote drew on Penang’s heritage of Chinese, Indian, and Arabian influences to create fenestration patterns inspired by arabesque motifs. “The towers allude to Asian mythical symbols and Islamic minarets,” he adds.

But the PGCC will also have a high-tech, sustainable sensibility: The project aims to be carbon-neutral. A central mechanical system will utilize trigeneration, including wind turbines and a thin-film photovoltaic facade.

Penang’s government expects to begin construction in 2008 and finish by 2012, but it is facing criticism about the site’s master plan, overseen by the Parisian firm Atelier Seraji. Opponents say that the PGCC fails to provide enough affordable housing and that it will create traffic congestion.

[singapak2]

Am an architecture student..

i like the design though troublesome to contruct..

visiting penang next year!!