ABSTRACT
This paper describes an architectural experiment to generate an alternative form of affordable housing for the new administrative capital city of Putrajaya, Malaysia. This proposed scheme is the first-prize winner of a design competition for a real client, Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd (PJH). PJH is the master-developer of the city. This is a real project with a real site that required a mixed-development strategy because the land parcel sits within the main spine of the business district and the key precinct of Putrajaya. For this reason, ‘affordable housing’ here is different from the typical ‘low-cost’ version. The intention was to provide quality living environment at reasonable prices for the middle to upper-middle income group as an incentive for them to live here. Among the key issues addressed is the Malaysian people’s tendency to renovate their living units after occupancy in order to suit their lifestyle and spatial needs. This is not permitted in Putrajaya. It utilizes strict urban design guidelines to maintain the city image as a planned city. Every land parcel here has detailed urban design guidelines (DUD) that prescribe amongst others the plot ratio, plinth, building setbacks and height control. The inter-related issue of providing flexibility in the design to accommodate the changes in the family-structure dynamics and creating a vibrant mixed-development environment simultaneously becomes an impetus.
