PROJECT DESCRIPTION :

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This project is a Visitor Centre at Taman Negara Gunung Gading. We were engaged to look at the existing centre which made up of a Baruk building with a 2-storey vernacular timber structure annex, which housed the administration office and the meeting rooms. We kept and refurbished the existing Baruk building which was designed by Ar. Chin Kin Yu of Building Design Team around 1995. The Baruk building is really a beautifully designed timber structure, which is naturally the landmark for the park and is maintained as the interpretation centre. We had to demolish the existing annex building as it was not structurally designed to cater to the large numbers of visitors required in the brief. The existing timber structure demolished from the old building was re-cycled for repair of the plank walks etc. in the park.

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The site was challenging and very tight. It is an island site with a service route around it and sloping with two different levels. We created a new annex which has 2 levels with a main staircase linking the two. The new annex is designed ‘low-key ‘with a single pitch roof to pay homage to the existing Baruk. It is highly functional with ease of management and maintenance in mind.