Menara Mesiniaga

The green agenda which literally means the ecology agenda is nowadays being explored by many green designers since our living habitat on earth is facing the crisis of being destroyed by human being. If this is the case, we should be boldly addressing the green design issues for this building type rather than ignoring them, we must be prepared to develop the tall building or skyscraper as a sustainable green building.

Bioclimatic architectural design has been defined as “an approach to design which is inspired by nature and which applies a sustained logic for every aspect of the project, focused on optimizing and using the environment.

For a developing country Malaysia, to contribute and to save the earth which is now facing serious global warming, there is such a good phenomena which bioclimatic architecture is starting to be developed in Kuala Lumpur. Kenneth Yeang, a prestigious architect in Malaysia had an idea of building a bioclimatic skyscraper in Malaysia which is Menara Mesiniaga done by him and his firm, TR Hamzah and Yeang Sdn Bhd. in 1992. The Menara Mesiniga is the headquarters for IBM (International Business Machine) in Subang Jaya near Kuala Lumpur. The client, who is the marketing agent for IBM Malaysia wanted a showcase building that could improve its marketing sales and iconically symbolize their success in the high-technology products. As a result, Ken Yeang was commissioned to design this building for IBM and finally completed construction in 1992.

Menara Mesiniaga

Menara Mesiniaga is a built work that utilizes a basis of traditional Malaysian building models and their transition or evolution into modern principles. It is a creation from Yeang’s vision of a tropical garden city and it uncovers “the relationship of buildings, landscape and climate” transforming the impact of high-rise development in the ecosystem of Malaysia.

The built-form of Menara Mesiniaga relates to the climate of a place to produce passive low-energy building. Ken Yeang designed it to take advantage of its existing environment by incorporating it into the function of the building which can absorb energy from the nature instead of consuming it. For this reason, sky gardens are built on each level serve as villages. Besides doing well on the green concept, the spiraling vertical landscape also gives an organic and random look of the building which makes it a very outstanding building in that area. In my opinion, it definitely has the potential to be a landmark of Subang Jaya.

Nevertheless, Mesiniaga also wanted the building to have the future option of increasing the usable floor area. Thus, the final design solution for this is to have “interstitial space” that also coped well with Ken Yeang’s intention of having courtyard in the sky. These interstitial spaces are cut-out from the facades as stepped atrium voids.

Planting and Terraces

Vertical Planting

Planting becomes an important role in green architecture since tall buildings are exposed to the full extent of heat, weather and temperatures. Planting which is the utmost important element of bioclimatic architecture should travel vertically to generate oxygen and help cool the building. As a result, there are two spirals of green sky gardens that twist up the building to provide shading and act as a visual contrast with the steel and aluminium surfaces. The purpose of the green spiral design which starts at the base and circulates up to the top of the building is to make the facade look organic and random. This form has created a garden in the sky and provides interest for the viewer’s eye.

Sky-Court

Plants on each level

Therefore, there are recessed terraced gardens or “sky-courts” with plants on each level which brings the “vertical landscaping” into the facade.

Parking Space

Inclined Roof

The parking space which located below the building and beam is insulated from the morning sun and the window openings on the artificial landscape are to allow natural lighting for the parking bays. Besides, there are also inclined roofs on top of the lobby for natural lighting to enter, thus reducing the energy consumption over artificial lighting.

Other than that, because of hot climate, walls are designed to provide solar and weather protection, as well as provide for cross ventilation. Cross ventilation should not only allow fresh air to get into the building but also into air conditioned spaces as well.

Shaded Windows and Louvers

Also, to insulate the upper floors, recessed and shaded windows were used on the East and the West; they allow partial solar gain. Besides, the facade also includes louvers and shades to further enhance the insulation on the East and the West.

Sun Shaders and Sun Insets

On the other hand, there is a deep garden inset that was designed to allow full height curtain wall glazing on the North and South sides and act as a response to the tropical overhead sun path.

Office Floor Partitioning

To further develop the idea of the solar protection function, the core is designed and is located on the hot East side as a function in blocking the strong sunlight going into the office spaces directly. By pushing the service core outwards, the architects have taken advantage of natural ventilation and natural lighting. The use of artificial lighting is reduced because natural lighting is available. Sun and shading effects in spaces are used to control the brightness of the sunlight penetrating into the interior spaces of the building. Meanwhile, the ventilation of the building is by air conditioning as well as natural ventilation.

Perspective

Roof

The structure of the building is completely exposed. The roof is inhabitable, but as part of Ken Yeang’s fundamental idea of connecting the building back to the land, the roof holds a swimming pool and a gymnasium. Ken Yeang designed the roof to act as a social space as well as an additional buffer between interior and exterior spaces. The roof that crowns the building is capable of holding solar panels in the future installation. The sun screen structure that is made of steel and holds aluminium panels shades the pool as well as the roof of the building. Furthermore, the rain water collection system is also on the roof.

In conclusion, building green architectures like Menara Mesiniaga in Malaysia is exactly the first step for Malaysia to become a developed country. Besides, the utmost important thing is that it also drives Malaysia to take the mission to save the people in the world by going green.

Saving the earth, start from green building, start from Menara Mesiniaga, start from Malaysia.