The Vertical Pixel - an urban village of “Kampung Sungai Melayu”

The Vertical Pixel is a design proposal for a balanced community in Nusajaya, Johor Bahru. A larger open space is offset diagonally from the residential spaces, and the entrance and administrative spaces connect with the boulevard, the large courtyard, as well as the residential units. The Architect (myself) interested in a clean organic arrangement of cities and he designed a building with many in-between conditions to breakdown the hierarchy of spaces. Small can only be appreciated in relation to large and vice versa. According to another visionary architect named, Van Eyck, he exemplified this idea with his 1960 metaphor of the large house and the small city: "A house must be like a small city if it's to be a real home; a city like a large house if it's to be a real city. In fact, what is large without being small has no more real size than what is small without being large. If there is no real size, there will be no human size."

The Vertical Pixel manifest from the previous cultural urban village of “Kampung Sungai Melayu”, this small city will provide the cultural conservation and progressive lifestyle whilst enhancing the living standards of villagers and eventually shaping a unique community for residents and transients. By definition, Pixel is the creation of digital art, pixel by pixel. A pixel is a digital element in shape of a square, and creating pixel art means that making full comprehensive visualisation and by placing every pixel via any possible method of media.

As the safety of this development is concerned, the defensible space theory was imposed for crime prevention and neighbourhood safety for this development. The theory is based on four main design elements which are territoriality, surveillance, building image and juxtaposition of residential with other facilities or environmental land uses, which contribute both individually and together in the concept of defensible spaces. It proposes the idea of restricting the access points to an area so that people who are supposed to be there would be at the place and no one else.

The current villagers were all in Malay ethnicity category and they live in a clustered manner among their family member with multiple shared and personal veranda. However, despite of having highly surrounded by massive urbanisation of Nusajaya city, the villagers has been isolated from the social development. Veranda is the most significant social learning space in housing typology in Sungai Melayu village. Due to geographical and cultural factors, veranda is a must for transitional space from public to private space as semi-public were meant to be use only with exact purpose and with only with the supervision of the owner. In future, the shared communal area is the main key of the villager’s socio-culture and for that every four to six proposal unit will be sharing one socio-veranda.

Despite of decreasingly fish collection due to the pollution, the fisherman villagers took double shift job to sustain themselves with their routine expenses. The village area were highly rich in aquaculture product such as rare species of green mussel and river fish that were highly demand by local and international people. Therefore, Fish Farm market could be built as the villagers were highly understood with the life of aquatic animal. These can boost their productivity thus improving their standard of living. The concept of local “Pasar Tani” may apply to robust the cultural manifestation of the surrounding area as well as providing new urban node. “Pasar Tani” is a first source chain market whom farmer could sell their aquaculture product free from any capitalism plunder.

As majority are fisherman, therefore every houses are equipped with a small informal stores for their fishing instrument and machinery. Every proposed unit should have their own personalisation patio whether it could be transform as a personal farming, a garage, an extended living space or anything space that suits them. A Cultural Personalisation. Despite of living far from the basic amenities and facilities from the town nearby, the villagers upgraded their houses typology that can be serve as a grocery’s store, machinery repair work, tailor shop, and even a small industrialised aquaculture based one.

‘SOHO’, Small Office Home Office is another future architectural topology for this proposed urban residential living system. Administration spaces and professionally could stay in any unit work inside the Kampung and contributed the villagers society. After all, our future industrial connectivity do provide us a blurry distinction between work and life system. Next, ground level multi-transformable spaces and ground level for the resident could be functioning as a store, workshop or shop as well as the working area. As for the roof garden, sky garden is the richest space value in vertical community whereby the resident will enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Kampung Sungai Melayu while socialising among them. Roof top should be free from any sort of capitalist agenda. They will learn, adapt and evolve according to the urban development of the Nusajaya Malaysia City Centre. A city that is fast boomingly develop today.

Most of the villagers doesn’t receive such a high qualification of education. Lack of inspirational sources was key need to be addressed for motivating the young ones to enrolled in higher education as the current rapid urbanisation of Nusajaya is surrounded by highly internationally educated people. The city of book is place to inspire the villagers to get close with knowledge thus motivating them to be a highly educated and socially useful to others. This city of book contained library, seminar room, open study area and outdoor reading garden area. Place where cultural activity will conducted. A learning center for the traditionally cultural skills heritage. To promote the cultural value of the Kampung Sungai Melayu. Place for organising any community event by local or by the outsiders. Wedding Hall.

The Vertical Pixel is a vision of a balanced community. As small cultural pixel could only be appreciated in comparison to large pixel. Hence, The Vertical Pixel manifested from the previous pixelated cultural village of “Kampung Sungai Melayu” and making a unique community for residents and transients.

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