CONTEXT-BUILDING RELATION

The role of context in architecture today is a direct influence factor to the architecture building design. Context is a aspect that designer need to considerate and reapect because its have its own original value like historical, natural or economical and social. Of course, context is definitely predominantly a physical, social, economic and political issue, sometimes, there are combination of aspects above.

PUTRAJAYA BOULEVARD (Persiaran Perdana)

Putrajaya planned as a garden city and intelligent city, 38% of the area is reserved for green spaces in which the natural landscape is enhanced. The plan incorporated a network of open spaces and wide boulevards. Construction began in August 1995; it was Malaysia's biggest project and one of Southeast Asia's largest, with an estimated final cost of US$8.1 billion. The entire project was designed and constructed by Malaysian companies with only 10% of the materials imported. Putrajaya boulevard is located across precint 1 until 5 in Putrajaya.

Putrajaya Boulevard is the longest boulevard in Putrajaya, Malaysia, connecting Dataran Putra in the north to the Dataran Gemilang in the south.

Dataran Putra

Dataran Gemilang

This two dataran are open spaces like plaza which recreational activities will happen and also there will be soldier marching during Merdeka Day every year.

Along this whole Boulevard, most of the building are governmental buildings. All the administration activities is always happen along the boulevard. I will futher explain about those governmental buildings below.

This is Perdana Putra, its function is same with White House in America, which houses the office complex of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Located on the main hill in Putrajaya, it has become synonymous with the executive branch of the Malaysian federal government.

This is the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, due to the need for a proper office of the head of the Judicial system in Malaysia, a location within the Precinct 3 of Putrajaya was identified for this purpose. It has 2 Appeal Courts and 6 Federal courts which has intricate network of passages segregating the Judges, witnesses, public, and the accused leading to the courts right from the car park or area of arrival. This is for the safety and security of everyone involved in order to achieve the desired courts functions and ambiance. The Palace of Justice's design incorporates influences of Classical Islamic culture like Taj Mahal in India, Moorish culture, like the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur and Western Classical influence, like Palladian. The classical design gives depths to the building skin and creates interesting articulated facade.The complex comprises a five-storey building for the judiciary and a two-storey building to house the courts and offices

Ministry of Finance, a building complex housing the Malaysian Ministry of Finance. It is located opposite the Boulevard and Dataran Wawasan in Precinct 2 (north of the Core island) of Putrajaya.The Ministry of Finance (MoF) comprises the Royal Customs and Excise Department, Department of Valuation and Property Services, Department of the National Accountant of Malaysia, Inland Revenue Board, Securities Commission, and National Bank of Malaysia.

Another iconic building, Putra Mosque. The principal mosque of Putrajaya, Malaysia. Construction of the mosque began in 1997 and was completed two years later. It is located next to Perdana Putra which houses the Malaysian Prime Minister's office and man-made Putrajaya Lake. In front of the mosque is a large square with flagpoles flying Malaysian states' flags.The pink-domed Putra Mosque is constructed with rose-tinted granite and consists of three main functional areas – the prayer hall, the Sahn, or courtyard, and various learning facilities and function rooms. The mosque can accommodate 15,000 worshippers at any one time.

Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC), this building is located in the end of the boulevard which is precint 5. The main convention centre in Putrajaya, Malaysia. This building is located on the top of Taman Puncak Selatan in Precinct 5.PICC receives a yearly average of more than 230,000 delegates and 15,000 visitors around the world since 2006. The design of the building is based on the shape of the eye of 'pending perak' (a silver Malay royal belt buckle). However, the structure of the roof was designed similar to a folded origami to alleviate the plain roundness of the structure.

Beside those iconic buildings with nice Architecture design, there are also integration of open spaces with them, like those dataran and also a botanical garden, last but not least and the lake. those open spaces also an very important tourist attraction point in Putrajaya.

Along the lakeside, its very happening during weekend, skating, chilling, resting, kids playing, cycling.... etc...

From this center open boulevard, we can clearly see that how the arrangement of the building typology is organize well, most of the administration governmental building is located in the center of the Putrajaya. And for others type of building, like residential, institutional or commercial, they are located surround the center region.

The urban design or Putrajaya is also very precise, for example, the designer differentiate every precinct (region) by using different type design of lamp post, so when we walk or drive in putrajaya, we can knew that we are entering to another precinct by identifying the lamp post design. Roads, bridges, public transport, bicycle lane, pedestrian walkway, all are designed and planned well.

In conclusion, from Tom Schumacher,

'It is precisely the ways in ways idealized forms can be adjusted to a context or used as "collage" that contextualism seeks to explain, and it is the systems of geometric organization which can be abstracted from any given context that contextualism seeks to divine as a design tools.'

We can conclude that contextualism is really important in urban and design planning, we have to consider the usage and type of spaces, and the ways of their arrange and also how we going to integrate those buildings with open spaces and green elements and most importantly, user friendly design.