THE BETWIXT

City Lobby

This Betwixt is a social cultural hub that aims to attract the attention of the people who are transiting through the site to take a step back and pause to enjoy their moment in Johor Bahru City.

Johor Bahru is one of Malaysia’s premier city and urban destination because of its highly modernized infrastructure. The city is one of the fastest-growing cities in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur with a very strong connection and relationship with Singapore, throwing trades on both sides. Most locals opted to work to Singapore and for leisure and Singaporeans going to JB on weekends to shop and buy properties to live.

According to research, one weak component of the city is its socio-cultural aspect. Thus, a “City Lobby” is needed to engage and reengage the city’s local population and visiting tourists from other towns or countries, with quality public place and building where its architecture can create great opportunities to build and strengthen the people’s connection.

Project 5: About

Design Concept

Site 2 is surrounded by the main transportation hubs that supports transportation needs between Johor Bahru and Singapore. This makes the site a “Threshold” in between Singapore and Malaysia. Some say the “Threshold” is a zone, a barrier space that is located for separating the volumes. Upon agreeing to the statement, the space in-between transformation to another space, and also a passage towards another zone are Threshold zones which creates a liminal space where the realm of conscious and unconsciousness occurs. The liminal refers to an intermediate state or condition; an in-between condition in which the liminal entity has characteristics of what it is between, but at the same time is separate and distinct from them.

The concept of “Liminal Space” will be applied to the building design of the city lobby, namely "The Betwixt", through creating multiple open spaces within the interior of the building, creating interior landscapes and high transparency through the walls which will guide the users to question themselves whether the spaces they are in are indoor or outdoor. The main programme of "The Betwixt" is the digital library and reading is the main activity. The benefit of reading is that it aids readers in mental stimulation, gaining knowledge. Reading could also bring readers into a liminal state of mind when they deeply immerse themselves in the story. As most of the users are workers, reading could help them in stress reduction as stress just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story.

The purpose of "The Betwixt" will be a social hub where locals, expatriates, workers or tourist could pause and gather in this “Liminal Space” before transiting to another place. Spaces like the internet browsing area and digital library are introduced to keep up with today’s digitally driven world and the garden square, café, social pods bring back the “human” aspect of social communications.

Project 5: Image