Competition Scheme, Parcel F, Putrajaya.

In April 2007, Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd invited 10 Malaysian architectural firms to participate in a design competition for Parcel F, Putrajaya. The proposed development comprised 10 government office buildings and its supporting facilities.
Located adjacent to Parcel E (offices for The Ministry of Education, Malaysia among others), the development site is accessible from the Putrajaya Oval Road, situated facing the junction leading to Alamanda Shopping Centre and Precinct 16. The competition brief called for architectural designs that interpret Islamic Architecture in a modern form.
Our proposal featured 2 main concepts; first, a series of repetitive monumental structures reminiscent of entrance gateways or ‘Iwans’, a predominant feature in Islamic architecture in the middle east used as entrance lobbies for public buildings; and second, facades of glazed windows layered with aluminum sun shading architectural screens of various patterns inspired by the concept of ‘Masharabia’ windows of Morocco. These facades contrasted against the white painted walls of corner pylons, structural elements that provide for both aesthetic and practical functions for the scheme. The pylons, positioned at the corners of each ‘Iwan’ and office building, contribute to the predominantly vertical overall outlook while making it possible to have column free interior spaces.
Eventually, 3 architectural firms obtained the commission for Parcel F; Pakatan Reka Architects Sdn Bhd (PRA) appointed as the lead consultant, S&O Architects Sdn Bhd and Jafri Merican Architect.

Putrajaya School complex, Precinct 11.

The primary and secondary schools of Precinct 11 Putrajaya School complex were planned as courtyard buildings designed to suit our hot and humid equatorial climate. Complemented by supporting facilities consisting of canteens, a school field, its grandstand, and a multipurpose hall; all buildings within this complex have been designed to be accessible within a reasonable walking distance from one another.
The client, Perbadanan Putrajaya, required the entire complex to be designed based on the concept of Putrajaya as a garden city. Therefore, the buildings which are clustered around the school field, are linked by a network of covered walk paths surrounded with abundantly landscaped open spaces that give the school complex just the correct ambience of buildings in a park, suitable for a garden city architectural scheme.
Conceptually, the design of the building enclosure is based on tropical architecture. Interior spaces are adequately shaded using aluminum sunshades, set in windows and 1.5 metre roof eaves. Visual variety in the façade is achieved by layering the surface planes and using natural facing bricks juxtaposed against plastered columns, recalling images of school buildings in the colonial past, though interpreted in a more modern and contemporary architectural vocabulary without the use of ornaments and other classical features.

Lot 4G2 Putrajaya

Projecting the image of a modern and energy efficient contemporary development, the ‘4Gs’ 18 storey towers of glass/aluminum facades and passive solar devices are architecturally distinct from its adjacent predecessors, the ‘2Gs’ (Precinct 2 Government Buildings) and the Palace of Justice, built of solid walls with punctuated windows and heavily colonnaded street fronts.

Aluminum louvers and façade projections are extensively used throughout the building enclosure to achieve an Overall Thermal Transmission Value of lower than 45 W/m2, a requirement of an energy conservation plan adhered to by Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd. The building form addresses urban design requirements of Perbadanan Putrajaya, the approving authority, for well defined streetwalls, punctuation zones at roof areas, landscaped ’Halaman’ spaces and verandahways at Boulevard level.

A notable feature in the building is a façade system utilizing a series of tension rods that support a vertical arrangement of 2m by 2m fixed frameless glass. This feature is visually apparent at the vertical central band of the tower and the corners of the low rise blocks. Although unprecedented in Malaysia at the time, this technology had been widely used in high tech architecture in the UK, in buildings such as Nicholas Grimshaw’s Western Morning News Headquarters & Print Works in Plymouth UK, built as early as 1993.

Putrajaya Lot 4G9.

4G9 Tower (abbreviation for Precinct 4, Government Building, Parcel 9) designed for The Ministry of Information, Malaysia, is located on a strip of crescent shaped development site facing the Dataran Gemilang, a circular landscaped open space situated at the southernmost tip of the Core Island, Putrajaya. In the urban context, this 39 storey office building is part of a group of 4 towers earmarked to become the tallest structures to be built within the Core Island development.
In November 2003 a competition was organized by Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd in which 10 Malaysian architectural firms were invited to participate. 3 firms obtained the commission for lots 4G9, 4G10 and 4G11; Jafri Merican Architect, Aqidea Architects and Hijjas Kasturi and Associates Sdn, respectively. The commission for Lot 4G8 was awarded to Juhari & Hashim Chartered Architects based on an earlier competition. Lot 4G9 was tendered as a design and build contract and was awarded to WCT Berhad. Completion date is targeted in late 2010.
The visual metaphor for the tower is based on traditional malay artifacts and crafts, the curved side elevations recalling the shapes of ancient stone artifacts, and the diagonal shaped central façade pattern symbolizing a traditional form of textile craft, the ’songket’.
In order to translate these metaphors into buildable forms of specific measurable dimensions, a concept based on the Fibonacci Series is conceived as a form-giver to be used for shaping the tower. The series is a mathematical progression of numbers where the following number is the sum of two previous numbers; 1,1,2,3,5,8,13…. From this concept, a series of segmented façade surfaces is formed beginning from the roof, 1 storey, 1 storey, 2 storey, 3 and so forth to 13 storey for the lowest façade surface. These surfaces, formed of diagonal elements are then set in at different planes, and detailed by façade engineering consultants based on the unitized curtain wall concept. The sides of the tower, designed of precast RC fins with punctuated windows, serve as a counterpoint to the visually lighter Fibonacci façade.
The 4G9 tower building enclosure utilizes passive solar shading devices to achieve an Overall Thermal Transmission Value of lower than 45 w/m2.

The photos at the top of this post show progress as at 20th May 2010.

Putrajaya Wisma Tani Lot 4G2

Designed as part of a 4-building cluster at the Central Boulevard of Putrajaya Core Island, Lot 4G2 (abbreviation for Precinct 4, Government Building, Parcel 2) is home to The Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia, and is now referred to as Wisma Tani. A design competition was organized by Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd in mid 2000, participated by 16 Malaysian firms of which eventually 4 firms were declared winners; Veritas Architects Sdn Bhd, W&W Architects, Almaz Architect and Jafri Merican Architect. The winning scheme by Veritas proposed a cluster of 4 oval shaped towers, a metaphor of 4 petals of a flower, upon which each participating firm developed their final designs. Lot 4G2 was tendered as a design and build contract and was awarded to Putra Perdana Berhad. The building was completed in 2004.

Born in 1966, Jafri Merican graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Architecture from ITM (now UiTM), and is registered with the Board of Architects, Malaysia since 1995. He is a corporate member of PAM (The Malaysian Institute Architects) and has an MBA from the University of Hull.
He has worked for notable firms such as TR Hamzah and Yeang Sdn Bhd, Pakatan Akitek Sdn and AK2 Runding Sdn on projects ranging from individual houses, residential housing, commercial development, to high-rise office buildings before establishing his own practice in 1996. During his employment in the early ‘90s, Jafri was exposed to new developments in computer aided design and gained considerable skill in this field.
Jafri Merican is an avid student of modern and contemporary architectural design and follows closely the latest developments in world architecture. He is personally involved in the schematic design, detailed design and on-site management of every project at the office, giving consistency and personal attention to each drawing and document produced by the firm.
He believes in working closely with his architects and employees in order to personally develop their design and management skills, the result of which is the reliability of service provided by the firm in managing projects from initial design to completion.

About us.

The firm was founded by Jafri Merican in 1996 and has grown steadily to become an established medium scale office with a reputation for sensitive and cost effective designs. In recent years, our firm's reputation has been built on its projects for government offices in Putrajaya; but throughout its formative years till now, our office has had a growing portfolio of residential, institutional and commercial projects, ranging from individual homes, residential housing development projects, sales and site offices, commercial office lots, primary and secondary schools and various other medium to large scale buildings.
Our work is characterized by careful development of the brief to meet the client's needs and budget; meticulously crafted design solutions, which are innovative and responsive to their context; attention to details, especially when preparing construction drawings and architectural scale drawings; and our management style that aims to garner the cooperation of various parties involved to achieve effective delivery of projects to time and budget.
We continually derive inspiration from our ongoing studies in contemporary and traditional culture, our history, the complex changing relationships within our society and the development of contemporary ideas and philosophies. Our work process is transformative in the way it reinterprets traditional and cultural symbols into functional forms designed to fulfill basic building programs; and negotiates traditional aesthetics with contemporary and modern expressions derived from the ever changing, continuously progressive methods and materials by which buildings are built. These often conflicting metaphors, separated by time and culture, when synthesized into a common symbolic denominator, may form contemporary, even timeless, architectural solutions, the desired result which our firm strives to achieve in all of our projects from the initial concept to their final realization.

Introduction

Welcome to our blog. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Jafri Merican Architect. We are a Malaysian based architectural practice which, since 1996, have designed and implemented the construction of various medium to large scale projects.
Throughout these pages you will find information regarding the services we offer and some of the projects we have been involved with. Our mission is to provide clients with quality service and progressive architectural solutions to meet their demands in the fast changing world of this new millennium. We are committed to meet the goals of our clients and are always prepared to exceed their expectations.
We strive to provide high quality professional advice and service throughout all stages of the design and construction process. As well as traditional contracting arrangements, we have extensive experience in other methods of procurement, including participation in design and build projects for developers and contractors, the type of contract which have become quite popular in Malaysia in recent years.