Site Info

Medan Pasar’sLength: 92.30 m

Gross Site Area: 125,280.48 m²

Length of KasturiWalk: 136.80 m

Area of Central Market: 7,523.65 m²

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Medan Pasar’s Layout

Section from South West

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Elevation showing the buildings at North West

UOB Bank Building

WismaMaran

(Ambank)

Hotel A-One

Elevation showing the buildings at East

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PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY

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VEHICLE CIRCULATION

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DRAINAGE SYSTEM

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PUBLIC AREAS

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Central Market began life as a wet market in 1888, built by

Yap Ah Loy, the city’s Chinese Kapitan. It served as a prominent

landmark in colonial and modern-day Kuala Lumpur. When the

market continued to expand, a permanent structure was built to

house all the vendors. By the 1930s the structure was further

improvised to the current façade.

When the wet market was relocated in the 1980s, the Malaysian

Heritage Society successfully petitioned against the demolition

of the building. Through an allocation of RM9million granted

by the Federal Government, the building underwent another

facelift and was transformed into a centre for Malaysian culture,

arts and handicraft. The façade has remained unaltered to

retain the charm of yesteryears.

On 15th April 1986, Melewar Leisure Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of

Kumpulan Melewar Berhad took ownership of the building to

promote Malaysian culture through the sales of local art and

craft products.

Central MarketSince 1888

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Central Market’s Main Entrance

In 2004, the Kha Seng Group acquired this iconic building.

Under the company Central Market Sdn Bhd, the building and

its accompanying Annexe was transformed into an award-

winning tourist attraction and shopping destination, without

compromising their enduring significance as the centre of the

nation’s culture, art and heritage.

Over the last 20 years, the tenants of Central Market have

unreservedly contributed to the tourism industry by selling and

promoting Malaysian arts and handicrafts and souvenirs to both

the foreign tourists as well as local visitors. Hence Central

Market has not only been promoting the Malaysian Culture, but

has also created business opportunities for many deserving

entrepreneurs.

Malaysia is well known for her multi-racial culture where people

of different races live in peace and harmony. To reflect our

colourful culture, Central Market Kuala Lumpur features zones

with shops, stalls and kiosks that highlight the 3 main races

found in Malaysia. These zones are Lorong Melayu, Lorong Cina

and Lorong India and serve the purpose of giving visitors an

insight into the cultural variety in Malaysia. Another zone known

as Lorong Kelapa, is a charming lane where an amazing variety

of traditional Malay snacks can be found, from all kinds of

keropok (crackers) and kuih (cakes) to sweets and fried goodies

like Kuih Bijan, Kuih Loyang, Epok-Epok (mini curry puffs) and

many more.

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Central Market’s Layout

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Business Activities at Central Market

Besides selling handicrafts and batiks, people in Central

Market also sell their art pieces to the tourists. There’s a corridor at the end of the Central Market where artist sell their artworks there. If you would like to have a picture of yourself drawn, do ask the artists to draw for you. They are highly skilled in drawing faces.

The corridor can be reached by to entrance: the first one from central market itself. Or you can enter from the walkway beside Central Market as you approach to Kasturi Walk from North. Just turn right into the corridor and you will find lots of wonderful artworks displayed in front of the shops.

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Artworks from an art gallery

The Art Corridor

An artist drawing a human’s face.

Some of the artworks by the artist

The Art Corridor

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Kasturi Walk’s Roof Architecure

TouchBuilding texture

SeeForeign workers

FeelDifferent Cultures

TasteBamboo

Kuih

HearTaxi Honking

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Senses

- Tangible -

- Intangible -

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SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis is an interpretation of

the strength, weakness, opportunity

and threat of a particular site. The

strength is the advantages a site has

in its own and already be made use of.

While weakness, on the other hand, is

the disadvantages of that place.

Improvements are needed to overcome

such weakness. Opportunity is the

potential that a particular area has to

be developed into something new and

beneficial to the community. And

threat? It is something that risks the

community using that particular area

and needs to be eliminated.

SWOT Analysis can be done on each

and every site, be it a well developed

one or a poorly managed place. In this

case we will look into the strength,

weakness, opportunity and threat of

the site covering Medan Pasar and

Central Market.

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WeaknessTraffic Jam at peak

hours. Bus Honk is

disturbing

ThreatForeigners workers’ gather

point. Doesn’t seem to be

safe, especially at night.

StrengthRich in heritage

and history. Can

be turned into a

tourist spot.

OpportunityA long, paved walkway

known as historical

triangle. Has great

potential to be developed

into a business hub

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Summary.

Throughout this assignment, I’ve found out that every place has its own potential and setbacks despite how well it is

developed. Medan Pasar itself is a good example. We see beautiful landscapes, lightings, pavements and art deco

architecture, which all of these should be the attraction of tourist, yet only very few tourist get to know this place – most of

them discovered it by chance when they wander around, not knowing where to go. The people factor is the one that pull the

socks of this wonderful square. Too many foreign workers gather here, making this place intimidating and uncomfortable,

though the City Hall put effort in making this square an ambient place to hangout at night.

One thing about this site is that, the drainage system is well developed and planned, causing no floods despite heavy

downpour. The pedestrian walkway is also designed within safe area where most of the walkways are wide and beside the

buildings. The traffic, however, is poor due to unsustainable, short term planning. The roads are narrow but the cars are a lot, plus some of the roads are redesigned into one way only.

Safety wise is still considered satisfied, as very few crime cases happened within the site.

I truly appreciate this opportunity of being able to go to a site to observe and analysis it. Via this assignment, it has taught me how to observe a place more closely and wisely. Before that I

only know how to look at buildings, but now I realise that knowing the infrastructure of the place is a very basic must

before we try to improve or redesign the area. I admit I wasn’t observant enough for this project, but I learnt from it.

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References:

1. http://savoirvivrekl.blogspot.my/2009/10/art-deco-walk-2-medan-pasar.html

2. http://www.escapehunter.com/escapes/malaysia/beautiful-medan-pasar-010611.php

3. http://www.academia.edu/17329571/The_Great_Place_of_Kuala_Lumpur_Medan_Pasar

4. http://centralmarket.com.my/

5. http://www.centralmarket.com.my/history.php

6. https://www.google.com.my/maps