Background Information
We were commissioned by the government of Malaysia together with 2 other architectural firms, for the following package:

Package A – Arkitek Jururancang (M) Sdn Bhd
Package B – ATSA Architects Sdn Bhd
Package C – Pakatan Arkitek

Package A is for INSPEN Campus 2 buildings (classrooms and administration buildings). Package B consists of the balai Islam, student union, hostels, kindergarten and the central park. Package C is largely INSPEN sport facilities and staff quarters. This proposed new INSPEN Campus 2 measuring approximately 48 acres is located not far from the main campus with an estimated budget of RM250 million. For package B, the overall built up area is approximately 270,000 sq ft on a 17.21 acres site.

Design Approach
Package B, the most important package is located in between Package A and Package C and our main task is to ensure our design integrates with the different packages into one inter-connected campus.

We began by establishing a central North-South exist connecting the northern building components i.e. female quarters, student union, kindergarten and the balai Islam with the southern building components i.e. the male hostels and the professional training hostels. The center of this development is the Dataran Kiblat, an open plaza which connects the administration and the classroom on eastern side, and the sports facilities on the western side of the campus.

Background Information
The built up area of the student center is approximately 924 sq m or approximately 10,000 sq ft. The building consists of dining area, clinic, student representative office, pos office, cybercafé, a bank and a convenience store. The building design opens up to an open plaza facing an open field which will be used as a multi purpose area for carnivals, gathering area and sport events.

Design Approach
The layout of this building follows a dual frontage concept, addressing both the main entrance/road and the open plaza. A large curved canopy roof is used to cover the spaces below to allow for natural cross ventilation into the building.

Background Information
The Balai Islam or The Islamic Center is prominently placed in a area approximately 9000 sq ft, right next to the Dataran Kiblat and along the central axis that cuts through the site. The main building of the Islamic Center will be the Surau with a capacity of 700 persons. The 2-storey Surau building consists of main male praying hall on the ground floor and the female praying hall located on the floor above. The other facilities are “Bilik Kapan”, “Tempat Mandi Jenazah”, toilets and ablution.

Design Approach
The design of the Islamic Center follows a contemporary modern Islamic architectural language with the used of clean modern lines. On the upper female praying hall, we used lightweight Islamic decorative panels on its façade to shade the glass walls or windows to express the lightweight-ness of the overall structure.

Background Information
The building is design for a single storey kindergarten to house children from new borns to 6 years old. An administration office for the kindergarten will also be incorporated into the design. The overall built up area for the kindergarten is approximately 6,000 sq ft. Apart from classrooms, two play areas; one indoor and one outdoor are allocated within the kindergarten compound.

Design Approach
In designing the kindergarten, we took the opportunity to design a colourful, child like building which will be well ventilated by the use of high clearstory windows. Natural light will also be introduced through the clearstory windows and skylights.

Various colours will be introduced to the building facade to relate the building to the toddlers as colourful building block.

Background Information
Two blocks o residential 4-storey residential units are specially designed to house officers attending short courses at INSPEN. Overall, there are 24 units. Each unit will have a built up area of approximately 101 sq m or 1,100 sq ft. The overall gross area of the training hostel is approximately 1,753 sq m or approximately 18,000 sq ft.

Design Approach
The design layout of each unit is similar to a layout of a twin sharing apartment unit. The design of the exterior of the building façade is contemporary modern which will have a different facade treatment from the student hostel design.

Background Information
INSPEN College 2 is design to accommodate approximately 1000 students and to house these students 2 blocks of 9-storey male hostels and 2 blocks of female hostels are required. The design of the hostels rooms will be on a twin sharing concept with a built up area of 93 sq meter or approximately 950 sq ft. Facilities such as Surau, sick bay activity area and launderette are located on the ground floor.

Design Approach
The design of the exterior of the building is contemporary vernacular architecture and as requested by the client the elevation treatment must match the residential blocks on Package C.