Shah Alam Lake & Park
| Location | Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia |
|---|---|
| Work Period | 1980~1984 |
| Size | 50ha |
| Client | Selangor State Development Bureau |
| Scope of Works | Schematic Design, Detail Design
Construction Management Tree Yard Operation |
Project Background
After amazing economical development in Malaysia, Selangor state moved its capital from Kuala Lumpur to Sha State Secretary. Chief of Finance, and the head of the city planning department to Japan to select a consultant who would design the master plan of a park adjacent to the town center.
After interviewing six firms and narrowing it down to three firms, Takano Landscape Planning was chosen for the project. A small firm with young landscape architects, and a company of four member lead by Fumiaki Takano aged 36 at the time, made its first step towards international projects.
A Park to grow native vegetation fit for Malaysian
Reflect nature, culture history, and climate of Malaysia in the program. Malaysia was then using botanical species imported from abroad for planting. We made forest consisting with native trees of Malaysia. Those trees were not found in the market, so we collected seeds in the jungle ourselves and grew them in a newly setup nursery for the project.
A symbol of growing Malaysia
A park to become a symbol of fast growing Malaysia. The trees of the tropical rain forest were grown from seeds collected in the jungle were accepted as a symbol of growing Malaysia.
Collaboration and transferring technology
Malaysia was young country starting out then, and landscape architecture was entirely new field. We believed that people must make landscape of their own country. We thought ourselves as a temporary helping hands, and collaborated with Malaysian staff of the project. Parallel to the project work, we held training program every Saturday to share knowledge of landscape architecture with young Malaysian staff.
