by Tay Kheng Soon / Akitek Tenggara
The setapak jaya housing development came about as a direct follow-up of the pilot housing project built in a suburban location south of Kuala Lumpur called Cheras.
The site of 51 acres was divided into 13 housing clusters around a central access road and a small town centre, football field and kindergarten. The access road runs east west and this led to off-street parking arrangements around each cluster. The clusters for Type A, which are the 2-bedroom 2-storey units, typically consist of 156 units per cluster. All the 2-bedroom units are on the eastern part of the site. On the western part are clusters made up of 3-bedroom units in clusters ranging between 112 to 156 units? The sewage treatment pond or oxidation pond is located on the south adjacent to the large existing mining pond and separated from it by a dyke. Vehicles are kept at the perimeter of each cluster with carpers and access ways. It was intended that intensive perimeter tree planting be carried out to provide shade for the cars but this was not carried out well by the developer. The clusters are totally vehicle free and they are served by a network of footpaths connecting a hierarchy of open spaces starting from the common breezeway to the house plots then to the communal open space. It was intended that the communal open space will serve the community for feasts, funerals and other social occasions. In an earlier layout, the communal open space was provided with small food vending stalls to provide informal surveillance as well as refreshments. These provisions were removed by the planners who were uneasy about the environmental impact and the littering that would occur. All the retail, food and refreshment facilities are now provided only at the town centre and the adjacent hawker pitches. It is clear from present day occupation that the provision of retail facilities and the number of hawkers are far from adequate.
The high density concept and lowrise character of the clustered link house concept enables it to be applied to swampy land. The layout concept also allows a relatively cheap raft foundation with cement block reinforced masonry load bearing walls.
