Its presence exudes prominence and integrates harmoniously with its historical neighbourhood, one of the oldest and largest wet markets in Kuala Lumpur, the Pudu Market.Continew Residences is conceived with the notion of bridging nostalgia and the continuity between the Old and the New by adding a fresh new aura to the neighbourhood.With its surrounding historical vintage shophouses comes its legacy as one of the busiest streets for its mouth-watering delicacies, fresh produce and ever-bustling market activities.The architectural language and elements are composed to relate not only with its historical surroundings biophilically but also in terms of its functionality, form, and context (the Old) whilst maintaining its own identity (the New) and sustainability.Continew now stands as a new landmark and shining beacon in this stark old precinct, providing an oasis and serenity amid this bustling city with the creation of a new urban living experience.
Continew is a mixed, multi-used development consisting of two towers of service apartment blocks (47 and 50 storeys) with 510 units resting on top of a 7-storey car park podium, 3-storey shophouses, 5-storey offices and a basement.On the facility floor sits a 50m-length infinity swimming pool overlooking the panoramic and majestic Tun Razak Exchange.
The overall architectural form of Continew takes cues from the site footprint shaped like a butcher knife, a coincidence symbolism to the adjacent Pudu market.The three-dimensional form of the building was conceptualised using facets of angular trapezium that were consistently adopted throughout the façade to accentuate its shape.This was further developed, elevating the concept further with the three-dimensional and sculptural form with slanting and folding planes at the Sky Lantern, Sky Lounge and Sky Deck that culminate the cascading top of the building.
To retain commercial continuity with its surrounding neighbourhood, it was natural and deliberate that the component facing the market (Jalan Yew) has to be the 3-storey shophouses.To be consistent, the façades of the podium car park above these shops are also wrapped with a patterned combination of aluminium composite panels and perforated metal sheets, allowing the required natural ventilation.These panels are further folded and splayed, creating a sculptural dimension allowing the natural interplay of shadow and light depending on the time of day and the position of the sun, heightening the depth of its architecture further.
Contextually, the inspiration of the folded panels was drawn to mimic the language of the colourful umbrellas widely used by the traders at the market though simple, and unsophisticated but delightful.
At the entrance along Jalan Tun Razak, the immediate neighbours are a Buddhist Temple and a maternal clinic. In response to its surrounding context, a cascading garden was introduced on the Ground floor of this location to impart a sense of serenity and also to provide a green relief in an otherwise fairly sterile neighbourhood. This garden was designed to be more of a “see-through” or “transparent” for outsiders to get a glimpse of the residence while maintaining a pathway for residents linking to the covered walkway leading to MyTown and Ikea. This entrance which also leads to the basement car park was introduced to allow convenience for both the tenants and visitors to bypass the peak business hours of Pudu market, which at most times is congested.
There are two entrances to the development and both entrances at Jalan Tun Razak & Jalan Yew lead to the Grand Lobby, a Centralised Garden and also directly to the podium parking. The Grand Lobby has a contemporary theme with the detailings adopting clean symmetrical lines and forms. Stone, mirror and timber finishes were extensively used to impart a sense of warmth and grandeur.Overlapping glazing with ventilation slots was introduced in most common areas including the Grand Lobby and lift lobbies allowing natural ventilation without the need for air conditioning.
At the Centralised Garden, visitors are greeted ceremoniously by an “Avatar-like” landscape of 6 pillars of self-sustainable “Canopy Tree” illuminated by Grow lights with understory plants such as ferns and shade-tolerant shrubs planted below. This pleasant,visually exciting “surprise” provides a great “homecoming” and a solitude oasis away from the noisy and bustling external streets.
The landscape was conceptualised with the idea of creating a vertical forest within the heart of this concrete jungle.The inspiration for the form and shape of these “trees” draws from the canopy shape of the Dryobalanops tree which was further developed by adopting basic polygonal planes layering them on top of each other with grow lights concealed amongst the ceiling panels to encourage growth.Creepers were then planted on the metal mesh of these planes which “forms” the canopy petals of the tree.This feature is unique to Continew as there are not many indoor gardens in any residential development especially at such scale and size implemented successfully and thriving.
The apartments are housed in two separate towers with the façade playfully serrated and with the cascading height of each serration creating an illusion of multiple blocks.To further accentuate the building’s form and depth, slanting functional sun-shading hoods were added with L angles fixed at the edge to avoid rain streaks.In areas where there is a large extent of flat vertical surfaces, zig zag hoods were placed to break the monotony and the massive building form.Each of these zig-zag hoods comes in different lengths to create the ripple effects of a wave at the edge of the building facing Jalan Tun Razak, making it poetic.The serrated segregation of the layout of apartment units also allows more privacy to the tenants, thereby reducing noise transmission and overlooking the neighbouring units.
For safety, the unitized windows adopted at Continew were deliberately designed to allow glazing to be conveniently replaced from the inside with corner units facing East and West having another additional external layer of adjustable sunscreen for weather protection.The project had undergone extensive wind tunnel testing to ensure that areas with high wind load had been adequately designed, addressed and catered for and these were translated through the thicker window glazing and the proper termination and support for ceilings at common areas, all only at areas that require.
To push the garden concept further, “Hanging Gardens” were introduced on every four floors linking the two apartment towers together allowing common access to these Sky Gardens which provides great views towards the city of Kuala Lumpur.These various Sky Gardens were individually, separately and intentionally themed based on activities for morning, afternoon, evening and night reflecting the ever-changing sky scenery of Kuala Lumpur.
At the the top are three distinct architectural components, the Sky Deck which allows an expansive panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur; the folding sculptural shape of the Sky Lantern which forms the crowning beacon of the development whilst the Sky Lounge, a sculptural glass box serving as an entertainment hub, the highlight of the residents who are mainly Airbnb occupants.This has also made Continew a highly sought-after Instagram venue with a unique high-rise urban living experience.
Continew has been a positive vibrant intervention bringing more life into this old neighbourhood which otherwise is only active in the early parts of morning market activities.It has bridged and integrated the new with the old seamlessly adding more colour and scale to the streetscape.Now with more new transient residents added to the community, it has positively contributed not only to the local economy but has also elevated the value of the surrounding properties to the delight of the local owners.
