The Timeless Tales

Project Brief:

In order to introduce, remember, and preserve the folklores from Malaysia, Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Malaysia creates a folklore exhibition. This exhibition will 6 different local stories; that includes the famous Sang Kancil, Mahsuri, Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, Princess Zaleha, Puteri Gunung Ledang, and Princess Santubong. The objective of this exhibition is to preserve Malaysia's folklore through exhibition that allows visitors to experience the story with the combination of modern and traditional technology.

Target Market:

Tourism Industry, Educational Sector, General Public

Client:

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Malaysia

A ministry of the Government of Malaysia that is responsible for tourism, culture, archives, library, museum, heritage, arts, theatre, handicraft, visual arts, convention, exhibitions, Islamic tourism and craft. Their visions are to develop Malaysia as a world class tourist and cultural destination and building the national identity based on arts, culture, and heritage. As for their mission, they aim to drive the tourism and culture sectors as the catalyst for socioeconomic growth and to strengthen, conserve, and preserve national arts, culture, and heritage.

Site: 

Old China Cafe

11, Jalan Polis, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur.

Located in a deep heritage and cultural area, it makes this site suitable for The Timeless Tales project that promotes Malaysia's culture. Other than that, this area has high potential of tourists visit and attraction. The building has 2 floors and both floors are currently used as a cafe with a strong cultural feeling.

Concept: 

Endless Motion

The inspiration of this concept comes from a time machine. Time machine brings people to past and future; while in this project, it brings people to the past to revive the memories. However, even if people do go back to the past, they travel with the knowledge that they need to come back to the present.

This applied to the design of the exhibition; it needs to make visitors feel like they are going back to the past while realizing that they are still in the present. To apply this feeling, mixture of traditional and modern technology are applied.

Plan

            Ground Floor                                                                                                                            First Floor

Elevation and Section

                                                                          Facade Elevation

                                                                          Section X-X

                                                                          Section Y-Y

                                                                          Section Z-Z

Perspectives

                                                                          Reception Counter

Curved and layered reception counter will greet the visitors once they enter the exhibition area. On the right side, there is a photo booth area with layered structures. Next to the photo booth, a wall display of bookmarks is available, so that visitors can take it as a gift to remember the exhibition.

                                      Sang Kancil and Bawang Merah Bawang Putih Display

The space is designed to mimic the river and forest where Sang Kancil story happened using interactive screen and artificial plants. The river is used for Bawang Merah Bawang Putihh display as well, with a wall structure for the visitors to hang the fabrics. This action is adapted from the story itself.

                                                                               Mahsuri Display

Suspended ring with information and cut-out pictures is used display the story. The back wall have different sizes of round mirrors and located randomly.

                                                                          Campfire Area 

This area is used as a story telling area that is available during certain times. The designed is made to bring the experience of traditional story telling, where people gather in outdoor area with campfire and tell stories to each other.

                                                      Puteri Zaleha Display and Feature Wall

Interactive screen is used to display the story of Puteri Zaleha. As for the feature wall, different sizes of buildings with different colours are built on the wall. It has windows that are completed with lights. This structure is inspired by Puteri Zaleha story itself.

                                                             Puteri Gunung Ledang Display

Tube structures in white and wood laminate finish are used to place the models for display. The structures have different height and sizes. On the ceiling, the information about the display is printed on the layered sheer linen fabric.

                                                                    Puteri Santubong Display

By using light and shadow, each scenes of the story are displayed. Next to the shadow display is the explanation about each scenes.