Self-employed small business owners were rendered defenceless due to the restrictions introduced by the government during the pandemic. Many faced a reduction in their earnings and others lost their income completely, affecting their livelihood. How can we design to accommodate their needs to support their business and living conditions?
During the covid pandemic a large number of small and independent business owners were marginalised. Specifically in Asian countries like Nepal and Malaysia. This project aims to provide a co-housing scheme that caters to the different working and living conditions of three users that we have identifies living in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The scheme provides one bed, two bed and three bed houses as well as space for hawker stalls and market stalls in the central courtyard, with shopfloors on the ground floor of the three bed houses. The scheme was designed in response to the climatic conditions in Malaysia with raised ramped and stepped access to the site. The use of climate tiles with an underground water collection system and careful placement of landscaping and inclusion of trees helps toward the heavy precipitation in Malaysia. The scheme includes a communal social space in the courtyard as well as a communal kitchen for the residents to cook food that they would sell in the stalls. Communal vegetable gardens have also been designed in to grow community produce that can be sold in the shops or harvester for personal consumption.
Trisha Pradhan
Muhammad Ifwat Bin Zunaidi