A Spanish architect designs the new urban center of the capital of Malaysia

The Malaysian government has already approved the project

Eftalia Proios Torras, together with the international firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), has designed the master plan for the new urban center Bandar Malaysia​, in Kuala Lumpur.

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The architect Eftalia Proios, together with the internationally renowned firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed the new urban center that will be carried out in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

 

The urban macroproject, known as Bandar Malaysia, comprises 196,50 hectares on which a new transportation and business center will be built that will include homes, offices, shops and services for 220,000 people, meeting the growth expectation of 7 million inhabitants in the next 20 years. 

 

«Global Green Gateway», or Global Green Door, is the slogan that encompasses the three founding principles of the project: infrastructure, ecology and connectivity. Considered one of the most ambitious and dense urban projects in the world, the proposal stands out for its innovative vision and cultural diversity, establishing a new paradigm of sustainable development in smart cities within the Asian continent. 

 

Bandar Malaysia explores an urban model in which the use of public transport is encouraged as a key principle for economic growth. The new urban center will serve to connect all local transport in the country: high-speed trains, commuter trains, metro lines, monorail and surface transport.  

 

 

The project was awarded in 2017 in a tender organized by China Railway Engineering Corp – Iskandar Waterfront Hodings. SOM's master plan design won first prize among proposals from several influential international Fortune 500 firms.

 

 

A project with Spanish design

The Spanish architect, Eftalia Proios Torras, founder of C2E Architecture Studio and collaborator of the international firm SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), has led the design of four of the architectural jewels that defined the tone of the project: the Mosque, the Cultural Center, the Shopping Center and the high-speed station. These proposals are key to understanding the identity and traditions of future generations that will occupy the urban center.

 

The design had to address a complex challenge: create a new settlement that would serve as a gateway to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia, while being capable of generating a new social fabric that embraces development and habitability. For ephthalia, the main challenge was to establish an urban network of flows that responded to the needs of a previously non-existent urban fabric. 

 

According to ephthaliaUrban sprawl pushes nature to its limits; architecture positions itself without stifling the landscape, allowing the area to exude an inherent naturalness. Nature, understood not only as parks and outdoor spaces, is also found in the organic architecture of the interior spaces. "The design addresses the challenges of future large cities, putting technology at the service of the citizen. The management of information and networks has distorted the perspective of the built environment, to which we want to restore its original naturalness," explains Eftalia, who is also responsible for the design of the project's green areas.