Essence of Place

Essence of Place: Design for the TropicsThe book is divided into six sections to describe the motivating ideas and different aspects of her practice’s concern. Each section begins with a short essay written by Eleena to set the background for built case study projects. The essays are titledGrounding Architecture,About Making,Bamboo,Typology and Environment,the Outdoor RoomandConnective Possibilities. 

The first essay, Grounding Architecture, argues for a connection to specificities of place as an alternative to universal architecture solutions where places slowly ceased to be distinct and became anonymous nonentities. About Making brings forth the importance of vernacular innovation and how cultural continuity and environmental awareness embodied in the form of making that is rooted in local methods can offer valuable insights into reimagining modern building practices. This approach is easier to apply to small-scale and self-initiated projects, especially ones that utilise natural materials such as timber and bamboo. The latter is the focus of the third essay, which delves into the use of its natural culms as modern building material.  The fourth essay, Typology and Environment, explores the “inherent order of place” that can manifest itself in typologies. It argues that learning from past building types with features driven by natural and passive environmental systems can lead to a distinctive architectural language for the tropics. Also found in them are design qualities such as “outdoor rooms” or courtyards and indeterminacy in spatial planning. How these qualities can allow connections to be made to place is explored in the remaining sections of the book.

Supporting the essays above are case study projects such as the Bamboo Playhouse, Desa MahkotaSchool and Sepang House, completed by Eleena’s practice. Each project is presented with a short description accompanied by coloured photographs, sketches and drawings.