JEREJAK BRIDGE MARINA

Abstract

"The seas but join the regions they divide" Anon Perceptions of the water margin has undergone changes through history. It is increasingly recognised as an asset for the city and for recreation. Other than revitalisation and adaptive reuse of old ports and warehouses. there is a new trend towards reclamation as a means of creating new waterfront land for development. This has created immense opportunities as well as responsibilities for architects along with the need for a reexamination of the water margin, the threshold, the entry point to the sea. Most developments now have a clear line that demarcates the development on the position of the shoreline against the position of the sea, with the odd fishing pier or restaurant at the erd of a pier sticking out into the sea. My thesis will be an attempt to forge a more intensive use of the sea. It consists of a multi-span, 1000km long, steel suspension cable bridge that connects Penang to a Pulau Jerejak. (gazetted as a "recreational island") The bridge will comprise of 3 main elements, a shopping and commercial "street" on the upper deck, a vehicular access route on the lower deck and a residential marina at the base of the pylons. The project will partly cater to the anticipated future demand for water-based recreational and tourist facilities in Penang for the year 2000. This thesis will be the vehicle for exploring, experimenting and learning more about the following issues:- The restoration of a more "involved" link between the shore, sea and man. The margin, the verge must become more interweaved and not designed to just hug the shores. The line between water and land is not just a thin line but an "intertidal zone", an in-between realm. The examination of a possible appropriate typology for a small residential cum commercial community incorporated into a suspension bridge. (Mixed development - residential, commercial and recreational). The understanding and use of the specialised engineering technology of suspension bridges and hydraulic engineering to generate the architecture that reflects it position in Malaysia, a hot, humid, tropical location. "