Design Inspiration
Design Studio 04 this semester has come to challenge a very interesting project. We site is rather unusual compared to the past regular common projects designing shopping malls or art gallery and sorts, we are to design a “Story Museum” of a leprosy settlement located in Sungai Buloh.
Sungai Buloh Leprosy Settlement was established in the 1920s to accommodate leprosy patients who were isolated from the society. The leprosarium was like hell to the society at that time. Leprosy patients were treated badly by the society not to mention the pain they were having mentally and physically caused by the disease. Leprosy patients were transferred to this settlement to get treatment and also to segregate them from the society as the disease was considered an incurable disease.
Patients in the settlement came through different ways and reasons. Some were sent here by the police forces and some came with their own will so they won’t bring trouble to their families. It is a very sad and heart breaking things to see as I can’t imagine myself leaving my family behind and go on an unknown path of unless suffering. Patients came together to the settlement and started their new and “prison” life. The facilities in the settlement were very good and was the very first garden planning in Malaysia. Inside the settlement, they built their own little world. They have their own houses, own school, own currency notes, own business and own “kind”. They won’t be judged by the “healthy” one and being hated by people. They share the “common thing” together.
Inspired by the life the leprosy patients went through in the Sungai Buloh Settlement, I wanted to build a story museum that records their life in the settlement. Leprosy patients went through 3 stages: Segregation, Treatment and Freedom. I wanted to design a museum that is actually “active”. Rather than displaying all those boring boards and artifacts waiting dusts thickening on it, I hope to create spaces that would allow visitors to feel the stages themselves when they come to the museum.
Yes, they did went through a lot of pain to come this far but from I also feel that they had a happy life too in their little “prison”. They were given hope to live again and making new friends and new families. The process of find new definition of life after the fear and pain, I wanted to record it in the present settlement and the future of the Malaysia history. Allowing people to know more about the settlement and the fights the patients went through during their darkest ages, we could look at the settlement as a very valuable treasure to shine.
The settlement now has become a nursery for plants and flowers. It took decades to come to this and I hope to combine the existing to the museum design. I separated the museum into two parts: the relaxing area and the active area. Decided with the view of scenery and also the sun path in order to create different types of spaces.
