NEWS ARTICLE: Adjaye, Benoy and Foster team up on huge Kuala Lumpur 'suburban city'

(Clive Walker, Architect's Journal, 19th September 2007, www.ajplus.co.uk)

A team of architectural big hitters, including Adjaye Associates, Benoy, and Foster + Partners, is creating a 'suburban city' twice the size of London's Covent Garden in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Kenny Heights scheme will boast 3,000 homes, hotels, office blocks and almost 400,000m2 of retail space. Conference facilities, a medical centre and cultural quarter will also be incorporated.

Other firms on board include Conran and Partners, South Korea's ga.a architects, Heatherwick Studio, US firm the Jerde Partnership, Japan's Kengo Kuma and Associates, and WDA.

Billed as the key commercial and 'high-class' residential hub for the Kenny Hills suburb of Kuala Lumpur, the 36ha scheme has been broken down into nine 'parcels' to be developed over the next 15 years.

The scheme is being developed as a joint venture between Mycom Bhd and Merrill Lynch Asia. According to Mycom, the site is regarded as 'the last integrated development on the last choice site' in suburban Kuala Lumpur.

Mycom chief executive Datuk Yap Yong Seong said: 'It is unparalleled to any single development in Kuala Lumpur except for [massive commercial development] KLCC. It will evolve into a new suburban city with about 230,000m2 of gross floor area.'

For more information please contact: Emilie Lemons, Conran & Partners: cp@conranandpartners.com

September 2007