Lea Velichkova

"Rumah Budaya" Cultural Heritage Centre, Malacca

The proposed centre is located at the heart of UNESCO's World Heritage City Malacca. The multi-use assembly building aims to establish a dialogue between society, culture and architecture. It accommodates activities that represent five main aspects of the local culture : Cuisine, Art, Music, Literature, and History.
The design responds both to the essence of the local culture and also to micro climatic factors. Within the local context each of the surrounding buildings is formed by either 2 or 3 5-meter elements, which directly influenced the size of the different spaces in response.
The heritage centre is an inclusive space that welcomes all members of the diverse community groups of the city to work together and learn from each other. It encourages social interactions in a safe environment that allows people to experience different indigenous traditions, ideas and beliefs through communal activities.
The users revive the forgotten past, experience local traditions and contemporary art and in this way preserve the knowledge for future generations. In this process, "Rumah Budaya" (Home of Culture) becomes a node for a positive change by contributing to the zeitegist of Malacca.