Cheras Breeze Way Housing
Filed under spirit of place.
Cheras 'breeze way' housing, situated at Lorong Ikan Emas is a 676 unit experimental housing development by Ar Tay Kheng Soon back in 1976. Unlike the conventional terrace housing development, they are not fenced while creative clustered strategy and spatial configuration suggest a blurring over boundary of rear and frontage of housing, maximizing natural surveillance tendency and sense of security. Houses where characterized by a breeze way corridor running along 4 units, not only that it fosters natural ventilation tendency, social-architecturally it is a community building opportunity by increasing informal interaction of passer by. Children were running around, penetrating the porosity of the housing area. Minor personalization is allowed as a manifestation over dwelling process and territorial claim over living spaces. The entire clustered development is strong in communal sense in terms of neighbourhood relationship, culturally and environmentally pleasing.
