Johor Bahru Socio-Cultural Centre: Reviving the Gambier Heritage
Academic Project
Architecture BSc, Year 3
Wandering around the city centre of Johor Bahru, we can see the iconic motif of intertwined sprigs of the gambier plant be found as a decorative embellishment on buildings, street furniture and lamp posts along expressways. In fact, the motif is likewise carried with the royal regalia like on the crown and diadem, royal umbrellas and the throne of Johor. It is used so consistently as a state icon; however, many do not even know what a gambier plant is and how the cultivation of the crop has actually played a historical importance in the early development of Johor Bahru and the state of Johor.
From the 1830s to 1850s, Johor was the world’s largest producer and exporter of gambier with Europe as a major market. Back then, the Chinese immigrants were drawn to Johor to cultivate gambier plantations through the Kangchu system. Hence, the widespread cultivation of the cash crop has contributed significantly to the social and economic development of Johor until the gambier plantation evolved to rubber estate in the 1900s, and then pineapple and oil palm estate in the 1960s.
Johor Bahru Socio-Cultural Centre aims to revive the gambier heritage of the capital city and also the state of Johor. The socio-cultural centre is also conceived as a new city space for the local communities and visiting tourists to engage in the historical and cultural exchange through dialogues and activities at different scales. Most importantly, it is a symbolic landmark near the city centre where the locals can reconstruct the collective memory of a city that gambier once built.
Gambier Plant
Site Elevation
