Dua Gua - Exjuvenile Entrepreneur Skill Training Center

City University Malaysia

Idea projektu

“DUA GUA” is conceived as a transformative entrepreneurship-skill training center for former juvenile detainees in Malaysia, developed through a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Prisons Department. Its name literally “DUA GUA” - ("dua" mean two while , the "gua" mean me )embodies the dual identities that each participant carries: the hardened exterior shaped by past mistakes, and the hidden self striving for renewal. At the heart of the site lies “Lorong Akta 90,” a central corridor symbolizing the pathway out of isolation and toward societal reintegration. By framing the ex-juveniles’ journey as a navigable passage between two psychological “GUA,” the project underscores both the struggle of identity crisis and the hope of a second chance.

Popis projektu

The master plan comprises four distinct pavilions each two stories plus a mezzanine arranged around Lorong Akta 90 to reinforce the sense of fragmentation and the necessity of reconnection. In the northwest, the Culinary Centre houses ground-floor cooking workshops and a café-bar, mezzanine-level pastry and bakery studios, and a second-floor exhibition gallery. To the northeast, the Craft & Painting Centre features a ground-floor art gallery, mezzanine-level handicraft and painting studios with a lounge, and a second-floor barber studio. The southeast pavilion, the Agricultural Centre, provides a nursery, hands-on workshop space, and box gardens at ground level, with a mezzanine and second floor dedicated to a farm-shop and display nursery. Finally, the southwest building is the Education & Counseling Centre, offering private counseling rooms on the ground floor, a lecture hall above, and a surau on the second floor. Irregular external staircases in each pavilion evoke the tension of personal transformation, inviting participants to physically experience the ascent from confinement toward freedom.

Technické informace

Structurally, each pavilion employs a reinforced-concrete column-and-beam grid, supporting fiber-cement panel cladding in bold solid hues juxtaposed with glass voids. Passive design strategies including rooftop light wells and cross-ventilation to minimize energy consumption . The interplay of solid and void not only articulates the project’s conceptual narrative but also optimizes natural daylight and fresh air, reinforcing both the psychological and physiological well-being of its users.