Petronas University of Technology

Architect
Foster and Partners
Norman Foster
David Nelson
Andy Miller
Jonathan Parr
Tom Politowicz
Brian Timmoney

Jake Atcheson
Toby Blunt
Marc Buchmann
Alan Chan
Tina Che
Ben Dobbin
Brynley Dyer
Michael Greville
Fleur Hutchings
Hannah Lehmann
Tony Miki
Clive Powell
Richard Scott-Wilson
Michael Sehmsdorf
Danny Shaw
Jonathan Shaw
Marilu Sicoli
Robin Snowden
Daniel Statham
Peter Stuck
Michael Wurzel
Edson Yabiku

Consultants
Collaborating Architects
GDP Architects

Structural Engineers
Ranhill Bersekutu Sdn. Bhd (Academic Buildings)
Wimsa HSS Integrated (Resource Centre)
Majid & Associates

Mechanical & Electrical
Roger Preston & Partners (Concept)
Majutek Perunding

Laboratory Consultants
Research Facilities Design

Acoustics
Sandy Brown Associates
Marshall Day Acoustics

Signage
BDG McColl

Quantity Surveyors
Jurukur Bahan Malaysia/KPK

Project Managers
KLCC Projeks Bhd

Landscape
Shah P K & Associates

Lighting
Vision Design Studio (Academic Buildings)
Lightsource International (Asia) Ltd. (Resource Centre)

The new Petronas University of Technology is a large-scale project. Officially opened on 21 August 2004, the Foster and Partners-designed University is on a scale that is more consistent with town-planning than conventional building. The scheme brings together several medium-scale buildings in a single architectural assemblage. This dynamic arrangement, which responds to the demanding local climate, topography, and the university’s academic program, reaffirms the institution’s status as the largest academic centre for the study of civil, mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering in the region. Fully funded by Malaysia’s national petroleum corporation, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS), it blends academic training with hands-on industrial experience to produce graduates who will contribute to Malaysia’s industrial development.

Located within the beautiful and dramatic landscape at Seri Iskandar, 300 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur, the 450-hectare site is characterised by gentle hills and lakes formed by flooded disused tin mines. The design responds to the physical landscape of the site and to the weather patterns particular to this part of the world. While it can be intensely hot in the sun, during the monsoon season the skies open every afternoon to bring torrential rain, creating a cycle in which the ground is alternately scorched and soaked. To allow students to move around the campus while shaded from the sun or protected from heavy downpours, soaring canopies protect the pedestrian routes that wind around the edge of the site. Held aloft by slender columns, these canopies intersect to encircle a central landscaped park. Where possible, the jungle forming the park has been left in a natural state.

Arranged around the edge of the park are buildings for teaching and research, contained in four-storey blocks that tuck beneath the edges of the canopies. Cafes and other communal student facilities are located at the canopy intersections, which are linked to the entrances to the housing blocks. Marking the main entrance to the University is the drum-like form of the resource centre. Containing a library, with half a million volumes, and a 3000 seat multi-purpose main hall, it is the principal social hub of the campus. Future expansion will see the completion of a sports stadium and a mosque - amenities that will be shared with the residents of a new town planned adjacent to the University.