Enhancing social interaction of research incubator in Malaysia through integrated spaces

Abstract

Typical research facilities particularly research incubators in Malaysia are lacking in certain areas in which it limits social interactions between users. This can lead to segregation between communities where the researcher's community is isolated from their surrounding communities. This is seen through a building appraisal of the current research incubators within Malaysia. These research incubators seem to be lacking in terms of utilizing the surrounding context to promote the research & development for its end-users, particularly in terms of the social aspect. This is due to the problem of urban sprawl as the facilities and the people are far from each other which can be seen through using urban studies where the land uses is the cause of the incubators being separated from the community. The lack of interaction with the surrounding community itself can be the cause of a community of researchers becoming isolated when looking at the social aspect. In the architectural aspect, the research incubator buildings do not contribute to creating interaction between these communities as the activities at the street level are none existence with no proper public spaces that can be used to help with the sociability and also lacking in terms of its legibility as the building is easily forgettable. The study aims to find integrated spaces to enhance social interaction for research incubators in Malaysia by making comparisons between existing incubators. This is to understand the reasons for the lack of social interaction within existing research incubator programs by proposing an integrated program that can enhance the current building program. The methodology of the dissertation is a qualitative method of literature review and case studies. The case studies and literature review will help in summarising the spaces within an existing research incubator that can help improve the social interaction and highlight the spaces to have for an integrated building program. This led to a conclusion that having a more permeable ground level with accessible spaces due to good infrastructure, more common areas within the building itself, wider circulation spaces, and seating areas at the landscaping can help in the design of a research incubator with an integrated space to enhance social interaction. Finally, this research may benefit the future design of a new configuration of research incubators in Malaysia.