Kington Loo (17 October 1930 – 21 March 2003) was an architect in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

who belongs to the group who brought

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

to Southeast Asia in the wake of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The firm he worked for, Booty and Edwards, became a leader in the region. His mother, Lok Soh June, was an accomplished piano player and was the sixth daughter of millionaire businessman Loke Chow Kit; his father, the engineer Yuson Loo, was the grandson of prominent businessman

Loke Yew Loke Yew (), born Wong Loke Yew, CMG, LL.D. (1845–1917) was a Chinese-born, of Cantonese descent, business magnate. During his lifetime, he played a significant role in the development of Kuala Lumpur and was also one of the founding fath ...

. He was married and had a daughter, Ysa Loo.

Early life

Kington Loo lived in various parts of

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

before he settled professionally in Malaya. He was educated in Batu Road School in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

.Koay.A., (26 March 2003), The Star: Kington Among Men. Before he reached 13, like many in the area, his life was disrupted by the Japanese invasion. The family relocated to a rubber estate in Ulu Langat,

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

. Later, they moved to Singapore thinking, erroneously, that it would avoid Japanese occupation. When

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

was threatened, the family moved once again, to India, leaving Yuson Loo behind as all able-bodied men were not allowed to leave. After that, the incomplete family decided to walk across the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

to start a new life in China. However, the

Japanese invasion of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was the opening phase of the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign (December 1941 to mid-1942) ...

unsettled the entire region, and the Loos remained in India. Loo continued his studies, and he learned

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, during the great famine of 1945. At war's end, the family returned to

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

where Kington Loo started his Form Four at the Victorian Institution. In 1947, Loo finished his studies and joined the Government Commercial Day School where they learned typing, shorthand and book-keeping. His parents were not capable of sending him overseas for further studies, so Loo spent a year and a half in a civil engineering course at Technology College; Malaya had no architecture courses at the time. Loo's great-grandmother, Loke Yew, decided to finance his studies and he went to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

to study architecture at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. He excelled as a student and won the internal competition to design the Dean of Architecture's holiday house. The university now confers an award, the Kington Loo Prize, to the best design student.

Early career

Loo graduated in 1953, returned to Kuala Lumpur and joined the firm of Booty, Edwards & Partners (BEP), initially as a graduated architect and later as a full-fledged architect. He eventually became one of the partners in the firm. His architectural designs (together with the other BEP partner C.H.R Bailey) include the Dewan Tunku Canselor at the

Universiti Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

and the

Subang International Airport Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport ( ms, Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah), (formerly Subang International Airport/Kuala Lumpur International Airport), often called Subang Airport or Subang Skypark, is an airport located in Subang, Petalin ...

. He also designed the first high-rise office building in Kuala Lumpur, the 13-storey Police Cooperative Building at Jalan Sulaiman. There are several of the firm's projects for which his involvement was singled out.

Rex Cinema

The Rex Cinema, located in Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Sultan, was classicised art deco. The building burned down in the early 1970s and the renovation, done in 1976, seated 1100 with a single screen. The Rex became the first cinema in Malaysia to have a DTS sound system in 1993 in conjunction with the opening of

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

. The theatre was later converted into the Hotel Red Dragon, yet its history as one of Malaysia most important cinemas is still widely known.

Commonwealth Society Building

A branch of the Commonwealth Society was formed in 1961 which was supported by Y.T.M

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, ‏تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...

, Malaysia's prime minister. Loo designed the building at no cost. The Commonwealth building was known for its unique

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see belo ...

style roof. The first phrase of the building consisted of an entrance area and large lounge, a library-cum-committee room, and office on the ground floor. The first floor consists of a large lecture hall which accommodated around 400 people which is led by a broad staircase. The building's public rooms offered indoor activities such as darts, table tennis and billiards, and the entertainment programme also included films.

Subang International Airport

Work on the

started in 1961 and finished in 1965 at a cost of $64 million. Its deceptively simple design consisted of a roof composed of floating concrete shells that was held aloft by mushroom-shaped columns. Loo's business partner (in the BEP practice) and friend C.H.R Bailey designed the airport one of many collaborations that the two architects undertook in the 1950s and 1960s. The open structure also featured a massive circular ramp, reminiscent of

Berthold Lubetkin Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Georgian-British architecture, architect who pioneered International style (architecture), modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint I, Hi ...

's penguin pavilion in London. Most of the structure was removed during a major reconstruction in 1983.

University Malaya's Experimental Theater

The modern campus of the University Malaya included many significant structures, including the bulky Dewan Tunku Canselor Building. This building in turn included the experimental theatre. It was first open for its convocation ceremony in 1966, and Kington Loo is considered as the hand behind its design. The building's mark has always been its age and its ability to endure while adapting to changing times. The Dewan Tunku Canselor is an example for the

brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

of the 1950s and 1960s, due to its bare concrete structure, use of egg-crate reinforced concrete and béton brut imprints on the poured concrete, which covers the entire building. The use of high grade reinforced concrete for the superstructure also means that the building is structurally very hardy. It caught fire on 29 June 2001 and the experimental theatre was not in use for a decade until the completion of a recent renovation. Although it was badly damaged by the fire, the building still maintained its main structure. The Theater was named a National Heritage site in 2009. The experimental theatre had consisted of a classical theatrical plan with an arena stage and a proscenium stage. The theatre's trademark was a motorised arena stage, which at that time was the only one in Malaysia. The University of Malaya was the centre of an arts scene in the early seventies. The Experimental Theatre was once known as the premier avant garde venue for modern theatre including stagings of Naga Naga and The Crucible.

Private residences

In 1958, Loo designed his own bungalow house, known as Kington Loo’s house. The house was located on Girdle Road, Kenny Hill, and some described it as resembling “a startled tropical bird”. The structure was made of timber and brickwork masonry, and sported a pitched roof which harkened back to Malaya’s pre-war colonial traditions. Yet the house’s unusual geometry and its ‘V’-shaped columns placed it firmly within the modernist tradition. In 1961, Loo together with C.H.R Bailey designed another ‘bungalow’, the Brunei house, the Sultan of Brunei gave the commission to Booty, Edwards and Partners with the stipulation that it be finished within fifty-five days. It cost $600,000 and it was awarded the RIBA Bronze medal. More of a “istana” that a bungalow, the mansion was able to breathe with its system of natural ventilation, that included metal grillwork, glass louvres, along with shading hoods, canopies and overhangs, and both vertical and horizontal fins. The Borneo house has a perfectly square floor plan with spacious verandahs on all sides.

Dayabumi complex

The Dayabumi Complex, also known as Menara Dayabumi, was a 35-storey building located on Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was completed in February 1984,King.R, (2008), Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya: Negotiating Urban Space in Malaysia, Singapore: ASAA Southeast Asia Publication Series. and houses several commercial facilities. Although it was one of the earliest skyscrapers in Malaysia, it still remains as a famous landmark due to its architecture. It was designed by BEP (Kington Loo) as well as Akitek MAA, and owned by Urban Development authority of Malaysia (UDA). It represents a significant shift to the firm’s design direction away from high modernism. The complex was built to resemble the decorative programs of a mosque, thus it displays features of several Eastern and Middle Eastern Islamic traditions, along with some Saracenic pointed arches, shiny white fretwork, as well as eight-pointed geometric stars.

Professional practice

In addition to his activity as a designing architect, Loo was also active as an advocate for the profession of architecture he became the chairman of the Malaysia Institute of Architect Advisory Committee. He was an active man and he became president of the Selangor Club. He was a chairman of Bukit Bintang MCA.
In 1962, Loo was elected as the first local (non-British) president of the Federation of Malaya Society of Architects (FMSA) and he served as president until 1973. Loo sought to improve the practice of architecture with his service to numerous organisations. He was involved with many committees of the organisation that succeeded FMSA, the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) and also the Board of Architects Malaysia (BAM).
In 1998, he was the first person to win PAM's inaugural Gold Medal, the highest honour the professional organisation has on offer. Furthermore, he assisted BAM in the revision of the Code of Professional Conduct and the Architect’s Rules. Loo donated his time and services to other causes as well. He displayed a strong commitment to the natural environment as he complained about the development of Kuala Lumpur that caused pollution in drains and river when he became the president of the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM). He was the chairman of the Malaysian Zoological Society, as well as the founding trustee of the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWFM). During his time at Booty, Edwards & Partners, the firm contributed $20,000 to the Malayan Zoology Society. Additionally, he was passionate about the arts and served as chairman of the Malaysian Arts Council and he was on the working committee for the National Art Gallery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loo, Kington Malaysian architects 1930 births 2003 deaths Malaysian people of Chinese descent University of Melbourne alumni