Kington Loo

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

A branch of the Commonwealth Society was formed in 1961, supported by Y.T.M Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Malaysia's prime minister. Loo designed the building at no cost. The Commonwealth building was known for its unique Minangkabau style roof. The first phase 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.

Work on the Subang International Airport 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's penguin pavilion in London. Most of the structure was removed during a major reconstruction in 1983.[3]

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 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.[4] 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.

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.

vertical building of Dayabumi Complex,2014

view of Dayabumi Complex,2014

huge glass to trap more sunlight into the interior of building, Dayabumi Complex,2014

building under renovation, Dayabumi Complex,2014

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,[5] 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,[5] 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.