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TUNKU CHANSELOR
HALL

825, Lingkungan Budi, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

SPECIAL PROJECTS

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PROJECT SYNOPSIS

Malaya's goal of producing skilled and educated people from the Federation of Malaya and Singapore blossomed in the birth of Universiti Malaya, the first university in the country to serve education to the Malayan society. With “Ilmu Punca Kemajuan” as its motto, the philosophy of Universiti Malaya is in a constant endeavor to seek knowledge. The grand hall, Dewan Tunku Canselor, is not only famous for serving as the largest hall in KL at the time which could accommodate 25000 people but for its architecture, it is also known as the "brutalist egg crate" that carried influences from the Brutalism Architecture and Modernism Movement, which attracted many architecture enthusiasts.

BUILDING TIMELINE 

Construction

The building was designed with a strong influence of Brutalism Architecture with bare concrete structure using egg-crate reinforced concrete, and is referred to as ‘beton brut ‘

Source: Rehabilitation of the Tunku Chancelor Hall, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1965

  • Construction start (2)

25 June

1966

  • Named and opened by the first Prime Minister of Malaysia and the first Chancellor of the University, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj (1)

August

2001

  • Building teams were appointed for building reinstallment after inspection and building condition survey from the Faculty of Built Environment (2), for fixing the damaged parts from the fire

Before 1961

  • Design proposal that won the competition planned to be constructed.

  • The design competition was held to seek for designs to construct UM’s grand hall.

Interior of Tunku Chanselo Hall, 2022.

1966

  • Construction completion

  • Largest hall in KL at the time

  • Can accommodate 25000 people. (3)

1969-1971

  • Stage installed to replace platform for ballet presentation (3)

POST-MERDEKA

ERA

August

2002

  • Project handover (construction period 4 months and 3 weeks) (2)

  • Done in 2 stages: 
    1- Structure, cracks, new roof design 
    2- Architectural, interior design and services installation

20 August

2002

  • Officially launched for the second time by the Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (1)

Events

1966

  • First convocation was conducted with 587 degree master and doctorate recipients, and 115 Diploma holders (3)

After August 1966

  • Convocation ceremonies for graduation (3)

Spiral staircase with Meranti railing, 2022.

29th June

2011

  • Pre-dawn fire gutted the building and almost 95% of the building was destroyed. Since then Dewan Tunku Cancelor had restricted entrance to the public. (1)

  • All timber works were destroyed except the Meranti railing on the spiral staircases

Backstory

1950

8 October

1949

  • University of Malaya was established as a national institution to serve the higher education needs of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore (2)

  • Universiti Malaya is the first University in the country and is established to serve education to the malayan society. It was established by combining by its predecessors, King Edwards VII College of Medicine and Raffles College to meet the urgent demands of producing skilled and educated people from the Federation of Malaya and Singapore.

1959

  • Splitted into two Divisions, one located in Singapore and the other in Kuala Lumpur (2)

  • The rapid growth has led way to setting up of two autonomous divisions in 1959, one in Singapore and one in KL in 1959, which the one in Singapore was named National University of Singapore (NUS)

1960

  • Government of the two territories desire to change the status of the divisions to a national university (2)

1961

  • Legislation was passed

1 January

1962

  • Founding of University of Malaya (2)

PRE-MERDEKA

ERA

MERDEKA ERA

1940

1960

1970

2000

OTHER RESOURCES

Related Link /
Website

Official Website

TBC

Project Synopsis - Tunku Chanselor Hall
TUNKU CHANSELOR HALL
TUNKU CHANSELOR HALL
TUNKU CANSELOR HALL OTHERS
TUNKU CANSELOR HALL CONS
TUNKU CANSELOR HALL EVENTS
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