OCULUS lead the design of a 4-hectare rooftop park in the heart of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The park spans the rooftop of an expansive mall set within the wider 28-hectare TRX financial district development. It includes retail, an information centre, police station, amenities, surau (an Islamic assembly building), large event space with stage, play space with water play, multi-purpose facilities, a formal garden, and urban forest.

Working across both architecture and landscape architecture, OCULUS collaborated with local landscape architects Pentago and architects GDP and Grimshaw to ensure a deep understanding and recognition of context, standards, conditions, plant species, and materials.

Integrating a 4-hectare, publicly-accessible park into a 3-storey retail mall brought a number of significant constraints. These included the need for service plants, skylights for the mall below, access and connections to the park at different levels, structural loading requirements and drainage. However the constraints provided opportunities to create a unique design language for the park.

A curved central promenade provides the main circulation route through the park, from which secondary pathways connect to more intimate spaces. Water acts as a key connecting element, weaving a narrative of the Malaysian landscape through the park. Mechanical plant infrastructure is concealed by garden terraces that are animated by diverse and layered planting. Improved thermal comfort is achieved through a high tree canopy cover combined with water features and a series of bespoke steel shade structures.

The plant selection embraces distinctive geographical typologies found across Malaysia, with nearly 180,000 locally sourced plants, including more than 900 trees. Planting includes species traditionally used for medicinal purposes, food, and crafts to allow for cultural learning and knowledge sharing to take place.

TRX City Park is the first major public park delivered in Kuala Lumpur for over 20 years and the largest elevated public park in Southeast Asia. The rooftop park has a 2500 person capacity, and integrates seamlessly into the precinct’s lifestyle quarter.