Solaris was designed based on the vision of an integrated residential, commercial and lifestyle centre for this part of the city. The master plan calls for the creation of a three-dimensional urban ecosystem integrating the real estate aspects of the project with a park system such that the development blends in sensitively with the Mosque. The complex comprises a 35-storey office tower, a 200-room hotel, a 200-unit service apartment complex, an 800,000-square-metre shopping mall, and 500,000 square metres of shophouses, complete with five basement levels of parking for 5000 cars. The overall development was to become an educational and interactive experience for users.

This large urban development is located in the Sri Hartamas area of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The site is strategically located next to the Federal Territory Mosque, a major architectural and religious landmark combining Ottoman and Malay architectural styles, and spread over a five-hectare site that can accommodate 17,000 devotees.

The developer’s vision was for this project to be a model of green development, and part of the brief was for the entire development to obtain the Singapore Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Gold rating. In view of this, within the restrictions of a modest budget, on top of meeting commercial requirements, the environmental technology design of all the buildings had to be innovative.

Passive cooling and shading techniques with a screen device were developed to reduce dependence on active high cost and high maintenance systems, thereby minimising costs. A sun shading device for all external faces of the podium block was designed using high density foam encased in fibreglass. The device’s function and screen pattern was inspired by a biomorphic branching algorithm that mimics nature. Further, the service apartment block was designed typologically to emulate the human skin’s cooling system by incorporating evaporative mechanisms in its façade. The shopping mall roof is designed as a sloping bioremediation garden where water is recycled and plant material is used in rainwater and wastewater filtration.