A 45 minute drive southeast-wards from Kuala Lumpur brings one from congested urban streets to the release offered by the picturesque town of Hulu Langat as the city’s back garden. Hulu Langat town is well-known for its rich natural context blessed with beautiful tropical rainforest, waterfalls, and mountain ranges. Due to its unique location to the city, Hulu Langat is a popular spot to the locals for recreational activities as well as the enjoyment of natural surroundings which has great potential to become an eco-tourism destination.

This project started with the client’s intention to create a place that would focus on the healthy lifestyle with green and sustainable development principals. The brief from the client, as a gateway project for the master plan, is to create a rehabilitation and meditation center which promotes and inspires quiet reflection and provides refuge from the intensity of day-to-day living. Programme wise, the rehabilitation center will host rehabilitation and meditation workshops, but its eventual purpose would be to accommodate an exhibition space, to house a small organic restaurant, to hold a training center for volunteers or para-counsellors as well as a place for family gateways and team building activities. As part of the master plan on the 10.7 acres site, there are a few other components including an eco-resort, an art museum, a community retreat / retirement village, and a green commune to ensure the whole development grows sustainably and in harmony with nature.