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Architects: Mentahmatter Design Sdn Bhd
- Area: 60000 ft²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:David Yeow Photography
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Lead Architects: Shin Chang and Shin Tseng, co-founders of REXKL
Text description provided by the architects. The original REXKL cinema was a dilapidated building that had much historical significance but was reduced to a slow death by non-usability and repeated historical fires. Forgotten & illegally used as a travellers' hostel, the old cinema had much cultural recognition with the local community, with the site being located near Petaling Street, a popular yet seedy part of downtown Kuala Lumpur.
Despite the environment pockets of the local community, families and their long-standing cultural activities sustained throughout the years and the old REXKL cinema with its proximity to the various neighbourhoods had the potential to be a driving force of renewed attraction to the vicinity. With declining neighbourhood connections and a lack of public gathering spaces in the area, it was evident that safer community 'anchors' were required – spaces to connect & draw interest to the locality and, in turn, transform the area into a better, safer neighbourhood.
The revival of REXKL as a new community-driven cultural and creative hub provided a turning point to Petaling Street – the initiative aimed to preserve the legacy of this iconic building, envisioning that the transformation of the 6000 square meter cinema into a versatile community venue would revitalise the existing urban landscape & its immediate surroundings, supporting the local communities and businesses.
Renovation works began pre-pandemic, with the prolonged situation causing construction to be completed in multiple stages; the building's poor state further exacerbated the process, requiring careful curation & restoration. There were also setbacks from the local community as many had different perceptions and were sceptical of REXKL's potential to bring renewed interest to the area. This perception changed as the neighbourhood saw a surge of new visitors from the runoff attendees of REXKL events.
Emphasizing adaptability, the internal layout was to include both permanent and flexible spaces, and the current iteration includes an event hall for performances & exhibitions, a 1000 m2 bookstore, and areas for workshops, retail, and F&B. The architectural approach was to adaptively reuse the existing formation of the building, bridging the existing site context with new functions to enable more connections & humanised spaces. On an urban scale, the side alleyways leading up to REXKL were improved to be more welcoming & pedestrian-friendly, containing pockets of gathering spaces throughout, leading to better neighbourhood connectivity and, in turn, flourishing the urban network. Original architectural details, including the original façade and tiled surfaces, were retained, and the cinema layout and staircase were readapted without expanding the building's footprint.
REXKL offers platforms for innovation & expression of both traditional & contemporary trades. Acting as incubators, these platforms are testing grounds for new local entrepreneurs, resulting in an alternating landscape of smaller interior schemes that are configured to echo the respective business needs as seen in the lower levels of the Food Hall and Retail spaces.
This curated composition extends itself to the upper levels, with the entire 8000 ft2 cinema hall converted into spaces such as RXP, an immersive & interactive exhibition gallery that reimagines traditional cinematic experiences into art viewing & performances with new digital art form. In addition to this, the VIP tiered seating area of the cinema was transformed into BookXcess, a community centred bookstore – using a singular material a modular system was devised and arranged into an array of patterns to create labyrinth-like spaces, evoking the sense of discovery which is much akin to when one explores the hidden corners & alleyways of a city.
