The Malaysian diaspora is defined by migration histories and cultural reinventions that have long influenced the preservation of heritage in new societal landscapes all over the world throughout time. This thesis examines the diasporic identity of Malaysians with a focus on the area of Bayswater, London. It draws on architectural history, sensory ethnography, and spatial analysis to explore how physical sites and intangible practices foster a resilient sense of belonging. Engaging with ongoing discussions about cultural hybridity and appropriation, this thesis argues that the diasporic identity goes beyond simply replicating traditional heritage. Instead, it reflects a continuous negotiation between past and present. Interviews, observations, and photographic documentation show that everyday experiences and shared memories are central to maintaining a vibrant urban heritage. ... Read more

This graduation project began from my interest in time as an architectural condition. During my visit to Estonia, and especially through walking in Tallinn, I became increasingly aware that time is not only present in monuments, preserved façades or historical narratives. It is also embedded in less immediate visible conditions such as changes in ground level, traces of former infrastructures, reused structures, fragmented walls, buried passages, material junctions and everyday patterns of movement.

Rather than understanding time as a chronological sequence, this project approaches time as something spatial. Cities accumulate time through construction, erasure, adaptation, abandonment and reuse. These processes do not always produce clear historical readings. More often, they result in overlap, discontinuity, concealment and coexistence. A wall may remain visible while its former function disappears. A ground level may rise until a former entrance becomes a basement. A tunnel may persist below the surface while the city above develops another life. These spatial contradictions became central to the way I understand temporal layering in architecture.

Tallinn offers a particularly rich context for exploring these ideas. Its urban fabric contains medieval structures, defensive systems, adapted buildings, underground passages, contemporary urban surfaces and everyday civic uses that coexist both horizontally and vertically. However, many of these layers are not easily experienced as part of daily life. They are often hidden beneath the ground, isolated as heritage objects, or passed by without deeper spatial engagement. ... Read more