Bangunan Mahkamah Tinggi Lama

The Former Federated Malay States Survey Office played a quiet but fundamental role in shaping modern Malaya. It was here that land was measured, boundaries drawn and maps produced, transforming forests, rivers and settlements into systems of administration, ownership and planning. Surveyors, draftsmen and technical officers worked behind the scenes, translating physical landscapes into records that would guide infrastructure, development and governance. Every line on a map carried implications for communities, transport, agriculture and the growth of Kuala Lumpur itself. The building was not a public spectacle, but a centre of precision, discipline and nation-building.

Over time, surveying technologies advanced and operations relocated. Yet the building remains a reminder that cities are not only built with bricks and roads, but with measurements, documentation and foresight.

Today, Bangunan Pejabat Ukur FMS Lama enters a new chapter as part of the BSAS precinct. Through adaptive reuse, it is transformed into a space for culture, knowledge and public engagement. While it no longer measures land, it continues to shape understanding, inviting visitors to explore how Kuala Lumpur was mapped, organised and imagined, and how those invisible processes helped build the city we know today.