PESZTA 2025: Kampung Attap’s Creative Heartbeat Returns

PESZTA 2025 Returns to

Kampung Attap

29 October 2025

ON Nov 1, the quiet streets of Kampung Attap will once again pulse with colour, rhythm and conversation as PESZTA returns for its fourth edition – a one-day arts and culture festival that transforms this historic neighbourhood into one of Kuala Lumpur’s most spirited creative playgrounds.

What began in 2022 as a spontaneous collaboration between three neighbours – Pentago House, Sam Mansion, and the Zhongshan Building (the “P-S-Z” in its name) – has since evolved into one of the city’s most anticipated grassroots events. This year’s PESZTA 2025 will take place across an expanded lineup of venues including Heart Residence, triptyk and the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, inviting visitors to discover the creative pulse of Kampung Attap through open studios, live music, art markets, talks and workshops.

Throughout the day, visitors can wander between design studios and heritage buildings, linger at the outdoor craft bazaar, or catch free performances featuring Tres Empre, Hawa, Bayangan and Euseng Seto. When evening falls, the Zhongshan Building’s rooftop and balconies will come alive with music and lights. The best part? Free entry.

Flashes of fun, art and community — a look back at the many moments that made past PESZTAs unforgettable. – Photos: PESZTA

This year’s edition is particularly meaningful – for the first time, PESZTA will be entirely community-funded, a true expression of the do-it-yourself ethos and shared ownership that have defined Kampung Attap’s creative scene.

All this unfolds in the shadow of Menara Merdeka 118, the world’s second-tallest building – a glittering monument to progress that towers over a neighbourhood built on history and human connection. It’s a fitting juxtaposition: Kampung Attap’s creative energy thrives not in spite of modernity, but alongside it, proving that heritage and innovation can coexist – and even inspire each other.

Says Liza Ho co-founder of the Zhongshan Building, on behalf of the PESZTA team: “This edition is truly special – it’s been shaped by the Kampung Attap community itself, and you can feel that energy everywhere. We’re shining a light on the people who work and play here, opening doors to studios and creative spaces for everyone to explore. Just come with an open mind and an open heart.”

To understand how this neighbourhood became a magnet for artists, designers and dreamers, you only need to look at where it all began. The Zhongshan Building may have sparked Kampung Attap’s creative revival, but today it’s one of many like-minded neighbours who continue to shape the area’s evolving identity. Together, they form a close-knit ecosystem – a community bound by the belief that creativity thrives when it’s shared.

From post-war modernism to creative renaissance – the Zhongshan Building has come a long way since its 1950s roots as the Selangor Zhongshan Association. – Photo: Jacqueline Pereira

Living history

For more than seven decades, footsteps have fallen on the mosaic steps of the Zhongshan Building, still chipped in places. Generations crossed paths and gathered along the cramped open-air corridors for slow conversations. Through crafted window grilles, countless eyes watched the city burgeon around the building.

While the Zhongshan Building may preserve the ghosts of its past, it now reserves the present for a new generation of creative entrepreneurs whose imaginations soar beyond the confines of concrete walls.

The post-war modernist structure dates back to the 1950s, comprising interconnected four-storey shophouses originally built to house the Selangor Zhongshan Association – a communal hub for Chinese migrants from Zhongshan in Guangdong province. Like many clan associations of that era, it preserved cultural ties and provided a vital social, cultural and political network for its members.

Typical of the time, the row of shophouses made space for small businesses on the ground floor and merchant families on the floors above. As Kuala Lumpur modernised, the building changed hands and purposes – from housing to a workers’ hostel – before falling into disrepair.

Entrepreneur Rob Tan, whose family once ran a butcher’s shop there, inherited the property from his grandmother. Rather than demolish it, he and his wife, Liza Ho, an art consultant, decided to restore and repurpose the building with support from Think City. Their goal was not just preservation but activation – to breathe new life into the building while honouring its humble origins.

The couple retained the building’s concrete frame, clean lines and narrow corridors, while subtly adapting the interior for new uses: bookstores, design studios, cafés, galleries and event spaces. Original materials such as steel, timber and concrete were left exposed, allowing history to show through.

Since its reopening in 2017, the Zhongshan Building has become a symbol of adaptive reuse done right – a place where the past and present coexist in creative harmony. Its porous architecture encourages encounters between artists, researchers, designers and musicians. Within its walls, ideas move freely between disciplines, sparking collaborations that sustain both craft and business.

Today, Zhongshan is home to an eclectic mix of bookstores, design studios, cafés, galleries and event spaces – a creative ecosystem built within heritage walls. – Photos: Jacqueline Pereira

Tenants include the Malaysia Design Archive, an independent archive for visual culture; Tommy Le Baker, a café that overlooks the Merdeka 118 tower; Tandang Records, a haven for punk-rock vinyl and underground gigs; Ana Tomy, a bespoke stationery maker; and Re{me}dy, a concept store championing local sustainable products.

Here, architecture becomes an enabler of connection – corridors once used for clan conversations now double as informal meeting spaces, and open courtyards invite in light, shadow and air. The building’s spirit of collaboration mirrors the neighbourhood’s evolution into a thriving creative cluster.

From building to neighbourhood

It was this same spirit that led to the creation of PESZTA. In 2022, both the Zhongshan Building and Pentago House (a refurbished 112-year-old heritage shophouse in the Kampung Attap area, now serving as the headquarters for architecture and landscape design firm Pentago Group) coincidentally applied for the Merdeka 118 Community Grant Programme under PNB Merdeka Ventures.

Instead of running separate events, they decided to collaborate – later joined by Yayasan Lim Yee Hoh, a foundation offering art-related bursaries to underprivileged students. That serendipitous partnership gave birth to PESZTA, a festival celebrating community, creativity and place.

Three years on, the festival has become the heartbeat of Kampung Attap’s cultural calendar, drawing people from across the city to experience what makes this pocket of Kuala Lumpur so distinctive.

Whether it’s during PESZTA’s day-long celebration or on any ordinary afternoon, the Zhongshan Building, and many of its neighbours, embody the same ideals that shaped its rebirth – that architecture can be both old and new, memory and possibility.

So on Nov 1, as Kampung Attap’s narrow lanes fill with music, laughter and art, it’s worth remembering: this neighbourhood’s story began with old buildings – and the idea that preservation could spark a whole new generation of imagination.

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