THEORY & HISTORY ARCHITECTURE 2 BAAD 2053
CASE STUDY MALAY TRADITONAL HOUSE
ABSTRACT
Design of the building always reflects people perspectives of the building for the first time. It’s not exempted for Malaysian vernacular house, which designed with a deep understanding and respect for nature. The vernacular house of Malays known as Traditional Malay house evolved along different lines in the various regions and states. If we look over peninsular Malaysia from Johore to Perlis, we can find 11 different designs of house. Each state has main characteristic, which vary from state to state. The evolution of the architectural design of Traditional Malay house must have derived from several influences such as migration and trade. Besides that, cultural, environmental needs, socioeconomic and religion was the big factor, which influenced the design too. Built mostly of timber, Traditional Malay house generally look like a same. Most of the house used local timber such as Cengal, Meranti, Damar Laut and Petaling. Looking to the forms and shapes of traditional dwellings we can find that the three elements that distinguish, at a glance. Basic design of the Malay house is the stilts on which it stands, its open plan and its pitched roof. Generally the house is same in function but different in design. Most of them offer the near perfect solutions to accommodating Malaysia’s tropical climate, but they incorporate flexibility in the design and use of space. This paper intends to focus more detail about the design of Traditional Malay house in Peninsular Malaysia, which will cover from common features of the house, history of the design and design characteristic for each house in Malaysia. Nowadays, most of vernacular house become hard to find. It’s become varnished because of modernization. As a Malaysian we must be proud to make sure it’s been conserve because the Traditional Malay house reflects and expresses the Malay way of life, which was evolved by the Malays over generations.
PREPARED BY MOHD SHAZMIE ROSZALAN
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