The contextual design criteria of infill building façade in Malaysian urban historic districts: a systematic review.

Abstract

The urban historic district is one of the man-made places with strong genius loci through its cultural heritage character and values. Architectural heritages are the core element constituting its urban fabric character. However, the emergence of infill buildings that intervene in the urban historic fabric with their conspicuous contrast façade architectural design threatens the genius loci of the urban historic districts. Therefore, this paper aims to systematically review the contextual architectural design criteria of infill building façade in urban historic districts. Using the content analysis method, this paper extracts the previous scholars’ studies on heritage conservation guidelines, contextual infill building façade design approaches and the design criteria for the contextual infill building façade design in urban historic districts to answer the highlighted issues. In an urban historic district, the contemporary architectural intervention, especially the infill building façade design, must critically consider and respond to the existing urban fabric that has long been characterized by the place's genius loci to sustain its cultural heritage character and values. The infill building façade design must appropriately be articulated by balancing “compatibility” and “differentiation” elements in its architectural design as well as consider creating a “bond” and having family resemblance with the existing urban fabric of the historic district.