Applicability of architectural design feature of malay traditional houses for contemporary Malaysian houses

Abstract

The applicability of architectural design features of Malay traditional houses is an essential part of the architectural phenomenon that influences creativity in the design of contemporary Malaysian houses. The current buildings are formless and without spirit due to inattentiveness and inattention towards traditional design features that resulted merely from the use of stylistic ornaments. The aim of this research is to identify the architectural design features of Malay traditional houses in order to elicit the latent features for applicability in contemporary Malaysian houses. The objectives are to identify applicability of architectural design features of Malay traditional houses for implementation in contemporary Malaysian house designs, and to obtain the experts’ viewpoints on the Malay traditional houses in order to validate the Architectural design features’ implementation in contemporary Malaysian houses through the strategy of a qualitative descriptive research design. The data were collected using multiple techniques, including the analysis of archived documents of 29 houses from The Centre for the Study of Built Environment in the Malay World (KALAM). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six experts, followed by direct observation. The data from the interviews were analyzed by categorizing the themes, while visual analytical technique was used for the archival data in search of salient evidence within the information. The findings showed architectural design features are found in categories under three major themes - physical, spatial and design features. The research concluded that features such as roof, openings, materials, craft details, space arrangements, interior features, surface finishes, and exposed structure are significant in applicability to contemporary Malaysian houses. The research contributed a theoretical explanation to bridge the values of the past to the present in a form of a design framework for contemporary Malaysian houses.