Primitive Architecture Daily life in the Tropics

introduction history & sentiment ecological response plan & structure architectural skin domesticity afterword bibliography

PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE Daily Life in the Tropics

NURHIDAYAH AB RAZAK

DISSERTATION U30099

09021427 | 27 JAN 2012

A dissertation presented to the School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University in part fulfilment of the regulations for BA (Hons) in Architecture.

This dissertation is an original piece of work which is made available for copying with permission of the Head of the School of Architecture

Nurhidayah Ab Razak 09021427

Tropic Regions of the World : Malaysia

“Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well.” introduction

HENRY DAVID TH0REAU

INTRODUCTION The human encounter with everyday rituals is often neglected, especially during the age where communications, transport and technology were vastly evolving. Now humans have come to a steady plateau in discoveries and inventions after the substantial technological boom. With the fast pace of time, scrutinising the everyday activity and magnifying to the extremities to make the smallest of improvements can maximise productivity in daily life.

Returning to these habits of the everyday, this paper suggests that we look at how the culturally primitive humans dealt with these actions. As they saw these rituals were undertaken without the complication and distractions of the inventions that now cloud our concentrations. There is elegance in each of the routines which are simple, rational and have common-sense solutions. This is referring specifically to those which are incorporated into the architecture itself, forming a composite of shelter and function to the inhabitants – founded on the basic notion of human dwelling.

What interests me is the way people dealt with these rituals and tasks in the harsh climate of the tropics, and still do today even with the fast growth of the world’s population and easy go-to solutions that people have embarked on may not actually have benefited them. Humans have made remarkable adaptations to their architecture under these unsympathetic conditions; it is for us to test whether these

changes made have actually enhanced their way of living, free of the aesthetic preconceptions.

Many of the countries in the tropics are architecturally affected by colonisation and their daily lives affected by another form of colonisation- the industrial revolution and globalisation.

One third of the world’s population lives in the tropics.

Surely this harsh climate and sudden change of weather affects the landscape to the extent of physical modification.

This will produce an architecture that lives to shield itself and that has adapted a dynamic form subdued to the physical shear forces of the winds, floods and rain.

What my essay is questioning is, are the primitive ways of the aboriginal and the materials used for their construction more useful to them than the seemingly simple solutions they have adapted from their worldly neighbours through encounter or immediate reproduction.

Tropical architecture is not an isolated subject area in as it has attracted many modernist architects, including Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier’s had a hand in the planning of Chandigarh and not only did he answer a physical response, but also a social response to a country that just gained independence. Other modernists include the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, Renzo Piano and Glenn Murcutt, whose ideologies and methods will strongly influence this essay.

Are these daily rituals just an attachment to the vernacular? Or are some of the methods and resources they yielded out of scarcity, resourcefulness and relationship with nature are actually better suited for them in the first place? This essay seeks to value the relationship to nature the aboriginal’s use, the traditional methods of the primitive and how these solutions can help to further scrutinise our daily routines of our lives.

any, is an appreciation to a harmonious blend of modernist sensibility, local craftsmanship, indigenous structures and respect for nature.

Attention to detail and mastering elementary elements of daily life brings us closer to functionalism, and also brought closer to the most basic element, nature. Is it the harsh climate that constantly reminds them of nature’s presence? Architecture and the built environment will return to its basic functional needs and also will return nature as its basic foundation for design and resource. This shift in current choices towards minimalism to maximise function, but reduce consumption of any kind but without denying technological interventions but resorting to solutions just as good. This is known as Ecological Functionalism- an idea was brought by Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa.

Although, practicing a culturally primitive method in architecture may not work in urban setting, such as for mass housing. Rather, there is an opportunity to help a small minority that for generations live in a harsh climate and potentially harmful surrounding. What contribution this essay might bring to architecture in the prosaic reality, if

This photo is a classic example of a house torn between modernity (left) and traditional styles, with new materials and additional services that have become cheap in recent times (concrete, glass louvres and satellite TV).

This research seeks to determine whether the traditional Malay house solves more predicaments of everyday human life, architecturally and spiritually, compared to the modern dwelling, specific to its climatic needs. critical introduction

CRITICAL INTRODUCTION A TYPICAL MALAY HOUSE The traditional houses in Malaysia vary according to the regions they are in, and this does not mean that the features are arbitrarily changed, but because each of the states have different influences being on the east or west side of Malaysia. The Malaysian peninsula sits on a favourable route to China, and traders in the 1400’s came to the region to rest or to restock on items for their journey ahead and found a land rich with natural resources, which later on were to be discovered by overseas colonial countries – the Portuguese, Dutch and British. And it is these visits brought various influences to Malaysia’s culture and architecture from many parts of the world, mainly from China. In 1400, one of the Malay states, Malacca was founded to have maritime potential by Parameswara, who later on became the Sultan. With his vision, he strived to reach that potential by establishing a port with reliable facilities of warehousing and for trade.

“Whoever is the Lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice” Tome Pires (Translation in 1944)

This quote from Tome Pires an apothecary from Lisbon who wrote about travels in Asia, depicts a bustling and alive port that is comparable to that of Venice- and it is with the activity of the location is how the the locals have been affected by the many influences which in turn have dulled the distinct types of local architectures that are regionally differentiated. Being a country surrounded by sea, Malays are mostly found a living by acquiring and trading food. They lived by the sea with a constant threat of the monsoon winds and the rising and falling of the tides.

The traditional house is not forgotten, neither a no longer relevant physical and conceptual expression. Today the ‘orang asli’ or the ‘original people’ still live in traditional settlements called kampongs, and make up 0.5% of the population (147,412 in 2003*).

These vernacular inhabitations are anything but forgotten, the term ‘balik kampong’ means ‘to return to the village’, which is used instead of returning home to indicate the unity of the concept house village. The people of these remote and rural areas show an interest in creativity not only in architecture but in their free time as they have many different kinds of crafts and games, in work in boat crafting as Malays were mostly fishermen back then, and even to this day. These traditionalists that live in remote areas are not homogeneous but vary slightly to the region they are from.

It is how they have benefited from their simple lifestyle, approach that is dependent on the past, and teachings passed through generations is what this case study seeks to explore.

The traditional house in Malaysia is raised on stilts to prevent from flooding, has a flexible open plan that speaks to every individual family’s comfort and health, as well as is regulated by modules at specific levels throughout the house. Spaces within the traditional Malay house are placed differently varying from house to house, with a layout that responds to a continually changing use. The regularly changing use of spaces is an everyday occurrence in the home. When people make do with what they have, they appropriate the comfort and options the space presents - utilising the designations according to gender, and thus economically catering for the many ceremonies and needs the family may go through in their everyday lives. This then relates to how a Western home would be considered very static but has the potential to engage their physical traits into deeper meaning than just their appearances and their direct functions.

“The house, beyond satisfying basic family and community needs and the expressions of the means aspiration, is a cultural process. It embodies man’s search for a deeper meaning of human existence, his relationship with the environment, his fellow beings and his creator Allah.”

Sudin (1981, p.56)

This quote responds to the means of life sustaining and its efficiency that differs from our of way life now. What is present but not made to use, is that construction always reflects a bigger community, as it is inserted into a site of context with shared facilities, problems and common hopes of a geographical collective. There is a paradox that occurs between making homes permanent and making them adaptable as well as accessible to the particularly welcomed groups. How this adds to the discussion between modern and traditional homes in the tropics is the issue of permanence and how it changes our perception and method of construction. With permanence, people tend to design to perfection and the highest degree of perfection. The concept of openness by relating to the surroundings and spiritual, this questions the ‘private’ spaces people are trying to create in the modern home.

Before the communities existed and lived as a part of the local ecosystem, by the division of space and ownership, communities are divided and settlement organisations have had to change. The disadvantage of the present settlements is that we are restricted to the legally assigned location and to any orientation it conceives with little chance of favourable perspective on the landscape.

The organic growth of the communities is now hindered by the owner ship of land. Traditionally, houses were to face the morning sun, located in the hills than the wet

lowlands and orientated to the ‘Qiblat’ (towards Mecca) as most of the traditional population were Muslims.

The perpetual aims of the traditional settlements are then linked back to conserve ideas, customs, intellectual achievements, social activities and the concept of adaptive designed spaces that may have disappeared in the process of creating an ephemeral and discreet contemporary way of living.

Building a house is a great sociological aspect and involves a great deal of collaboration with the community of the area or the whole kampong (village). This method of community help in building is an established system also known as gotong-royong and is practiced more by the poorer families whereas the richer population take on the expertise of a tukang (master craftsman). The construction of a house is one that is commemorated with ceremonies – site selection, house erection and house warming- and these ceremonies involve all that were involved in the construction, rich or poor. With the cooperation of the whole community, the concepts of village and home are unified and at the same time liberate into interchangeable aspects. “Architecture is an art essentially based on collaboration-the obvious cooperation with numerous experts, […] but moreover, collaboration with history and the wisdom that it possesses.” Pallasmaa (2007, p.105-107).

HISTORY AND SENTIMENT Malaysia’s cultural identity has changed with the discovery of its rich natural resources, as previously, it was a sea dependant nation. As priorities changed, there was also a widespread shift in national identity - as shown in this expert wrote about Malaya before it was discovered as a potential point of disembark for traders and affluent source of natural capital.

“Scantily populated, jungle-covered wilderness politically divided by a series of small states of varying degrees of independence and isolation. Settlement was restricted to small, traditionally organised and often temporary Malay coastal and riverine kampongs (rural settlements) to a few diminutive mining centres in the foothills and to a shifting aboriginal population elsewhere.”

Havinden (1993, p.39) Architecture plays a more important role beyond its physical occurrence. Vernacular architecture especially, has the longest presence in the human life and still remains in many parts of the world. With this extended existence comes the association that homes made in the vernacular style are the origin of dwellings and where our thoughts travel psychologically to when given the term ‘home’. It is important that we build with this thought of home/ permanence in mind. As when one builds to make something permanent, they build to perfection as they have

to intention of moving. Although this pursuit in crafting a home of comfort performance, it may also have its flaws in tangibility. “The Malay House does not strive for permanence... The materials used in its construction grow freely in nature. If it catches fire, it burns in minutes.” Gibbs (1987, p.9). Apartment blocks in the region symbolise a tower of aspirations of people on a journey of home ownership. This though, is not always the case, as the aim “may no longer satisfy the expectations of a people whose culture is in transition” Gibbs (1987, p.2). With the UK as a template, home ownership is 69.8% (in 2003*), and may reflect the housing inclination in a developing country. Particularly for buildings in the tropics, where the vernacular not only gives the sense of home, but is specifically targeted to shield from the harsh and changing climate. Building towards a sense or vernacular not only gives the automatic feeling of home and comfort, but also is building on a craft that has been perfected since the beginning of human existence.

“Yet any meaningful creative work must be rooted and judged in a continuum of culture and in the specific discipline or craft. In a fundamental sense, then, the relevance of artistic work is judged by the past as much as by the future.”

Pallasmaa (2007, p.105-107)

Speaking of Colin Duly, 1979, cited in Noble, 2005, p.143 observes: “When the economy is just about at subsistence level, and the tribe has little contact with other cultures, we generally find that, unlike our own society, it rarely values innovation and novelty, rather regarding them as undesirable or even dangerous. The force of tradition provides the stabilising element binding one generation to another.”

Globalisation is causal of shifting economic policies, broader political change and technological expanses* that affects lives communally, especially a developing nation in its infancy. The remodelling of politics and economy shifts architecture to one that is manufactured and forced upon the population which have little choice in the matter. These changes then no longer make the people dependant on procurement of food and natural resources; thus changing what their primary symbols to tradition are. This article expectantly seeks to prove how details of the new and old are able to blend to adapt to the modern age by solving ‘what critics refer to as highly density development’ Haji (2005,13). Only then, will there be structures that perfectly balance between traditional references and contemporary design implementations that are climatically passive.

ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE A Malay house aims to achieve harmony, peace and tranquillity, by means of tapping into the natural resources and transforming it into shelter and protection. It is through this psychological means of thought construction that we achieve architecture that speaks not only tangibly but also metaphysically.

ecological response

This balance is achieved by the relationship that the society has with the surrounding natural environment; it is a fundamental part of their lives. Current processes involved in the consumption of natural resources, for example the packaging of fresh food, are contradictory to this traditional respect for nature. A belief that justifies this respect and is rooted with the local’s past beliefs of Animatism, where trees, the sun and other living things have a spirit that if mistreated will bring severe consequences. “Before a settlement is begun, a bomoh (a person with the power to control spirits and spiritual forces) is called to perform certain systematic charms and rituals [...] The Malays believe that living things, especially large trees possess spirits which must not be mistreated [...] Such acts provoke the spirits and result in catastrophic punishment� Gibbs (1987, p.14).

A main aspect of learning about the environment is by respecting it and all its beauty. This is exemplified by the tradition of giving each timber member of the Malay house a specific name bringing them to life. Interior spaces

are then narrated by these characters that express this respect for the natural materials. One influence that has made the construction of the Malay house more rooted to the earth is religious beliefs that have been present for a long time – Animatism, Hinduism and Islam.

As discussed in the earlier chapters, these associations to the natural world are inevitable in any aspect - from the site selection to the details of the embellishments eternalised in the walls. From the likening of the Malay house to the human body, making it belong to the backdrop of the rainforests- the Malay house is said to blend in with the natural landscape, and details come to surface as we draw nearer. “Earlier descriptions of Aceh, quoted by Reid (1980), reflect the surrounding of a village house ‘…very spacious, built in a ‘jungle’, so that we could not see a house till we are upon it’” Ariffin (2001, p.44). This blending between natural and man made exhibits the reliance man used to have on nature, not only for resources but for comfort, shelter and protection. In return for these services, the Malay culture embodied a respect and admiration for nature within their architecture.

These words by the Egyptian architect discuss how cultural motives are derived from nature and are used by man. Man is overwhelmed with this kind of culture, thus they absorb the natural culture until it congeals them. The poet describes that the act of tradition in sharp contrast with modern techniques that may not coalesce as we would want it to. To encapsulate tradition we cannot simply mirror traditional structures and

The Process of Decision Making

Culture springs from the roots And seeping through to all the shoots to leaf and flower and bud from cell to cell, like green blood Is released by showers As fragrance from the wet flowers To fill the air, but culture that is poured on men From up above, congeals them Like damp sugar, so they become Like sugar-dolls and when some Life giving shower wets them through They disappear and melt into A sticky MESS Hassan Fathy (1973, p.11)

principles into architecture today. With every disease there is a remedy, but the underlying cause is the ‘root’ of why traditional methods could draw relevant parallels between their architecture and nature. “Cultural decay”, as put by Fathy, starts at the scale of an individual, overwhelmed by the responsibilities which he is not capable of, which is the stage where it needs to be cured. The Malay house is not hampered by the tangled areas of tradition and nature.

The Malay house is the ‘life giving shower’ that could help society ‘disappear and melt into’ the respect for nature once again.

The biggest man-made threats are perhaps the laws abiding architecture. There are now laws which are implemented throughout the country, whether rural or urban, that any construction, renovation or amendments to be drawn and specified by professionals. This does not work in many ways as kampungs are individually devised– traditional organic growth of building and community are restricted by this change, expertise in traditional construction are dying out and not many architects know how to work a traditional Malay house. Lastly, the typical kampung dweller is one that does not have the income to employ someone to draw specialist architectural representations.

Monsoon winds hit Malaysia at varied times depending on which side of the peninsula, but rainfall is the heaviest in March, April as well as October through to December.

Besides having the house and the material that covers

most of the structure’s exterior permeable to wind, the house is easily reconfigured if it is displaced by strong winds. It is the mortise and non-permanent characteristics of natural materials used in the Malay house that gives it lightness and flexibility which would contribute towards its resistance of the climatic forces. This is adapted differently in modern houses, which have many roof shingles stacked closely one after the other, so that when one piece is blown by the wind, another shingle promptly takes its place. Thunderstorms too are a frequent occurrence in the region, and the transfer of current is passed through the home and into the ground with the use of a tunjuk langit (finials or literally: “pointing to the sky”). This small protrusion of the roof has its physical, social and also cosmological function. Besides warding off evil spirits, the many forms of the finials portray the occupier’s personality, beliefs and their social status. The spear-like appearance of the finial is an icon of Malay strength and protection.

Wild animals are still a current threat to the aboriginals’ safety. With new settlements being built and land being cleared by contractors, the animals have very little place to go other than the forests in which they have been cleared out from. This forces animals to search in and around human dwelling for a place to live, threatening both humans and animals. A compromise has been the establishment of rainforest reserves which push the animals into a particular area; it is a safe haven with enough space and appropriate ecosystem for them.

Istana Kenangan or Memory Palace and the use of finials Kuala Kangsar, Perak

The ‘kebun’ or ‘housegarden’ is a term given to a space which has a shared function of a garden and a personal estate to grow plants that bare fruits and vegetables for everyday cooking. This concept of free-range and organic food stems from a response to industrialised methods of modern living and eating a return to the concept brought forward by the ‘kebun’. If everyone grew their own tomatoes, lettuce and onions, there would be no need for it to be transported from a faraway farm to be packaged, and over-production and logistical costs would be negligible.

This too, can be done with architecture by only using the materials available to us.

Undeniably, there are many issues with the implementation and construction of the traditional home in modern times- the most major being the availability and practicality of timber. Timber quickly catches on fire, but steel buckles and concrete disintegrates – both causing the collapse of structures, whereas the timber would not collapse just as fast (but would burn 0.6mm for every minute). It is Malaysia’s role as a large exporter of timber that has deprived itself of the material. A commitment to the material and striving to maintain its usage as a major building material would have made a significant change in research and development in the material- advances in termite-proof and harnessing its resistance to shear force when on fire.

“The first impression of a Malay kampung is one of order, not the order of regimentation but the order of symmetry in nature” Gibbs (1987, p.13).

There is a correlation with achieving symmetry in modernity and tradition, as in nature too there is balance. Order can be realised by governing the elements around us and not to be misconstrued as imposition of order or discipline onto settlements. These groups of traditional dwellings are fitted to respond physically topography, as it accurately answers to a design that assimilates into the surrounding context. For the Malay House, this aspects manifests itself in the stages of construction, its thriving organic form and the contact between user, architecture and the landscape bridging the “Etymological connection between living, building and being” Fromonot (1995, p.31).

In the context of India, Corbusier was commissioned to create an entire city, but his secretariat building was built as an ideal of what India what was trying to portray as a new liberalism; “India has, and always has had a peasant culture that exists since a thousand years! … But India has not yet created an architecture for modern civilisation (offices, factories, buildings). India is suddenly jumping into the second era of mechanization. Instead of sinking into the gropings and errors of the first era we will be able to complete our mission; give India the architecture of modern times”. This

ambitious leap has contributed to the social desertion of the architecture, as Högner (2011, p.80) describes, “The effect stands in sharp contrast to most other Indian cities to most other Indian cities, whose growth over the centuries have been ‘organic’”. For an architecture to stand firm it cannot be occupied solely for its given purpose and without creating a symbiosis with the culture that is deeply rooted in the context.

“The innumerable architects who pass through Chandigarh, many of whom I escorted to the Capitol myself, generally prefer to wait patiently until the village people pass through, so that they can get a ‘clean shot’ of the buildings. They try to edit out the laundry from the picture frame, usually unsuccessfully, and then complain about the callous Indian government’s disrespect for the great French/Swiss architect’s creations.” Prakash (2002, p.149).

Lifting the burden of tradition as a means of a liberal Chandigarh in the North of India contradicted with the overwhelming amount of culture the nation harboured. Chandigarh had just become a capital of the Punjab district, formerly divided by ethnic separation of the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. With this effort to wipe clean the cultural landscape, a ‘spiritual landscape’ still existed underneath - existing in mutual constituents of the physical landscape, traditions and the mannerisms of the people. The Malay house, perhaps with only the pressures of modernisation, were more conscious of the ‘spiritual landscape’ with the

belief of ‘semangat’ (vitality of non-living things) when it came to construction and design. Additionally, the separation of ethnicity that occurred could have instilled a political perspective over how the natural landscape can be ‘divided’ instead of seeing it wholly as a beautiful panorama painted with the Himalayas in the background. Malaysia as a developing nation, slowly gravitating it’s ‘spiritual landscape’, tangible structures, traditional values and population towards the centre which is the future of the country.

Glenn Murcutt is an Australian architect that has gained recognition for his attentive method of traditionally derived design. He studies in close detail the way of the Australian aborigines, the landscape and the potential harmony it can creates within the architecture. Murcutt closely follows the ways of the aboriginals. The aboriginals of Australia represent the primitive race of the world as they have existed 40,000 years ago. One method that Murcutt uses to address the relationship between imposed structure and the landscape is by constantly linking the journey through the building with the continuity of the landscape.

This is similar to how the windows of a cross-ventilated Malay home is effortlessly ventilated, naturally-lit and familiar with its tropical surroundings. In Murcutt’s design, the balanced is achieved by having the same amount of safety and openness; or as Fromonot puts it, ‘refuge (the shelter) and prospect (the vista)’. “ The differentiation of the façade thus reflects both the internal order and the imperatives of orientation in relation

to climatic consideration” Fromonot (1995, p.43). Involving the experience of the outside within the buildings transitions is said to appropriately tie the two scales together whilst still maintaining domestic privacy.

Besides building expressively answering to a group of people (the aboriginals) - another method that associates the Malay house and the way that Murcutt designs is the use of “common-sense, simple and rational methods” Fromonot (1995, p.31) that are drawn from the intention of building a basic human dwelling where most solutions are found in vernacular traditions. These low-tech solutions that exist from primitive people are then complimented with specificity to the upmost extent- similar to extremities of any living creature.

“After decades of affluence and abundance, architecture is likely to return to the aesthetics necessity in which elements of metaphorical expression and practical craft fuse into each other again” Pallasmaa (1993, p.79).

The solutions drawn from Murcutt not only show a necessary return to traditional ways of construction, but a new interpretation of the solution finding ways of primitive people. For the construction of a fully satisfying relationship between structure and the land beneath it, research into the relationship humans have had with the earth is essential. As expressed by Murcutt and the traditional Malay home, it is this understanding that could develop architectural studies in the future.

PLAN AND STRUCTURE

Configuration of rooms and spaces can lead to efficient circulation. The Malay house operates in the open plan style, which means that each individual home has a different layout that delivers comfort, smooth transition between spaces and speaks specifically to the individual families it houses.

As said earlier, the indigenous population of the rural parts of Malaysia are not homogenous in their architecture, therefore each province embodies their own style of architecture, and has names devoted to the expanses they lie within, for example the Negeri Sembilan House and the Melaka Courtyard house.

plan & structure

“Why possess three rooms, two of them continually idle while one is only in use? Why not plays the drama of daily living on a single stage, shifting the scenery from human act to human act as needed?� (Frances Earle, 1943, cited in Noble 2005, p.45).

The traditional house is generally divided into three parts, the serambi (the reception area), the rumah ibu (the mother house- main part of the dwelling) and the rumah dapur (the kitchen house where cooking and cleaning take place). The front of the Malay house welcomes guests with a veranda, with wooden benches to sit and chat in

the shade with the occasional cool breeze. Guests can also proceed into the rumah ibu for meetings and meals. The women and children are usually in the rumah dapur, where the cooking and washing is done. Although there is an obligation of segregation of spaces when the space in use during the day, at night the spaces changes its dynamics as a family sleeping space, thus the spaces are for the use of the whole family.

This strategic placement of the house plan later contributes to the sun movement and strategy, all integrated solutions to cooling. Although a simple method, the surrounding trees are used to mark territories of each house. Not only that, these natural thresholds also help to shade the home from the sun, that for a country on the equator.

When the front façade of a Malay house is said to have a ‘face’, where the roof is likened to a ‘head’ of a human body, and the stilts to its ‘legs’, then one should probably assume that a Malay house is looking at the viewer.

This study has decided to refer to the Malay houses as they were perceived by the Malay occupants. So a building’s right side is the on the viewer’s left (when viewed the house from the front) and vice versa. If the parts of traditional house can be likened with parts of the human body, the whole structure then can be analogous to a living organism that responds and places itself in the landscape as a part of the environment. This links back to how Malay

construction have respect for the environment, the surrounding members and also the creator, with this when he constructs he believes that each space has its own vitality.

“Architecture, requiring total sensory involvement and being a container of other artefacts, is a primary model of culture. However, nature is alive and without the ability to manipulate the force which is gives life its vitality, the model is incomplete. The Malays call this force semangat.”

Gibbs (1987, p.85) The house on stilts has many preconceived elementary solutions that usually point to the one of avoiding raising waters during the floods brought on by the monsoon rains. The gaps in between the timber plank floors allow the space to be cooled from underneath. The term lantai is used both for the flooring of a dwelling and the hull of the boat, sitting on the floor of a Malay house is ‘analogous to sitting in the breeze blowing off the sail of a boat’ Gibbs (1987, p.22). These stilts are not merely means of elevation; the posts become structural members that bear the load of the roof, consequently transfers it to the ground.

The floor plane then is slotted through these posts and held vertically upright by the beams that hold up the roof.

The uncanny similarities of the traditional Malay house and The over simplistic reason to evade the climate, forgets the fact that raising the structure has to do with its relation to the physically and spiritually surrounding ele-

Image: a case study done on a significant amount of existing traditional houses and evidence of their variance, with constraints of the traditional house semantics and with the occasional improvisations. Ariffin (2001, p.136-137).

ments that contribute to the home’s comfort, health of the inhabitants and the overall haptic manifestations that the materials creates.

The Malay house also has a system that is immanent within the raised floors and its many functions and meanings.

The modern home is stagnant in these contexts is perhaps a demystified version that can benefit from these styles.

tached without interference to the existing structure, and can be dismantled without causing any damage. The building relies, for its strength, on a complex jointing system made rigid by the use of timber wedges. Once erected, if the wedges are removed, the building comes apart readily.” Gibbs (1987, p.33)

“Architecture is not static. Additions are built; rooms are modified. We must not make the mistake of assuming that because a house has a certain floor plan today, that it always had that floor plan” (Cohen, 1992, cited in Noble, 2005, p.62).

This method of construction made it possible for the traditional homes to be dismantled and moved to another locations. In the case of serious floods, the parts of the house can be recollected to put the house together again. Parts of the house can also be unplugged form the core space, and fitted to another home; this is usually done when the deceased’s house is being divided up to their children.

The traditional house is dynamic in another sense besides physically, the inhabitants of the Malay house also shifts, as the children who live in the additional rooms of the house, move into the main part as they grow older displacing their parents with their own families. An emerging and popular way of construction that reflects something that is recursive of how traditionalists build in the tropics and that is the prefabricated home. Although this has yet become a solution regionally, as it was used in the past, its familiarity will soon cease to be ignored. Parts of the house follow a modular grid system that allows additions to be made along the serambi-kitchen orientation.

“The method of construction of the house takes into account the need to build in stages. The additions can be at-

Choosing the right materials and carefully implementing them into structures for dwellings and other forms of shelter, these materials blend well with their surrounding environment and with good implementation; the removal of these physical structures will not leave a trace onto the environment they were casted on.

A good example of a building that does exactly this is the Marika-Alderton House, but the Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, is said to be “Modifiable and extendable, his pavilions on stilts can be demounted and removed without leaving a trace or causing any irremediable destruction to the environment.” Murcutt (1995, p.49). This nomadic way of life is not an irrelevant nor is it a depleted way of life in

the fields of this case study. In the October 2010 issue of Architecture Review, the dense rainforest of Peninsular Malaysia reveals a nomadic Batek Tribe that change locations roughly every five months to “allow the land to replenish”.

There are estimated 750 remaining Batek living in an area that is doubled the area of London. This sensitivity one takes when building towards the environment is the balance we need to achieve when intervening natural spaces; and with this respect in mind we are able to build an ideal relationship between the inhabitant and the materials that they acquire.

To demystify the many spatial types of Malay houses, it can be concluded as an organic formation of spatial solutions that stems from the individual physical needs of different people and also different organisms. “The strong ethnographic basis for the dwelling is visible in the network of spatial relationships between rooms and the objects within them” Ryan (2005, p.19). “Nevertheless, it is floor plan and elevation that are the most important features in classifying traditional house types.” Sizemore (1994) cited in Noble (2007, p.62).

SKINS

architectural skin

Most of tropical housing is made of material from the rainforests. Malays take an adequate amount of resources from vicinity of their kampung (village). There is a symbiosis between the humans and the materials they take, usually serving one family or at most an entire village. The material they have gathered are the shades of the flora and fauna of the site they have chosen, the presence of several materials does not mean any one of them overshadows the other and the many textures blend well together. These materials are then put together through gradual and careful construction to orchestrate them to respond to the natural environment they have been taken from and the human milieu consisting of traditions and perfected techniques, as referred to in this extract: “Vernacular building tradition is one based upon timeimmemorial building techniques and the use of natural materials, but also upon the siting and location of buildings, the layout of their rooms, and room usage.� Ryan (2011, p.1) The structure, floors and walls of the Malay House are all made of timber, the most commonly used for its strength and finish is the cengal, but as it’s hard to obtain and is expensive, and its common alternative is

the timber merbau. Timber is lightweight ,has a low thermal capacity which does not absorb the outside heat, and is not covered in layers of paint retaining the presence of the smell of timber.

As for the roofs and other weaved surfaces; nipah, rumbia(sago) and bertam are used. This too depends on the availability of the materials which vary regionally from state to state, for example in the North province of Perlis, bamboo and bertam are even used as thatched walls as the material is abundant. A distinct modification made to traditional houses in Malaysia is the attap roof being replaced with zinc or asbestos. Attap has the quality of low thermal capacity and gives good insulation against heat, the leaves itself has large roof eaves for effective sun-shading and it one of the uncommon natural materials that is waterproof. Use of the nipah leaves have lessened as a depleting natural resource, its tendency to catch on fire in a small amount of time and it “necessitates constant cleaning of the house, which the Malays insist must be spotless at all times” Gibbs (1987, p.21). The emergent materials replacing those used in traditional housing in Malaysia are “zinc, asbestos, cement, bricks and louvre windows” Lim (1987, 134). One of the main changes in material use is the corrugated zinc that has replaced the attap roofs. In the case of the nomadic Batek tribe in Malaysia, where corrugated metal sheeting has not yet reached the village, women thatch the leaves into tiles as the men “are too

hasty in the sewing and leave holes” Beswick (2010, p.80). One of the many disadvantages of corrugated metal sheeting is that it absorbs the scorching sun rays and radiates into the interior space. Besides that, the metal sheeting makes loud patter noises throughout the house when it rains, which it does frequently.

These materials have prescribed the potential of the vernacular buildings but not necessarily in the right way. As the applications of materials have been directly translated into the surface understanding of what constitutes as a Malay house, without taking into consideration of the roots of why the locals had originally selected the materials. Newer, easily attained and massproduced materials are emerging to feed the rapidly increasing population. Alternatives are not only more convenient, but they are also alleviating the pressure from the rainforests. These materials are perceived as ‘modern’ because they are used by developed countries, although may not be a ‘developed’ material from local context. The ideas behind building a home has also changed with this replacement in material and production. This article is concentrated to the still existing population that still live with traditional lifestyles, distant descendants of the aboriginals; rather than their modern counterparts that have moved to the urban areas to find work opportunities.

Most of the tropical population are aware of the many

Marika-Alderton House, Yirrkala Community, Eastern Amheim Land, Northern Territory, Australia - Glenn Murcutt

new materials that are available, and are running away from the fact that there are forests that can be sourced and have sustainable potential. The beautiful feel and aesthetic of timber and other materials from the rainforest can still be achieved, and it’s haptic and ocular sensory relates back to their place in history, culture and tradition.

Material is a basic constituent to building and construction, and its contact with our psyche is at the most detailed scale. Each element of a tree has characteristics that enable it to adapt to the tropics; and it is that quality that the traditional population have extracted from to make the climatically appropriate dwelling. As the past civilisations attained their sources from nearby locations, the concept has been readily implemented today as now it is easier to source store bought building materials; thus proving traditions evolved from practicality and availability.

“The use of numerous new techniques has allowed architecture to escape the restraints imposed by places and materials, indeed to liberate itself from them entirely. The result of this approach is the ‘international style’. For the first time in the history of architecture one sees identical building in almost all corners of the world. As it was those societies with the highest level of industrialisation that spread this style, it rapidly became a symbol of progress and wealth.

Such buildings either cause unacceptable running costs or are far more uncomfortable than an old building that is adapted to the climatic conditions could ever be. Viewed in this light, colonial architecture – and also traditional architecture – is today still highly instructive.”

Lauber (2005, p.29) Discussing this quote, I would say that we are not always emancipated by the idea of newness. Sometimes we are obsessed by being new and a false-modernity; mistaking different for ‘new’ and ‘better’. This style is influenced by different people and ideas, in which the employment of these foreign ideas joined with local beliefs can leave one in the state of impartiality. This compulsion can be described as “the new that we aspire to today is just a plagiaristic act of our obsessive belief in newness” Pallasmaa (2009, p.79). This speaks of my point that the traditional and perhaps primitive ways still being practiced in the remote areas of Malaysia may be the answer to why the dysfunctional modern ways of construction are prevailing.

VENTILATION

In building with limited resources to achieve comfort, it is important that the building construction itself suffers no damage from the climate. “Climate must have been the greatest factor influencing the development of buildings,

and has a bearing also on the quality and productivity of their environment.” Ryan(2011, p.3). The many solutions of tropical dwellings are mostly specific to their location as they are derived by the forces and challenges of the climate; heavy rain, strong winds, floods and the constant heat of the sun. There can be many methods to tackle these issues, but the target functions of the climatically appropriate building are therefore always the indoor climate. This can be done by manipulating the strong winds and scorching sunlight into ventilated spaces and naturally lit spaces.

Conversely, this may not be the case with some modernist architects that go way out of their way to bring newness, and introduce typical materials used in European countries that will soon be easily available around the world. These materials include concrete steel and glasswhich are prone to absorb masses of heat during the day, and radiate the heat accumulated during the day and throughout the night.

Passive design has existed for thousands of years in vernacular design, and although it has guaranteed performance, its implementation is still an optional way of design. The Secretariat Building in Chandigarh, designed

by Le Corbusier is an assimilation of design approaches.

Its heavily clad walls of concrete and glass fenestrations are considered insensitive to the tropical climate of India. The building also uses cross-ventilation; a signature

concept used in tropical buildings proven to successfully ventilate a space, by placement of windows on either side of a building. The concept applied had worked both in theory and practice as described; “I noticed a refreshing breeze: the wind was blowing through the irregularly shaped voids along the central supporting wall of the ramp. I remember being surprised at feeling so strongly the principle of cross ventilation, an essential ingredient of Chandigarh’s architecture. widely applied by Le Corbusier and his teams to cope with the region’s heat” Hogner (2011, p.83). Cross ventilation is applied in every traditional Malay house, with two or three windows along an average wall of the rumah ibu (main house). The Malays has especially harnessed this method by levelling the windows at roughly abdominal height to manoeuvre the wind to cool appropriately.

The role of the fenestrations is aided with permeable walls (gaps between the timber planks or holes left in thatching of the bamboo), breaking the velocity of the wind as it is diffracted by the narrow openings on wall surface. Additionally, the moving air is also directed by openings in the roof joint, subsequently circulated in the spacious void in the raised thatched roofs. Typically and with the absence of cross-ventilation, warm air would accumulate in the house continuously unless there are means of escape. The elevated house on stilts helps to catch the high velocity winds. Although attap is not the most durable or fire resistant material, its flexibility and

breathable qualities are hard to achieve when replaced with ceramic roof shingles or corrugated zinc.

LIGHT

This permeable wall also can be used to let natural light in without the intensity and glare it would cause outside. This is evident in Malay houses that use walls with thatched leaves to substitute the use of tall windows that are extended to floor, which serves to maximise this purpose.

One of the unique and successful examples of contemporary solutions, relevant to the tropical sun, is pioneered

by Oscar Niemeyer. In the construction of the NiterĂłi Contemporary Art Museum, the architect slants the walls down so that it avoids the heat being directly radiated into spaces. Of course this way of design is new as having the windows slant downwards would have taken much more thought to support. And in doing this, the top of the building would be larger in area compared to the base and thus goes against the norm of stability of buildings.

The Malay house can benefit with these minor changes being made, for example a larger overhang can also deflect the glare of the sun and harvest natural light that bounces of the surrounding.

These spaces that have light permeable walls can be strategically placed in common areas, and spaces that are generally used in the day. Light spaces tend to have

good effects on the human emotion; spaces that are well lit tend to have positive impacts on how a person feels and “...it has led to the development of pseudo-traditional houses and the use of modern materials to build the houseform� Lim (1987, p.133).

UTILITY

The skin of the traditional Malay house can manipulate the direction of the wind to cool the spaces in the house and be permeated to bring natural light into interior spaces. Without this manipulation of exterior elements, the wall itself can be an appendage of the house, extending its utility to improve comfort of the dwelling. The majority of materials used in the construction of a traditional house forms a skin, whether it is the roof, or outer walls of the domestic shelter.

The skin of the tropical house plays major roles in the overall function of the house. It defines thresholds, and the skin has peripheries that break the house into different spaces. Walls can be used as storage to hang things, thus walls are a tell-tale of what the spaces are used for.

There are many methods of separating spaces, and the easiest one is by making a wall. The traditional tropical house utilises many other unique ways of creating thresholds, for example by lowering and elevating the floor levels for different spaces.

The Malay house fundamentally functions without furni-

ture but still responds to our physical need to comfortably position ourselves during the day. There are three main methods of sitting, the first being cross-legged; the second with legs stretched in front of them and third method with knees together and the feet pointed backwards -practiced exclusively by women to upkeep their ayu (an essence that women are suggested to embody reflecting their ladylike qualities). Windows are placed at a certain level to provide a leaning surface that serves the human posture and “The Malay house is designed around the people who occupy it. Its dimensions flow from the human form, and the building becomes its own furniture” Gibbs (1987, p.28). “The different floor levels encourage guests to relax and stretch their legs while providing something for those who are resting to lean on.” Gibbs (1987, p.9).

A mosquito net is hung from the four corners of the wall to create a new space within the space. Creating a thin boundary of material, but still visually penetrable. This not only creates boundaries between humans and unwanted insects, but also zones spaces according to safety, and function.

Referring back to the Marika-Alderton house, a contemporary take on an aboriginal dwelling designed by Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, the walls have been entirely utilised for ventilation and is also capable to fold open as a veranda to sit on. The various uses of the wall and its ability to transform, not only can be denoted as a contemporary method of design, but also has its roots on how aboriginals find comfort and familiarity in spaces without furniture.

The utilisation of materials to achieve function can be

easily achieved when it is derived from the material itself, “acting in conjunction, and with function only in mind� Ryan (2011, p.1). This make-shift attitude and perceiving materials beyond their stereotypical uses would benefit modern dwelling greatly as the method maximises function of basic elements by employing as little energy and technical equipment as possible.

CONCLUSION

Humans are traditional beings that naturally derive their actions from past events and experiences. With every new derivation we make, it is essential to have it pertinent to severity brought on by the climate that is exclusively specific to the tropics. The idea that stems from using easily acquired materials can be translated as using materials that a readily available today. With the use of new materials that are appropriate and relevantly innovative - not merely depending on its novelty.

domesticity

DOMESTICITY

This chapter seeks to explore the many functions the various utensils used in the years where a person living a traditional home was common. Some of the methods used are old fashioned and obsolete, but even by drawing parallels from these daily rituals and magnifying them, we can learn from them and perhaps revive an old custom as people are constantly finding new ways to improve their lives, looking back at what we may have missed along the way.

Sustaining a life will always include cooking and washing as our very livelihood depends on the intake of food and cycles of sanitation. The Malays were a population that lived off seafaring, therefore many of their methods linked back to the sea, forest and the process of acquiring resources.

The emphasis on the woman and the role of the mother is one of the reasons why cooking and washing was an important part of life in the kampung. The mother is looked on with high regards as in Islam it is said that ‘syurga di bawa telapak kaki ibu’ which means ‘heaven is under mother’s feet’, which reads that one is only worthy of heaven if they are courteous and approved of their mothers (accordingly). Islam also states that a man is permitted of polygamy of up to four wives, and many

Malays had more than one wife. Even so, the woman is still regarded as the guardian and keeper of the home.

The woman owns the land and the house itself even when constructed and funded by the men as a sign of respect and devotion. In this respect, the woman becomes the dominion of the home, thus the most important part of the house is given the name rumah ibu(mother house; rumah is house and ibu is mother). Although the distinct differences in roles are allotted to different members of the family, there is no obligation of responsibility of one over the other, and all the members of the family are allowed to use all parts of the house.

An essential extension of the rumah ibu is the rumah dapur (stove house or kitchen) besides the other necessary structural elements within the confinements of the threshold of a single dwelling to sustain life such as fruit-bearing trees and the well.

We willingly change to modern methods as “...Modern technology and materials offer vast improvements in physical comfort and convenience� (Carver, 1981, cited in Noble, 2005, p.187). Constantly we are distracted by the lure and modern quality of things that we bypass the significance of traditional approaches.

The gotong-royong or mutual assistance concept where all members of the community are responsible for specific margins defining a kampung is also applied in cooking and cleaning circumstances. During ceremonies or kenduri and spring cleaning, the whole village will

engage in a collective effort to carry out the tasks such as cooking and cleaning. This is an example of sustenance that the Malay traditional way of living offers. When done as a collective, commodities are shared and therefore will not be disposed of but saved for other members.

An element that has an essence of communal use and sustenance not practiced by modern day dwellings and settlements is the well.

A principal part of the dwelling and its peripheries is the well. It was a communal but private space at the same time. Each journey to the well would be an anticipated one as one could enjoy a cool shower or the water could be brought back for food preparation. This renewable resource also has qualities that produce water that are especially high in mineral content compared to mainstream water sources.

“Crude corrugated iron bath houses were built on concrete slabs and attached to the side of the main building […]Underneath the house, pools of water lay stagnant, ducks and chickens adding to the problem. Nowadays, the drainage system, which was previously only required to drain the kampong after heavy rains, has to cope with this new supply of dirty house water” Gibbs (1987, p.16)

Such problems arises such as contamination and spread of diseases, as malaria and dengue fever are real, every day, and deadly threats. This contamination of the well watering system is caused by the nearby pit latrines that seep into the well’s reservoir. As pipes were introduced, they then piped the water to bring it nearer to homes.

This caused the water to come in contact with the wooden structure and made it damp and rot. The desertion of the central well also diminishes the network surrounding it.

A committed effort could help revive a communal watering system to benefit from the mineral water undergound.

The walls of the kitchen are also made into catchments to be made as storage. In this circumstance, the architecture itself holds the function of the space and is able to speak for without the presence of furniture or machinery.

The ‘kebun’ or ‘housegarden’ is a term given to a space which functions somewhere between a garden and a personal estate to grow plants, fruits and vegetables for everyday cooking. This concept of free-range and organic food which is also suggested modern living and eating is about- and therefore should not be lost. If everyone grew their own tomatoes, lettuce and onions, there would be no need for it to be transported from a faraway farm to be packaged, and it will be less likely there would be over-

production and unnecessary logistical costs. This too, can be done with architecture by only using the materials available to us for construction

“When tradition is lost, not only are settlement patterns and house forms lost but the very relationships on which cultural identity and survival are based are lost” (Henderson, 1992, cited in Noble, 2005, p.186). One of the reasons why personal cultivation is insubstantial is the pressures of the economy. This uncontrolled growth then leads to the fellow villager earning more, then using the proceeds to change his attap roof with a corrugated iron roof. It is in this position that the villager has exchanged his cultural representation for profit. At this point of time, where cultural identities and nd image has a price, its value will then begin to decline. Vernacular architecture understands the livelihood process of the living organism living in it as it is able to change according to wat has been passed on from generation to generation.

Some may argue that the wheel is round and should stay round as it would not work otherwise. In this context, it is assumed that the surface has not also changed, which is the context where the architecture sits in. And it is with this principle that the well can still be maintained but changes have to be made, as the surface is no longer able to absorb the water, even is the surface was the same, it would not be able to absorb the amount of water people would be using nowadays.

“The bird’s nest is absolute Functionalism, because the bird is not aware of its own death”, as Sverre Fehn said touchingly and poetically [Pallasmaa (2003, 78)]. The interrelation between an intellectually formulated theoretical stance and its respective artistic response is related to deeper layers of our psyche than intellectual statements in words. With this subconcious and physical presencce we are able to “integrate objective functions with subjective functions: to balance off mechanical facilities with biological needs, social commitments, and personal values…the doctrine that form follows function was [not] a misleading one.” Pallasmaa (1993, p.78).

One contemporary response to the climate that is relevant is the use of rainwater catchment systems just like the ones used by Glenn Murcutt in the South Wales house which collects and funnels water through the roof’s central groove.

This water, combined with reused indoor wash water is then supplied for cleaning and toilets. This feature can be easily be applied to the Malay house, as rain is frequent and the collected water can be used to water the surrounding plants as well as be used to clean areas of the house.

Rain is regarded as a blessing as it replenishes the rivers, cools the air and brings life to crops as the population was mainly agriculture-dependant. In Malay, the proverb that expresses this is; ‘hujan membawa rahmat’ (rain brings sustenance).

afterword &

bibliography

AFTERWORD The Malay house achieved its status as traditional architecture not only because it was a response that was passed from generation to generation; was “based upon time immemorial building techniques and the use of natural materials” Ryan (2011, p.1) - the Malay house was the epitome of building techniques relative to the skills and civilisations around the world at the time. None of the other settlement approaches – cave dwellings or post-colonial homes, could compare to the innovative use of forest materials, the structurally sound connection details and the varied choice of solutions it gave to the population. The architectural features of the Malay house found a harmony in between the environment, the human essence and the creator; which were the only determining factors at that time. A new traditional could emerge that harnesses both the qualities of the traditional home and apply new technologies appropriately.

Referring to the question this research seeks to determine whether the traditional Malay house solves more of the predicaments of everyday human life, architecturally and spiritually, compared to the modern dwelling, specific to its climatic needs? The Malay house has mostly been unsuccessful in the areas concerning its material- the durability, its response to modern prob-

lems and recently emergent services that are now of every day necessities. Safety is another factor that will not be compromised in the modern living situation. The modern home is more aware of the many hazards that can transpire in the everyday house. The traditional house is adapted to the natural environment and our ethnological needs but lacks in the hazards that have intensified over time.

The two other main factors that affect the way architecture should respond are globalisation and global warming. Globalisation, even in the earliest forms when traders came to Malaya, had dulled the sharp distinct characteristics of the traditional Malay house. Social influences have also changed the contemporary lifestyle that moves at a faster pace and prioritises different tasks. It is this force that the local architecture should take advantage of instead of plagiarising it. The world’s climate has become unpredictable and harder to adapt to its erratic disposition, which is why traditional architecture.

With the eminent increase of population, the current attitude of everything processed and industrial has surfaced as a non-sustainable approach compared to the natural derivations of traditional methods. Vernacular architecture has profited from the respect it invested in the environment; it is sensitive to the landscape to

achieve domestic discretion and comfort whilst still maintaining an outlook of the surroundings. A traditional settlement also generates positive social behaviours such as community ties and sharing. An architecture that is impartial to what it serves to its user is one that will only achieve half of what it has set out to do. For a nation to sustain an image and project an architecture for its future, it must refine it identity, icons and strive to preserve its heritage. For this to happen we must challenge the fundamentals of traditional Malay architecture, avoiding literal use; rather adopt its methodologies and concepts.

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