A Typological Study on the Creative Nucleus of Malay Houses
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Conference on Sustainable Building South East Asia, 5-7 November 2007, Malaysia A TYPOLOGICAL STUDY ON THE CREATIVE NUCLEUS OF MALAY HOUSES Y.R. CHEN Department of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan No.1, University Road, Tainan City 701,Taiwan Syed Iskandar Ariffin1, M.H. WANG2 1 Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM Skudai, Johor, 81310, Malaysia 2 Department of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan No.1 University Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan Abstract Cultural sustainability can benefit from re-learning traditional houses that require systematic studies. This study attempts to explore the creative nucleus of Malay houses by a typological methodology. More than 200 cases were studied through the following operations: i). Encoding by typological description, ii). Finding variations in house-building, iii). Formulating typological rules, iv). Proposing “generating mechanism” and “screening mechanism” as the creative nucleus embedded in Malaysian architectural traditions. In respond to the current urge of sustainable development, these studies highlights the heritage of Malay houses and the creative applications of its typological potentials in the contemporary context. Keywords: Malay house, creative nucleus, typological study, house type. 1. Introduction Paul Ricoeur, world reknowned philosopher, said in 1961 that universalization brought progress of human beings on one hand, and the destruction of creative nucleus of some great cultures on the other hand. This statement is particularly alarming in this century of globalization, in which we all experienced the dark side as well as the bright side of the universality. With this regards, this paper addresses the issues related to the notion of creative nucleus by presenting a typological method to the study, and the future development of Malay houses. The house types in Southeast Asia, although lack no commonality such as raised footing, boat image, decorative gables, etc. (Waterson, 1990), have some obvious disparities, such as big roof vs. small roof, heavy wood vs. light wood construction, multi-family single building vs. detached houses etc. Within these various house types of Southeast Asia, the houses in Peninsula Malaysia exhibit some distinctive characteristics: the stilts footing, non-boat image, small roof, and light wood construction (as compared to Batak Karo and Tongkonan houses), and compound buildings with central main house for single family. The main house (rumah ibu), the distinctive built volume in Malay houses, is always located at the front. The ridge of the main house is usually parallel with the street and perpendicular to the entry gate. The main house has largest volume and highest roof that constructed with two different slopes. Behind the main house locates one or more sub-houses with descending roof heights. The floor heights also decrease from the main house, sub-houses, to the kitchen (dapur), which is usually on the ground (Teh, 1996). There are three major spaces in Malay houses: serambi (reception area), rumah ibu (core space), and dapur. The spatial sequence in Malay houses is clear and strict: from outside to the inside in the order of serambi, rumah ibu, and dapur. Guests are only invited to serambi, while relatives can enter rumah ibu. Dining with the guests also takes place in serambi. Usually, the front half of the house (front yard and serambi) is the living space for male, and the back part (back yard and dapur) for female (Ariffin, 2001). 1 Chen, Ariffin & Wang Spatial form and construction language are considered two fundamental aspects for house type studies. The two interact in various ways. Spatial form is deeply embedded in the culture while the construction language may travel from one culture to another. The change of spatial form, as results of the change of life demands or outside environments, may require transformations of construction languages accordingly, which may reciprocally entail related changes in spatial form. It is hypothesized that each culture has its house genotypes from which many typological varieties are derived (Wang, 2002). The methodological goal of the typological study is to formulate a set of rules that can account for all possibilities as well as existing houses of the culture under study. These typological rules may reveal the wisdoms that are congenial to the notion of creative nucleus of the culture. 2. Materials and Method There are two sources of data in this study. One is KALAM Centre (Pusat Kajian Alam Bina Dunia Melayu, Centre for the Study of Built Environment in the Malay World) at the architecture department of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), whose architectural research, surveying and mapping have been collected for decades. The other is the field survey on Peninsula Malaysia conducted in 2005 and 2006 by National Cheng Kung University group from Taiwan. The house type data of the Peninsula Malaysia are classified into three groups: Group 1: Kelantan and part of Terengganu, Group 2: Kedah and Perlis, Group 3: Other than those mentioned in Group 1 and 2. Group 1 features the special courtyard space (jemuran) in Malay houses, and the combination of the derivative space and volume. Group 2 is a longitudinal longhouse which deserves a new category. Group 3 contains large number of cases, including the houses in Perak in the mid-north, Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka in the middle, and Johor in the south. The paper focuses on the cases in the vast areas of the mid- north, middle, and south of Peninsula Malaysia in Group 3. (Map 1) Group 2 Group 1 Group 3 Map 1. Groups of Malay houses in Peninsula Malaysia 3. Malay House Types There are two major methodological components in this typological study: 1). the descriptive system to encode all features significant to Malay houses, and 2) the generating mechanism capable of producing all possible cases of Malay house. 3.1. Descriptive System A descriptive system is formulated for the Malay houses under study. The system addresses three aspects of the house type: house grouping, spatial structure, and construction. Shorthand names are used in the description. 3.1.1. House Grouping. “Twelve-column house (rumah tiang dua delas)” is the first and the main unit which has two spans in the front and 3 in depth. This 12-column form is considered to be the prototype of Malay house. In order to meet the needs of families of various scales and to show the characteristics of diverse 482 Chen, Ariffin & Wang regions, the extension of main house is essential during the derivation of Malay houses. The types of extension include increasing the span number in depth (E1), decreasing the span number in depth (E2) increasing the span number in width (E3), increasing floors (E4), increasing anjung (the extruding quantity in the front of the main house) (E5), increasing the width of serambi (E6), expanding rumah tangga (the staircase space at the entrance) (E7) (Lim, 1987). The sub-house unit, conceivably built after the main house, has independant structural system and is usually but not necessarily a single building. Attchment (At) is the structure that can be attached to the main or sub-houses but cannot exist alone (Fig.1). There are connections between main house and sub-house, sub-house and sub-house, or house and attachment that are positioned in four different ways: 1). Eave to eave (C1): Connecting a gap between parallel eaves, with a gutter to drain rainwater out, forming a part of interior space. 2). Pelantar (C2): The separation of parallel eaves forms an outdoor space like an indoor courtyard. 3). Selang (C3): A corridor built by adding a longitudinal roof upon the larger distance between two roofs, serves as indoor or semi- outdoor space. 4). Attached shelter (C4): attach to the main unit or sub-houses. In addition, three possible locations of the joints: at central back (@p1), at side of back (@p2), at side (@p3). (Fig.2) At H1 c4@P2 Hm c1@P3 E4 H1 E3 H1 @P3 Hm Hm c3@P1 c1@P2 E6 c2@P2 E5 @P3 E7 Fig.1 Extensions of main house Fig.2 Connections of houses 3.1.2. Spatial structure. In addition to afore mentioned serambi (S), rumah ibu (RI), and dapur (D), other interior spaces that feature the Malay house type are as follows: bilik tidur (bedroom), rumah tengah (rumah ibu), selang (corridor), pelantar (inner courtyard), anjung, rumah tangga (stairway space). The spaces are positioned according to the following arrangement rules: 1). the main house is originally composed of serambi, rumah ibu, and bilik tidur. 2). serambi, anjung, and rumah tangga are located in the front of the house. 3). selang and pelantar are both connecting space. 4). dapur are located in the back. 3.1.3. Construction. Basically there are two types of construction. Construction 1 (Cons.1): The original “six-column house (rumah tiang enam)” contains three columns at two sides, each with a flat-beam (beam with flat rectangular section) on top, and another 3 vertical flat- beams (level 2) at the 3 pairs of columns on top of these two parallel flat-beams (level 1). Locate the post in the middle of the three flat-beams (level 2) and put the oblique beams at the two terminals of the post and the flat-beam to form the prototype of the oblique roof (Fig. 3). In case of extension, one (3 columns) or two rows (6 columns) of columns parallel to the house ridge are added to expand one or two more spans. This is a technical way of building the attachment. The oblique beam that supports the roof of the attachment is connected to the added column, level 1 flat-beam or columns on the main house. The main house of such style contains the pitch roof with double slope, composed of one “six-column house” and “two attachments” and forms “twelve-column house” (rumah tiang dua delas).