Malay Traditional House Interior

Malay Traditional House Interior CHARACTERISTIC • Raised on timber stilts • Made of materials which were easily available from the tropical forests such as timber, bamboo, rattan, tree roots and leaves. • Usually the houses have pitched roofs, verandahs or porches in front, high ceilings and lots of big openings for ventilation purposes. • The shapes and sizes differ

CLIMATE • Due to heavy monsoon rains, the roofs of the Malay vernacular houses are very steep. • Some houses have used timber stilts to elevate the building above the ground level. The warm climate also effects the style of the Malay vernacular architecture. • For ventilation purposes, many buildings have large openings on the sides and grilles are provided at high level in gable ends. Houses raised on stilts are provided with better natural ventilation.

MATERIAL RESOURCES • Malaysia has a tropical climate, building materials such as timber, rattan, tree roots, bamboo and leaves are easily available from the tropical forests. • In a traditional Malay house, timber is used for the building structures, rattan and tree roots are used for tieing up joints whereas bamboo and

MALAY WAY OF LIFE (CULTURE & RELIGION) • In the Malay culture, buildings such as houses and palaces that are highly hand-crafted and beautifully patterned and decorated reflect the building owners high status. • As Muslims, the Malays have adopted the Islamic principles of orientation of mosques, particularly the prayer halls which have to be designed and faced towards Mecca. • In other cases, some of the traditional Malay houses have floors at different levels, indicating the room functions. • The verandah floor is raised lower than the living room floor. This is not only indicating the room functions but also giving a sense of spatial transition in the building.

Johore Five Roofed House • The traditional Malay House in Johore well known as ‘Rumah Limas Bugis’ or Bugis Five-Roofed House. • The house style is influenced by the Bugis of Sulawesi, Indonesia. • It is easily recognized by the long ridged roof, which is joined to four ridges, which project outwards to the four edges of the roof. • The special about it is the edge of the roof is decorated with carvings.

• The materials used for construct ‘Rumah Limas Bugis’ include ‘Cengal’, ‘Keranji’, ‘Penak’ and ‘Meranti’ wood that can easily found in Malaysia. • The layout design of traditional Malay house in Johor consists of the verandah, which is connected to the front room (anjung). The verandah always used as a living area for the family. It is separated from the main house (rumah ibu) by a wall. • The main house and kitchen are separated by a passage called “ruang selar or selasar.

Malacca Long Roofed House • The only traditional Malay housed which can be recognized by its glazed and multi-coloured tiles on the staircases which are imported from Europe and China. • Also has attic, and colourful exterior, a house found only in villages in Melaka. • Flowers are a common motif. The house evinces a mixture of architectural influences, which mainly adopted from the traditional Chinese house.