Traditional house
The traditional Malay house is one of the richest components of Malaysia's cultural heritage. Designed and built by the villagers themselves, it manifests the creative and aesthetic skills of the Malays. It is a near-perfect house form which is appropriate to local climatic conditions and expresses the way of life of its inhabitants. The house is extremely well designed to suit the warm and humid Malaysian climate and for the optimal and multifunctional use of space. Its design is also flexible as it caters to the widely different needs of the users and it has an addition system which allows the house to be extended to meet the growing needs of each family.
Traditional architectural forms, such as tropically-suited roofs and harmonious proportions with decorative elements are considered by traditionalists to still have relevance. However traditional buildings require significant maintenance compared to modern construction. These traditional skills are gradually being lost as Malaysia continues to the process of and industrialization.
Using renewable natural materials such as various kinds of timber and bamboo, they often constructed their dwellings without any use of metal including nails. Instead the Malays used pre-cut holes and grooves to fit the timber building elements into one another, effectively making it a ‘prefabricated house’. In Sarawak and Sabah rattan ropes were used to fasten bamboo pieces together.
Although nails had been invented and in later houses used minimally for non-structural elements (for example, windows or panels), there were benefits of structural flexibility which the rigidity of nailing inhibited. Also, without nails, a timber house could be dismantled and reconstructed in a new location.
Traditional architectural forms, such as tropically-suited roofs and harmonious proportions with decorative elements are considered by traditionalists to still have relevance. However traditional buildings require significant maintenance compared to modern construction. These traditional skills are gradually being lost as Malaysia continues to the process of and industrialization.
Using renewable natural materials such as various kinds of timber and bamboo, they often constructed their dwellings without any use of metal including nails. Instead the Malays used pre-cut holes and grooves to fit the timber building elements into one another, effectively making it a ‘prefabricated house’. In Sarawak and Sabah rattan ropes were used to fasten bamboo pieces together.
Although nails had been invented and in later houses used minimally for non-structural elements (for example, windows or panels), there were benefits of structural flexibility which the rigidity of nailing inhibited. Also, without nails, a timber house could be dismantled and reconstructed in a new location.
Labels: village house
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