The Traditional Malay house
Introduction
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. This is a near-perfect
houseform 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 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.
The houseform
The traditional Malay house is a timber house raised on stilts. It is basically
a post-and-lintel structure with wooden or bamboo walls and a thatched
roof. Windows are plentiful, lining the walls and providing good ventilation
and views for the house. This quality of openness is also reflected by the large
open interior spaces with minimal partitions.
From a distance, the Malay house seems to merge naturally with the environment.
The roof, which is large, dominates the low walls and the open stilted
bottom of the house. The juxtaposition of the roofs with different sizes and at
different orientations creates an interesting visual form.
The traditional Malay house was evolved by the Malays over generations, adapting to their needs, culture and environment. It may not possess the
grandeur or ostentatiousness found in modern buildings designed by modern
self-conscious designers but it reflects other qualities lacking in the modern
buildings - a clear expression of the way of life and culture of its users.
With a direct dependence on nature for its resources and embodying a
deep knowledge of ecological balances, the house is efficiently designed to
suit the local climatic requirements using various ventilation and solar-control
devices, and low-thermal-capacity building materials. Besides being well
adapted to the environment, the house has also evolved a prefabricated building
system which is flexible and varied to suit the needs of the users. It has
also developed a very sophisticated addition system which allows the house
to be extended in line with the growing needs of the user.
Various traditional and hybrid Malay houseforms can be identified in Peninsular
Malaysia. They are classified mainly by their roof shapes. The basic
houseforms are the bumbung panjang, bumbung lima, bumbung perak and
bumbung limas.
The most common houseform is the bumbung panjang, characterised by
a long gable roof. The bumbung panjang houses are the oldest identified in
Peninsular Malaysia, many of them being over a hundred years old and still in
good condition.
The bumbung panjang is the simplest of the four houseforms. It has a
simple gable roof, supported by kingposts. The most common roofing material
used for the bumbung panjang is the attap (a thatch made from nipah and
other palm trees found in the local natural vegetation).
The simple bumbung panjang roof-form is most efficient in its ventilation
properties. Its simple funnel shape, the use of ventilation grilles at its
gable ends (tebar l a y a r )a n d the use of ventilation joints allow good ventilation
of the roof, space which cools the house effectively.
The roof is simple and easy to construct, and this partly explains the popularity
of this houseform among the poorer villagers and those who build houses
themselves. The bumbung panjang, due to its simplicity, is a very efficient
roof-form for making additions to the house.
The bumbung lima, bumbung limas and bumbungperak are all houseforms
which are not indigenous but developed through foreign influence. The
bumbung lima and bumbung perak houses are believed to have been influenced
by colonial Dutch and British houseforms.
The bumbung lima house has a hipped roof, the bumbung perak house
has a gambrel roof and the bumbung lirnas house has a pyramidal roof. Of
these three foreign houseforms used in Malay houses, the bumbung perak
houseform (also called bumbung potongan Belanda [Dutch-type] roof in the
East Coast) is the most popular.
Design and layout
Basically, the traditional Malay house can be divided into the front and
back portions which are centred around the rumah ibu (the core house) and
the dapur (kitchen) respectively.
At the entrances of most traditional Malay houses, stairs lead up to a
covered porch called the anjung. The porch acts as a good transition space
between the public and the private domains.
The anjung also acts as an important focal point for the entrance. Unfamiliar
visitors and guests are entertained here. It is also a favourite place for
the house occupants to rest, chat and watch the goings-on and passers-by in
the village.
From the entrance porch, one enters into the serambi gantung (hanging
verandah). This is the place where most guests are entertained. The low windows in the serumbi guntung allow for good ventilation and good views to the
exterior.
From the serumbi guntung, one enters into the rumuh ibu, which is the
core area. This is the largest area in the house where most activities are conducted.
Sleeping, sewing, praying, ironing, studying and even feasting (kenduri)
which is held during marriages and other festivals, all occur here. The importance
of the rumuh ibu is expressed by its floor level being the highest in the
house.
The selung is a closed walkway used to link the kitchen and the rumuh
ibu together. The side entrance to the kitchen is also located here. Besides
being a circulation space, the selang is often used by the womenfolk as a
space to chat and socialise. The selang is a very effective linking device which
leaves an open space between the two portions, allowing good ventilation and
lighting for the house.
The dupur (kitchen) is always situated at the back of the house, and is on
the lowest floor level. Modern kitchens in new Malay houses are often dropped
to the ground level where floors are cemented. Preparation of food, cooking,
eating and washing are all done here. The womenfolk also often group here to
chat.
The court space, which is peculiar only to Malay houses in Malacca, is an
intimate, private interior open space in between the rumuh ibu and the dupur.
This space is the wet core of the house where the washing, drying and toilet
areas are situated. It is often beautifully decorated with flowers and plants. It
is a favourite resting place for the users. Sometimes, informal guests, especially
ladies, are entertained here.
Climatic Design of the Malay House
The bias against wooden houses
Besides the problem of the low status of wooden houses, there are various
other reasons for the decline in popularity of wooden houses in Malaysia.
Since the traditional Malay house is largely made of wood, the reasons described
below for wooden houses will be largely applicable to traditional Malay
houses.
First, the Malaysian timber industry is heavily export-oriented. This has
affected the quality, quantity and cost of timber available for the local market.
The export-oriented timber industry has pushed up local timber prices and
since most of the high-quality timbers are exported, the local market is deprived
of high-quality hardwoods.
Secondly, restrictive, archaic and stringent building bylaws to control fires
have deterred the building of timber houses in the urban areas. The uniform
building bylaws which are based on stringent standards demand a high degree
of scientific treatment of the timber. Unless the timber used meets these requirements,
the house would be classified as a temporary dwelling.
While timber houses are considered a fire risk, it has been proven that
large timber beams actually perform better than steel or concrete in a strong
fire. Under intense heat, steel buckles and concrete crumbles, causing the
total collapse of a building. Timber, on the other hand, after initial ignition,
smoulders at a rate of around 0.6 mm per minute.
Thirdly, the discrimination against wooden structures in housing finance
and higher premiums for insurance have deterred many from building timber
houses. Insurance agents have been reported to charge 50% to 400% higher
than normal rates on insurance premiums for protection of timber buildings against fire.
Lastly, the majority of architects in Malaysia have relatively little timber
technology know-how. This gap is not likely to be filled, given the present
difficulties resulting from restrictive building bylaws and the general prejudice
against timber houses.
Vulgarisation of the Malay house
The use of the traditional Malay houseforms as mere decorative ‘cultural
symbols’ in modern architecture is another retrogressive step in the development
of the Malay house. This can be seen in the use of traditional Malay
roof-forms in the big hotels, the Penang Airport, the Bank Bumiputra headquarters
in Kuala Lumpur, other commercial and recreational buildings and
even in the little pondoks of local police bases and taxi stands. This attempt to
create a ‘Malaysian’ architecture is not only superficial but vulgar. The traditional
Malay houseform has been brought down to the most simplistic and
vulgarised form -just as a decorative piece - denying it of its deeper significance
and uses, and putting it completely out of context.
What such buildings have popularised among the Malays are in fact
pseudo-traditional houseforms which have funny-shaped and inefficient roofforms
and the inefficient use of modern materials for the traditional Malay
houses. Such pseudo-traditional Malay houses are now gaining popularity
and are accorded a high status by the villagers. Without a proper understanding
of both traditional and modem design principles, the pseudo-traditional
Malay houses become deformed with inefficient adaptations and designs.
Instead of using the traditional Malay houses as mere cultural symbols,
positive steps must be taken to promote and adapt the qualities and lift the
status of the traditional house, specifically for housing purposes.
Inappropriate use of modern materials
The use of modern materials like zinc, asbestos, cement, bricks and louvre
windows has significantly changed Malay houseforms. Zinc and asbestos
are replacing the attap roofs, creating very hot and cold interiors during the
day and night respectively, and also very noisy interiors when it rains. It also
allows the creation of complicated hybrid roofs which are difficult to be roofed
by attap. These modern roofing materials are unsuitable for the Malay house
because of their high thermal conductivity and the low roofs of the Malay
houses have no ceilings.
The use of cement and bricks has had a good impact by creating easily
maintained surfaces in the wet areas and the kitchen. But this has also significantly changed the Malay houseforms -the kitchens have been dropped from
the raised platforms on stilts to the ground level. This has created new additions
and changed the scale of the building.
Sometimes, the stilted open bottom of the house is raised and closed with
cement, bricks and louvre windows. This creates a space which is usually
used as a hall, making the Malay house a two-storey building with a very low
ground floor. Such extensions change the proportions, scale and character of
the house, creating a more solid-looking house, uncharacteristic of the traditional
house which is light and airy.
The glass louvre windows have replaced the fully openable full-length
wooden windows in many Malay houses. The louvre windows with iron bars
create a barrier which destroys the quality of openness for ventilation and
views in the traditional Malay house. The louvre windows have also closed
the bottom of the traditional full-length windows, making it less efficient in
ventilation.
Modern furniture has also cluttered up many traditional Malay houses
which have been known for their large, open and uncluttered interiors.
rumah limas johor
Malacca Traditional House
Negeri Sembilan Traditional House
Kedah Traditional House
Another Malacca Traditional House
