Surveying on the Cultural Approaches for the Melaka Malay Houses

Abstract

The architecture of Malay traditional houses is unique and has attractive features. One can see that all these features are not only functioning as ornamentation, but it relates to the Malay lifestyle which include religion and their culture. The early design of the Malay house was resulted mainly to the responsive climatic. If we look further detail, the Malay traditional house can be categorized according to the origin of the Malaysia states. The obvious differences of each state show the distinct creativity and skills of the locals in fulfil the need of their local culture. The traditional house is believes as the early architecture to the Malays. They built the house as a shelter and safety reason. Thorough times, it changes and develops with the inclusions of outside influences. The incoming of different religion to their lives changed their life as well as their culture and believed. Each influence enriches the architecture of the house itself. This traditional house is a symbol and pride of the Malays as it reflects the people in Malay archipelagos. Nowadays, traditional Malay houses are still developing from the impact of times. The influence of modern western architecture is seen diminishing the traditional elements in Malay houses. The Malay traditional house had become extinct and only some of them still remain. Luckily at some houses, the uniqueness and the specialties of Malay traditional house still can be seen. The study of this research will look into the Malay traditional houses in Melaka Tengah District and are located within the state of Melaka, Malaysia and within only a few minutes from the town centre. The research will be touched into four categories, which are: 1.The origin of the Malay house. 2. Physical, psychology and geography aspects of the traditional house. 3. The house form and spatial element such as the layout plan and it's relevant to the selected study houses. 4. A study on ornamentation, carving, motifs and the significant means of it as one of the special feature in this heritage architecture. On this paper, the study on selected Malay traditional houses in Melaka are a residence of Puan Kasmah Yassin at Km 6, Perigi Hang Tuah and a residence of Haji Bujang Siam at No. 861, Perigi Hang Tuah, Km 6,Kampung Duyong.

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