Journal of Architecture, Planning and Construction Management
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REFLECTION ON THE NATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL IDENTITY OF MALAYSIA: A QUALITATIVE STUDY BASED ON THE THOUGHTS OF ACHMAD MOERDIJAT
Get PDFThis paper aims to document the finding on the national architecture identity of Malaysia based on the thoughts of renowned architect Achmad Moerdijat. Malaysian architecture today is a synthesis of architectural languages in which many are strongly influenced by western ideas, ranging from the Neo-Classical to the International Style and Post Modernism. The primary issue concerning Malaysian architecture is that Many architects today realized Malaysia lacks an identity if its own in terms of architecture. The lack of discourses, research, and documentation on Malaysian architectural identity are among the factors that contributed to a persistent misunderstanding of architecture identity and its association with the political, economic, and socio-cultural context of Malaysia. Ar. Ir. Achmad Moerdijat was selected to gain more insight into this issue considering his attachment period and architectural practice in the Malaysian context to find out his philosophy and principle in design and further upon his opinion of the subject matter of national architecture identity of Malaysia. The research proceeded through an exclusive interviewing session with the architect, where he shared his opinion on National Architectural in Malaysia. The findings showed that Malaysia is still in search of the architectural identity itself. This is due to the lack of research in terms of culture in Malaysia by the architects. The next issue is that the client only looks forward to the aesthetics looks rather than implying the National Architectural Malaysia style in the design. The aesthetics looks will increase the demands of profit, but the value of our architectural style is not there. Further research on this topic is recommended to gain a holistic view of the issue of the national architectural identity of Malaysia
Managing Commitment In Small Construction Professional Services Firms
Get PDFSmall construction professional services (CPS) firms are recognised as being vitally important to the UK construction industry as much of the professional capacity of the sector resides within these small practices. They rely on the capabilities of small groups of professional employees in delivering their services and so need to ensure their commitment to achieving organisational objectives. Clearly, human resource management (HRM) strategies have a major role to play in managing employee commitment, and yet such strategies have received little attention within the construction management literature. This study investigates the nature of construction professionals’ commitment within small CPS firms and to develop HRM interventions that foster organisational commitment in small CPS firms.
The study adopts qualitative approach to enable gathering of rich data that come directly from the participants involved in the phenomenon. Exploratory interviews with managers of small CPS firms conducted in the early phase of the research helped to identify some of the key strategies and operational challenges related to the management of commitment. Following this, the main data was collected through conducting two in-depth case studies, which included one small quantity surveying practice in the East Midlands, UK, and one small multi-disciplinary practice in the West Midlands, UK. The case studies involve in-depth interviews involving the employer and employees, participation observation and document analysis at the main office of both organisations. Together, these data helped to unravel the nature of the employment relationship within such firms and also to gain a better understanding of how professional employees express their commitment. The findings reveal that professional employees’ commitment is influenced by a complex range of factors, but thatfive main HRM levers have a particular influence within such firms.
These relate to job design, performance and career management, training and development, reward management and employee involvement. It is clear that a range of factors impinge on the abilities of employers to enact effective HRM strategies. In particular the recent economic crisis and personal problems have both been cited as the main challenges by the employer and employees of both organisations. It highlights the significant importance of managing organisational commitment much more effectively, regardless of the economic climate. Based on the research results a framework for managing professional commitment was developed and validated within a range of small CPS firms. The framework presents a holistic way of accounting for all the issues that influence the development and maintenance of organisational commitment within small CPS firms. Such knowledge is essential to the management of small CPS firms for achieving meaningful improvement in their approach to foster organisational commitment. The key recommendations for the management of small CPS firms is to make sure that every aspect of the job meets the professional employees’ expectations as well as project requirements and organisational objectives.
This includes improving communication by utilising both formal and informal medium of communication, rewarding employees with both monetary and non-monetary rewards and developing employees by providing both on-the-job training and off-the job training. All these HRM practices need to be effectively linked and managed appropriately to collectively foster commitment. In conclusion, the complex nature of organisational commitment raised the importance for the management of small CPS firms to have a structured approach in managing their employees’ commitment
A Study of Factors Influencing Overruns of Construction Projects in Nigeria
Get PDFThe impact of cost and time overruns on construction projects is an undesirable experience both to the clients and stakeholders in the industry. This has regularly led to dispute, unfriendly working relationship, abandonment, low quality and environmental nuisances. This paper evaluated factors contributing to overruns of construction projects and their impact on projects performance in Nigeria. Data were collected through questionnaire administration on professionals in the industry. Mean Item Score (MIS) and Relative Significant Index (RSI) were employed to analyse data collected. Increase in material cost, inaccurate materials estimation and underestimating of project costs among others are the most significant cost factors while the most significant time factors include unexpected site condition, increase in project scope, lack of timely progress payment and inadequate planning. It becomes obvious that giving adequate consideration to factors contributing to construction overruns would minimize their ugly consequences on project performance and efficiency. Among recommendations made are that, cost estimators should improve on methods of cost determination, designers to make the full designs available at every stage in construction process and contractors should also carry out adequate site visit for better understanding of site conditions before pricing and cost forecastin
Fire Safety and Protection Measures in Heritage Buildings with Special Consideration on Museum Buildings in Malaysia
Get PDFIn Malaysia, a number of priceless heritage buildings were badly damaged or burnt down by fire including the People Museum, Melaka (2001), Pak Ali’s House, Gombak (2003) and the Sarawak Club, Kuching (2006). Indeed, fire is one of the greatest threats to heritage buildings not only to the buildings’ occupants but also to the buildings’ fabrics and contents. Heritage buildings are irreplaceable, in addition to being vulnerable to fire due to several factors: large scale buildings, flammable priceless contents, and weak existing structures to fire resistance. Unfortunately, until today, there are no sufficient legislations or guidelines on fire safety for heritage buildings in Malaysia. This study audits the current fire safety measures and examines the management of fire safety in Malaysian heritage buildings that focuses on museum buildings. A combination of observations, interviews, questionnaires and case studies was employed to provide primary data in this study. Thirty seven heritage buildings from nine different states in Malaysia were successfully surveyed as building samples. Later, three of them were selected as case studies; each of them represented different criteria in order to gather various information and comparison as much as possible. Findings from the study revealed that there are several fire safety weaknesses in the heritage buildings that could put people and heritage properties on fire risks. Four fire safety guidelines for heritage buildings are recommended at the end of the study
Islamic City Structure in Sekayu, Semarang (The Viewpoint of Urban Design)
Get PDFSome experts stated that the city of Semarang had several times the displacement of the city centre, Bubakan-Gabahan-Sekayu-Kanjengan. Kanjengan has the same city structure with the city that has a pattern of Sultanate Islam on the North coast of Java (alon-alon, Mosque in Western side and regent building in the Southern side, market in the northern side). Only Kanjengan which still has artifacts of Islamic city structure. Meanwhile in the area Sekayu only the mosque just as artifacts suggest that the area has the possibility of having the characteristic of Islam city structure.Research city history has proved that the structure of Sekayu has a toponimic village names associated with the presence of the office of Regent of Semarang. Through the theory of architecture is very difficult to prove the hypothesis because the mosque has undergone several renovations. Researchers want to prove that from the viewpoint of urban design theory. Now Sekayu is a very crowded environment. Researches will use an umbrella theory of traditional town in Java. Based on old maps, current conditions, google earth, researchers suspect the existence of alon-alon in the front side/Eastern of the Mosque.
The findings of the research that Islamic city pattern had waterfront concept as universal design that applied on city design center to facilitate the migrants when they passed the water circulation (foreign traders and sailors). All of four city center in Semarang laid along Semarang river. It is urgent to conserve them as heritage Islamic city and develop as old city heritage tour along the river like in other country. Reseacher would like to conduct joint research with Malaysia to explore the concept of Melaka world Heritage along Sungai Melaka as a famous tourism in the world. Melaka have the same characteristic with Semarang city that growth from various etnicity along the river. The diferences are that Melaka had became an international harbour since the 14 century. For the next research Alun-alun and this surounding as Islamic city structures in Java will be compared with the lapang in Malaysi
A Study on Implementation of Green Interior and Sustainability from Islamic Perspective in New Interior Design Courses: New Interior Design Department, International Islamic University Malaysia
Get PDFInterior design, as a field of study, is a rapidly growing area of interest for the last 2 years particularly for students in Centre Foundation Student (CFS), International Islamic University Malaysia. Part of this interest stems from the information of friends, television media and other source such as advertisements, interesting job and etc. Some of the educators and curriculum specialists in the nation perceive the study of interior spaces as a ‘practical application’ of the knowledge, arts, and psychology.
The purpose of this study is to define Education program in future of Interior Design Department and Green interior’s material environment by surveying the criteria for evaluating interior design environment performance and to evaluate the negative influences of main interior material products. It’s also to discuss an experiential of the course application in the studio or assignments, currently used in second year, third year and final year.The result of this program, Green, Sustainable education input will help the students to be a specialist, such as designers who actually contribute and make decisions to use more environment friendly materials in their design. It will also encourage the manufacturers to produce environment friendly materials
The Foreign Architectural Influences on Melaka Style Traditional Mosques
Get PDFSacred architecture is a clear reflection of each region's history, culture, and identity and is considered as an especial domain in architectural studies. Mosque as the symbol of Islamic art and architecture positions a place of importance between artists and scholars worldwide. Although numerous materials have been documented about various mosques’ regional typologies, the Southeast Asian mosque style has been surprisingly neglected. Since the advent of Islam in Southeast Asia during the 13th-15th centuries, numerous traditional mosques with distinctive architectural form and ornamentation, very different from what is known as a mosque in Middle East or Indian subcontinent, were erected in the region. Due to the unique geographical position of the area the powerful role of Melaka during the 15th -18th centuries, various ethnic groups from different cultures have been always presented in the Straits of Melaka. Melaka scenery has been formed as a result of one special attribute of local entities; being receptive to new notions and ideas, as long it does not interfere strongly rooted local beliefs. Melaka style traditional mosque architecture shows foreign influences from great civilizations in east and west while still introduce an authentic style of Southeast Asian mosque. This study tries to provide a discussion about Hindu-Buddhism and Chinese influences on Melaka traditional mosques by comparing the architectural appearance of the mentioned cultures and three selected traditional mosques in Melaka. Through interpretation of the gathered evidence, this study indicates that Hindu-Buddhist architectural characteristics profoundly influenced the Melaka style mosque in form, while the Chinese influence in appearance of certain architectural elements and ornamentation is discernible
ESTABLISHING ISSUES ON CHILDREN AT MASJID IN MALAYSIA THROUGH A DESKTOP STUDY
Get PDFMasjid is said to be the centre of a community but is often associated with adults when children are also part of the community. The image portrayed in the society shows children are often marginalised in the masjid. Children at masjid have been a continuous debate from time to time within the community, particularly during the month of Ramadhan (fasting month of the Muslim calendar) as the number of children attending masjids increase. This paper aims to establish the issues concerning children and masjid in Malaysia. For this purpose, a systematic desktop study is performed. Through the use of Google search engine, data are collected from several sources which are the Facebook post, YouTube video, articles from e-newspaper, blog posts, and e-magazine. The data is analysed using NVivo software to accumulate related keywords to identify and establish issues on children at the masjid. This study focuses on two main domains which are masjid and children. The findings suggest that the issues of children at masjid revolve around four established themes which are the children themselves, physical space, management of the masjid, and jamaah of the masjid.
Keyword: Children-friendly-masjid, issues of children at masjid, systematic desktop stud
CHILDREN FRIENDLY MASJID: A GLIMPSE ON JAMAAH’S PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS CHILDREN AT MASJID
Get PDFThe role of the masjid was diverse during the era of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, and it continued for decades by his (SAW) companions and the following caliphs. The diverseness of masjid's role reflected the people that were being served by this institution and reflected the criteria of inclusiveness. As time goes by and as the government developed, various ministries were established. This establishment witnessed the taking over of various roles by masjid to thepeople by these ministries and their agencies. Thus, masjid seems to be seen as a sacred place to perform specific ibadah and that it should pose a tranquil environment to the effect that children may not be welcome as they are seen as the 'agent' that 'disrupt' the tranquillity and sacredness of masjid. This initial study is carried out to identify the public's perception towards the presence of children at the masjid. An online survey form was distributed via the social media that is the WhatsApp application to various groups established by the administration of Masjid Al Ridhuan, Hulu Kelang. Based on the response of 90 respondents, the result reveals the excellent level of acceptance of children at masjid among the jamaah. They also provided their opinion on the spaces where they felt would be suitable for children based on their age range. Children between the age of 7 to 9 years old seemed to be well accepted in the main prayer hall while the rest are perceived to be more suitable to be at other sub-spaces of the masjid