1,721,004 research outputs found
A discourse on housing based on cultural meanings in Malaysia
Get PDFThe central aim of the thesis is building a discourse on housing, highlighting the necessity to maintain quality through sustaining the cultural meanings, which originate from nature, cosmology, worldviews, and traditional values of Malaysian society. The thesis critically addresses the housing policies and strategies, in which the visions of quality are still very ambiguous. The Malaysian government has adopted a housing policy, which imposes homogeneity and similarity on the diverse multicultural ethnic societies that are affluent with indigenous knowledge, tradition and unique identities in their dwelling architectures.The research approach is divided into three major parts, and the conclusion. The aim of Part One is to draw attention to the Malaysian housing phenomena and the thesis aspiration. The first chapter covers the country background and its social -cultural context. Despite the cultural diversity, the Malaysians possess a common attitude towards nature. The thesis identifies the philosophical notion of boundary, as a valuable intellectual tool in developing an indigenous model for housing. Boundary has subconsciously driven the formation of various cultural and architectural identities in the Malaysian indigenous dwelling environment. The second chapter continues the process of enlightening the housing discourse by clarifying the need to decipher the meanings related to housing, human perceptions, and aestheticsThe second part of the thesis discourse establishes three chapters, which form the philosophical structure of the thesis. The aim of Part Two is to demonstrate the components of cultural meanings, which are the motivating forces responsible for the formation of indigenous dwelling architecture. For the purpose of the research, the study concentrates on the indigenous Malay society as the focus group. This part explores on the qualities originating from the indigenous worldviews of the Malay society, followed by identification of the characteristics of the indigenous model, including the notions of adaptation, sustainability and boundary. The end chapter of Part Two is an intellectual discourse, which supports the main components of the indigenous model.Part Three is the empirical study, in which the author gains insights directly from examining people's perceptions, i.e. from the open -ended questionnaire survey and the indigenous dwelling typologies survey analysis. The aim is to explore the relationship between people and the qualities of living environment through the contribution of cultural meanings. The study enhances more on what the author have already done in the deductive part (Part Two). The outcome of the empirical studies demonstrates the manifestation of these notions in different indigenous dwelling architectural typologies and works of art.The conclusion chapter distils the information gained from the findings of both theoretical framework and empirical studies, by identifying the crucial domains for obtaining quality through cultural meanings in the living environment. It also provides recommendations concerning the future housing policy, strategies, planning, and design guidelines for housing in which the architects, planners and housing authorities are able to interpret, and implement in search of a national architectural identity for housing in Malaysia, which is tolerant, sustainable and unifying
Nature as symbolism of aesthetics in the traditional Malay living environment
Get PDFThis section identifies peoples' aspirations towards aesthetical symbolism of nature in their contemporary living environments. It also discovers the level of people's knowledge about their d"relling architecture. According to survey findings, people's perceptions relating to aspects of aesthetics are always associated with nature, and the natural appreciation towards it. Colour, water and carving traditions are attributes of nature that have been transformed into symbolic cultural meanings and cosmological understandings by indigenous societies. They
add value and quality to the living environment and manifest the relationship between Man and nature, Man and God, as well as Man and Man. They also act as the catalyst intellectual development and creativity in relation to design, gardens and crafts in the built environment
The genesis of indigenous Malay worldview as manifested by the built environment : qualities in the indigenous Malay worldview
Get PDFThis chapter attempts to explore more deeply into the genesis of the indigenous arts and architecture of the Malay society, in order to decipher the origin of the community's cultural worldview and its significance on its dwelling designs and living environments. The Malay
community is one who practices the religion of Islam, while simultaneously, also sustains its cultural and cosmological traditions that are parallel with the teachings of Islam. However, in tracking the evolution and development of indigenous Malay worldviews, it is imperative to
recognise that the indigenous intellectual framework is divided into three stages of development, i.e. from animism! shamanism era, to Hindu-Buddhism dominion and finally to Islam. The reader should also be able to notice the existence of boundary among these three types of worldvie\vs. The topic stresses the importance of recognising the significance of the religion, tradition and cosmology as deep-rooted embedded forces responsible for producing indigenous and sustainable representation of domestic architecture within the society. Symbolism and meaning in the architecture of indigenous dwellings are vital for the Malay community to decipher the relationship between Man and God, Man and Nature. Symbolic
representations of the traditional Malay arts and crafts illustrate the existence of aesthetics, quality and values in this workmanship, which are highly significant to the ".ray the Malay people behave and lead their lives. How people interpret their worldviews are imperative in
deciphering the reasons i.e. the meaning behind the manifested forms of dwellings in a variety of patterns. Through this understanding, only then can one produce contemporary dwelling design closer to the context ofhome
A reflection of integrated multi-disciplinary course in built environment
No full textArchitectural education has been accused to focus too much on aesthetic values that only prepares graduates to be designers, rather than proficient architects. To be proficient architects, graduates are also required to gain the skill of monitoring and working collaboratively with many parties; such as quantity surveyors, landscape architects, planners, and engineers. Thus, a special course named Integrated Multi-disciplinary Project is designed to familiarize architecture students with the real practice environment, where they have to work collaboratively with students from other disciplines in built environment. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of the course in instilling leadership and teamwork skills among architecture students. The specific objectives of the research are to examine if the multi-disciplinary course enhance students understanding of architects‟ and other related professions‟ roles in built environment; to evaluate if the course effectively develop students‟ leadership skills; to assess if the course instils teamwork skills among students; and to identify measure of improvement possible for the course based on the reflection done. This research uses combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to achieve its objectives. Literature review will be done to analyses the current scenarios of architectural education that leads to criticism, and investigate on subject of collaborative working environment among students. In addition, survey will be conducted to get generalization of ideas in the effectiveness of the Integrated Multi-disciplinary course in enhancing students‟ collaborative and leadership skills. This study would outline the fundamental issues causing lack of professional competency among architectural graduates, focusing specifically on how contemporary architectural education train students to have proficient collaborative skills. Development of new instructional design that includes multi-disciplinary concept for teaching and learning architecture might be recommended
Pioneering experiential integrated pre-school design archetype in Malaysia
No full textEarly childhood education plays an important role in developing assertive nation. In order to become a productive member of the nation, children should be nurtured to grow holistically and equipped with abilities, knowledge and skills. Physical environment is one of the crucial aspects in shaping children’s behaviour and development. At present, most pre-school designs in Malaysia are based on converted buildings or adaptive re-use schemes. Hence, the learning environments are not specially designed to cater for the specific needs of the children to develop healthily and positively. The study highlights the relevance of experiential architectural design approach to pre-school so as to facilitate emancipatory preschool design, with integrated “Education and Care” concept
Innovative mixed-residential waterfront development proposals for sustainable livelihood in urban Kuantan, Malaysia
Get PDFThis paper primarily highlights an appraisal of an undergraduate architectural student’s work for a third year design studio project on a mixed-residential waterfront development, which aims to achieve sustainable livelihood for Kuantan’s urban community. Dwelling architecture demands good architects to respond holistically towards the local contexts, and people’s socio-cultural-economics activities. Kuantan’s waterfront principal issue is the deteriorating wetland eco-system. The environmental degradation of the existing tropical wetlands is caused by forest clearing and land reclamation activities. Since 1980s, Malaysia’s city centres have experienced exponential growth in the urban population - caused by rural-urban migration - due to the shift of national economic development from agricultural and mineral resources output, to industrial production. Hence, the demand for affordable housing has also increased exponentially. Housing needs are more demanding for the low-income groups. The rapid urbanization in Malaysia is currently estimated at 65%. The decline in the farming population phenomenon is synonymous with development. Whilst government’s strategy is to encourage the evolution of large farms and rural migration to higher value-added jobs, other economic sectors offer better prospects of reducing rural poverty. The decrease in younger population’s interest in agriculture is also a concern. The aged and less educated in the sector may not be ready to uphold the required initiative to develop value-added sustainable practices. In this light, the mixed-residential waterfront development scheme proposals offers to respond to these issues with the objectives: to provide “sustainable livelihood” so as to sustain the eco-system; initiate a well-balanced housing community, and stimulate innovative solutions for the community’s self-sustenance. The proposed mixed residential waterfront development scheme is envisioned to be the national reference for sustainable livelihood in Malaysia, and a medium for interaction to disseminate community awareness about individual and social responsibility towards sustaining the urban eco-system and its community.
Keywords: Mix-use waterfront development, Sustainable livelihood, Urban housing design, Cultural meanings
The Great Mosque of Hohhot (Qingzhen Dasi), inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China—more than a mosque
No full textGreat Mosque of Hohhot (Qingzhen Dasi) being the oldest mosque still erected since last four centuries in the city of Hohhot (Capital city of Inner Mongolia), P. R. China has always been important to the Muslim community there. It is undoubtedly true that the mosque should play an important role in the society and should witness many events that may involve in developing the Muslim community within their society. Mosques even during the time of prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him played several roles like; a place for worship, a place for reading, a place for negotiation, a place for treating sick persons and so on. In this regard it is very interesting to note the present roles of Great Mosque (Qingzhen Dasi) for the development of community of Muslims in the city of Hohhot. Being located in one of the remote areas of China, where Muslims in China are one of the minorities in the majority of the non-Muslims. The Great Mosque (Qingzhen Dasi) is playing tremendous roles not only for Muslims in the city of Hohhot but it is also considered as one of the important land mark as well as the urban node of the city. This paper unfolds all those tremendous roles of Great Mosque (Qingzhen Dasi) playing for the benefits of the Muslims as well as nonMuslims in the city of Hohhot and recommends conserving the Mosque for the future generations
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