The Malay House: Principles to Building Simple and Beautiful Homes for Comfort and Community

The traditional Malay house is one of the richest components of Malaysia's cultural heritage, and an excellent model for today's architects and designers in understanding climatic and environmental design, building systems, and design flexibility. Designed and built by the villagers themselves, it serves an inspirational purpose, in the way it manifests the creative and aesthetic skills of the Malays. The near-perfect houseform 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 has an addition system which allows the house to be extended to meet the growing needs of each family. Illustrated with beautiful photography and three-dimensional drawings, the book documents this autonomous housing process and how it continues to serve the housing needs in certain parts of the world. Having evolved through many generations of Malay society, the traditional Malay house still exists in rural Malaysia, although it is starting to be affected by modern influences. This book captures the spirit of the traditional Malay house, its cultural richness, and how this humble, simple and neglected form of architecture has a vital and essential role to play in fulfilling the present and future housing needs of Malaysians, other Third World cultures, and westernized societies that want to be more environmentally-respectful and culturally aware.