Abstract

The Rumah Negeri Sembilan, photo by Selma

Malaysia has a wealth of timber resources, in the history of the building in Malaysia recorded wood as the original material of the building construction. However, many years later, Malaysia's use of wood-based records in buildings and the construction of wooden buildings as a major material in Malaysia are very limited. So this will be one of the new research areas. There is not much information on the use of wood in Malaysia, most of which involves the design and construction of traditional Malay Houses, which are very limited and incomplete for the use of timber as a material for modern building. The main purpose of this research study is to study the regression and innovation of local architecture resource, finding out why wooden architecture is slowly being abandoned, and let people re-understand the wooden building and its technological development. Hope that this will provide the basis for future research and enlightenment. In chapter 2 of the paper will analyze the evolution of Malaysian timber buildings from old Malay houses to contemporary buildings. The cultural background of factors affecting the use of timber in the Malaysian building was studied. It dates back to the historical use of wood, from the early native wood structure to the modern building of the building material. Explored the technological developments in the structural use of timber in Malaysia over the past 150 years. This information will provide the public with the knowledge of using wood as a natural resource in an appropriate manner and linking our culture, traditions and social values from the past to the present. In this chapter will compare two case studies which are old Malay houses and the contemporary timber house in Malaysia, and their respective structures and structural systems were analyzed, and the impact on the related construction techniques was summarized. Chapter 3 will discuss the factor and issue that affecting the use of timber in Malaysia. In this chapter will focus on exploring the implications of environmental factors, economic factors, social and cultural factors. The fourth chapter will discuss the development of construction technologies for wood buildings and the solutions to problems and factors encountered in Malaysia, discuss issues affecting the use of timber in Malaysia and make some recommendations on further research areas.  Chapter 5 will recap the ideas of an overall research project and summarize the possibility of using wood as a building material in the development of future buildings in Malaysia.