Chapter 1: Introduction

Traditional Malay House built with Chengal in Langkawi, Kedah by Chef Shukri Shafie

This chapter will introducing general information about timber used in Malaysia’s architecture.

• Aim & Objective

• Aim: 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.

• Objective: To promote people's understanding of wood construction, raise concern and usage of wooden buildings and to improve the living environment, to revitalize environmental awareness.

Background of the study

The data show that wood is one of the oldest building materials used by humans(I.S& M.A，2008). In Malaysia is no exception, most parts of Malaysia are forested with rich wood, especially in East Masha and Sarawak, according to the data collection from Malaysian Timber Council, most of the trees available in Malaysia are hardwood. Although there are many good quality wood locally, availability, strength and flexibility are rapidly attenuated by the effects of environmental factors. At the end of the nineteenth century, in the tropical and humid weather of Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, many wooden buildings were attacked by termites or destroyed by fire. It is thought that the use of wood as a building material does not allow the building to remain and live for a long time. So in the twentieth century, most of the buildings material used were transferred from wood to reinforced concrete. The purpose of this article is to serve as a strategy to inspire architects, designers, developers of the use of wood and the future development of timber construction.

Aims and Objectives

The primary aim of this 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 analyze the evolution of timber buildings in Malaysia from old Malay houses to contemporary architecture. Traditional architectural forms, regardless of their differences and complexity are based on a few basic structural principles and have relatively remained unchanged over time. In the field of traditional wood construction, some case study has been found to show that some architectural forms, from a structural point of view, are initially influenced by existing building materials available. The purpose of this study is to record the use of wood in construction. Promote people's understanding of wood construction, raise concern and usage of wooden buildings and to improve the living environment, to revitalize environmental awareness. This information will provide practitioners such as timber suppliers, architects, designers, the public, etc. to use wood in the appropriate way as a natural resource knowledge, so that our culture, tradition and social values from the past and now linked. Therefore, this work can be said to be a summary of the development of timber construction in Malaysia. At present, the technical principles used in timber construction and structural systems are important issues for the future development of Malaysia, including the environmental impact of timber construction. Such research will increase the public's understanding and appreciation of modern wood buildings.

The limitations of the study

The range of archival material associated with wood construction is very incomplete and limited. People are mainly concerned with the design and construction of traditional Malay houses. Significantly lack reliable literature on modern wood buildings. In addition, wood as a building material has a limited life in the tropical region especially in Southeast Asia, this tropical. Due to the damp weather in Southeast Asia, termite hyperplasia and natural factor, many wooden buildings have been damaged and removed, which means that early wooden building cases were no longer suitable for research. For example, the wood buildings such as the palace of "Seri Akar" in Kelantan were demolished in the 1970s(Figure1&2) and its original location became the development of contemporary architecture. Therefore, the scope of this study is limited from the past few decades to the present study of wood structure. The results of the study outlined in this study are only information on the use of wood in buildings in Malaysia. Further research should be studied in detail in Chapter 2. Previous research information was collected, including photo on-site inspection records and interviews with houses.

Figure 1: Istana Sri Akar, before demolised in1970s.

Figure 2:istana sri Akar subsequently abandoned and fell into ruin