Malay Heritage Houses Design via the Principle of “Form Follows Function” by Louis Sullivan

Abstract

The uniqueness of the Malay heritage house architecture lies in the diversity of carving forms of various motifs. The motif was chosen based on the image of the environment at the time. This paper discusses the selection of carving motifs in Malay houses based on the principle of form follows function introduced by a Western architect Louis Sullivan in the late 19th century. The meaning of form follows function in this study refers to the selection of the shape of a carving motif adjusted according to the function of the space in the Malay heritage house. A preliminary study was conducted on 10 Malay heritage houses in Peninsular Malaysia built in the 1800s. It aimed to get the types of commonly used motifs during the century of the principle was introduced. The selected houses were located in 10 states in Peninsular Malaysia obtained from measured drawings from the Center for the Study of Built Environment in The Malay World (KALAM) in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). The selected houses were based on the most widely used carving motifs. For the purpose of this study, three houses were selected from the initial 10 houses to be further analyzed and mapped in terms of shape and placement of carving motifs based on the principle of form follows function. The study focused on the carving motifs in serambi and rumah ibu of the Malay heritage house as these two spaces had the most carving motifs. The mapping of the motifs in the two spaces shows four main motifs of flora, fauna, geometry, and calligraphy. The motifs of each home will be described from the angle of symbolism, layout, and carving style that can describe the principle of form follows function