Sustainable Design Approaches in Malaysia’s Traditional Mosques and Houses

Abstract

The traditional Malaysian mosque and Malay house concepts have been naturally developed for hundreds of years and proven to provide sustainable solutions for building in Malaysia, a country with a hot and humid climate. However, the fast pace of modern development has negatively affected the acceptance of the traditional building concept, especially in the current development of houses and mosques. However, the success of the sustainable design approaches in the traditional Malaysian buildings to ensure sustainable development for hundreds of years has been forgotten. As a result, mainstream modern design concepts have become a contributor to deteriorating environmental conditions due to various factors, including increased energy consumption. Hence, it is crucial to understand the sustainable design approach in traditional Malaysian buildings’ design and appropriately apply it to modern building design. Therefore, this study aimed to outline sustainable approaches in traditional mosques and Malay houses in Malaysia. The methodology used in this study was a combination of literature review and site observation on the selected case studies. Six main case buildings were selected for the traditional buildings, including three case studies for the traditional house and three for traditional mosques. This study found a long list of sustainable approaches in traditional Malaysian Mosques and Malay houses. The list of the approaches can be used as an initial reference or guideline in designing new modern buildings in Malaysia, mainly buildings with passive design strategies that contribute to sustainable Malaysia.