Identifying Cultural Traits of the Historic Kampong Ayer of Brunei Darussalam using Biomimetic Analysis

Kampong Ayer is the cultural hearth of Brunei Darussalam. Once described as the Venice of the East, modernization has transformed this capital of the Brunei Sultanate into just another urban settlement, but located within the Sungai Brunei estuary. Its largely modern architecture and built environment has raised the question of whether it still holds any heritage value. This paper aims to provide an answer using the UNESCO World Heritage Site enlistment criteria as a guide. The study focusses on the relationship between people and environment (Criteria 5) to determine if they could be regarded as an outstanding example that is vulnerable to irreversible change. It employs a biomimetic approach to analysis as field surveys suggest the environment to be a prominent factor. The information used was gathered over the past decade through field work and dialogue with current and former residents. The study found a good degree of congruence between residents of Kampong Ayer and mangroves, the ‘genius of place’ in the Sg Brunei estuary. It also found processes and patterns typical of organismic, evolving systems. The study elucidated cultural traits that have survived through the evolution of Kampong Ayer over half a millennium. The paper also addresses sustainability issues using findings from biomimetic analysis.

Study of Quality Living Environment for Temporary Construction Workers' Accommodation in Malaysia

This research is to study the quality of living environment in workers’ accommodation for construction workers in Malaysia. In Malaysia, workers’ accommodation known as rumah kongsi. The research aim to identify appropriate and quality of living environment for construction workers. Majority the construction workers accommodation in Malaysia are currently in a poor condition. The poor condition of accommodation for construction workers have raised many issues affecting their surroundings and built environment. Some of the issues include health, social and finance. However, there are initiatives made by the Malaysian government especially Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (KLCH) in which they have come out with guidelines in providing accommodation for the construction workers. Previous studies showed that some developers and contractors providing improper and inadequate living environment for the construction workers, which lead to several issues, including safety and poor living facilities. The objectives of the studies, firstly to study the existing code of practice and guidelines in providing workers accommodation, secondly, to evaluate the existing workers accommodation in Malaysia and finally to propose the good, safety and practical living environment for workers accommodation. The methodology apply in this study include mix method or combine method which are, interview, case study, observation and content analysis. The data obtained from various methods are using descriptive analysis. In conclusion, this research findings attempts to provide guidelines and model of the most suitable living environment for workers accommodation in construction industry in Malaysia.

Study of Dramaturgy Applied by The Selected Bureau of Architectural Consultants in Indonesia

Every architect has a different view and thought about something in designing a building. The basis of ideas design to a building is gained from experience, imagination, creativity, education, etc. Every professional architect also owns cognitive to express how the architecture works implemented through the design of a building. In architecture, there is a theory that connects drama and architecture in everyday life, dramaturgy. This article aims to see the concepts of dramaturgy in the works of the architectural consulting bureau responsible for, Omah Boto building, Aceh Tsunami Museum, and Phinisi Unm Tower. This study uses a qualitative method with data collection carried out using literature studies. Furthermore, the analyzed data is then presenting in descriptive for a more informative series. Data analysis aims to explore the relevance of the dramaturgy application in architecture to the thinking of architects in Indonesia. The results of the study show dramaturgy in architecture is used as a match between contemporary theater art and architecture. All three architectural consultants have used elements of dramaturgy in the design process. The three architectural consultants have used aspects of dramaturgy in their design process. The application of the basic concepts of dramaturgy used is an exterior setting of the building, Goals or ideas, building layout settings, visual instructions, and motion direction.

Traditional Houses of the Paiwan in Taiwan

The Paiwan, an Austronesian-speaking ethnic group, are one of sixteen Aborigines of Taiwan. This is an essay about the ethnography of traditional houses of the Paiwan. This is an essay about the ethnography of traditional houses of the Paiwan. I will describe structures, functions and construction process of traditional houses, and discuss briefly the social process and cultural meanings of houses. I have argued in an earlier paper that the Paiwan is a ‘house-based society’, in which social and cultural reproduction are bound up with the reproduction of houses. The goal of marriage is the mission of reproduction, and the ideal conjugal relationship is the one in which the couple share a common devotion to the reproduction of the house they created. In this paper I reconsider this point of view, and I propose that the parent-child relationship and the siblingship in the family are equally important. Because the traditional houses of the Paiwan are made of stone slabs, the process of making houses is quite long. In contrast, marriage may be short-lived and fragile. Even when the marriage relationship is terminated due to divorce, the process of building and maintaining a house will not stop, and this motivation could be maintained by the parent-child relationship and the siblingship.

Significance of Traditional Materials and Their Substitution with Newly Available Materials

This article focuses on the region of Central Timor, settled by the Atoni Meto people, who live in round houses built on the ground. There seem to have developed local peculiarities in vernacular architecture, which require the use of wooden materials of different size, shape and state of processing. Changes in local vernacular architecture were also induced by the recent availability of modern materials such as bricks, concrete and corrugated iron. The aim of this article is to explore how such building materials are used and whether they are/ can be integrated into local vernacular building traditions. Fieldwork conatining architectural survey was conducted in Timor in May 2004 in Maubesi, and in June 2011 near Soe and Nikiniki (villages None, Supul and Boti) and Kefamenanu (among others the villages of Fafenesu, Maslete and Tamkessi). Some of the materials seem to have a strong effect on the layout or design of the buildings, whereas in other cases, such effects are far more subtle. In some cases, the new materials are used to imitate the more traditional ones, with astonishing results, and often incorporating structural details from the older technology and traditional materials which are copied. New materials already influence the building due to their different, new properties, and designs are devised to adapt to these changes, which in the end result in an altered building. In other cases, there is no compatibility at all, and old forms and designs are abandoned in favour of a new concept supported by new materials

Tale of Two “Rumah”

In this paper, I will juxtapose the socio-economic histories of two Austronesian communities in order to highlight the working of a key cultural concept, “house” or rumah, in both communities in the face of encroaching contemporary state and market forces. The communities under consideration are an Iban longhouse community of Sarawak and a Paiwan community of Southern Taiwan. Both group honored a kind of precedence in terms of land occupancy and the utilization of natural resources. Both group follow a rather fundamental cognatic principle in kinship recognition, household division and property transmission. While a comprehensive comparison of the two on so complex a subject is apparently way beyond the scope of a conference paper, I choose here to focus on the interplay of state policy (both colonial and independent) and market force on land tenure and land utilization among the two communities, and hope to demonstrate the upholding of the notion umah as a value in these peoples modernization strategies. Even though the contents, scopes and representations of the notion of “House” are different in these two societies, its centralities in their respective social and cultural systems are fascinatingly comparable. I do not intent to say that these two local communities of the Austronesian experience no difficulties whatsoever in their ever-increasing involvement in the national, regional and global systems. From what we observe, however, we do see that they are not just surviving the encroaching external impacts, they continue to exist as two “rumah”.

Space Syntax Guide to Optimize Shopping Mall

The shopping mall is a facility for profit-making with a complex spatial configuration that prioritizes the effectiveness in any aspects. The spatial configuration of a shopping mall needs more than a rule of thumb or a subjective judgment to optimize it. Many researchers have conducted studies of shopping mall spatial configuration by the theory and method of space syntax. But, the complexity of space syntax turns it hard to understand or apply in practical use. Due to the complexity of both shopping mall and space syntax, a guide is needed for practical directions to optimize shopping mall. This article review combines and synthesizes the findings of space syntax precedent studies. The scope of the study is on the building configuration scale (mesoscale). As the result, the optimization of a shopping mall can be measure by space syntax through measurement of connectivity, depth, integration, choice, and intelligibility. Each measurement has a different purpose. The most used measurement in shopping mall study is integration. The spatial configuration of the mall can be represented by the axial map, convex map, isovist map, VGA map, and agent-based in space syntax analyses. The most suitable map for shopping mall analysis is the VGA map because it shows the visual quality is vital in shopping mall design. There are several aspects of the shopping mall that can be adjusted or modified to optimize the shopping mall. Those aspects are pedestrian flows, horizontal complexity, vertical complexity, tenant type allocation, visual quality, retail placement, and anchor placement.

Participatory Design for Accessible Evacuation Centre for Flood Victims in Kelantan

Malaysia has been experienced with many natural disasters such as flood, landslide, earthquake and drought, which resulted in damaging the properties and causing casualties especially during the biggest flooding affected over 36,128 families was in 2014 at East Coast of Malaysia mainly in Kelantan. Public buildings such as schools, religious buildings, including mosques or community halls, have been used as evacuation centres in Malaysia every year. Many studies identified many evacuees were facing many problems, particularly in terms of physical facilities, such as providing improper assistance in terms of facilities, privacy, and many others. This paper objectives are firstly, to review the requirements of the physical facilities for evacuation centre, secondly to assess the components of the physical facilities for evacuation centre and finally to propose the criteria of physical facilities for evacuation centre. A qualitative approach was adopted, and data were collected through observation, interview and secondary data through literature analysis. Three case studies in Kelantan were chosen based on three categories which are small capacity (Veteriner office, Kuala Krai), medium-capacity (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Keroh, Kuala Krai) and big capacity (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Lati, Pasir Mas). The data were analysed to assess the physical facilities provided in the evacuation centre to facilitate the flood victims. The benefit of this research is to give awareness to flood victim for future disaster through technology, management, physical and mental. Thus, evacuation centre is important to create comfortable, privacy and rehabilitated environment to serve the flood victims physically and mentally.

Sauraja Pattojo

Pattojo is a small kingdom in the past, and at this time, Pattojo was called village of Pattojo. The Kingdom of Pattojo is also called ke-datu-an Pattojo whose the king or queen was called datu. To be a king or queen, one must of the highest Nobel or Datu title. Bugis house is identical to the stilt on the house and the rectangular facet is elongated. The house's mention in the bugis tribe has a difference between the noble house and the ordinary people's house. The noble house is called saoraja (Sao=house, raja=big so that saoraja is a big house), and the people's house is called the bola. Generally, noble houses in ancient times were larger than ordinary people's houses. This research is a study on the form of Bugis noble house or king's private house (saoraja datu pattojo: local language) built before Indonesia's independence. The form of façade the arrangement of space in the house has nothing in common with the original Bugis house. It may indicate that the king's house did not follow the original form of Bugis house but has combined between the Bugis and European architecture. Some things that are very clearly undergoing a change from the original of Bugis house is the roof, position of the stairs, there is an arc shape on the underside of the house, and the arrangement of the room has also undergone changes.

Indonesia’s Border Security and Political Nationalism Means in Dealing with Nationalism Problem at Indonesia-Malaysia Border Area (2009-2014)

This paper aimed to examine Indonesia's means in 2009-2014 to deal with Indonesian nationalism problem at West Kalimantan-Sarawak border. The means of it divided into two categories: securing the border and political nationalism. The disparity between Indonesian and Malaysian at West Borneo-Sarawak border became the cause of societal security problem. National identity problem showed with the rising problem of Indonesian people nationalism at the research site. The research method used in this paper was a qualitative method with a descriptive case study technic. Data collection did by interview and documentation study. Securing the border means was done by guarding the border area and state frontier. Added by the diplomacy toward Malaysia in border issues. Political nationalism means was done firstly by showing state attention and existence. This means was done by doing physical development and delivering aid. Secondly, by giving education and empowerment to the people. Indonesia has done some means to deal with nationalism problem. However, there were still some obstacles, such as coordination and communication problem, human resources quality, and the lack of commitment.