Tuesday, April 23, 2013

My little abode....



I love the Malay kampong house; completely made of wood are never two alike. In the days of my growing up period in the early twentieth century most Malay houses in the kampong [village] are so designed as to get the best use of space. It is raised above ground. The floor been made of thick wooden planks arranged with a slight spacing in between allows cool air from the ground to get into the house which cool the house. In most houses there is no ceiling. The extra space provides enough space for the air to circulation. The wall made of thinner planks is build high up, where the top  one eighth part of it is always left with hole opening as a ventilation to allows hot air to circulate and get out of the building, thus cooling the whole area of the house. Because the house is raised and with lots of ventilation there was no necessity of having fan in the house. The house is always cool even on a hot and humid day. At night with the outside temperature down the inside became cooler making it a great place to get a good night sleep all night long. Kampong houses is actually friendly to the ecosystem for not much energy is required to allows one to live comfortably in such house. Because it is airy there is no need for fan let alone air-conditioning. Most of the parts are made of hardwood thus last longer than brick houses. So when I bought a house in Ulu Kelang which like all houses now are construct of brick and cements I tried to give it a Kampong atmosphere the best I could.  Over times I had installed laminated wooden flooring, build a serambi or patio, a loft and whatever little addition that could give me that Kampong look and comfort. Above is an addition I had added from the garage as a stairway to go up the house via the serambi or patio above. It does give this little abode of mine that Kampong look and the elegances that comes with it.

Have a nice day.

4 comments:

Uncle said...

Cantik dan mengembalikan nostalgia zaman silam! Well Done Pak Idrus!!

Al-Manar said...

Salaam PakIdrus

I grew up in one. I had to have my present house built of brick and mortar with partly wooden top for one simple reason. Good hard timber was hard to come by and far more expensive than concrete. Facing the wrath of monsoon weather a brick building requires less costly maintenance. Yours looks very attractive.

Pak Idrus said...

Uncle, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting. Thanks too for the good words.

Well I tried the best I could to give me that glorious past where I grew up.

Have a nice day.

Pak Idrus said...

Al-Manar, Pokcik Hassan thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.

You do have a great house there where you have done well in fusing the old and the new architectural elements in one house. I like it.

Well, had I the opportunity and the resources I would have done some thing like yours where there is plenty of space to play around. As it is I have to make do with the limited space that I got and tried to get the best out of it.

I am glad that you like my little stairway to my abode.

Have a nice day.