NAME: NADIA OTHMAN STUDENT ID: 0303423

TUTOR: PN. NORHAYATI

THEORIES  OF  ARCHITECTURE  AND  URBANISM    ARC  2224  

 THEORIZING  ARCHITECTURE  

PART  2        

DATO’  AR.  HAJEEDAR  

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Table of Content Page

1.0 Introduction 3

2.0 Analysis

2.1 Heritage 4

2.2 Climate 6

2.3 Users 8

3.0 Conclusion 11

4.0 Final Diagram 12

5.0 References 13

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1.0 Introduction

Dato Ar. Haji Hajeedar bin Abdul Majid was born on 27th July 1945 at the

quarters of court personal in Court Hills, near where the Menara Maybank is

now located. He lived in Kampung Baru near Institut Jantung Negara (IJN)

together with his parents and 9 siblings. Leaving in a kampong house has

enabled him to experience the traditional lifestyle and architecture with nature.

His father, Abdul Majid works in the police force while his mother is a

housewife.

At the age of 7, he started his first primary school at the Pasar Road English

School and continued his secondary at Victoria Institution. He then went to

Plymouth College of Art and Design, and was transferred to Portsmouth

Polytechnic, United Kingdom.

The building I am analyzing is the Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Aziz (MJSAA)

in Petaling Jaya, completed in 2008. Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Aziz is the

oldest mosque in Petaling Jaya. The mosque undergoes a demolishment

(due to the old foundation of the mosque) and a newly design mosque was

constructed with the design from Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar which could cater more

people for prayers.

It was officiated Located along Jalan Templer in Petaling Jaya, the mosque is

not just a place of worship by the current Sultan of Selangor, Sultan

Sharafuddin Idris Shah, in 2008 for Muslims, but also an active community

centre with seminars, classes and religious events being held regularly.

It’s hard not to notice the mosque’s cheery exterior when passing through this

area. Its orange dome grabs the attention of anyone passing by. From within,

in the main prayer hall, the dome resembles a giant slice of orange, encircled

by a band of Qur’anic inscriptions. Combining Middle Eastern and

contemporary styles, the mosque’s orange-and-white interior features candy-

cane-like striped arches that are reminiscent of the ones in Spain’s Mezquita

de Cordoba.

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2.0 Analysis

2.1 Heritage

Many old buildings have been demolished due to their age and decay.

The original mosque is situated on the same land and it had to be demolished

to make it more suitable to the uprising town in Selangor. The authority had

chose Dato’ Ar Hajeedar to work on the new mosque of Petaling Jaya.

Being brought up in a kampong house area, Dato’ Ar Hajeedar has

always been influenced with the kampong houses at Kampong Baru where he

grew up. Some of the architects may copy directly off the kampong houses

into their design, but Dato’ Ar Hajeedar goes into the details of a kampong

house to make his design a success.

In a basic kampong houses, there are spaces that are divided. The

traditional Malay houses are almost always raised on timber stilts or pile to

elevate and protect the building from floods and also serve as a source of

natural ventilation. Roofs of these houses are typically steep and have wide

overhangs for shading and protection from tropical downpours. There are

usually 2 parts to a traditional Malay house: the main house (Rumah Ibu) and

the kitchen annex (Rumah Dapur). The Rumah Dapur is separated from the

Rumah Ibu for fire protection as the bulk of the buildings are made from

timber. One or more verandas (Serambi) are attached to the Rumah Ibu for

seated work, relaxation, or where non-familiar visitors would be entertained,

thus preserving the privacy of the interior (Figure 2.1.1). To further increase

the flexibility of the house, minimal furniture is placed and most activities are

carried out on the floor.

Similarly, with Dato’ Ar Hajeedar’s design of the MJSAA (Figure 2.1.2),

there are parts that are divided according to their usage. First of all, Relating

back to the traditional Malay houses, the mosque’s main house (Rumah Ibu)

would be the main prayer hall. As for the kitchen and multipurpose hall, that is

considered as the Rumah Dapur since it is separated from the main prayer

hall. Serambi, the one attached to the Rumah Ibu would be the ablution room

that is placed on the first floor, attached to the main prayer hall. Generally, the

spaces in Malay houses are multifunctional and the use of spaces changes at

different times of the day and year. Same goes to the spaces in the MJSAA.

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The prayer hall can be use as classes, and religious talks while the halls can

be use as wedding venue, a get together event and others.

Figure 2.1.1 The Basic elements of a kampong house.

Figure 2.1.2 The MJSAA ‘adaptation’ to the elements of kampong house.

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2.2 Climate

Being inspired by the kampong houses, Malay / Vernacular

architecture are greatly affected by climate and weather. The shapes and

sizes of houses differ between each state. Common elements in peninsula

Malaysia include pitched roofs, verandahs, and high ceilings. Houses were

built to be ventilated; woodwork in the house if often intricately carved. The

floors in the house are at different levels, indicating the function of the room.

Dato’ Ar Hajeedar’s design approach for ventilation are basically, the

concept of ventilation in the Malay traditional house is a combination of three

approaches which are ventilation from top, bottom and cross ventilation at

body level. Based on this concept, the mosque was designed to fulfill the

requirements. First of all is the layout planning of the mosque. The orientation

of the mosque is orientated to face the Qibla (east-west direction) for religious

reasons. The east-west orientation minimizes areas exposed to solar

radiation. This orientation also suits the wind patterns in Malaysia (north-east

and south-west).

The building layout with elongated open plans allows easy passage of

air, assuring cross ventilation is achieved. Minimal partitions allow good air

circulation within the interior part of the mosque. Going back to the traditional

Malay house, the open plan concept reflects the importance given to make

good ventilation in a design. The body level is the most vital area for

ventilation for comfort. To achieve good ventilation in the mosque, analysis

shows that the needs of achieving good ventilation are summarized as follow.

Windows and doors are the main elements for ventilation at body level.

The positions of huge windows are seen to be use around the main area,

which is the prayer hall at the first level. Wind will enter the window and flows

internally, working well with the double volume of the praying hall (Figure

2.2.1). Other than these, there are also decorative elements, specifically

designed to allow air passage into the interior part of the house. Figure 2.2.2

depicts the ventilation approaches from decorative screenings as well as

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other design element in order to achieve thermal comfort.

Figure 2.2.1 Air movement inside the mosque.

Figure 2.2.2 The decorative screenings acts as a wind ventilation.

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2.3 Users

Next contributing factor of Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar’s design are the users of

his design. Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar is an architect who would put his shoes in the

users’ place. He likes to design something that is lovable by the community

and that could last his designs until forever. When one user goes to a

mosque, they would want to feel the sacredness of the place. The

arrangement of structural elements such as the columns and beams are

arranged beautifully and some hidden from the users eyes. Below the huge

burn-orange dome, user can see the greatness of the dome not supported by

any columns that would interfere the space planning and usage of that space

(Figure 2.3.1). This would make the users feel the sacredness of the mosque

and ready to submit themselves to God.

Moving on, the design approach of entrances designed by Dato’ Ar

Hajeedar, is based on the existing community and the context of the

surrounding. The masjid has two major entrances. The main entrance for

people who walk to the mosque is situated along the Jalan Masjid (which is

the main road for residents of that Kampung Melayu) (Figure 2.3.2). It will

bring users to the first floor where the main prayer hall is situated. As for those

who uses car and dropping by passenger or want to park their cars, will be

using the entrance that is situated at the ground floor (Figure 2.3.3). The

ground floor is where the multipurpose hall and dialysis centre are situated.

The applications of public semi-open spaces are well integrated with

the effective space planning. The public spaces that are designed are situated

at the ground floor, separated with the main prayer hall. The public space

includes a multipurpose hall (for weddings or events), a dialysis center, and

toilets. This ground floor is accessible by all religion and those women who

are having their menses because this ground floor is not counted as the holy

place (i.e the prayer hall). This public spaces acts as a waiting bay for those

who are not permitted to the mosque because of not fulfilling the basic rules

and regulations of entering a mosque. This ground floor is also a channel to

bring users to all levels of the mosque. They can access to the ablution room

and straight on to the prayer halls. Hence, the staircases are not seen from

the main prayer hall.

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The applications of public open spaces as well as the integration of

effective space planning has shown the critical thinking in problem solving to

achieve a well-designed mosque for the community.

Figure 2.3.1 The structural arrangement to give sacredness feeling to

the users.

Figure 2.3.2 The entrances of MJSAA

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Figure 2.3.3 Entrance 2 of MJSAA, heading to the ground floor.

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3.0 Conclusion

Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar adopted his childhood memory of being brought up

in an area of kampong houses. Based on understanding his background,

Dato’ Ar Hajeedar enjoy his later days and he highly appreciates the heritage

of Malay architecture. He tries to imply the basic design of Malay heritage

building ot the modern buildings today.

Instead of direct translating the design of the older days, he takes down

the important element of the design such as the wind ventilation, the space

planning and the user who will be using his building.

Dato Ar. Hajeedar stresses on the element of the climatic factors.

Since Malaysia is a hot and humid country, he strongly uses cross ventilation

or stack ventilation (where necessary) to his designs. His passion towards the

usage of natural ventilations creates a sustainable architecture.

For the users, Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar thinks from a user point of view. This

creates an awareness of the importance of user to a building. If users are not

happy with the design, there is no one that could make the building still

standing till today.

From all of the external factors, it can be concluded that Dato’ Ar.

Hajeedar falls under the theory of the Critical Regionalism. Based on the

mosque design by him, this MJSAA shows that it has minimal

ornamentations. Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar does not favour unusual shapes or

ornamentations if it does not benefit the user and the client. He also tries to

adapt to the nature of the wind and light by initiating the natural ventilation in

his designs. He also plays with the 5 senses and with the volume of certain

spaces to make the mosque more poetic in terms of the users’ feelings.

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4.0 Final Diagram

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5.0 References

Wordpress, 2011 . Vernacular Architecture HDB & Malay Houses.

Retrieved from

http://vernaculararchitecture.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/hello-

world/

(n.d) Architecture in Malaysia Retrieved from

http://www.architectchin.com/Architecture-in-Malaysia.html

Plank, C, (n.d). The Cognitive User of Architecture. University of

Innsbruck, Faculty of Architecture.