intro

“Architecture, it has been said, is art we live in”, Alain de Bolton. It is defined as the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use. In an overview, architecture requires an understanding of the context of buildings and understanding of the building itself, its underlying concept of idea, functions or uses its materiality and structure. A piece of architecture that satisfied users has to meet functional value, aesthetic value and psychological impact. Building built without a significant identity or purposes are failures. People started to build a basic requirement, which could provide a shelter and protection. As time goes by, people demand more than the needs to make live better. This phenomenon leads to the architecture now no longer following the modernism ideologues “form follow function”. The art form todays had severely contorted before they can follow engineers.

Living in a country as culturally, politically and religiously diverse as Malaysia, it is no wonder we fight so viciously to put out an image that is up to par with the brochures we produce and hand out to tourist annually and without fail. What with the many races and other various cultural influences we draw upon for our national identity, it is not surprising then that the token amount of confusion will occasionally surface when questioning the essence of it all, namely, who and what we actually are.

As one travels throughout the country, one can encounter so many different kinds of people, races, dialects, religions and of course, architecture. We are as diverse as we choose to be, a thing that makes us uniquely us. Being as diverse and different as we could be, we yearn and search for what ultimately speaks, stands and represents Malaysia as a country and multiracial society; architectural identity or so to speak. Observation and analysis will be conducted on following issues related to the search of identity of Malaysia starting off by studying the various architectural styles that have been popularized and widely used since the colonization days. By observing such trends, it is then possible to learn of its influences on the present day architectural sense.