Evaluating the implementation of ‘Islamic built environment’ in the context of landscape components in public open spaces in Malaysia

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of ‘Islamic built environment’ (IBE) concept in public open spaces in Malaysia. Granting the development of IBE must be the basis in every concept of national development in Malaysia. Thus, this research believes that the adaptation of true Islamic concept is the very crucial in public open spaces that belong to the Malaysian community and for public use, besides being the focus of attraction and tourism assets. This research was conducted based on literatures on framework of indicators of truly Islamic environment. The evaluation was prepared through observation on ten indicators, namely (1) Tolerance, (2) Natural Environment, (3) Social Need and Human Comfort, (4) Religious Identity, (5) Order, (6) Economic, (7) Intellectual and Knowledge, (8) Hygiene, (9) Jannah, and (10) Safety in the selected open public spaces in Malaysia. This research employed a descriptive and survey-based research design rooted in quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. The procedure of research methodology is a combination of reviewing literature, data collection, and data analysis to determine the research finding. For data gathering, this research carried out a site survey for on-site observation confined to the context of landscape components in public open spaces. The findings of this research can benefit and guide Malaysian administrators and professionals in built environment industries to generate a better and more appropriate process of implementing an IBE in Muslim countries, particularly with regard to public open spaces

Elderly Care Centre

The demand for elderly centre has increased tremendously abreast with the world demographic change as the number of senior citizens rose in the 21st century. This has become one of the most crucial problems of today's era. As the world progress into modernity, more and more people are occupied with daily work causing the senior citizens to lose the care that they actually need. This paper seeks to elucidate the best possible design of an elderly care centre with new approach in order to provide the best service for them by analysing their needs and suitable activities that could elevate their quality of life. All these findings will then be incorporated into design solutions so as to enhance the living environment for the elderly especially in Malaysian context

Sustainable architectural design studio towards the development of creative learning environment

The design studio has always been the key feature of architecture education. Unfortunately, the design studio in universities focused too much on cost and the uniformity of design throughout the whole campus and this leads to office-like layout which is designed without taking note on the psychological approach of the architecture students using the spaces. This paper intends to elucidate this problem and tries to find the best design solution for a sustainable architectural design studio towards an effective studio learning outcome vital for a creative learning environment. This study has found out that there are three key factors that contributed in the development of creative studio learning environment among occupants which are—the needs to have a transformable private and personal space, multi-functional interactive space and livable natural setting. This study is important because suitable architectural studio will not only provide a creative learning environment to the users but also established referential guideline for future architects

Building communal values for quality sustainable living in traditional madrassa—the case of Madrassa Quran Kubang Bujuk, Trengganu

Madrassa is deemed referred as a religious education center for the Muslim community. Due to its well acceptance and establishment in the Muslim society, madrassa not only acts as scholarly center but also as a place that promotes goodwill and unity. However, many scholars are of opinion that traditional madrassa is considerably significant as it has an important role in reshaping Islamic education towards the development of communal values. This paper aims to identify and elucidate the importance of the traditional design of madrassa towards the development of communal values. Madrassa Quran Kubang Bujuk in Trengganu was analyzed as case study due to its significant establishment and dominant role in reshaping the local Muslim society. In addition, the architectural madrassa design is distinctive, and its multifunctional purpose considers the well-being of occupants towards the development of communal values. Semiotic as research method is used to reveal the communal values that are embedded in the architectural design of a madrassa. The findings will benefits future designers and scholars on the importance of communal values and the propagation of Islamic teaching through the representation of madrassa as built form

A review on occupants' satisfaction and wellness level in low-cost housing in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to ascertain how architecture could impede stress level among low-cost housing occupants in Malaysia based on design implementations. The home environment is one of the main contributing factors for the occurrence of stress among occupants as much of individuals' lives are spent indoor. Based on this, architecture plays a major role in minimizing the stress level among occupants of a building. This research analyses the wellness of low-cost housing owners and occupants through observation and questionnaires that were distributed to low-cost housing residents. This study found that there are four key factors that contributed to stress among occupants. It is, therefore, hoped that the findings of this paper help designers to design better low-cost houses in order to provide a better living environment to the occupants

The effectiveness of public park management and design for sustainable livelihood in Malaysian context

Public Park is an important element for societal development because it can offer a wide range of recreational activities to reduce stress for free. In other words, it may also function as an open communal center that can build integrity and sense of belonging among the people since it acts to define the shape and ambience of a city and its neighborhood. Nonetheless, the design of public parks, especially in current urban areas are facing many problems due to factors such as unavailability of proper monitoring and management system to identify the level and trend of consumerism of public parks. Till present, there is no detailed study conducted to elucidate on the appropriateness of public parks design to meet the needs of local context. Henceforth, the objective of this paper is to study the context of existing public park in Malaysia and identify problems relating to design, management and effectiveness from user’s perception. To conduct this study, the research will adopt case study method as research strategy. Since the focus of this study is on social physical phenomenon and to understand how human social culture correlates with the design and management of public parks-two research paradigms which are interpretivism (hermeneutics) that translates human ideology and structuralism (semiotic) to read any physical structure or architectural design are adopted as research methodology. Data collection method will be from site observation, recorded documentation and questionnaires are used to gather all the evidences on the selected public parks design. Findings indicate that the design of local public parks failed to fulfill user satisfaction due to design imperfections and poor management. Therefore, this study will propose a suitable guideline as future reference to design a better and sustainable management for public park in the Malaysian context

Contextual responsive designed administrative buildings in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to elucidate on the regional design approach of two modern administrative buildings in Malaysia; former Prime Minister’s Office (1967) and Parliament Malaysia (1963) that was built during the post independence era in a comparative manner. This is to explicate the relationship of design and adaptation towards the regional context by focussing on the environmental aspects. Using structuralism paradigm and semiotic methodological approach, the relationship between building design and sustainable aspects were observed. It is evident that indoor comfort plays a major role in designing administrative building alike. This paper is of value to practicing architects and the society as it offers new insights by formulating design approaches in designing public architecture in Malaysia

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using local honey

Abstract. In this work, silver nanoparticles have been successfully prepared with a simple, costeffective and reproducible aqueous room temperature "green" synthesis method. Honey was chosen as the eco-friendly reducing and stabilizing agent replacing most reported reducing agents such as hydrazine, sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) and dimethyl formamide (DMF) which are highly reactive chemicals but also pose a biological risk to the society and environment. The size and shape of silver nanoparticles were modulated by varying the honey concentration and pH of the aqueous solution that contain silver nitrate as the silver precursor, sodium hydroxide as the pH regulator and ethylene glycol as the solvent. The silver nanoparticles obtained are characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), ultraviolet-visible spectra (UV-Vis) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). From SEM analysis, it was found that by increasing the concentration of honey, the size of silver nanoparticles produced decreased, from the range of 18.98 nm -26.05 nm for 10 g of honey to 15.63 nm -17.86 nm for 40 g of honey. Similarly, the particle size decreased as the pH of the aqueous solution increased. UV-Vis spectra revealed large anisotropic and polydispersed Ag nanoparticle were produced