Spatial organizations of the National and State Mosques of peninsular Malaysia : case studies

Dublin Core

Subject

National and State Mosques

Description

Abstrak

Design problems exist in large-scale jami mosques of Malaysia as experienced on various occasions by the writer and her acquaintances when attending the state mosques of West Malaysia, The most serious problem exists in the spatial organizations as reflected in the difficulties of circulations when using the spaces in the mosques. The circulations problem in causes inconvenience to the users either in the form of inappropriate sequence of spaces or the excess of traveling distances from one space to another. These problems exist apparently due to the technical decisions and aesthetics made by designers rather than functional decisions. Since a mosque is a special building designed for liturgical activities, therefore, it is very important that the liturgical requirements are carefully observed when designing a mosque especially in the configuration of spatial organizations. Therefore, it is the aim of this study to explore and analyse the spatial organizations of the large-scale mosques against the liturgical requirements laid down by the Al Quran and Sunnah (tradition from the Prophet S.a.w.). Three case studies were selected from the largest state and national mosques of West Malaysia, namely, Masjid Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam of Selangor State; Masjid Negara in Kuala Lumpur of Federal Government of Malaysia; and Masjid AI Azim in Melaka City of Melaka State. The focus of the study is to research on their spatial organizations as the main focus, and other aspects of design as the seconday aspect. The study explored into the perception of a total of 300 respondents about the spatial organizations of the three case studies as secondary evidence. The findings revealed that the mosques were designed without proper guidelines from the Jabatan Agama lslam' which is the authority of mosque buildings in the country. Neither the designers properly referred to the liturgical requiremernts laid down by the Al Quran and Sunnah. At the same time, the spatial organizations were configured by the technical and aesthetics decisions made by the designers and the clients i.e. the Prime Minister or the Sultans or the Chief Minister and the relevant committees. Besides the mosques under study suffer from inappropriate spatial organizations and proportions, they also suffer from other design problems such as inappropriate zoning of supporting facilities, echo problem, inappropriate shoe rack system, lack of canopies to protect from the weather conditions, and the lack of design identification of the main entrance. The findings also revealed from the convenience survey that the respondents were ignorant of the knowledge of the liturgical requirements and spatial interpretations.

Creator

Ar. Zamnah Nusi

Source

PL5065 2004 ARZN

Date

2004

Contributor

mki

Rights

University of Technology MARA

Format

Dissertation