THE MELANAU TALL LONGHOUSE MTL , SARAWAK, MALAYSIAN BORNEO

Yıl 2019, Cilt: 4 Sayı: 1, 15 - 22, 01.04.2019

Azızı Bahauddın Dyg Mustıka Syaheeda Awg Musadat

Öz

Situated in the remote area of Mukah in the state of Sarawak, the Melanau tall longhouse MTL is one of Malaysia’s least exposed examples of vernacular architecture, found only in the interior of the island of Borneo. It has its own unique historical background, diferent from other known traditonal longhouses of other tribes in Sarawak. The building length and height can be named as parts that made the diferences in the constructon of this architecture, coupled with the local materials utlized for erectng these houses. A lack of architectural documentaton even by its own people called for this investgaton to be undertaken. This phenomenon is made worse by the demoliton of these houses in place of new buildings and applicaton of contemporary constructon materials. Moreover, many were lef to rot with no proper steps taken to preserve them. In the past, a Melanau hamlet usually consisted of one to three tall longhouses. These houses were always located in strategic positons; at the river mouth within the tdal zone. Such locatons were taking into consideraton the protecton and security from pirates and other headhunter warring tribes. These setngs provided resources for their economic actvites of fshing and farming the sago plants. The structure of this house utlised natural materials, which are promptly accessible from the jungle. These materials are known to be solid and water resistant, such as the belian tree trunks Borneon ironwood , nibong palm tree trunks and sago tree trunks, mainly for the major structural components of the houses. True to the name, this house can stand tall up to 40 feet high over 12 meters . Even though the Melanau community has played a role in the history of Sarawak for centuries, there has been constrained feldwork performed on their backgrounds. This paper evaluates this vernacular architecture, focusing on the cultural infuences towards the sustainable architecture of the traditonal tall longhouse. The research employed a qualitatve method involving observaton, architectural documentaton of measured drawings, and interviews with the Melanau elders looking in depth at the Melanau culture in the aspect of ethnography and design experience through phenomenology methods. The fndings of the investgaton point towards the sustainable architectural aspect of the MTL based on the cultural infuence of this unique tribe. These infuences further established a set of architectural languages of the house as an outcome of this investgaton that is based on the cultural and environmental factors.

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