Architecture is the printing press of all ages and gives a history of the state of society in which it was erected.
-Morgan.
Architectural renaissance in Malaya
O the several millions of people To
residing in the territory shortly to be known as Malaysia, architecture was nothing more then emulating styles and designs of public buildings and houses of a foreign character having no relationship whatsoever to local cultures.
The eradication of colonialism politically and Malaya's achievement of independence heralded the dawn of an evolution in the local archi tectural field.
Changes are taking place not only in design and styles but also in the utilization of local materials. These changes are tending to make the finished buildings and houses blend with the surrounding counryside, their cultural backgrounds and to give expression to their hopes, their aspirations and their ideals.
a
Unlike the artist who has pro- gressed far ahead of his time by creating
of Malayan school painting which he proudly calls his own,
the architect has been forced to work and is still working in what I choose to call a appreciative environment.
non-
The architect's commissions have been influenced by ideas specifically detailed by clients most of whom have been unavoidably influenced and impressed by previously un- challenged Western and Moorish styles and designs in architecture.
Undoubtedly architects-be they the tiny band of local men or the birds of passage were also many influenced by the dictates of the times when any divergence from authoritarian concepts could have put paid to their careers.
THIS CHALLENING CALL to architects to evolve a style of architecture making use of what other parts of the world have achieved but at the same time typical of Malaya- sia and not just a slavish copying of outside madels was made by Mr. Ho Kok Hoe, M.S.I.A., A.R.I.B.A., A.R.A.I. A., A.R.A.S., chairman of the Exhibition Committee of the Singapore Institute of Archietcts, at the opening of the Institute's exhibition
"You and Your Architect" in Singapore in August.
Additionally. architects were in- fluenced by clients who invariably coupled their commissions with the words: "Don't introduce anything radically different. The old style in architecture is good enough for me." As the result of this colonial archi- tecture had its heydey for the last 40 years or so.
Any deviation from this norm was deprecated if not forthrightly condemned. Expatriate architcets, flourished. There is this to be said for this epoch: it was necessary and may be likened to a period of tutel- birth to the current that gave age trend towards a Malaysian style of
architecture.
Today there is a handful of ex- patriate architects left in the area. With Malayanisation and the grow- ing number of local men returning from universities and other institu- tions in Australia, Britain, the United States of America and many
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3
other countries the number of ex- patriate architects is gradually being reduced and they are now being engulfed by the incoming tide of local architects.
Some of the remnants of these ex- patriate architects are reluctant to admit that there will ever be a Malaysian style of architecture. The strongest criticism against local architects aspiring towards this goal stems from this small group.
They refuse to admit that archi- tectural thought can develop in an independent direction in this era of light steel, alloy and aluminium. hollow bricks and allied develop- ments in power conductors, lighting, ventilation etc.
The growing and determined band of local architects desirous of creat- ing a Malaysian trend in archi-
will prove tectural design will
wrong.
them
Many of these expatriate cynics have left behind the bitter taste of their biased criticism despite their failure after more than 40 years to prove their mettle.
History and the evolution through which architecture in Malaysia is progressing will prove the efforts of the local architects who are at-
create Lempting to
trends of Malaysian style of architecture from its current embryonic stage.
a
What they are doing today will, in the not too distant future, be ex pressed through the medium of the words "Malaysian Architecture.."
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