Architecture in Malaysia

Malaysia was under Colonial rule for many, many years and as such our old buildings reflect the influence of British architecture. This can be seen mainly in Penang.

The architecture in Malaysia is very varied, ranging from very old colonial buildings to very modern highrise buildings. If you travel along the country-side, you will see a lot of Malay houses. They are mainly seen in villages or "kampong" in Bahasa Malaysia. Notice that they are built with stilts below and they have large windows. This is mainly to keep the building cool and the stilts elevate the building to keep them away from floods. Kampong houses are detached houses and they usually have no fences around them.

To have a view of more pictures of other Malay houses, click below:

Malay house 2
Malay house 3

The picture beside shows the surroundings of a Malay Village.

This picture shows buildings of pre-war shophouses in Church Street, Penang. The pre-war houses are very old and many have been torn down to make way for newer buildings. However, there are which are worn down and are not making way for progress because of certain Government rulings which is supposed to protect the poor. Most pre-war houses are rented out at extremely neglible rentals to supposed-to-be poor people but this is not the true scenario now. Many of the tenants have sublet their rented buildings at exhorbitant market price to others and the landlords are unable to do anything because they are under the "Rent Control Act". So, the true landlords are suffering while the tenants are taking advantage of the situation.

Prices of houses differ widely depending on area, State and other factors. Houses are most expensive in Penang because of the limited land. Most houses in Malaysia are terraced houses (all connected together) and have very little or neglible land. It is either single storey or double storey. People who can afford will go for those with larger land like semi-detached houses and those who are wealthy will normally own bungalows or detached houses.

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