Mohd Zafrullah Mohd Taib

Obstacles to adopt green roof in Malaysia

The building industry is considered as the largest contributor of negative impacts to the environment especially in urban areas. In Malaysia, sustainability issues have become crucial to mitigate urban heat island and reduce global warming effect. One of the ways to reduce global warming and urban heat island is by adopting green roofs on buildings. However, the application of green roofs in Malaysia is still low whereby only few buildings in Malaysia have adopted green roofs. This paper aims to identify the obstacles in adopting green roofs in Malaysia. The survey that has been done revealed that there are nine factors that hinder the green roof application in Malaysia. More efforts are needed to encourage building practitioners to adopt green roofs. Therefore, it is important that buildings in Malaysia to adopt green roofs in order to protect the environment especially in urban areas.

Comparative study on green roof mechanism in developed countries

The building industry is known to have a great impact towards the environment in urban areas, green roof systems are seen as a way to mitigate its negative impacts. Developed countries such as Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have widely adopted green roofs in urban areas in order to reduce the negative impact construction activities especially in the cities. Each one of these countries has their own methods of encouraging building owners to adopt green roofs. Developed countries such as Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong has taken their fare share in applying green roofs into their building industry. Thus, it is crucial for the Malaysian government to impose and instil the green roofs into our local building industry. This paper analyses the comparison of the green roof mechanism applied in Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The findings from this paper will contribute more information and better idea on how to implement and attract public sector in Malaysia to adopt green roofs.

Design of prayer room in shopping mall: A feasibility study

Malaysia is a developing country moving towards rapid urbanization. Thus, economic development, human capital, education, and transportation are crucial in inspiring people to live in a much-improved environment. In addition, the emphasis on religion and spirituality is similarly given with high priority. In Malaysia, Islam is the official religion, and the majority of Muslims pray at a prayer room or house of worship. However, specifications and standard guidelines in designing the prayer room are not in accordance to Islamic teachings. This paper focuses on the significance of design elements of a prayer room in shopping malls. Users often complain of inadequate size and narrow space when performing a solah. Hence, design standards should be considered and referred to the local council. In this study, collection of data establishes the problems in the design standards and specifications of the prayer room. The study also identified several discrepancies and variations in prayer room design in shopping malls. The methodology involved observations, measurements, and interviews to investigate and analyze users’ comfort. This study is important for local authorities and designers to determine the importance of user’s comfort with regard to using the prayer room in shopping malls. The outcomes of this study is using to improve the design standards in the prayer rooms at shopping malls to approved by local authorities.

A Review of Green School Design Guidelines

The purpose of this paper is to execute a comparative study of green school guidelines with the review of the current literature. The method of this study is to use secondary data regarding green school design elements in foreign countries’ school. The data assembled from various countries will be discussed with regards to the applications of its elements into Malaysian green school design. The result of the comparative study will be used to identify the design elements of Malaysian school designs towards a green and sustainable building. Therefore, finding from this research is expected to encourage the Malaysian government to develop and create a guideline for green school design in Malaysia. Keywords: School Environment; Green Design Components; Green School Design Guideline; Students’ Outcome eISSN 2514-7528

Building Information Modelling: Challenges and Barriers in Implement of BIM for Interior Design Industry in Malaysia

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an innovative approach that has developed crossways the global in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The construction industry of Malaysia has undergone a rapid development and dynamic technology adoption in advance and methods between the players industry and stakeholders. Consequently, limited technologies and devices have not been successful as it should have been. This study will be emphasizing scenarios of challenges and barriers in adopting BIM in interior design industry in Malaysia. The study was emphasizing the challenges and barriers in BIM usage from the designers perspective. The data are collected through the questionnaires as to identifying the barriers, knowledge, readiness and awareness and distributed to interior design firms were selected randomly. The finding of this research is to examine the barriers and causes of variables BIM usage for interior design industry in Malaysia. The outcome of this study is to identify the constraint of adoption BIM in interior design industry compare to others players in same industry.

The Barriers and Causes of Building Information Modelling Usage for Interior Design Industry

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has since developed alongside the improvement in the construction industry, purposely to simulate the design, management, construction and documentation. It facilitates and monitors the construction through visualization and emphasizes on various inputs to virtually design and construct a building using specific software. This study aims to identify and elaborate barriers of BIM usage in interior design industry in Malaysia. This study is initiated with a pilot survey utilising sixteen respondents that has been randomly chosen. Respondents are attached with interior design firms that are registered by Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM). The research findings are expected to provide significant information to encourage BIM adoption among interior design firms.

Malay Traditional Furniture: Form and Space

Malay craftsmen have created a practical and functional living shelter known as Malay traditional house. The Malay house is designed in a simple square form. Square form creates a practical space that is easy to organize household items. The houses are constructed using medium weight fiber material—timber. Timber is easy to cut and form house structure elements such as floor, roof trusses, and wall stud. The combination of form and space creates many design elements used by occupants to serve, organize, and sustain the Malay way of life in a traditional Malay house. The scope of research is focused on Melaka traditional house, the earlier Malay civilization in Peninsular Malaysia. The analysis focused on house components of the structure and spatial activities in the house. In conclusion, the elements’ integration of form and space in Malay traditional houses has revealed the existence of built-in furniture. The main function is to organize household items and to store utensils and equipment.

The Design and Environmental Aspects of the Prayer Room

Malaysia aims to achieve its developed nation status by year 2020. Amidst the rapid expansion of high-tech skyscraper buildings, commercial midpoints, and vibrant education centers, the religion of Islam holds priority in the current modern development. Islamic prayers or “solah” is one of the primaries and very important in the daily rules of a Muslim. Muslims throughout the world perform “solah” (prayer) five times a day in certain positions and several steps that should be carried out before prayer, including “wudhu” (ablution) and covering one’s body. Provision of prayer areas for Muslims in modern commercial buildings need to be highlighted. Although today Muslim prayer areas are provided in almost every shopping center, it is in great need of attention. It was observed that design guidelines have not been fully implemented and some are not compliance to the Islamic requirements. In this study, the scope will cover on the function and design of prayer areas or “musolla” in shopping centers. The information and data collected in this study will be used as a guideline for the implementation of the respected parties such as the local authorities and architects/designers.