By K.Rahmah | Aug 10, 2009
Kampong House in the Middle of the City
Photos by Melissa Lin
Dato Syed Abdul Rahman and his wife Datin Noorlia Osman live in a conspicuous 3-storey home in Taman Tun Abdul Razak in Ampang. The street they live on is cluttered with houses remodeled to fit their owner’s specific tastes and yet, despite this, Dato Syed and Datin Noorlia’s home stands out distinctively arousing much interest in the neighbours and passersby.
Having grown up in Kuala Kangsar and missing his kampong home, Dato Syed originally meant to create a decorated entrance-way for his town house. But somehow as his latent passion for timber and appreciation for craftsmanship fueled further remodeling work, the project started to take on a life of its own.
Ironically, much like the way traditional Malay kampong houses of the past were built, the couple had no architect or middleman to help them with designing and pre-planning the construction and they built as they went along according to their needs and wants.
“When I was doing renovations on my family home in Perak, I asked around and people introduced me to a craftsman who was very good at carvings and timber work.” This “orang seni” as Dato Syed describes Encik Hisham of Ipoh, the artisan behind the project makes traditional carvings and ornamental timber decorations according to the Malay style.
Together, homeowner and artisan decided on what they would need, all of which were first crafted at Encik Hisham’s workshop and then re-assembled and incorporated into the home itself afterwards. This process of turning a regular city home into a storybook kampong house took the better part of two years and was done in gradual steps.
“We didn’t move house,” says Dato Syed, “It was dusty of course when they were working, but we wanted to stay as they worked in stages and it wasn’t too bad.” Eventually a wooden anjung with its own separate stairway entrance was crafted onto the exterior of the home, creating a long spacious verandah.
Meanwhile the original front balcony, part of the second story living room, was re-incorporated into the house. Instead of an exterior wall, this newly extended living room was fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows, turning the space into a serambi or a traditional Malay ‘gallery’.
But with such an open concept, security against intruders also had to be considered. Instead of having metal bars caging the windows, Encik Hisham instead constructed slim wooden pillars, which upon further investigation are not in fact mere decoration but actually metal posts disguised seamlessly within wooden columns. It is this elegant aspect of the home in particular; the long window gallery without bars which gives Dato Syed and Datin Noorlia’s home such a breathtaking sight.
“Much of the wood that we chose was cengal” explains Dato Syed “with cengal, you don’t have to worry about termite infestation and also it does very well with the sun and the rain.” Still, even as the home was fashioned for the pleasure of its inhabitants, there was a sense of economy as well. Most of the exterior timber was salvaged from old government buildings and residences that have been torn down over the past few years.
“Back then, you see, they used cengal wood because it is very strong. Cengal is perhaps the best type of wood in Malaysia.”
The interior sections on the other hand were constructed using merbau. Dato Syed, now a connoisseur of timber runs his hand lovingly against the different types calling attention to the grain. It is evident that he really appreciates the care that has been taken in creating this haven for him and his family. “When it comes to this type of craftwork,” he advises, sitting on his anjung in the afternoon light “you cant rush it, you need to give it some time.”
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