The Sustainable Architectural Values of Eclectic Style Shophouses Case Study: Sun Yat Sen Museum Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

The Sun Yat Sen shophouse in Penang is a small private Museum, which was converted from a shophouse or townhouse situated in the Armenian Street heritage area of George Town. The building is an example of embraces of the architectural heritage of George Town which is an extra ordinarily beautiful example of Straits Se! lements merchant's shophouse. Historically, it is associated with the global historical personality of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and his revolutionary movement. This city was added to the UNESCO's world heritage list in 2008 to acknowledge its rich cultural heritage that constitutes of unique architectural and cultural townscape along the Straits of Melaka. This paper investigates the architectural plan of a shophouse and the values of cultural heritage buildings, which eventually were converted into a Museum in George Town, Penang. Classifi ed as an eclectic style shophouse, it is rich in design and art components featured in its architecture that are still sustaining until today. This building has an interesting mixture of architectural and cultural inspirations adapted from the Chinese origin, with the local Malay ethnicity and the European infl uences that colonised the region. The introduction of new non related architectural components into the southern Chinese style in shophouses in George Town has resulted in the disappearance of this unique style of architecture. This investigation employs a qualitative research approach by documenting evidence and understanding the architectural as well as cultural infl uences of the southern Chinese eclectic style by studying the Sun Yat Sen Museum as a case study. The fi ndings of the research point towards an understanding of the architectural and cultural infl uences that govern the design of the shophouse and its architectural character.

Malacca's “Straits Chinese traditional courtyard eclectic style shophouses”: facades' architectural design elements through place identity

“…Participant 6 believes that the distinctiveness of the “Late Straits” is seen in the façade with special ceramic Majolica wall tiles compared to others. Findings agree with Zwain and Bahauddin (2017a, b) and found that wall tiles are usually square thin, glazed ceramic wall tiles with floral and colourful geometric patterns to cover the surface also the walls under the paired windows of the five-footway. This was commonly found during the settlement of Straits Chinese (Peranakan Chinese).…”

“…This paper adopted the Heritage of Malaysia Trust (1990) classification. This is in line with Bahauddin and Ramli (2011) and many other scholars such as Zwain and Bahauddin (2017a, b, 2019) and Khoo and Lim (2019). So many factors were considered in the classification, such as changes in the building architecture, social evolution, cultural trends, technological developments, among others.…”

“…In Southeast Asia “Skywells” are sometimes referred to English as “Air Wells” (Zhang, 2016). Whilst Zwain and Bahauddin (2017a, b) described a courtyard as an architectural design component commonly applied in tropical Straits Eclectic Style shophouses buildings for its social and environmental purpose. This description is in the context of a shophouse.…”

Revitalisasi koridor komersial bersejarah Jalan Surabaya dengan konsep retrofitting di Kota Medan

“…Setiap bangunan tersebut memiliki gaya arsitektur peranakan shophouse's atau ecletic style yang umumnya dapat ditemukan di berbagai kota di Asia Tenggara. Peranakan shophouse's atau Ecletic Style merupakan sebuah gaya arsitektur yang mengadopsi elemen dan kesenian Tionghoa (Lutchman et al, 2014;Zwain & Bahauddin, 2017) dan umumnya dapat ditemui di kawasan permukiman etnis Tionghoa di Asia Tenggara (Lutchman et al, 2014).…”

Traditional Courtyard “Late-Straits” Shop-Houses As Rebuilding Place Based On Cultural Space

“…The Georgetown traditional courtyard shop-houses buildings have a fascinating-combination of architectural as-well-as cultural motivations modified from the Chinese-origin, with the local-Malay ethnicity and the European effects that colonised the district (Zwain & Bahauddin, 2017). Some components of shop-houses building came from-China, like courtyard (Air-Well) plan, the roundedgable-ends and the fan-shaped air-vents.…”