(1) 'Cheung Fashion House' is a shop lot located on JalanTenkuKelana in Klang, Malaysia that has been passed down through generations of the Cheung family. (2) Built in 1916, it is one of the few original buildings remaining on the street, maintaining its colonial-era design with features like i-beam construction, a gabled roof, timber doors and brick facade. (3) Over the decades, the neighborhood has transformed from being predominantly Chinese to now mostly Indian, reflecting in the goods sold like saris, jewelry and textiles that showcase the culture.

1. 'Cheung Fashion House' located at JalanTenkuKelana in Klang
There are plenty of interesting places in Malaysia. One of them is Little India
located in JalanTenkuKelana in Klang. Our chosen site is a shop lot called 'Cheung
Fashion House' located in this street. It is the biggest Indian street in Malaysia. Little
India got its name due to the many indians living there. Initially it was called Rambau
Street. This is due to the fact that "Rambau" was the name of the man who basically
owned that street at that time. Myriads of items such as saris, colorful accessories
such as bangles and necklaces, textiles, stainless steel pots, Indian delicacies, gold
and flowers are sold here.
JalanTenkuKelana, Klang during the weekends. A lot
of visitors with difference race came here to shop
because of the variety stuff that can be found here.
It is developed by Frank Swettenham, an outstanding administrator in the 19th
century. It consumes the size of one or more main streets lined with shop houses,
usually two storeys high. Previously, the layout of Little India was very simple as it
started off with five shops along JalanTenkuKelana which later then developed into a
bigger street with more shophouses surrounding it. The front was called "front street"
and the back was called "back street. The older generation were the only ones who
knew about the back street. The name was then changed to JalanMelayu which then
was changed to JalanStesenSatu.

2. Physical wise, it started off as buildings with a The Anglo-Straits Eclectic
Style whereabouts the residence of the early British administrators copy it from the
malay house design, a timber construction built on piles with a steep attap roof and a
covered verandah in front. The design then change due to the risk of fire where the
attap roof is change into a chinese roofing tiles. Due to heat that it’s provide from the
roof tiles rather than the cooling attap’s roof, the chinese developed a design
whereby the roof was divided into 2 sections, with higher section overlapping the
lower one to increase the ventilation. Mixtures styles of elements were addwhich
then developed into a building with a plan following Malay principles but built of
bricks, tiles and stucco with roman columns and other typically western
ornamentation in the 19th century.For example a shop that we have did our research
on called the 'Cheung Fashion House' which was built in 1916, sells cloths and doing
tailoring is one building that is still at its original state since the time it was built. It is
shown from the columns, roof and windows where the façade is still maintained.
The façade remains the same but the owner renovates the Triple
windows from wooden frame into aluminum steel frame with tainted
glass. In the middle of the openings windows the shape is a roundedheaded fanlight shape that brings back to the 19th century design.

3. Klang in general has around 1 million population and most of the human
population in klangare basically from the area around JalanTenkuKelana. The
resident in Little India there are 50% indians, 20% chinese, 10% malays and the
others are foreigners mostly from indonesia and vietnam. Originally, this area was
mainly consumed by the chinese race. However, this had changed when most of the
chinese business transferred to the North Klang. This is because it gave the chance
for indians to take over and run their own business due to the availablity of space.
Hence, now 99% of the shophouses in Little India are occupied by indian but 50%
out of the 99% are owned by chinese but rented by indians. Previously, this area was
filled with hawker stalls and "kopitiam" shops owned by the chinese. However
currently this has changed because the area is taken over by indians who sell mostly
textiles.
Our chosen site is one out of the 1%
Chinese shop remaining in this area.
'Cheung Fashion House' is a shop lot
that being pass down through
generations according to the owner
when we interview her. The best part
about our site is the structure of the
building is maintained and when we
compared to most of the building
around
JalanTenkuKelana,
the
structure is already renovated.
'Cheung Fashion House'

4. These business they are running are mostly family business and also the
business that was brought by the east india company. Due to the fact that this area
was taken over by the indian from the chinese, it has shown a drastic change cultural
wise. For instance, the name of the street was changed to Little India. The items they
sell along that street also portray the culture. For example, indian food, indian
clothing and so on. Little India has become a one stop centre to shop for indian
festivities. This is mainly because most of the goods sold there are imported straight
from india making it difficult to be found in conventional supermarkets. Colourful as
its culture, Little India provides all kinds of hindsights as to the daily life of Malaysian
indian.
Most of the shops selling textiles. Items they sold showing
the culture of this place.
Colourful goods that are sold here.
Architectural elements are unique details and component parts that form an

5. architectural style of house, building or structure. As for the shophouse we did our
research on which is the 'Cheung Fashion House', there were several architectural
elements that we have identified. First and foremost, the structure of the shophouse
is made from a series of interlocking i-beams which were very dominant in the
industrial revolution at that moment. This played an important role on keeping the
structure of the building light while being able to be structurally secure at the same
time. The i-beams which vary in size are connected by bolts and rivets, similar to that
of the empire state building. This enabled the shophouse to be erected within a very
short period of time whereby the frames are put together like jigsaw puzzle.
However, the thickness of the i-beams vary depending on the load it is required to
carry. Furthermore, construction costs are also reduced as less worker are required
to build the shophouse. The supporting beams for the second floor and the columns
holding it up are the thickest as they have to carry the weight of the entire second
floor including the roof.
Besides that, we have identified the roof of the shophouse which is a gabled
roof supported by i-beam frames on both sides of the shophouse and connected
using wooden beams. The gabled roofs are a very common kind of roof shape in
Malaysia due to the hot and wet weather we have. This enables the roof to dispel
heat efficiently and allow rainwater to flow off the roofs with ease. The gabled roof
also has an opening on the top which allows the hot air to flow off the roofs with
ease. Under the roof is a thin layer of plywood that acts as insulation which traps and
prevents the hot air from penetrating into the storage and living quarters. This
insulation also directs the hot air upward due to its slanted angle.The roof is
considerably tall such that more hot air can be trapped without the user feeling it,
thus the upper floor is very cooling even on a hot day. The roof tiled were originally
V-shaped Chinese roof tiles but were then replaced by abestose as the time passes
by.

6. Previously, the shophouse used wooden stairs to connect the ground floor to
the upper floor. However, recently they replaced the wooden stairs with metal stairs
because it is stronger, more durable and lasts longer. Therefore, they can save alot
of cost if they replace wooden stairs to metal stairs. Aside from that, we have
identified the doors they used in the shophouse which is fully made of timber. The
doorframe protrudes out of the floor forming a barrier between the rooms. This is
such that if one of the rooms were to experience any leakage or flood, the
surrounding rooms wont be effected. As for the ventilation of the shophouse, it is
ventilated via two methods, one through the horizontal flow of air from the windows of
the facade through the shophouse and out through the back windows. A series of
openings throughout the entire shophouse allows this to occur and air can flow easily
through the building as the doors and windows are aligned for a smooth flow of air.
Furthermore, the other method of ventilation is via jacked roofs which uses the
physical concept of hot air rising to allow a vertical flow of air whereby hot air flows
from the lower floor up into the upper floor through the wooden planks of the floor
and further up into the second floor. On the other hand, for the finishes we have
identified that the walls are finished by a layer of plaster to smoothen it up and give it
a clean finish. However, no decorations and fancy finishing were done to the walls.
As for the ceiling finishes, the ground floor ceiling has been renovated to hide the old
wooden beams. Though before renovation the shophouse used to be at least a
meter higher in ceiling space and one would be able to see the overlaying beams
and planks of the second floor. The second floor also had its ceiling renovated and
covered to hide the structure of the roof. In most of the shophouses throughout the
area, the second floor is exposed to the roof and gains a source of light from the
jacked roof which also aids in ventilation. The reason for such exposure to the under
parts of the roof is to provide the second floor with a higher ceiling, this then allows
hot air in the building to rise in and out of the jacked roof.
The staircase is changed
into metal diamond texture
plate as slab and the
railing is changed into steel
rails painted with brown
colour.Previously it is a
wooden staircase.

7. The upper floor is divided into three segments. The first on is a smaller sized
room which is located at the back of the building is used as a measuring room
whereby the length and dimension of the cloths are indicated and cut. Natural lighting
in this room is good as there are two windows on both sides of the room. Other than
that, the second room is where the cloths are ironed, the room also serves as a
washing room for the owner. This room is dark and has no opening for natural lights
to enter. The third and the largest room is the store room where all the clothes are
kept, there is also a living quarter towards the windows. In addition, the only external
wall present is the facade of the building which is supported by the i-beam. The
entire facade is made of bricks and layered with plaster for decoration purposes. The
facade also acts as a dead weight to support the i-beam frames on both sides of the
shophouses thus bricks were used instead of concrete. Furthermore the facade
determines the timeframe in which the shophouse was build or renovated. According
to our research, the facade is a mixture of Moghul architecture, Victorian
architecture, Neoclassical architecture and also Malaysian architecture. Lastly, the
architectural element that we have identified is the internal walls which are mostly
made of clay bricks put together with cement and plastered to give it a smooth finish.
Partitions are only found on the second floor to separate the living quarters from the
storage. These partitions are very commonly used on the second flow instead of
actual walls to reduce the weight carried by the load bearing beam. However, there is
a drawback to this as it provides very bad sound insulation as the partitions are thing
and allow sound to pass through very easily. The walls on the side of the shophouse
are made of conrete and have teethed wire mesh core which gives the wall a certain
amount of flexibility.
Overall, our group had found many historical facts and story aboutthe shop lot
'Cheung Fashion House'which is full of function on the building itself in term of
function, space, users and architectural value. We also learned about heritage of the
building concept, the materials used, context surrounding from the past and current
time. Apart from that, the most valuable knowledge that we obtain was that the
structure of the building still strong after almost a 100 years when it was built.
Influential from different race changes the culture and the street itself. We also
learned the importance of preserve on this heritage building so that the future
generation will know about the history and unique of architecture value of Malaysian
building.