This document analyzes the design of the Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Aziz mosque in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, designed by architect Dato' Ar. Hajeedar. The mosque was designed to be more accommodating while maintaining connections to traditional Malay architecture. Key elements incorporated from traditional kampong houses include dividing spaces according to usage, incorporating ventilation strategies from top, bottom and cross ventilation, and prioritizing user experience and accessibility. The design reflects the architect's goal of creating an inviting and sacred space that serves the community for years to come.

1. THEORIES
OF
ARCHITECTURE
AND
URBANISM
ARC
2224
THEORIZING
ARCHITECTURE
PART
2
DATO’
AR.
HAJEEDAR
NAME: NADIA OTHMAN
STUDENT ID: 0303423
TUTOR: PN. NORHAYATI

2. 2
Table of Content Page
1.0 Introduction 3
2.0 Analysis
2.1 Heritage 4
2.2 Climate 6
2.3 Users 8
3.0 Conclusion 11
4.0 Final Diagram 12
5.0 References 13

3. 3
1.0 Introduction
Dato Ar. Haji Hajeedar bin Abdul Majid was born on 27th July 1945 at the
quarters of court personal in Court Hills, near where the Menara Maybank is
now located. He lived in Kampung Baru near Institut Jantung Negara (IJN)
together with his parents and 9 siblings. Leaving in a kampong house has
enabled him to experience the traditional lifestyle and architecture with nature.
His father, Abdul Majid works in the police force while his mother is a
housewife.
At the age of 7, he started his first primary school at the Pasar Road English
School and continued his secondary at Victoria Institution. He then went to
Plymouth College of Art and Design, and was transferred to Portsmouth
Polytechnic, United Kingdom.
The building I am analyzing is the Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Aziz (MJSAA)
in Petaling Jaya, completed in 2008. Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Aziz is the
oldest mosque in Petaling Jaya. The mosque undergoes a demolishment
(due to the old foundation of the mosque) and a newly design mosque was
constructed with the design from Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar which could cater more
people for prayers.
It was officiated Located along Jalan Templer in Petaling Jaya, the mosque is
not just a place of worship by the current Sultan of Selangor, Sultan
Sharafuddin Idris Shah, in 2008 for Muslims, but also an active community
centre with seminars, classes and religious events being held regularly.
It’s hard not to notice the mosque’s cheery exterior when passing through this
area. Its orange dome grabs the attention of anyone passing by. From within,
in the main prayer hall, the dome resembles a giant slice of orange, encircled
by a band of Qur’anic inscriptions. Combining Middle Eastern and
contemporary styles, the mosque’s orange-and-white interior features candy-cane-
like striped arches that are reminiscent of the ones in Spain’s Mezquita
de Cordoba.

4. 4
2.0 Analysis
2.1 Heritage
Many old buildings have been demolished due to their age and decay.
The original mosque is situated on the same land and it had to be demolished
to make it more suitable to the uprising town in Selangor. The authority had
chose Dato’ Ar Hajeedar to work on the new mosque of Petaling Jaya.
Being brought up in a kampong house area, Dato’ Ar Hajeedar has
always been influenced with the kampong houses at Kampong Baru where he
grew up. Some of the architects may copy directly off the kampong houses
into their design, but Dato’ Ar Hajeedar goes into the details of a kampong
house to make his design a success.
In a basic kampong houses, there are spaces that are divided. The
traditional Malay houses are almost always raised on timber stilts or pile to
elevate and protect the building from floods and also serve as a source of
natural ventilation. Roofs of these houses are typically steep and have wide
overhangs for shading and protection from tropical downpours. There are
usually 2 parts to a traditional Malay house: the main house (Rumah Ibu) and
the kitchen annex (Rumah Dapur). The Rumah Dapur is separated from the
Rumah Ibu for fire protection as the bulk of the buildings are made from
timber. One or more verandas (Serambi) are attached to the Rumah Ibu for
seated work, relaxation, or where non-familiar visitors would be entertained,
thus preserving the privacy of the interior (Figure 2.1.1). To further increase
the flexibility of the house, minimal furniture is placed and most activities are
carried out on the floor.
Similarly, with Dato’ Ar Hajeedar’s design of the MJSAA (Figure 2.1.2),
there are parts that are divided according to their usage. First of all, Relating
back to the traditional Malay houses, the mosque’s main house (Rumah Ibu)
would be the main prayer hall. As for the kitchen and multipurpose hall, that is
considered as the Rumah Dapur since it is separated from the main prayer
hall. Serambi, the one attached to the Rumah Ibu would be the ablution room
that is placed on the first floor, attached to the main prayer hall. Generally, the
spaces in Malay houses are multifunctional and the use of spaces changes at
different times of the day and year. Same goes to the spaces in the MJSAA.

5. The prayer hall can be use as classes, and religious talks while the halls can
be use as wedding venue, a get together event and others.
5
Figure 2.1.1 The Basic elements of a kampong house.
Figure 2.1.2 The MJSAA ‘adaptation’ to the elements of kampong house.

6. 6
2.2 Climate
Being inspired by the kampong houses, Malay / Vernacular
architecture are greatly affected by climate and weather. The shapes and
sizes of houses differ between each state. Common elements in peninsula
Malaysia include pitched roofs, verandahs, and high ceilings. Houses were
built to be ventilated; woodwork in the house if often intricately carved. The
floors in the house are at different levels, indicating the function of the room.
Dato’ Ar Hajeedar’s design approach for ventilation are basically, the
concept of ventilation in the Malay traditional house is a combination of three
approaches which are ventilation from top, bottom and cross ventilation at
body level. Based on this concept, the mosque was designed to fulfill the
requirements. First of all is the layout planning of the mosque. The orientation
of the mosque is orientated to face the Qibla (east-west direction) for religious
reasons. The east-west orientation minimizes areas exposed to solar
radiation. This orientation also suits the wind patterns in Malaysia (north-east
and south-west).
The building layout with elongated open plans allows easy passage of
air, assuring cross ventilation is achieved. Minimal partitions allow good air
circulation within the interior part of the mosque. Going back to the traditional
Malay house, the open plan concept reflects the importance given to make
good ventilation in a design. The body level is the most vital area for
ventilation for comfort. To achieve good ventilation in the mosque, analysis
shows that the needs of achieving good ventilation are summarized as follow.
Windows and doors are the main elements for ventilation at body level.
The positions of huge windows are seen to be use around the main area,
which is the prayer hall at the first level. Wind will enter the window and flows
internally, working well with the double volume of the praying hall (Figure
2.2.1). Other than these, there are also decorative elements, specifically
designed to allow air passage into the interior part of the house. Figure 2.2.2
depicts the ventilation approaches from decorative screenings as well as

7. 7
other design element in order to achieve thermal comfort.
Figure 2.2.1 Air movement inside the mosque.
Figure 2.2.2 The decorative screenings acts as a wind ventilation.

8. 8
2.3 Users
Next contributing factor of Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar’s design are the users of
his design. Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar is an architect who would put his shoes in the
users’ place. He likes to design something that is lovable by the community
and that could last his designs until forever. When one user goes to a
mosque, they would want to feel the sacredness of the place. The
arrangement of structural elements such as the columns and beams are
arranged beautifully and some hidden from the users eyes. Below the huge
burn-orange dome, user can see the greatness of the dome not supported by
any columns that would interfere the space planning and usage of that space
(Figure 2.3.1). This would make the users feel the sacredness of the mosque
and ready to submit themselves to God.
Moving on, the design approach of entrances designed by Dato’ Ar
Hajeedar, is based on the existing community and the context of the
surrounding. The masjid has two major entrances. The main entrance for
people who walk to the mosque is situated along the Jalan Masjid (which is
the main road for residents of that Kampung Melayu) (Figure 2.3.2). It will
bring users to the first floor where the main prayer hall is situated. As for those
who uses car and dropping by passenger or want to park their cars, will be
using the entrance that is situated at the ground floor (Figure 2.3.3). The
ground floor is where the multipurpose hall and dialysis centre are situated.
The applications of public semi-open spaces are well integrated with
the effective space planning. The public spaces that are designed are situated
at the ground floor, separated with the main prayer hall. The public space
includes a multipurpose hall (for weddings or events), a dialysis center, and
toilets. This ground floor is accessible by all religion and those women who
are having their menses because this ground floor is not counted as the holy
place (i.e the prayer hall). This public spaces acts as a waiting bay for those
who are not permitted to the mosque because of not fulfilling the basic rules
and regulations of entering a mosque. This ground floor is also a channel to
bring users to all levels of the mosque. They can access to the ablution room
and straight on to the prayer halls. Hence, the staircases are not seen from
the main prayer hall.

9. The applications of public open spaces as well as the integration of
effective space planning has shown the critical thinking in problem solving to
achieve a well-designed mosque for the community.
Figure 2.3.1 The structural arrangement to give sacredness feeling to
9
the users.
Figure 2.3.2 The entrances of MJSAA

10. 10
Figure 2.3.3 Entrance 2 of MJSAA, heading to the ground floor.

11. 11
3.0 Conclusion
Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar adopted his childhood memory of being brought up
in an area of kampong houses. Based on understanding his background,
Dato’ Ar Hajeedar enjoy his later days and he highly appreciates the heritage
of Malay architecture. He tries to imply the basic design of Malay heritage
building ot the modern buildings today.
Instead of direct translating the design of the older days, he takes down
the important element of the design such as the wind ventilation, the space
planning and the user who will be using his building.
Dato Ar. Hajeedar stresses on the element of the climatic factors.
Since Malaysia is a hot and humid country, he strongly uses cross ventilation
or stack ventilation (where necessary) to his designs. His passion towards the
usage of natural ventilations creates a sustainable architecture.
For the users, Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar thinks from a user point of view. This
creates an awareness of the importance of user to a building. If users are not
happy with the design, there is no one that could make the building still
standing till today.
From all of the external factors, it can be concluded that Dato’ Ar.
Hajeedar falls under the theory of the Critical Regionalism. Based on the
mosque design by him, this MJSAA shows that it has minimal
ornamentations. Dato’ Ar. Hajeedar does not favour unusual shapes or
ornamentations if it does not benefit the user and the client. He also tries to
adapt to the nature of the wind and light by initiating the natural ventilation in
his designs. He also plays with the 5 senses and with the volume of certain
spaces to make the mosque more poetic in terms of the users’ feelings.

12. 12
4.0 Final Diagram

13. 13
5.0 References
Wordpress, 2011 . Vernacular Architecture HDB & Malay Houses.
Retrieved from
http://vernaculararchitecture.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/hello-world/
(n.d) Architecture in Malaysia Retrieved from
http://www.architectchin.com/Architecture-in-Malaysia.html
Plank, C, (n.d). The Cognitive User of Architecture. University of
Innsbruck, Faculty of Architecture.