Instagram story viewer> @kiakia.spaces> Posts

{KIA KIA SPACES}

@kiakia.spaces

1.2K

followers

4

following

A collection of thoughtful spaces,
architecture & design around Malaysia & beyond 🛖
{} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {} {}
@kiakia.places

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

The family has Javanese roots stretching back six generations in Malaya, and the architecture carries an interesting mixture of influences. The original house followed the Malay rumah panggung tradition, with later additions taking inspiration from the keraton of Surakarta and Yogyakarta.

The original house was raised above the ground for ventilation, with separate wings for privacy and porches where people could gather.

We liked how naturally these different influences coexist. There are old timber walls, carved windows and furniture that have survived generations, alongside newer additions that make no attempt to disguise their age. There is even an iron bridal bed from the 1940s, old family photographs, handwritten notes and belongings that have been kept over the years.

It also made us think about how we tend to classify traditional houses according to architectural styles, when the histories behind them can be far more interesting. Here is a family of Javanese descent living in a Malay vernacular house, later incorporating elements of Central Javanese architecture.

And there must be countless kampung houses across Malaysia whose histories are just as interesting, if only we knew whom to ask.

That is what we hope to discover through Rumah Kampung Kita.

📍 @tanah.embahheritage1939, Sungai Pelek, Selangor

Follow @kiakia.spaces for more kampung houses stories ☻

#kiakiaspaces #kampunghouse by @kiakia.spaces

8k

42

8 days ago

We’ve started noticing how much character sits in the parts of old shophouses people rarely look at for more than a second, the plaster flowers, ribbons, vents, borders and little flourishes above the windows.

Someone once thought a shopfront deserved ornament, proportion and a little visual generosity, even if most people walking beneath it might never consciously notice.

That is what we find so interesting, because these details were never only about decoration; collectively, they became part of how a street looked, how it was remembered, and how one row of shophouses felt different from another.

We love how something so small can slowly become part of a street’s collective memory, often without us realising it until we stop and look properly.

What other details did you notice?

Follow @kiakia.spaces for more stories on Malaysian spaces! ☻

#kiakiaspaces #shophouses by @kiakia.spaces

1k

17

19 days ago

Meet one of the Tukang Kayu still keeping Rumah Limas alive. 🛖🌺

Elias Robani began learning woodwork from his father in 1984, helping after school before taking up the craft fully in 1992.

The Rumah Limas is one of Johor’s distinctive traditional houses, recognisable by its long horizontal ridge, descending rooflines and tunjuk langit. Then come the smaller details, papan pemanis, tebar layar, sisir angin and carved kekisi, each giving the house its particular character.

But what interested us more was the way the rooms were arranged. You enter through the serambi, where guests were received, before moving into the rumah ibu, with the kitchen further behind. The architecture followed the manners of the household, hospitality, privacy and daily routines were quite literally built into the plan.

Elias even built his own Rumah Limas in Kampung Parit Amat entirely from reclaimed timber, a project that took him ten years to complete. That stayed with us, because preservation is often discussed in terms of saving old buildings, while much less is said about preserving the hands and knowledge capable of building, repairing and understanding them in the first place.

That is why we wanted Rumah Kampung Kita to include the people as much as the houses, because somewhere between the two lies a part of Malaysian architecture that cannot simply be replaced once it is gone.

📍Contact En Elias at @anjungpurabina on TikTok

✏️ If you own a kampung house & would like us to visit, please dm us!

Follow @kiakia.spaces for more from our Rumah Kampung Kita series. 🪵

#kiakiaplaces #kiakiaspaces #rumahlimas by @kiakia.spaces

13k

128

a month ago