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ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION (ARC60703)

PROJECT ONE : PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF HISTORICAL BUILDING

LECTURER : MR.AZIM

GROUP MEMBERS:

Foong Lih Wey 0322687 Kan Jia Wei Adrian 0319384

Ellen Gowiko 0318496 Tan Wei Zhen 0318560 Yeow Jinn Sheng 0318797

Tang Ze Zheng 0318967 Tan Sheau Hui 0319235 Hariish Kumar 0318852

Saravanan Vytelingum 0320564 Muhammad Azzam bin Abdul Aziz 0315543 Alisha Niazali Hirani 0314325

Amir Fauzan Amiruddin 0321844 Wong Kai Chiang 0323341 Muhammad Nabeel 0320583

Aimi Farzana Ahmad Norizan 0317621 Liew Yu Xian 0319173 Chew Jia Chen 0322852

Lynette Law Yong Yi 0317761 Adam Tan Yen Sheng 0317750 Ameer Farhan bin Ramlan 0319304

Jeffrey Liew Jun Yi 0317951 Melissa Anne Mei Hong Li 0320729 Loh Wei Shuen 0317896

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT CONTENTS

We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to our lecturer,Mr.Azim who

gave us the oppurtunity to do this project about conservation on the ‘Gedung Raja

Abdullah’ and provided us the guidance to complete this project.

Secondly,we would like to thank PADAT for providing us the access we needed and

also for briefing us on the building.

ABSTRACT

In a group of 26 students,we were given the task to measure and document ‘Gedung

Raja Abdullah’.The report is meant to give a deeper understanding of the building

from various aspects such as architectural and historical.From the project,we hope to

cover a gap of knowledge of the building.

1.0 Introduction & History........................................................3

2.0 Architectural features....................................................4-6

3.0 Significance of study.........................................................6

4.0 Challenges.........................................................................6

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1.0 INTRODUCTION & HISTORY

1.1 INTRODUCTION

In 1854, the Sultan Muhammad Shah appointed Raja Abdullah as Klang's

administrator. Raja Abdullah and his brother Raja Juma'at had previously helped Raja

Sulaiman pay a debt incurred during a failed mining venture, and was therefore

rewarded with the chieftainship of Klang. Raja Mahdi, Sultan Muhammad Shah's

grandson and whose father Raja Sulaiman was the previous Klang's head, therefore

became disinherited. Raja Abdullah and Raja Juma'at, who had opened very

successful tin mines in Lukut, then obtained the finance to open tin mines near Kuala

Lumpur in 1857.

1.2 SOCIAL BACKGROUND

The year the building was built,the British had just started a strategy to conquer

the tin mining industry in Malaysia.Their ploy was to help the sultan and place their

people in the administration.

1.3 EVOLUTION OF BUILDING

1857 - Gedung Raja Abdullah was built.The building’s intent was to be used as a

warehouse for Raja Abdullah.He lived upstairs with his family while storing his tin

ore and other goods on the ground floor.

1867 -Conflict broke out between Raja Abdullah and his rival, Raja Mahadi.This

incident cause the warhouse to be fortified.The dispute lead to British to spread their

influence.The warehouse then became a government office.

1880 - The office then was converted into a Police HQ for the Klang district.Iron grille

doors were added to various rooms which became lockups or cells.

1970 - The new police HQ was constructed beside the warehouse.At this time the

building was reorganised as a national monument and converted into a tin

museum.However the museum closed after the Sultan Alam Shah Museum in Shah

Alam was opened in 1989 and many of the tin related exhibits were transferred there.

Gedung Raja

Abdullah

then and

now.

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2.0 ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

What makes Gedung Raja Abdullah special in Klang architecture, it was the first

building that involves the use of concrete in building construction. The building was

perfectly responding to the local context, from its use of material such as timber. The

building served as a warehouse to store the tin ore on the ground floor, therefore can

see that solid concrete wall was used, while first floor (for Raja Abdullah dwelling use)

mainly constructed by using timber, even though the main hall covered by concrete

wall. The uses of the building, eventually affects the choice of building material, as well

as the design of form and space within.

Other than that, we can see the architectural elements that can found in Gedung

Raja Abdullah, was actually derived from Anglo-Indian architecture. Anglo-Indian is

the architectural style that can be found during the period of British colonial on India,

which is very appropriate for tropical countries. We believed that this actually

influence on Klang architecture, including Gedung Raja Abdullah. No ornaments or

carvings can be found in the building. As a conclusion, the building itself is the result of

the mixture of Anglo-Indian architecture as well as the local architecture.

Below are showed the features that reflected local and Anglo-Indian architectural

features:

2.1 Local architecture-influence:

1. Timber-used building elements, such as window, door, staircase,wall etc.

2.2 Local building construction method.

Tongue- and- groove floor joining method

Mortise and tenon floor beam joining method

2.2 Anglo-Indian architecture influence:

1. Pale white color paint on wall, which looks great combination with timber(warm

texture and color). Meanwhile, white color contained high reflective properties, which

can brighten up the interior effectively.

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2. High floor to ceiling height ratio, which ensure the interior is cool enough since

the heat air is further to user

3. Deep verandah walkway creates the buffer zone between the interior and

exterior. It helps in cooling down the wind before entering the interior.

4. Rounded-arc doorway can be found. It promotes the elegance of the building,

rather than post and lintel construction.

5. Column fluting features(vertical running on the edge of column), which makes

the appearance of the column looks nicer than a rigid looking.

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6. Square Doric column with capital, which appears as a stable yet simple design.

3.0 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

To provide actual model / environment for visitor(s) to understand the building.

To promote the architectural elements including building construction method,

building materials, architectural features etc.

To raise awareness of the public towards historical buildings.

To conserve the heritage building which represents one of the pioneers in Klang

architecture.

To understand Klang history by acknowledging the background of the building.

To provide evidence for historical researcher(s) to discover the architectural

aspects,

4.0 CHALLENGES

There were some challenges that we had to go through will working on this project:

Standardisation of the measurements,because the building was built on 1857 the

measurements have slight variation from each other,as an example one wall will

be thicker than the other.

Finding info on the building, the building wasnt recognised as a conservation site

early. Due to this, the availability of the info of the building is lesser than other

buildings

Identifying the original functions of the building and how it changed over the

years was a challenge to us as many parts of the building was changed over

time.

REFERENCES

Gedung Raja Abdullah. (n.d.). Retrieved October 05, 2016, from

http://www.padat.gov.my/v2/index.php/my/monumen-selangor/14-monumen/33-

gedung-raja-abdullah

A. (n.d.). Gedung Raja Abdullah. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from

http://www.heritage.gov.my/index.php/en/conservation/conservation-

building/residential-houses/raja-abdullah-warehouse

Gedung Raja Abdullah - Klang, Malaysia. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from

http://www.malaysia-traveller.com/gedung-raja-abdullah.html

Background Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved October 05, 2016, from

http://luas.gov.my/icm/knowledge_center/bckground_general.htm

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