Investigating the Environmental Aspects of Courtyard in "Late

Straits" Eclectic Style Shophouses, George Town, Malaysia

Akram Zwain

, Azizi Bahauddin

School of Housing, Building & Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia,

Keywords: environmental aspects, courtyard functions, straits Chinese shophouse, traditional architecture, courtyard.

Abstract: The shophouses architectural can create comfortable social and environmental weather aspects. Recent

renovation indicates installation of sliding roofs with polycarbonate sheet coverings. Hence, the effect is that

air circulation, natural ventilation and lighting would be reduced. This research aims to investigate the original

environmental aspects of courtyard in terms of natural ventilation and natural lightings components preserved

in these shophouses. The research employed qualitative method involving observation and architectural

documentation. This paper adopted the Lot Nos. 3, 5 and 7 on Lorong Ikan built in 1926 because they are the

typical shophouses and are categorised as the Late Straits Eclectic Style in Penang. The study findings

demonstrated that the courtyard central is the major component in the environmental characteristics of a

shophouse and a representation of the components of place identity, thus, should be preserved by stakeholders

for the next generation.

1 INTRODUCTION

The traditional courtyard shophouses in George

Town is one of the heritage buildings that have been

well studied to understand their importance in the

architectural environmental aspects in terms of

ventilation and lighting. Therefore, one of the most

famous heritage city in Malaysia is George Town

located in the northern part of the Peninsular

Malaysia has been added to the UNESCO's world

heritage list in 2008, to acknowledge its rich cultural

heritage constituted of unique architectural

components and cultural townscape. Therefore, one

of the most important features of traditional

shophouse is the courtyard. Knapp (1999) stated that

the interior courtyard houses were typically found in

residences throughout China, but their composition

and scale were different across the country as

presented in Figure 1. In spite of this, architectural

and cultural values, recent modern shophouses in

Malaysia do not share similar concern and the

importance of maintaining the environmental aspects

values. Unfortunately, the courtyard of traditional

shophouse could not survive its original identity.

However, evidence shows that renovation and

modernisation of shophouses is a threat to many

courtyards that serves many functions which include

cultural and place identity environmental benefits

such as heat gains, natural ventilation and lighting

among others. In addition, at one time began to install

sliding roofs with polycarbonate sheet coverings.

Therefore, the effect is that air circulation, natural

ventilation is reduced by at least 60 per cent (Tan,

2015). Hence, this research aims to investigate the

original environmental aspects of courtyard in terms

of natural ventilation and natural lightings

components preserved in these shophouses.

Figure 1: Configuration of China Courtyard House and the

Courtyard Shophouses in Penang.

Source: Adapted and Surveyed by Author

2 STRAITS CHINESE

HOPHOUSES

Traditional courtyard shophouses located in the hot-

humid climate of Malaysia with the aim of providing

useful ventilation and lightings strategies for modern

Zwain, A. and Bahauddin, A.

Investigating the Environmental Aspects of Courtyard in "Late Straits" Eclectic Style Shophouses, George Town, Malaysia.

DOI: 10.5220/0008546000820087

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities (ICONARTIES 2019), pages 82-87

ISBN: 978-989-758-450-3

urban houses. The Traditional Chinese shophouses

are deep-plan brick row houses that are located in

relatively dense urban areas. In Malaysia, the origin

of the Straits Chinese Shophouse can be traced back

to the influx of Chinese immigrants from densely

populated southern coastal provinces of China in the

19th century until World War II (Chen, 1998). By the

early 20th century, this urban design had spread to

every major town in Malaysia. The Straits Chinese

Shophouse in Malaysia have traditionally been two-

storey buildings with the lower floor used for trading

and the upper floor used for residential purposes.

While in Penang, a shophouses can be a purely

residential structure which elsewhere would be called

as a terrace house. One of the most important features

of Straits Chinese Shophouse is that each building has

one or more internal courtyards (Chen, 1998).

Moreover, Courtyard houses can be found not only in

China and Southeast Asia but also in many other parts

of the world (Edwards, Sibley, Land, and Hakmi,

2006). It is considered that the courtyards provide not

only natural lighting and ventilation but also offer

protection from harsh outdoor conditions (Safarzadeh

and Bahadori, 2005). In China, courtyard houses were

originally found in residences throughout the country,

but their composition and scale varied depending on

their location (Knapp, 1999). In general, the

proportion of courtyard space to structural space

diminishes significantly from Northeast to Southeast

China to restrict the infiltration of direct solar

radiation and facilitate ventilation (Knapp, 1999).

Most of the courtyards in Malaysian Straits Chinese

Shophouse are the narrow and deep courtyards that

originated from the southern part of China. However,

George Town, the capital city of the Malaysian state

of Penang, is located at the north-eastern tip of

Penang Island. It is Malaysia's second largest city; the

historical core of George Town has a tremendous

architectural history with approximately 7,000 units

of traditional courtyard shophouse in George Town

Heritage City. This city was built 200 years ago

during different periods (Tan, 2015).

3 ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS

NATURAL VENTILATION AND

NATURAL LIGHTING

The concept of traditional courtyards (Air_Wells)

designed to cope with the local tropical climate, the

buildings are structured to maximize airflow (Stubbs

& Thomson, 2016). Courtyards as the main open

space of many dwellings, constituted important

features in residential architecture throughout

antiquity in Heritage City George Town. The

traditional courtyard shophouses were designed with

rooms of various functions surrounding the

courtyards and were organised in association with

these yards as the life of the occupants evolved

around them. The important role played by the

courtyard was due to climatic conditions as well as to

the of the social parameters area that offered

occupants a protected area suitable for outdoor

activities throughout the year. Thus, the courtyard

always held a special, functional, environmental

aspects role within a residence. Reynolds (2002)

described that the courtyards as special places that are

outside yet almost inside, open to sky, usually in

contact with the earth, but surrounded by rooms.

Edwards, Sibley, Land, and Hakmi (2006) stated that

the natural elements of the courtyard i.e. earth

beneath and sky above, ensure its direct contact with

nature. This study presents an overall view of all the

different ventilation and lighting elements related to

the courtyards of traditional architecture found in

shohouses underlining their environmental

significance.

4 THE SHOPHOUSE

COURTYARD CENTRAL

Shophouses courtyard were originally designed to be

fully open to the sky in order is similar to the internal

courtyards in Southern Chinese architecture. Hence,

the concept adapted the local conditions, as the house

is long and narrow (Kubota, Zakaria, Abe, and Toe,

2017). Courtyard provides better cross ventilation and

natural daylight as presented at Figure 2. The

placement of courtyards in the shophouse ensures the

present of natural daylight throughout the house.

With the aid of operable louvered windows in the

courtyard (Air_Well), the rooms in the house have

ample air flow while having the control of daylight

entering the rooms (Tan, 2015). Other passive ways

of ventilation is through the air vents on the façade

and the partitions.

Figure 2: Analysis the Natural Ventilation and Natural

Lightning of Shophouse

Source: Adapted and Surveyed by Author

Investigating the Environmental Aspects of Courtyard in "Late Straits" Eclectic Style Shophouses, George Town, Malaysia

5 METHODOLOGY

This study adopted case studies type of qualitative

research to obtain the findings. For the qualitative

data collection technique, the study adopted

combination of the following; case studies,

observation, secondary sources, architectural

documentation data, and visualising materials

(Creswell, 2013). This was supported by the

architectural detail studies on the Late Straits Eclectic

Style Heritage Shophouse. However, the paucity of

literature in this present study stirred the researchers

to concentrate more on the primary source via photo

shoots. These photos were subsequently analysed in

detailed, which have been missing in past literature in

regard to heritage building shophouse regarding

architectural original environmental aspects of

courtyard. Since the paper focuses on heritage

building shophouses, they are crucial to be

investigated. Therefore, the researchers conducted

this research on three combined shophouses buildings

(3, 5, and 7) built in 1926 respectively. This study

contributed to the environmental aspects study that

reflects the traditional architecture of George Town

Heritage City, Penang. This study carried out the

sustainably of the architectural natural ventilation and

natural lighting.

6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The main issue of this paper is to highlight the lack of

awareness regarding the significance of the

architectural natural ventilation and natural lightning

of the traditional courtyard Late Straits Eclectic Style

shophouses. The courtyard is identified as one of the

main contributors for the conservation and

documentation of the heritage components identity.

However, according to 44 king street report (2016),

the courtyards do come with problems like heavy rain

could make the interior wet, even minor flooding

when air condition became a popular household

electronic device, many owners chose to cover up the

courtyards, losing the natural ventilation, as well as

the natural lightings, causing the courtyard become

dark and damp.

6.1 Cases Studies of the Study 3: Nos.

3, 5 and 7

Nos. 3, 5 and 7 is located in Lorang Ikan along

George Town City, Penang. Figure 3 presents the

architecture style of the shophouses No.3, 5 and 7 and

could be categorised as Late Straits Eclectic Style

based on the design of the façade and Madam Teh a

former tenant of the shophouse No.7 and she

informed the researcher the Nos. 3, 5 and 7 were built

and owned by a Straits Chinese (Peranakan family)

with the surname Wong since 1926. Certainly, the

cases studies of this research are a marvellous

example of Straits Settlements. Tye (2016) affirms

that the style was popular in George Town traditional

shophouses in the early 20th century when the city

was experiencing its prosperous era. However, it is

easily confused with the Early Straits Eclectic Style

as they share similar appearance.

Figure 3: The Façade of the Traditional Courtyard

Shophouses No.3, 5, 7. Source: Field Work

The traditional shophouses are categorised as the Late

Straits Eclectic Style. This is also supported by the

characteristics of the facade as presented in Figure 3.

However, the findings of the study shows that a

common feature from the Early Straits Eclectic Style

– central keystone of the windows arches can be

observed at the facade. This agrees with Ahmed

(1994) and Tan (2015). The authors mentioned that

the shophouses styles could be overlapped with some

of the elements in earlier styles remained.

7 NATURAL VENTILATION

As discussed that the natural ventilation is important

in the shophouses buildings which have long and

narrow forms. The findings show that with effective

ventilation in the buildings, excessive moisture and

odour could be removed while bringing fresh air into

the buildings. Figure 4 shows the cross ventilation

across shophouse No.3 and stack ventilation that

happens at the air well. These agree with Kubota, et

Second

Building

Third

Building

First

Building

ICONARTIES 2019 - 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities

al. (2017). The authors affirm that shophouses

courtyard were originally designed to be fully open to

the sky and is similar to the internal courtyards in

Southern Chinese architecture. Hence, the concept

adapted the local conditions, as the house is long and

narrow. From the observation, the study findings

show that the raised floors allow fresh air to ventilate

underneath and reduce exposure to cold and damp

rising up from the ground.

Figure 4: Ventilation Diagram in shophouse No.3 section.

Source: Adapted and Surveyed by Author

Figure 5: Potted Plants at the Courtyard of shophouse No.5.

Source: Adapted and Surveyed by Author

From the observation as presented in Figure 5

courtyards were utilized as a garden, daylight

element, ventilation system and playground, shows

that almost all the courtyards are utilized as gardens

as well as for daylighting as well as natural air

purposes. These open-to-sky spaces may be

backyards, small air wells and most commonly,

internal courtyards. Depending on their size, these

courtyards may be landscaped spaces for quiet

reflection, places to dry laundry, vents for cooking

fumes or toilet odours or spaces for any number of

household activities.

Referring to Figure 5 as presented from Lot No. 5

courtyard, physical observation shows that the

courtyard functioned to discharge the rain water from

the roof to the sunken well. As water represents

wealth in the Chinese belief - ‘Feng Shui’, the

flowing of rain water into the buildings also

symbolises the accumulation of wealth. This findings

agree with Zwain and Bahauddin (2017). The authors

stated that Chinese strongly believe that water

represents ‘wealth’ and hence they designed drain

pipes in a way to force rainwater flowing around the

house first before being discharged into the drain

outside. This design ensures that wealth (rainwater)

will circulate within the house for a long time spent.

Some families have also constructed an indoor well

to store rainwater, directed from drain pipes. The

outlets of these drain pipes were often moulded into

interesting fish sculptures. Based on the researchers

observation findings disagree with

Zwain and Bahauddin (2017). Authors found that

the outlets of drain pipes were often moulded into

interesting fish sculptures. Hence, courtyard shows

some potted plants at the shophouses No.3, 5 and 7

makes the space greener. Moreover, the first

courtyard area also serves as a recreation place where

families playing mahjong and cherki (card game in

Hokkien) under the void. It leads into the ancestral

hall on the ground floor (Elnokaly& Wong, 2015).

8 NATURAL LIGHTING

The researcher observations observe that the

courtyard plays an important role in providing the

interior with sunlight. Courtyard shutters and

windows are the significant elements that illuminate

the interior during the day. Without them, the long

shophouses have insufficient natural lighting, thus are

required to rely heavily on electrical lighting to

brighten up the interior. The areas nearby the

windows and courtyard received more day light than

the others as presented in Figure 6. As well as, the

observation results also show that the interdependent

relationship between the building and environment is

emphasised by the traditional courtyard shophouses

in George Town revolving around the area elements.

The main building in a courtyard shophouse faces the

sun for sufficient lighting and kitchen, toilet, shower,

and other facilities are located in the backyard. This

findings agree with the perception of statement

Kubota et al (2017). Kubota et al (2017). The authors

stated that courtyard is used mainly for outdoor work.

It also works an important function in providing

sunlight and fresh air to the rooms that face it.

Investigating the Environmental Aspects of Courtyard in "Late Straits" Eclectic Style Shophouses, George Town, Malaysia

Figure 6: Natural lighting diagram in shophouse No.3

section. Source: Adapted and Surveyed by Author

Figure 7: Light Penetrates from the Shutter of Courtyard to

the Inside Shophouse. Source: Adapted and Surveyed by

Author

As previously presented herein, internal courtyards

are effective in securing air flow as well as

daylighting particularly in a deep-plan shophouse. It

was found that a deep (in height), closed internal

courtyard, such as the type shophouse courtyard, is

avoiding excessive humidity, even though cross-

ventilation would increase indoor air temperature to a

certain extent. Therefore, The central design concept

in the shophouse architecture in providing proper

ventilation and lightening as presented in Figure 7,

especially for the tropical climate. That has been

achieved through several elements and techniques

within the whole design of the shophouse building.

The courtyard and its location, as shophouse got

one or in some cases have two courtyards that are to

increase its efficiency as well as could help to conduct

more than one function in same time. The open space

system is also a pivotal design strategy to achieve the

active ventilation and better daylighting inside the

shophouse. Thus, all these factors are auto-integrated

within the building process to form a unified relation

between the natural ventilation and natural lightings

system and all other systems in the courtyard

shophouse architecture.

9 CONCLUSION

The investigation of traditional courtyard shophouses

underlines the great significance and the

environmental contribution of the central courtyard.

The courtyard plays an important role in vernacular

architecture of Heritage city George Town, as it forms

the main channel of natural lighting to the indoor

spaces of the building. Courtyard houses are

described by adaptability to the local climatic

conditions. The existence of courtyards allows the

integration of a series of passive design principles and

thus ensures the optimal building’s thermal

performance approaching conditions closer to human

comfort conditions. Courtyard shophouses cease to be

passive receptors of the climatic conditions but are

designed so as to function efficiently with the

different environmental conditions. In this way, the

sun and the wind are considered positive elements,

defining the geometry and the overall composition of

the shophouses. However, the traditional shophouses

No.3, 5, 7 in Penang, which has been presented in this

paper, were converted into a boutique hotel

shophouses in the heritage area of George Town,

Penang. One can find the original features

architectural identity opening and decorative

elements of the shophouse in these buildings. It would

be great if the appropriate government agencies and

non-government organisation would pay more

attention to these old shophouses around George

Town Heritage City, this is with a view to sustaining

the traditional shophouses components. The resultant

effect of this would be sustainability of the cultural

and place identity for the next generation. Therefore,

the maintenance of the cultural identity of the George

Town Heritage City is pertinent. Thus, cannot be

over-emphasised. It is important that care and

sensitivity should be exercised in repairing existing

openings as well as in designing new ones.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the Universiti

Sains Malaysia for funding this research under the

postgraduate conference fund 2019 the credit also

goes to institute of postgraduate (IPS) studies for

providing facilities to carry out the work.

ICONARTIES 2019 - 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities

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Investigating the Environmental Aspects of Courtyard in "Late Straits" Eclectic Style Shophouses, George Town, Malaysia