The typologies of block and unit plan in Malaysian apartments - Focused on middle cost houses supplied by the private sector

Abstract

Most Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, have experienced rapid industrialization, after which their people started to acquire high standards of living and began to pay attention to the quality of housing. Apartments are a housing typology imported from Western culture, and this housing type has had a strong impact on the people who were very familiar with the landed properties such as terrace houses, detached houses and semi-detached houses. This type has also affected their urban lifestyle. In Malaysia, apartments are supplied by the public and private sectors. Apartment planning supplied by the public sector is very simple and uniform. However, apartment planning supplied by the private sector has demonstrated an improvement in residents' living conditions and better response to their housing needs and requirements. For these reasons, this study focuses on the apartments supplied by the private sector. The authors selected 34 housing precincts in Kuala Lumpur for this study, and analyzed their site plans, block plans, and unit plans in order to extract their representative typologies. As a result, the authors could understand the unique characteristics of apartment planning in Malaysia, and ultimately, were able to grasp its essential housing needs and the regional characteristics of Malaysian apartment planning.