Travelogue: Terengganu Blog 2 (27th May 2022) : “Timber in Heritage Conservation” by Arkitek Nasharudin di Arkitek Punca Cipta

“Timber in Heritage Conservation” by Arkitek Nasharudin di Arkitek Punca Cipta

Location: At the home of Arkitek Nasharudin and Arkitek Norhayati 

Pulau Gajah wooden Mosque

As a first thing at Arkitet Nasha's house, we were served with dinner, with a lots of home cooked food. It was a good welcoming gesture also in celebration of Hari Raya. The area which the dialogue was held was a bit small to accommodate 40 people in it, but the way host treated us just made us forget about the space. However, since I was sitting in the second last row, I could not really catch all of the dialogue. I will try to explain further what I could extract from the session.

We were given information on Taiping Market conservation projects, Pulau Gajah wooden Mosque, Kota Bharu and the UMK cafeteria project by Mr. Medalishah.

Dinner being served

On going information session

Ar.Nasha speaking

Information about Pulau Gajah wooden Mosque

Among this, the Pulau Gajah wooden mosque was quite interesting. This mosque is located in Kota Bahru which is a fishermen's area. As this mosque was located in a lake side, the concept of the mosque was to design to represent a fisherman's net thrown into the river. Furthermore, initially solar panels were proposed to be installed on the roof of the mosque. However, later the panels were installed on the cover of the carpark instead as it kind of interrupted the design of the mosque roof. 

The 5 sides of the mosque represents the 5 pillars of islam. The interior had bamboo weavings and ayats from quran carved on the wood, to allow light penetration and create a better air flow.

Pulau Gajah wooden Mosque and the reflection of concept derivation

 

The workmanship and the traditional way of problem solving is very innovative. And I think that whatever techniques we use these days to solve problems is just a modern approach to traditional methods. For example the wood carvings used for ventilation and lighting could be reflected into the skylight and stack effects these days. The concept is the same but the approach had to be different as we have multiple story buildings in modern world.