Accommodating the Muslim Women Privacy (Hijab) Requirements with Ventilation Needs in Malaysian Terrace Houses

There is a conflict in the design of a tropical house when it comes to ventilation and privacy requirements. This situation is seen more acute in modern terrace houses in Malaysia. This study seeks to find a layout guideline that balances between the required ventilation and female privacy in Malaysian terrace houses. The Islamic principles have been discussed to find out the privacy requirements. The result shows that the privacy has different degrees, and spaces of a house can be divided into three separate areas: public area, semi-private area and private area. The principles of planning for building in tropical climate have been discussed to find out ventilation requirements. Iranian traditional rural and urban houses have been studied to analyze how privacy and ventilation were considered in their design and to observe if these results could be applied to Malaysian houses. A study of the traditional and typical housing types of Malaysian terrace houses had been done to analyze the adaptation to privacy and ventilation. The result shows that terrace houses could not provide complete privacy and some factors of traditional adaptation can be applied in new terrace house designs. A case study was conducted to evaluate the preferences of Malay women for privacy and to find the visual and physical space relationship in the house. The result indicates that terrace houses are not designed according to Malay women preferences. The result of the study shows that it is possible to have a suitable layout that balances between the required ventilation and the female privacy in Malaysian terrace houses by considering a review and rearrangement of terrace house unit floor.

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