ISTANA SERI MENANTI, VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
DCA
40172 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
SITE
INFORMATION
HISTORY
OF ISTANA SERI MENANTI
The
Istana Lama Seri Menanti, is one of the famous landmarks in Kuala Pilah
District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia is made in part of Chengal (Penak) wood
Neobalanocarpus and iron wood or belian wood Eusideroxylon zwageri and held
together using only wooden pegs. The palace took six years to build and was
completed in 1908 at a cost of $45,000.00 at that time. The design has subtle
hints of Minangkabau architecture, has five levels rising to a height of sixty
seven feet or approximately twenty meters high and has ninety nine columns to
support the main structure. Four of the main columns of sixty seven feet are
the Chengal timber that came from Bukit Pergai, Jelebu and is the central
feature of the structure which holds up the apex of the palace, namely the
Treasury Room. The Istana Lama was a replacement for Istana Pulih which was
burned down by British soldiers. The drawings and plans for Istana Lama was
detailed by Mr. Woodford (Public Works Department) based on the designs
provided by two local craftsmen, Kahar and Taib. This palace was used until
1932 after which the Yang Di-Pertuan Besar moved to Istana Besar.
Istana
Lama was used as a religious school between 1959 and 1964, and was unoccupied
until 1992. The Istana Lama has been designated as a national heritage site and
was converted into a Royal Museum on July 14 1992, with the consent of and
officiated by HRH Tuanku Ja'afar the Yang Di-Pertuan Besar at the time. It is
currently closed to the public to facilitate repairs and upgrading works which
is expected to be completed in 2020.
CLIMATE
NATUTAL VENTILATION
Environmental
factors in the sustainable design of Istana Lama Seri Menanti include both
construction materials, methods and passive design elements. Passive designs
for Istana Seri Menanti include sun shading and veranda,
natural ventilation louvers and openings for natural lightings.
The
mid-rise four-storey building also allows for the release of heat through the
upper floors and the cooling of the lower floors through natural ventilations.
Ventilated roof space helps to cool the palace
ROOF
Istana
seri menanti using large overhang roof and also respond to climate design in
Malaysia using sun shading device at at verendah from using decorative carving
’kerawang’ to reduce glare, sun light and rain. Large roof is eaves for
effective sun shading
MATERIAL
TIMBER
In
building the whole structure of the palace, the chengal timber was chosen as it
is known to be hardy, long-lasting and highly durable to withstand the heat and
and heavy rain of tropical weather.
However for its roof, the shingle roofing was made from belian wood
(Borneo ironwood) which was taken from Sarawak.
It is one of the special characteristics of belian wood - made into roof shingles.
Istana
Seri Menanti was built with the skills and expertise of the local Tukang as
vernacular architecture in Negeri Sembilan were commonly found to be more than
one storey high. Hence, the construction of a vertical timber palace was
plausible with their expertise and skills in Negeri Sembilan and not found
elsewhere in Malaysia. Furthermore, Chinese contractors were hired to help with
the construction. Thus some Chinese influences could be found in the design of
the palace particularly some of the
woodcarvings
found on the beams of the palace.
TECHNOLOGY
CONSTRUCTION
The
construction of this timber palace was done without using a single piece of
metal nail or screw. As a common
practice in the construction of timber structure traditional way, the
construction method adopted in jointing the main frame of the building is called
tebuk pasak in Malay (mortise and tenon) while the wooden panels were pieced
together using wooden dowels and rivets instead of metal nails or screws.
SIZE
AND SPEND BEAM AND COLUMN
The
entire structure was raised on 121 pillars.
Among the 121 pillars, there are four central pillars (tiang seri in
Malay) at the centre which rise up to the top (fourth) floor from ground level.
The four main pillars were made up of four single piece of chengal tree trunk
measuring 51.8 meter (170 feet) in height and 340mm by 340mm. The rest of the
pillars measures 190mm x 190mm.
SOCIAL
AND CULTURE
FLOOR
PLAN LAYOUT DESIGN
• The first floor is a
semi-public area where the Yang di-Pertuan Besar granted audiences to the
chieftains and the commoners. The courtiers would first have to assemble
at a tiny room representing the waiting room at the entrance to the palace,
before taking their places on the veranda. The ruler sat at one end of
the veranda on a raised platform and on the other end sat the local chiefs. The
courtiers were seated on both sides, lining the length of the 160-foot-long
veranda. This floor comprised four bedrooms for his children and a
dining/reception area for the royal families.
• The second floor is the private
area and comprises three bedrooms for the royal family including the Yam Tuan's
bedroom
• The third floor comprises only
one room which was reserved for the Yam Tuan's private room
• The topmost fourth floor is
known as the Tingkat Gunung, or Mountain Level, and once served as the ruler’s
study and treasury, where only he could ascend. It was believed that Tuanku
Muhammad Shah would watch his people toil in their rice fields during the day
and enjoyed performances such as the chaklempong at night from this topmost
floor
MALAY TRADITION
Contrary to popular belief that its architectural style was influenced by Minangkabau architecture, more recent studies found out that it is actually Negeri Sembilan Malay architecture, Seri Menanti Palace royal museum antiquities curator, that the architecture of the palace and the town was not Minangkabau but actually that of the Negeri Sembilan Malays. She added that the function of the palace followed the Malay tradition of having a serambi (main verandah), rumah ibu (main house), gajah menyusur or the way to the kitchen, all of which were absent in Minangkabau heritage. She said the fact had been uncovered following extensive research by local historians.
CONCLUSION
In
conclusion, Istana Lama Seri Menanti which was constructed using only timber
without the reinforcements of nails is a unique 20th century traditional Malay
royal palace. While other timber palaces were built earlier in the 1800s, Istana
Lama Seri Menanti was built as a permanent palace of residence for the
royalties during which masonry palaces were already being built extensively
around
Malaysia.
The palace which was designed to be symmetrical throughout is another unique factor which separates it from other timber palaces in Malaysia. The verticality of the palace’s image provides a grandeur architecture which can be seen from afar and differentiates itself from any other traditional Malay royal palaces. More information is needed in determining the influences on the architecture of Istana Lama Seri Menanti. This research is still ongoing, and further findings will be developed into more discussions in the future.
REFERENCE
http://myheritagebuildings.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-old-palace-of-seri-menanti-one-of.html
http://agarakutidaklupa.blogspot.com/2015/09/jalan-jalan-negeri-sembilan-part-02.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istana_Seri_Menanti
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Vertical-Plan-of-Istana-Lama-Seri-Menanti_fig5_317114998
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mzabdullah/43069710594
https://moam.info/science-technology-pertanika-journal-universiti-putra-malaysia_5b84ee9f097c47bd6f8b467d.html
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