Micro Housing: Typological study and implementation in Malaysia

Abstract

The micro-housing project introduced by Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) has received cynical rumours amongst the B40 income group due to its impracticality, thus suggesting that micro-housing standard is misinterpreted and simplified. As such, this paper intends to investigate the potentiality of ideal micro-housing that is suitable for the Malaysian context, specifically for the B40 community. Based on a bottom-up approach, this research divides into the micro and macro study. In the micro-study, the focus is specifically on the typological design of micro-housing. Hence this leads to a macro context, which developed the typological analysis in regards to the regional cultural influence. In thoroughly, from seven (7) international precedents, micro-housing can be formulated into four main typologies that include Box, Mobile, Machine, and Props type. These typologies incline towards two (2) cultural domains, namely Possession Domesticity, which demonstrates Westerners influence through technological advancement and Transience Domesticity that portrays Orientalist influenced by the mixture of practicality and human psychology. These attributes tested in three (3) local micro-housing projects that consist of two prototypes by local architect and a built micro-housing project by DBKL. The result shows that both prototypes are potentially ideal. However, DBKL’s built project demonstrated a minimal standard of appropriate micro-housing living. It founds that the lack of axiological human needs may lead to a degradation of values and behaviour. Thus, it significantly recommends that the projects reconsider of adapting the psychological needs for the betterment of its user’s living.