COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een huis met een dak en wanden van atap Molukken TMnr 10011491

An attap dwelling is traditional housing found in the kampongs of

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Named after the attap palm, which provides the

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa **''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia **Black wattle, c ...

for the walls, and the leaves with which their roofs are thatched, these dwellings can range from huts to substantial houses. Until the nineteenth century even significant public buildings such as

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

s were built in this manner. The attap dwelling was used as the inspiration for the natural cross ventilation system for Newton Suites, by WOHA Architects, Singapore.

References

Sources

Normand-Prunieres, Helene. 'Malaysian Dwellings', ''Proceedings of ENHR International Housing Conference 2004'', (Cambridge: University, 2004)
House types Architecture in Indonesia Architecture in Malaysia Architecture in Singapore {{house-type-stub