Exploring the Rumah Kutai: adaptati̇on of the Malaysi̇an garden concept criteria

Standard global design criteria for public parks include sustainability, user comfort, aesthetic value, safety, and cultural relevance. The National Landscape Department (NLD) has identified eight design criteria for developing the Malaysian Garden Concept (MGC). The MGC sets out to integrate essential garden features for both aesthetic and environmental harmony, but the spatial limitations of Rumah Kutai compounds and established living norms present difficulties in integrating these criteria. This study aims to analyse the existing landscape design of Rumah Kutai's external space using the MGC criteria and the observation method as a research instrument. The selected Kutai houses are in the Perak Tengah District. The results show that while the architecture and culture of a Rumah Kutai compound underlies concern for traditional Malay life-ways and environmental adaptation strategies, an inflexible application of MGC criteria without regard to customary practices differs from those at ecosystems level with general consideration to natural system complexity. Takeaways suggest that it is not design constraints but residents adhering to preexisting norms that challenge the MGC, implicating culture over codification. The research also finds that although the MGC provides a good measure of garden aesthetics and sustainability, it may not apply directly to Rumah Kutai due to its socio-cultural context.