Walking with monsopiad: applying cullen’s serial vision to spatial storytelling at monsopiad cultural village, Penampang Sabah

The Monsopiad Cultural Village in Penampang, Sabah, an iconic heritage site, conserves the history of Monsopiad a legendary Kadazan-Dusun warrior whose legend symbolizes the elements of cultural identity, cultural memory and values in the community. Despite the large amount of artifacts, ritual spaces and traditional architecture found in the village, the interpretation of heritage is dependent largely upon museum-like exhibitions, signage and guided commentary. Spatial sequencing as a narrative tool has not been fully leveraged, which means that visitors are not immersed in the location and the cultural story is still fragmented by the use of space sequences in Monsopiad Cultural Village. Hence, this study aims to interpret Monsopiad’s legacy by examining how spatial sequences in the village create heritage narratives through Cullen’s Serial Vision, with objectives to map the sequential experience, to to evaluate visitor perception at key checkpoints, and interpret how spatial sequences contribute to heritage storytelling. The mixed-method approach will be employed, including qualitative observations of the site across ten thematic checkpoints, semi-structured interviews with the expert participants and the non-expert ones and a visitor perception survey, where 23 respondents will take part in during the month of November and December 2025. The results were conditioned by spatial qualities as proposed by Cullen principles of possession, looking, and linking and joining and visitor perceptions of clarity, emotional involvement and identification with the culture.The results suggest that confined and visually regulated spaces, especially, the Skull House are effective to express the intensity and importance of narratives and identification with culture. Open and transitional spaces, on the contrary, do not have the anticipation, visual layering, and spatial continuity, which lead to the impaired narrative flow. The survey findings reveal that sequential flow and visual legitimacy can play a crucial role in the comprehension of the story of Monsopiad by the visitors, and interviews present the argument that a carefully considered spatial transition, visual sequence, and immersive interpretation can be applied to contribute to the sustainable tourism of the related cultural site.