Ja'afar Nor Haslina

• Bachelor of Architecture (Part 2); Master and PhD in Urban Design
• Lecturer at National University of Malaysia

Street art, which originally stems from graffiti, has evolved into a powerful medium that has a significant impact on the cultural and physical landscape of heritage cities. “Literature Review on the Physical Characteristics of Heritage Cities from the Perspective of Street Art Design,” will explore the various roles played by street art in urban e...

Semi-open space is a special architectural space form between indoor and outdoor, which has the functions of transition, climate regulation and energy saving. Effective use of semi-open space is an important ecological strategy in adapting to the climatic conditions of traditional dwellings in Tai Lake region of China. However, it has been shown th...

The Architecture Design Course 1 (KKSB1116) is the main subject course for the Bachelor of Architecture Science (BSc Arch) program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). This course is offered in the first semester of year one and it is fundamental to the process of producing architectural design. The application of an experimental learning style...

Ecologically conscious technology is a fast-developing domain centring around novel scientific and technical approaches that bring advantages to the planet. Commonly known as “sustainable technology”, this field is committed to conserving our natural resources. Therefore, urban Friendliness spaces are essential to all users as it stands as a public...

In the process of developing cities and regions, traditional Chinese architecture has been destroyed to a certain extent and the existing traditional architecture has become particularly precious. There is a contradiction within the modernization development phases and the protection of traditional architecture. To find a sustainable development wa...

The formation of Pekan Papan, one of the old tin mining towns in the Kinta Valley, Perak, is closely related with the development of economic activities that show the development of mixed culture between races in Malaysia. This scenario can be seen through the creation of buildings surrounded by the landscape of the mining area tin, planned urban s...

Historic urban areas are a crucial component of urban heritage, embodying the collective memory of urban development and possessing distinctive urban textures and cultural attributes. However, the growing impact of globalization on the urban environment poses challenges to historic urban areas, including diminishing social recognition, aging infras...

In urban design, streets are one of the important elements that function as public spaces, especially in Malaysia. The image of a street reflects the time as well as demonstrates the image of the city. Hence, a street with a strong sense of safety and walkability, simultaneously contributes to the similarity of the character of the place. However,...

In ensuring competitiveness and employability, architectural graduates nowadays have been observed to acquire new skills to complement their conventional architectural trainings. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the hard and soft skills acquired by the architectural students via the architectural design project requirements, which is al...

Streets are the most public of all city spaces and are utilised by all users. Therefore, activities are vital in persuading people to use the streets and in presenting the image of the city. The relation between people’s ages and the used activities of the commercial streets has declined due to the poor physical environments in the local context. S...

Streets are one of the vital components of an urban form that supports the city dwellers’ public and private activities. Therefore, the purpose of attraction is necessary for persuading people to use the street and presenting the image of the city. Thus, the problem statement of this paper is that attractiveness of the shopping street decreases due...

The traditional village is one of the urban design typologies where its survival depends on its success in attracting people. The number of people visiting an area can be considered as one of the factors used in assessing the overall success of a place. However, due to rapid urbanisation, the unique character of traditional villages in urban areas...

This study aims to examine the impact of user sensory stimuli aspects (comfort, passive and active engagements, relaxation, and discovery) on the efficient use of urban squares in Erbil, Iraq, through public interaction. A questionnaire survey (298 respondents) was employed to collect users’ opinions and was validated through expert interviews (13...

Current approaches applied in the historical analysis on the morphological evolution of early Malay towns primarily focused on describing how cities were formed and transformed without much emphasis on how they can be analysed. Considering cities as urban organisms experiencing rapid growth, achieving a sustainable urban transition would be impossi...

Rapid development has affected the elements of urban spaces adversely, particularly streets. These changes produce faceless cities with high dependency on vehicles for transportation to key ‘consumers’ aside from buildings that are not designed for the local environment and local needs. In urban design, concerns on character affect the sense of pla...

This paper deals with the historical overview of the castles and forts and what are the rules and foundations on which they arose. Castles constitute tourist attractions at the global and local levels as well as studying the variables and elements of spatial organization, in addition to the concepts of urban development strategies for historical re...

Streets are an important element of freely accessible public space and constitute the most significant manifestation of the public domain. They exist to cater for the social and leisure requirements of the public and have a positive association with economic development, public physical well-being and help establish an environment of communal bondi...

Streets are an important element of freely accessible public space and constitute the most significant manifestation of the public domain. They exist to cater for the social and leisure requirements of the public and have a positive association with economic development, public physical well-being and help establish an environment of communal bondi...

Urban squares, also known as public open spaces, are places where everyone with any social status can visit. Such spaces are recognised and identified as the heart of the cities. In Iraq, the square is not as dominant as a street such as 'souq', maybe because of the geographical factors such as weather and the design aspect. This shows the need for...

This article articulates a framework suitable to use when making a decision about student seating arrangement in the classroom at school level as a research aim. The decision makers should establish what are the potential types of seating arrangement? Then evaluate them in terms of its contribution, significance, and impact to the student learning...

Two types of epiphytic lichens, Parmotrema tinctorum and Usnea diffracta were evaluated as a bioindicator for acculumation of heavy metals in Parit Raja and BatuPahat, in southern Peninsular Malaysia. The transplant technique was applied in this study by insisting lichens into a nylon bag and hung 2-3 meters above the ground at the selected study a...

Purpose Teaching and learning processes are conducted formally in a classroom as the main learning space for schooling system, where it should be implemented effectively to achieve a desired level of satisfaction and comfort for the students. To encourage and sustain students’ motivation for continuous learning, specifically at secondary school lev...

The square is one of the major constituent element of open public space in urban design. It is seen as the core of a city which functions as a focal point in the public space network, providing a space for the community social interaction. However, many of the new public spaces in the 20th century has been a void setting and unsuccessful to create...

Square is an element of urban space, an expression of public open spaces. It has been identified as the heart of cities, giving them an identity of place and a uniqueness of character. This paper seeks to determine the important environmental design attributes that influence user social activity in the square as urban space. The study adopts a quan...

Abstract. Illuminance in spaces is important criteria in rating building performance. These also a strategy to develop some passive design criteria to meet the occupant visual comfort. The aim of this study is to investigate the fluctuation of the illuminance level and the impact of daylighting in an optimum performance zone. This study also invest...

Malaysia heritage buildings are the country's architectural gems. Among them is the religious building such as mosque. The Malaysia heritage mosque is normally built in response to the local culture and environment. Unlike most of Malaysia modern mosques where air conditioning is opted as ventilation mode, the heritage mosques achieve indoor therma...

The street as a public space plays an essential role in representing the character of a city. Therefore, it is vital to create streets that are pedestrian friendly. However, rapid urbanisation has increased reliance on motorised modes of transport, especially in developing countries. This has created urban street environments unfriendly for walking...

Today, street functioning as social arena is less sensitive towards designing a continuity of building appearance in terms of building signage design, thus creating an unattractive setting. The design of building signage nowadays that does not consider the whole context of the street and human scale aspects has created a chaotic ambience. Thus, thi...

Fabric of a town is an accumulation of historical scenes. Historic towns are regarded as a treasured inheritance. Royal towns in Malaysia is significant to unique heritage identity. Streets in royal town are significant urban elements that indicates the characteristics and attributes of a setting that define their physical and functional aspects. T...

Students learning in educational institutions is associated with classroom environment which normally equipped with physical aspects consists of furniture, air-conditioning, fan, lamp, whiteboard, soft board and etc. The effectiveness and efficiency of learning process in the classroom may not be measured only through the students’ ability and capa...

Mosque is one of the important civic building because it's function as a community space and fulfill the spiritual need of community. The presence of historical mosque in our urban traditional area not only present an important function but also a unique of architectural style. However, the important function of it is still lacking in terms of acce...

Illuminance in spaces is important criteria in rating building performance. These also a strategy to develop some passive design criteria to meet the occupant visual comfort. The aim of this study is to investigate the fluctuation of the illuminance level and the impact of daylighting in an optimum performance zone. This study also investigates the...

Streets are the most ubiquitous public spaces, serving a multitude of functions which tied to an extremely narrow range of historical, geographical and cultural settings. Streets record and determine the history of city form, more than any other element of the urban infrastructure. It has attributors in making it a successful street with its own un...

Fast expanding of urban development changes the street function and gives priority for vehicles, which effects the urban fabric and cultural life of the city. It makes walking in the street difficult and uncomfortable. Hence, this research aims to explore the influence of landscape features towards comfort character of traditional streets in Amman,...

Fast expanding of urban development changes the street function and gives priority for vehicles, which effects the urban fabric and cultural life of the city. It makes walking in the street difficult and uncomfortable. Hence, this research aims to explore the influence of landscape features towards comfort character of traditional streets in Amman,...

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an essential matter in achieving students' satisfaction for the learning process. Building's orientation is a factor that may encourage sufficient natural ventilation for the classroom occupants. Inadequate ventilation is an issue for most existing classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the accuracy of natur...

The aim of this paper is to explore the landscape features that contribute towards the character of a successful traditional street environment. The case study was conducted on three streets in Melaka Historical City, namely, Tukang Besi Street, Tukang Emas Street and Tokong Street. Mixed-method was used in this study that involved visual survey, d...

The exponential growth of the population and development comes in hand with excessive use of natural resources which leads to the depletion of the non-renewable material. The main goal of this Solar Decathlon Solar Home competition is to select the best home, which can be assembled within 10 days in the desert climate. The solution of four issues w...

Street as a social arena plays an essential role in representing the character of a city, thus it is important to create a street with a friendly walkable environment. Therefore, this study is aimed to determine the heritage building conditions that contribute towards the walkable environment in traditional streets in Melaka Historical City, Malays...

The street as a public space plays an essential role in representing the character of a city. Therefore, it is vital to create streets that are pedestrian friendly. However, rapid urbanisation has increased reliance on motorised modes of transport, especially in developing countries. This has created urban street environments unfriendly for walking...

Strong family ties built on the teachings of Quran and Sunnah produce excellent foundation in forming a household which are constantly under the protection and blessing of Allah and in turn contribute to the overall health of a community. A dwelling filled with the remembrance of Allah will no doubt find an aura of peace and tranquility. This is ca...

The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) has outline steps to achieve sustainable development and environmentally friendly starting year 2014 which stipulated that all faculties and offices building to be incorporated with sustainable design features and occupants awareness toward energy efficiency building. However, the questions on the existing...

Strong family ties built on the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah produce excellent foundation in forming a household which are constantly under the protection and blessing of Allah and in turn contribute to the overall health of a community. A dwelling filled with the remembrance of Allah will no doubt find an aura of peace and tranquillity. This...

The accessibility of street as a social arena that fulfils the need for people with disabilities (PwDs) is an important consideration in the urban design of an area. With the rising number of PwDs in Malaysia, this aspect of street design is even more critical. This paper evaluates the accessibility level of sidewalk along Jalan Hang Jebat, Melaka...

The accessibility of street as a social arena that fulfils the need for people with disabilities (PwDs) is an important consideration in the urban design of an area. With the rising number of PwDs in Malaysia, this aspect of street design is even more critical. This paper evaluates the accessibility level of sidewalk along Jalan Hang Jebat, Melaka...

Strong family ties built on the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah produce excellent foundation in forming a household which are constantly under the protection and blessing of Allah and in turn contribute to the overall health of a community. A dwelling filled with the remembrance of Allah will no doubt find an aura of peace and tranquillity. This...

Anthropometry and ergonomic are the basic knowledge of design in the process of creating a functional and innovative humanistic products. The purpose of this study was to assess the nderstanding of the aspects of anthropometry and ergonomic as a fundamental knowledge of design among the first year UKM architecture students. This measure was admini...

The objective of this paper is to determine the landscape features that contribute towards the character of the traditional street environment. The case study was conducted at three streets in Melaka, namely; Tukang Besi Street, Tukang Emas Street and Tokong Street. Mixed methods were used in this study which involved visual survey, direct observat...

Apart form playing the most role as channel for communication, the street also generates outdoor activities that are vital for the visual introduction of the urban dwellers. This paper will discuss on physical and transportation elements in traditional street in attracting visitor as perceived by users. Kuala Lumpur city centre was chosen as a case...

Nowadays, much of the discussion on traditional streets centers on how the design of modern streets disrupts the character of the traditional street. Observations indicate that this is due to the rapid and uncontrolled development of the cities. Neverthereless, there are characters of the traditional streets that are often remembered when visiting...