Usability Brief for Shopping Mall Asset Enhancement Initiative (AEI) Project in Klang Valley, Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to review the two attributes, usability and architectural, in order to develop a usability brief for shopping mall asset enhancement initiative (AEI) project. An exploratory sequential mixed method approach is undertaken, with the initial phase, a qualitative study using secondary data and focus group with the facility management team. The output from the qualitative phase is used to prepare a survey of 89 items. A pilot study of 15 participants is carried out to validate reliability of the items using SPSS. The questionnaire items are found to be reliable; hence, the survey can be used as a tool to gauge a larger sample. This paper presents an overview of a doctoral research by the main author and it provides the initial concepts for the undertaking of the research study.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF PERAK MALAY ‘KAMPUNG’ ELEMENTS TO THE MALAYSIAN GARDEN CONCEPT (MGC): IMPACT ON NATIONAL IDENTITY

'Kampung' is a place that is very closely related to the Malay community in Malaysia. It is a place the Malays adapt to their real life. The elements of landscape and garden that intend to be highlighted are found to be unatrractive to designers. The image and identity of features are no longer a priority for the homeowners to inherit. The objective of this study is to identify the garden elements that abide by the Malaysian Garden Concept's (MGC) basic guidelines in the environment of traditional Perak 'kampung' houses. . This study emphasizes qualitative methods that lead to site observations and interviews. The study was conducted on 71 traditional houses in Perak. The findings indicate that most of the 'kampung' landscape elements do not significantly impact supporting guidelines by the National Landscape Department (NLD).

UPCYCLING JUNK ART AND CRAFT MODULE TO NURTURE CREATIVITY OF CHILDREN

Up-cycling is a sustainable alternative incorporating the prevalent 3Rs of Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce of used items in campaigns to save the environment. The ‘DIY Art and Craft Activity Module’ is used as a scaffolding tool to enhance environmental awareness and its impact among primary school children through Visual Arts Education. This research utilised the Design Development Research Method (DDR) comprising of three phases namely; Phase 1: Needs Analysis, Phase 2: Design and Development, and Phase 3: Implementation and Evaluation. The data was collected by interviewing Visual Art teachers on the usability of the module and document analysis on the collection of artworks produced by students. Findings of this study demonstrated positive feedback from the teachers and students on the usability of the Junk Art module as supplementary learning material in order to enhance recycling awareness among Primary School students through Visual Art Education.

THERMAL-DAYLIGHTING BALANCE THROUGH BUILDING SHADING DEVICES: A REVIEW ON FACTORS AND METHODS

Daylighting is interpreted as natural sunlight allowed into an indoor space. Passive lighting strategies are considered fundamental in achieving a high performing sustainable building, which affects the visual and thermal comfort, and energy performance of a building. Many strategies in controlling daylighting are known, however, the wrong implementation can lead to a negative effect. The results obtained need to reach a balance between daylighting and thermal performance. This review is conducted to analyse the concept and factors that affect the balance through different research parameters. The performance factors include energy, comfort and perception or view. The different methods of achieving the balance are categorized into three, which are parameter relation, combination, and multi-objective optimization. Building shading devices are considered as one of the major solutions to reach thermal-daylighting balance. Through a comprehensive review, adjustable shading control is recommended as a better option for building shading device for buildings to achieve the optimum balance.

DETERMINING TOURIST’S CARRYING CAPACITY BASED ON ECOLOGICAL APPROACH IN TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PARK, MALAYSIA

ARTICLE INFO Article History: Received: 9/3/21 Accepted: 19/4/21 Published: 31 Dec 21 Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (TARP) is a Marine Protected Area (MPA) and a famous tourist destination in Sabah. The possible long-term negative impacts on the ecology and sustainability of the Park due to the very high number of tourists is of much concern to the Park management authority. This study was conducted to determine the ecological and tourism carrying capacity in three islands in TARP, Manukan, Mamutik and Sapi islands. The Effective Carrying Capacity (ECC) concept is applied in this study, in which the results are expected to provide the Park Authority with data and effective management actions. Calculation of carrying capacity in this study was based on three distinct visiting patterns or seasons: i) Regular season; ii) High season, and iii) Festive season in order to ensure optimal tourists' satisfaction and revenue, while still maintaining ecological sustainability. ECC was calculated after considering the various limitations imposed by physical, climate, ecological, and management capabilities. Land and ocean areas were considered and calculated separately as they occupied different variables. Our findings showed that Manukan island recorded the highest ECC, while Mamutik and Sapi island shared almost similar ECC value. Optimization of Carrying Capacity (CC) in different seasons was also achieved with a few Correction Factor (CF) adjustments. It shows that Festive season recorded the highest ECC, followed by High Season and Regular Season. The ECC obtained was suggested to be implemented to TARP management as to preserve and sustain the ecological value of the Park.

URBAN COMMUTERS’ EXPECTATION LEVELS ON THE e-VTOL VERTICAL AIRPORT DESIGN IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

The world’s urban dwellers are rapidly growing by 60.3% over six decades (1960-2019) (The World Bank Group, 2020), and two third of the world’s population is projected to reside in the urban setting by 2050. The same issue occurred in Malaysia, where the shifting from 73% rural to 73% urban population is real (Mohd Hussain, N. H.; Byrd, H.; & Ahmad, N. A., 2017), and this phenomena contributed to the increasing number of population in big cities such as Kuala Lumpur. Therefore, it is expected that the existing challenging traffic congestion will worsen if a better traffic dissemination planning strategy is not developed. Hence, the development of an e-VTOL (electrical vertical take-off landing) vehicle is a possible strategy to ease the urban traffic congestion problem. Serious collaboration among the departments such as planning, engineering, architecture, aviation developers, policy makers, and the sponsors, is important to establish sustainable future urban mobility and connectivity. This study aims to obtain information on the needs and expectations of urban commuters on the development of a vertiport in the city of Kuala Lumpur. A series of surveys involving 157 commuters using public transportation within the city centre, and a case study analysis, were conducted to gain an understanding of the viability of building a vertiport in Kuala Lumpur. Initially, findings show that nearly 50% of the respondents totally agree with the proposed development idea, while approximately 13% are really against this future urban air mobility strategy.

THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: A PERSPECTIVE FROM CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS

In recent years, internet usage and social media have been widely used in Malaysia, the construction industry is one of the industries that are not excluded from this technological trend. This research intended to identify the benefits and challenges of social media in the construction industry among the construction professionals particularly in the northern region area. To identify the usage, the benefit and challenges of social media were also determined in the construction industry whereby it also reflects how far construction professionals rely on social media in their daily works. This research uses quantitative approach in order to collect data via questionnaires distribution from construction professionals. The results revealed that, most of the construction companies agreed that social media provides more advantages and benefits than challenges in the construction industry. This research provides significant data for construction professionals regarding the effectiveness of social media platform particularly in disseminating information for daily communication in construction projects.

AN ASSESSMENT OF TOURIST KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS LEVEL TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT IN TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PARK, MALAYSIA

Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (TARP) is the first Marine Protected Area gazetted in Sabah, Malaysia in 1974. It is also one of the most famous tourist destinations in Sabah which experiences a high anthropogenic disturbance that could create major damage in the long run if not properly managed. TARP has been flooded by tourists receiving more than 500,000 tourists in 2018 and 2019. It is clear that tourism activity in TARP is one of the major contributions to anthropogenic disturbance. Therefore, it is essential for tourists to have a high level of awareness to conduct sustainable and eco-friendly tourism activity. In this study, we assessed the level of awareness and knowledge of the marine environment among tourists in TARP. Briefings by tour guides or companies were also assessed. Overall, results showed a low awareness level among tourists in TARP. This is somehow related to the fact that the briefing score by tour companies was low and only focused on promoting their company. TARP authority should implement a standard 5-minute video on the marine environment and assign more signage on the island in an effort to raise awareness among tourists.

DIAGNOSING TIMBER DEFECTS IN TRADITIONAL MALAY HOUSE: A CASE STUDY OF TOK ABU BAKAR ALANG KETAK (TABAK)

Timber traditional houses can bring a significant image of Malaysian built environment heritage. Indeed, it is one of the most valuable treasures that must be sustained for future global reference thus, the building owner and the professional must undertake the responsibility to ensure that these assets are in good condition and safe for its occupants. This paper aims to identify the nature of timber defects that occurred in Tok Abu Bakar Alang Ketak House. Two research objectives had been established (i) to identify the types of timber defects and (ii) to determine the causes of the occurrence of the defects. A mixed-method approach was adopted. The building inspection was carried out from the external to the internal of the building through a grid number from the building plan. All timber defects for each building element were recorded in the conditional survey form. The data were analysed using frequency analysis to measure the frequency of the defects occurring. The findings suggest that with a proper methodology in place, there is much that can be learned from studying the cause of the defect. It will provide some insights to the owner/caretaker in planning to repair for replacement work in order to sustain the house.

ASSESSMENTS OF STORYTELLING INTERPRETIVE PANEL AT HERITAGE SITE: A CASE STUDY OF VISITORS’ EXPERIENCE AT DATARAN MEDAN BANDAR, ALOR SETAR, KEDAH DARUL AMAN

The aim of this study is to find out the existing ‘realities’ on storytelling at heritage sites. The gap is visitor’s expectation between storytelling presentation versus perception of heritage visitors. There were instances in the country whereby misrepresentation and/or inappropriate descriptive information in storytelling has resulted in visitors experiencing disappointment, disorientation, and ignorance of heritage significance. The researchers decided to investigate further on this and had selected a site for case study that was the Dataran Medan Bandar, Alor Setar, Kedah Darul Aman. A sequential mixed methodology was employed. The study began with literature review, site inventory and observation activities in order to obtain qualitative information. This was followed by visitors’ survey and a semi-structured interview with stakeholders to obtain their views on historical and cultural values to validate the quantitative data findings. The explanatory factor analysis was used to analyse the data and the results showed that over 40% of total respondents perceived ‘storytelling’ as extremely important attributes of heritage interpretation during the visit. In terms of the post-experience, the results showed that 18% of the respondents proclaimed of having ‘dissatisfied experience’ after reading the description on interpretive signage, with ‘uninteresting storytelling’ being the main reason. Almost half of total respondents (49%) believe that improvement of ‘Storytelling Content Creation’ was needed at the Dataran Medan Bandar. It is hoped that the findings obtained are expected to inspire conservation stakeholders to start making ‘heritage interpretation’ as a top priority when designing interpretative signs at heritage sites.