A Study on Physical Character of Building Facades for Traditional and New Shop House Typo-Morphology in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur

The urbanization process of townships resulted in increased population needs and a change in old to modern lifestyles. Infrastructure development in old urban centers around the world is also growing rapidly over time. The process of the uncontrolled development of the morphology of the old city has greatly changed the pattern of the urban fabric, especially the buildings of the shophouses, as well as changing the physical character of the building facades as well as the overall design quality of the urban landscape. The renovation of the shophouse building to a more modern construction creates a building typology that is not responsive to the urban fabric and local context. The difference in typology has influenced the importance of the physical character of an area to the quality of its design. Many researchers and figures in the field of urbanization argue that the changing typology of new buildings due to this uncontrolled phase of urban morphology leaves various adverse impacts on the urban fabric and communities within the city. This paper aims to identify and analyze the physical character of the facades of old shophouses and new shophouses that affect the row of shophouse typologies that change according to the township’s timeline. The study area is located in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman where a block of buildings consisting of several shops was chosen as the study site. Empirical examination from this study determines the physical character criteria of buildings that contribute to design quality as well as documenting the effect of physical character of buildings on design quality in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Therefore, the results of this study and findings can be used as exposure and guidance to architects and urban planners in understanding the importance of the physical character of old shophouses, especially in Malaysia.