Page 960 - Proceedings Collega2023

THE PLACE ATTACHMENT AND ARCHITECTURAL CHANGE OF

ISTANA JAHAR, KOTA BHARU, KELANTAN

Azizi BAHAUDDIN
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
azizigt@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The Istana Jahar was a two-storey timber construction traditional Malay palace with
intricate wood carvings. It demonstrated the fine craftmanship of Kelantanese Malay carvers.
The architecture was a building for royal residence before being transformed into a museum.
This study investigates the place attachment of due to its architectural change and spatial
functional conversion. Many rising issues demonstrated a conflict between preserving the
heritage or altering its function to place valuable artifacts. The change has impacted the palace
place attachment due to its architectural change. This investigation employed qualitative
research method with place attachment theory as the core theory investigating spatial function.
Architectural documentation provided the spatial planning data and for observation. The
interviews with a few museum experts validated the spatial function and its architectural place
attachment. Thus, the emotional and functional bonds could be determined. This paper
concludes that the place attachment analysed was attributed by functional and emotional
parameters resulting from architectural change. Current place attachment is undoubtedly public
and the emotional bonding between the architecture and the users is nonchalant. The spiritual
bond was the missing component in the current place attachment of Istana Jahar, the opposite
of the original state of the architecture.

Keywords: Istana Jahar; place attachment; architectural change; emotional and functional bonds

International Conference on Local Wisdom of the Malay Archipelago (COLLEGA 2023) Page - 947 -