AMAZING. ENCHANTING. DIFFERENT

These are just a few words that come to mind when one visits the beautiful Rudinara, a handmade house belonging to the husband and wife owners, Datuk Dr. Rudin Salinger and Datin Munira.

Datuk Rudin reminisced that when he was growing up, he lived in a house with wooden flooring. It is the pleasant memory of walking barefoot on such floors, the inherent comfort of being in direct contact with something natural, that prompted him to build a house almost entirely of wood.

Rudinara is a post-and-beam timber structure raised on stilts to reduce its impact on the land and the environment. It is, by far, one of the best local representations of vernacular architecture. It is built in the traditional way of the Malays, yet is modern in a form that creatively interprets rather than imitates Malay culture and reflects Dr. Rudin and Munira's Islamic faith.

The basic design for Rudinara was drawn from Architect Jimmy Lim's sketch of a triangular-shaped house, which was later modified to include an extended veranda. However, much of the original plan remained on paper, as the master craftsman, Ibrahim Adam, from the Peninsular Malaysia's State of Kelantan that Datuk Rudin had identified, made considerable modifications to the actual design of the house as it was constructed. It must have been the challenge of building a non-rectangular house using traditional methods that captured Ibrahim's interest. Together with four septuagenarian assistants, Ibrahim began masterminding and leading the six-and-a half-year project to build Rudinara, and unique, one-of-a-kind abode for a nature-loving couple. What was remarkable is the fact that Ibrahim was blind in one eye and had no right hand.

Rudinara was designed with sustainable ecological principles in mind. Placed on a high elevation, it avoids water run-off during the monsoon rains, and was designed to capture the prevailing winds. The house was formed by two adjoining equilateral triangles, the larger for indoor living, the other a prow-like portico, or verandah for alfresco dining and relaxation in the outdoors. Except for the handmade roof tiles, it was constructed throughout with Chengal, a very dense timber which is highly resistant to water and termites.

The perfectly octagonal supporting columns of the house were made using only a hatchet and plane (Ibrahim measured each cut with precision despite his calculations being made on the back of a matchbox!) There are no nails in the framework. All the internal flooring, doors and window frames are secured together using special wooden joints. The roofs were built on the ground, then disassembled, and sent up by pulley and reassembled. The highest part on the roof is 16 meters from the ground, and this was assembled when there were no walls or floors below the workers. The traditional joinery was entirely the work of Ibrahim and not in the original plans. There are nails on the verandah, benches, and for the battens, called Kayu Jerial which support the imbricated clay roof files. Each tile was hand made, and many have the names of Dr. Rudin and Munira embossed on them in Arabic script.

These are just a few words that come to mind when one visits the beautiful Rudinara, a handmade house belonging to the husband and wife owners, Datuk Dr. Rudin Salinger and Datin Munira.

Datuk Rudin reminisced that when he was growing up, he lived in a house with wooden flooring. It is the pleasant memory of walking barefoot on such floors, the inherent comfort of being in direct contact with something natural, that prompted him to build a house almost entirely of wood.

Rudinara is a post-and-beam timber structure raised on stilts to reduce its impact on the land and the environment. It is, by far, one of the best local representations of vernacular architecture. It is built in the traditional way of the Malays, yet is modern in a form that creatively interprets rather than imitates Malay culture and reflects Dr. Rudin and Munira's Islamic faith.

The basic design for Rudinara was drawn from Architect Jimmy Lim's sketch of a triangular-shaped house, which was later modified to include an extended veranda. However, much of the original plan remained on paper, as the master craftsman, Ibrahim Adam, from the Peninsular Malaysia's State of Kelantan that Datuk Rudin had identified, made considerable modifications to the actual design of the house as it was constructed. It must have been the challenge of building a non-rectangular house using traditional methods that captured Ibrahim's interest. Together with four septuagenarian assistants, Ibrahim began masterminding and leading the six-and-a half-year project to build Rudinara, and unique, one-of-a-kind abode for a nature-loving couple. What was remarkable is the fact that Ibrahim was blind in one eye and had no right hand.

Rudinara was designed with sustainable ecological principles in mind. Placed on a high elevation, it avoids water run-off during the monsoon rains, and was designed to capture the prevailing winds. The house was formed by two adjoining equilateral triangles, the larger for indoor living, the other a prow-like portico, or verandah for alfresco dining and relaxation in the outdoors. Except for the handmade roof tiles, it was constructed throughout with Chengal, a very dense timber which is highly resistant to water and termites.

The perfectly octagonal supporting columns of the house were made using only a hatchet and plane (Ibrahim measured each cut with precision despite his calculations being made on the back of a matchbox!) There are no nails in the framework. All the internal flooring, doors and window frames are secured together using special wooden joints. The roofs were built on the ground, then disassembled, and sent up by pulley and reassembled. The highest part on the roof is 16 meters from the ground, and this was assembled when there were no walls or floors below the workers. The traditional joinery was entirely the work of Ibrahim and not in the original plans. There are nails on the verandah, benches, and for the battens, called Kayu Jerial which support the imbricated clay roof files. Each tile was hand made, and many have the names of Dr. Rudin and Munira embossed on them in Arabic script.