Shelter@Rainforest

25 juli 2025

Shelter@Rainforest is part of a master plan for sustainable building and living. It’s the prototype home for a series of new buildings for a community of workers in a forestry concession in Sabah. The plan, by architects Marra + Yeh, is about much more than designing climate sensitive buildings, it’s also a project in ecological education and responsible living.

Shelter is located in a remote inland location five hours’ drive from the state’s capital, Kota Kinabalu. The local climate is highland tropical, with hot humid days and cool nights, torrential rains, and a rugged and difficult terrain. The project was commissioned by a private forestry company that controls 100,000 hectares of forest for a period of 99 years under a system of sustainable reforestation.

For two architects (Carol Marra & Ken Yeh) committed to designing communities and buildings that create opportunities for more ecologically sustainable living, the project was particularly challenging but important - “Unless we are willing to stick our necks into a complex situation we cannot drive the ecological agenda, especially in places where our expertise is simply not available.” From the beginning, this project was about how to create a new, environmentally aware community culture that better values and makes the most of local resources. A building is just a building, what’s important is giving people the skills and knowledge to change their ways.

The existing housing for company employees was built 35 years ago and had mostly become shanty housing. Leading a team of experts, including an anthropologist, a botanist and a structural engineer, the architects borrowed from local wisdom to design new dwellings, offices and community buildings. Traditional buildings in the region are long-houses placed on ridges to make the most of cooling winds that run up the ridge and “explode” in the house.

Shelter is designed as two similar-sized units bisected by a ‘dog run’, which links the veranda. All the services, including an indoor kitchen, outdoor kitchen, water tanks and the solar PV system are grouped together. At its core, Shelter is an exercise in zero waste. The building was a way of changing their mindset of its occupants at a slow pace, referring to the team of local workers who would build, live in and maintain the village over years to come. Everything has value and you don’t waste it so you have to think of what you’re doing with it.

Locally harvested and milled timber of the highest quality Selangan Batu Merah, a Dipterocarp was used as the main building material due to its superior strength and durability in the harsh tropical environment. The timbers were constrained to just two small-section sizes, 100 x 50mm and 50 x 50mm, to maximise the yield of usable timber per tree and solve logistical challenges such as the necessary manual handling of all building materials. Locally made plywood using a mix of local tropical hardwoods was used as cladding for the walls and floors and to create a diaphragm for the building. This was sourced from Cymao Plywood Sdn. Bhd.

To keep the build process simple for the unskilled building team, the dwelling is made up of modular designs that use only full, half or quarter sheets of ply. Being hands-on throughout the project the architects were able to select timber from particular sources knowing how it had been harvested and processed. The architecture also combined local materials and labour with a high degree of structural engineering knowledge and modern jointing techniques such as steel bolts and plates were used to ensure accuracy and structural integrity. The bolt and nut connections also allow components to be individually replaced and repaired over time.

The project involved more than clever architectural solutions. Partway through, the team built charcoal kilns to make use of the waste branches discarded from logging operations. Combined with bio waste as a fertiliser, the biochar nourishes the nutrientpoor soil used in food gardens nearby and excess charcoal is used as fuel in rocket stoves for cooking. Rainwater is also harvested and reused and a blackwater system feeds biogas plants to produce methane that’s piped into the kitchens as fuel. The biogas and solar panel systems were important to reduce the community’s reliance on LPG and diesel that had to be trucked weekly into the village.

Shelter is on one level the house of a family and their guests, sharing the long veranda where conversation is the only form of entertainment. On another level it is a symbol of craft, care and environmental stewardship.

For a deeper look behind the reconnaissance trips and the Sabah hardwoods that shaped the design, read Sabah Timbers: A Perspective

For more information about Shelter@Rainforest, visit the official project page at https://marrayeh.com/

Trefwoorden

prototypehome ecologie duurzaamproject hout nieuwbow ontwerpen regenwoud architect duurzaamheid duurzaam timber woningbouw architectuur design

Malaysian Timber Council

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Staat van realisatie Voltooid

Start ontwerpproces 2011

Start bouw 2012

Ingebruikname 2012

Meewerkende partijen

ArchitectMarra+Yeh ArchitectsProjectarchitectCarol Marra, Ken YehOpdrachtgeverprive klantFotograafBrett Boardman

Leveranciers

OverigMalaysian Timber Council

Neem contact op met Malaysian Timber Council

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