The Expression of folding in the Facades of Malaysia Nanyang Architecture

Several prior studies on Nanyang facades have classified Nanyang architecure as “hybrid architecture” within an “eclectic style”. However in this study argues that the facade composition of Nanyang architecture is formed not primarily through the eclecticist logic of “selecting and combining” of elements, but through “modes of connection among elements and continuous transformation”. Accordingly, the study aims to reinterpret the characteristics of Nanyang facade through Gilles Deleuze’s concept of fold and to clarify the generative logic through which such transformation occur. This study first reviewed the concept of the fold in Deleuze’s theory, its concepts, characteristics and spatial implications. Then applies this framework to organize the compositional features of Nanyang facades. Fieldwork was also conducted to collect facade photographs in Malacca and Penang, which were used as the primary material for analysis. The core of Deleuze’s fold theory is that forms are “generated” through the formation and operation of relations mediated by folding. The fold is characterized by continuity, ambiguity, multiplicity, indeterminacy, and diversity; in architectural terms, these can be articulated as spatial continuity, complexity, indeterminacy, and interrelationality. As conclusion, firstly Nanyang facades exhibit continuity and complexity as fundamental attributes. Second, intensifies and indeterminacy tends to emerge concomitantly. Thridly, Nanyang facades can be understood as structures generated through “virtual events” that emerge within the process of “folding-unfolding”.