The Role and Activities of Malay Housewives and their Influence on Housing Design Preferences

Previous studies suggest that home activities of housewives affect house design significantly. This paper aims at identifying roles and household activities of Malay housewives and their relationship with housing design preferences. A study was carried out on selected working and non-working Malay housewives of Bandar Tenggara, Johor, Malaysia, using a combination of close-ended and open-ended questionnaire survey. The results suggest that activities such as cooking and other day-to-day operations have some correlation with their sense of space. The results suggest that patterns of housewives’ home activities affect their housing design preferences.