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MUSLIM ORPHANAGE'S VILLAGE

Shah Amir Ezham Ismail [1], . Zaiton Abdul Rahim [2], Asiah Abdul Rahim [3]


ABSTRACT
Issues of psychological and physical development of orphans in the orphanage has become a less
concentrated topic that being thought by people who involved in architecture. This alarming
global issue is actually an epidemic issue supported by many studies whereby a significant and
holistic solutions are needed badly. Day by day, more and more orphans suffer a lot of
psychological and physical problems such as socio-emotional problem, low intelligent level,
stunted growth and unable to develop social relationship whether in short term in period or long
term period. Currently the ideas of deinstitutionalization has been proposed since 50 years ago
and it is said to be the best way of overcoming the problems. However, most of society members
are not prepared enough to accept the proposed solution, instead the rethinking of orphanage
design seems to be the best solution in short term. Based on this situation, this dissertation is
about to proposed a new architectural solution that could bring a new hope for the orphans to
have a better life, reducing the epidemic issues among them through built environment strategies
and thinking. Located in, Shah Alam, the ideas of the proposed orphanage complex in this
particular dissertation are derived from several precedent projects and case studies around the
world. The outcome of this research is expected to be the main idea and guideline of proposing a
new orphanage that specifically could cater the needs of the orphans psychological and physical
development according to their group of ages respectively.



Keywords: orphan, orphanage, deinstitutionalization, psychological, physical.

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INTRODUCTION
Growing without a natural parents and their care has been the greatest loss for a
children. Perhaps it is the worst never ending nightmare one can ever experience in his life. A
growing children is vulnerable and helpless, mentally weak and physically fragile. To live
this challenging life without a figure that they could attach to such as parent will be too much
for them to take. Due to this awareness, ever since the time of ancient Greek, the orphans
have had their own places in the society and taken care by the state (Encyclopedia, 2007).
Christian missionaries during the time of the medieval had been working hard to take care the
orphans. It has become one of important duty of the churches during that time and during the
middle age, the provision of care for the orphans had undergone several positive
developments; they are placed in a monetary care with proper shelter and education in
academics and trades (Encyclopedia, 2007).

However due to the alarming need of providing the orphanages, many significant
elements are neglected which bring the need of writing the thesis; one of them is to provide
not just a shelter, but a nurturing environment shelter which could give them a new hope for
their life. It is reported that many issues regarding to mental and physical development
among the orphans had took places while being in the orphanage. Ahmad (2004) stated in his
research that case studies done by Lowrey (1940) towards 28 orphanages, the orphans whom
age of 3 years old tend to isolate themselves, feeling eager to put up a fight, being insensitive
towards themselves and selfish. He also stated while doing his research in one orphanage in
Johor, he found out that the orphans suffer from personality development disorders,
depression, emotional disorder and having hard time in developing a relationship (Ahmad,
2004).


ISSUES AND PROBLEM
That has been many deep researches done by many parties regarding to the
effectiveness of residential care in the orphanage. The epidemic issue that has been arising
for all this time is the most of existing institutional care of the orphanage has created
psychiatric problems such as severe developmental delays, disability physical stunting,
potentially irreversible intellectual and psychological damage, lack of discipline and low
motivational level among the orphans. There are two major problems that has contributed to
the pertaining issue:
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1. Lack of conducive and nurturing environment
The design treatment and planning of the orphanage are too institutional: it is lack
of conducive and nurturing humane environment to nurture the orphans while the
image of the orphanage always resemble a typical institutionalization, making the
orphans feel awkward, uncomfortable and sudden changed of environment,
effecting their physical growth and psycho-social growth. According to Kristen
(2012), she said that this is the tragedy for most orphans: high psychological
needs, deficient psychological care. Thus, problems arise are compound

2. Mass scale of care and education
In term of the scale usually the education and care were done in mass scale,
individual cases will be treated particularly with no dedicated caregiver which in
return the orphans get lack of attention and care. This exposes them to negative
consequences such as aggressive, anti social, etc. Mass scale care also provide
less privacy for the occupant; contributing psychological development towards
the orphans.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES
In order to resolve the issue, this research aims to establish a home and
deinstitutionalized-alike orphanage's environment which will create a sense of natural family
and neighbourhood that can give more attention to the orphans per individual. To achieve the
aim, this research has outlined several points objectives:

1. To provide a nurturing and conducive environment orphanages as the
replacement of common institutionalized environment of the orphanage;
2. To create a smaller size groups of care for the orphans in order to provide more
privacy and attention to the orphans.

ORPHAN ACCORDING TO ISLAM
Islam is the deen (way of life) that is revealed from Allah to the Prophet Muhammad
Peace Be upon Him (PBUH) to manage the 3 main relationships which are the relationship of
human with God, human with himself and human with the other human. The laws regarding
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to orphan falls under the relationship between human with the other human, which the
orphans rights are mentioned clearly in the Quran in few versus. According to Habib Shakir
translation, the word that associated with the meaning orphan (

singular,

or

is
the plural) is repeated up to 23 times, which shows the important to know the right of the
orphan and taking care of them. There are many verses that related to commandment of being
kind to the orphans, which some of them are in chapter of Al-Baqarah (2: 83),the meaning:
And when We made a covenant with the children of Israel: You shall not serve any but Allah
and (you shall do) good to (your) parents, and to the near of kin and to the orphans and the
needy, and you shall speak to men good words and keep up prayer and pay the poor-
rate..and chapter of an-nisa (4: 36): And serve Allah and do not associate anything with
Him and be good to the parents and to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the
neighbor of (your) kin and the alien neighbor, and the companion in a journey and the
wayfarer and those whom your right hands possess; surely Allah does not love him who is
proud, boastful...

According to the Kuwait Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence [
] (1984), the word orphan only can be associated to a person who lost his or her father
before the person reach the age of puberty (wet dream or menstruation). This could be
understood that a person who does not reach the puberty age while only lost his mother is not
considered as a orphan. It is because the status of orphan only related to the existence of the
farther regardless of his or her mother. On the other hand, the term orphan is not legitimate
any longer if the person has reached his puberty age, based on a hadith extracted by at-
Thabrani in his book al-Kabir (4: 14), narrated from the companion of the Prophet
Muhammad PBUH, Hanzalah bin Hazim, the prophet said, which the meaning is there is no
orphan after (reaching) puberty (Jurisprudence, 1984).

ORPHANAGE
Orphanage is an institution that caters and cares the orphan. Basically, it is built to
accommodate the orphans from any background as long as it meets the characteristics.
According to Wisegeek (2013), it states:
An orphanage is a place where children who do not have guardians who are capable of
caring for them live. Some orphanages employ professionals like nurses, teachers, and other
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people involved in raising children in order to care for the children entirely within the
orphanage. Others merely offer the children basic necessities like food and shelter and take
care of education and other issues elsewhere. A child might be sent to an orphanage due to
the death of the child's parents, or the parents may be alive but unwilling or unable to care
for the child. Most orphanages work to place children in more traditional family
environments, as these are seen as more secure and desirable than living in an orphanage.
It is a common practise that usually orphanage offers all these facilities or some of the
facilities to cater the needs of the orphans:
Accommodation (hostel)
Study room/area
Library
Prayer room
Playground/field
Offices
Hall/gathering area
Toilets
Storage
School

ORPHAN'S PSYCHOLOGY
To live without a real father and mother during childhood is a great challenge that one
can ever have. There are two conditions that we could observe in understanding an orphan;
one who never had a chance to get pampered by a father while the other is the one who ever
lived together with a father. A person who never had something to lose usually does not fell a
real experience of great loss. Conversely, a person who ever got a chance to live with a father
will experience a severe impact of loss psychologically when the father dies. Nevertheless,
grief, low self esteem and despair are the main mental illness that both types of orphans
suffer from (Nilofer and Intizar, 2009)



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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT'S ISSUE
Criticism by criticism had been thrown to the institutionalization of orphanage due to
the problems that occurs among the orphans while staying in the orphanage. Johnson (2013)
stated in his article entitled "The effects of being orphan":

"Inhibited social, cognitive, psychological and physical development are all common long-
term effects of orphanhood. Typically, the younger the age of a child when orphaned and the
longer he remains without a home, the more drastic the impact that his experiences as an
orphan will have on his development" (retrieved from www.ehow.com/info_8152695_effects-
being-orphan.html)

According to Tarko (2006), one study had been made by Dana Johnson from the
University of Minnesota and her colleagues found out that the physical development of
children in orphanages was delayed - the children had noticeably lower levels of natural
growth hormones. Moreover, surprisingly they also discovered that in case of girls puberty, it
was actually delayed, on average, by 2 years. The same case took place among the boys
whereby their puberty was delayed by a year and a half.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT'S ISSUE
Moreover, orphans tend to suffer psychiatric disorder while being in orphanage. This
is something that is well known for almost 50 years among the psychologists who study the
impact of being institutionalized for children (Browne, 2009). According to Johnson (2013),
Makerere University discovered that there were psychiatric disorders happen among the
orphans who stay in an orphanage, whereby the tendency of the disorder is 3.5 times more
likely among children in orphanages while the children who are living with their families do
not really experience the symptom. In addition, the institutionalization of orphanage has been
long noted its impact towards the orphans. Haberdasher (2012) emphasize that the greatest
'donation' that institutionalization give to the orphans is on childrens socio-emotional
development. It is so due to the deprivation of consistent care from a dedicated caregiver,
whereby most of the caregivers are working on shift (Haberdasher, 2012).


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SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP'S ISSUE
In term of social relationship, orphans who live in the orphanage tend to have
difficulties in building a relationship. It is either two reasons; being too shy or keep putting a
fight with other children. In term of long term effect, Johnson (2013) stated that orphans also
experience unhealthy social development in a long run due to the fact that they are typically
deprived of steady and authentic exposure of love, affection, warmth and care that help to
contribute a healthy social connection. It is the touch of love that will actually stimulate
nervous system development, trust in others, and a sense of self-worth. A touch-deprived
child is likely to have more susceptible to fear, anxiety and distrustfulness.

DESIGN SOLUTION: BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF VILLAGE
In order to overcome the psychological problems among the orphans due to lack of
nurturing environment, the concept of village is chosen to represent the ideas of origin,
humbleness, peaceful and tranquillity at the same time to reduce the institutional look of an
orphanage. The following design approaches will explain the ideas of creating a nurturing
environment through this concept.








Proportion
In order to realise the idea of village, the proportion of form plays great role. The
design scheme try to ensure the proportion is suitable for every age of the children
in the orphanage.
Figure 1 - Some overview of the orphanages environment. Source: Author (2014)
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Form And Treatment
The scheme promotes the appearance of a village by having a shady ambience,
greeneries, manipulation of colour, passive design, pitch roof with special features
of common village landscaping ideas such as the use of coconut tree and banana
tree.










Individualization Vs Socialization
The scheme also harmonize the idea of individuality and socialization in order to
create a lively community within the village but at the same time providing space
for individualization. Various level of privacies are provided especially for the
orphans to cope with the psychological development from the age of 0 up to 18
years old. This idea is against mass care of common orphanages.






Diagram 1 - Ideas of harmonization between individualization and socialization. Source: Author (2014)
Figure 2 - Some overview of the orphanages environment. Source: Author (2014)
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Give And Take
Village community always take benefits of their neighbourhood while giving
them back something in return. The idea of give and take is to manifest the
necessity of employing single mother who has no job to work at this village as a
care taker for the children from 0-6 years old. While they are given the facilities
and opportunity to live together in the village, in return they have to work on
something to give some attribution to the village; to take care of the orphans and
to generate some income for the village.

Expansion
It is common for a village to keep on expanding the area according to the needs of
the community. The scheme allows some expansion to be done in order to cope
with the number of orphans adopted to this village through times. For the time
being, the designated spaces for expansion can be used for various recreational
activities.

Sustainability
A village is usually known as a place of sustainability for a community especially
in generating income for the occupants. In this scheme, the village generates its
own food sources and economy while still accepting donation and charity from
the public.

Figure 3 - Ideas of individualization vs. socialization in every accommodation units Source: Author (2014)
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CONCLUSION
Therefore, it can be concluded that:
1. To provide an orphanage that being highly sensitive towards the psychological and
physical development of the orphans is significantly essential to reduce the epidemic
psychological symptom among the orphans nowadays.
2. Proposing an orphanage should cater the need of the orphanage to sustain by itself
architecturally and economically in order to allow them stand by their own and reducing
the dependence towards the charity of the public.
3. An orphanage should portray the warm and welcoming environment that can possibly be
nearest to home environment through reducing its institutionalised look by having more
humane approaches, proper proportions, better concepts, small scale care, proper
supervisions and sensitive towards the needs of privacy of the orphans.

RECOMMENDATION
The design thesis has proven the importance of rethinking the design of common
orphanage in order to solve the psychological issues among the orphans. However, due to
time limitation and deficiency of relevant sources, there are certain aspects that can be
explored in further detail. Thus it is recommended to look forward thoroughly these aspects
which are:

i. Cost efficient and alternative construction. In this design thesis, due to the focus is on
enhancing the environment, there were shortage of time in exploring the ideas of cost
efficient and alternative approach for the construction. It will be tremendous idea if the
proposed scheme could have explored alternative method and materials for the
construction so that it can save more cost and effectively function.
ii. Vertical construction rather than horizontal. Due to the fact that most of private
orphanages do not have luxury capital to build an orphanage, it is such a significant ideas
of going vertical instead of horizontal because it could save a lot of ground works,
services distance and travel distance.
Therefore, It is hoped that from this research and further recommendations, the
orphans will find their way of having a bright future from the architects.

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REFERENCES
Browne, K. (2009). The Risk of Harm to Young Children in Institutional Care. United
Kingdom: Save the Children.
Encyclopedia, N. W. (18 January, 2007). Entry: Orphanage. Retrieved 3 June, 2014, from
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Haberdasher. (17 July, 2012). The Effects of Institutionalization on Children: Haberdasher
Hubpages. Retrieved 2 November, 2013, from Hubpages:
haberdasher.hubpages.com/hub/The-Effects-of-Institutionalization-on-Children
Intezar, Y. N. (2009). Differences In Self-Esteem of Oprhan Children and Children Living
With Their Parents. J.R.S.P , 122.
Johnson, W. D. (2013). The Effects of Being Orphan: eHow. Retrieved 30 October, 2013,
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WiseGEEK. (2014). What is an Orphanage: Wise GEEK. Retrieved 2013, from WiseGEEK:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-orphanage.htm