Triangle House On The Beach Of Penang

PENANG, Malaysia- The places where cultures influence and impact other cultures is often unexpected, random, and, every once in a while, shocking. Something that is published in some publication that is meant to be consumed and utilized in one context is serendipitously acquired, twisted, and used in another context.

You find little examples of this all over the world when traveling. They are one of the intrigues of the occupation — the small joy of seeing something unexpectedly out of context.

When I was walking down the beach of Permatang Damar Laut in the south of Penang Island in Malaysia I came upon a little house that was unlike anything that I’ve seen before. It was a triangle. It was like the triangle roof of a house in a little kid’s drawing without the square body. The place looked like nothing else that I had observed in Malaysia.

I met the owner and he invited me inside. Amused by my intrigue, he began telling me about the house which he built himself after being relocated from his previous house during the construction of the airport.

“Where did you get the idea to build a triangle house?” I asked him.

He just laughed and told me that he saw a picture of such a house in an old Reader’s Digest magazine and decided to build one for himself.