Proceedings of the 1 st International Conference on Research Methodology for Built Environment and Engineering Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia, 17-18 December 2013 1 Public perception and Component Analysis of Wood carving Calligraphic Ornamentation in Malaysian Heritage Mosques Ahmadreza Saberi a , Esmawee Haji Endut b and Abu Bakar Abd Raub c a,b,c Faculty of Architecture, Plannuing and Surveying, UiTM, Shah Alam, 40450, Malaysia saberi.ahmadreza@gmail.com ABSTRACT Wood carving ornamentation is a significant cultural heritage in the Malay architectural decorative elements particularly in mosque buildings and its beauty is completely noticeable. Decorative elements are adopted as one of the inevitable parts of mosques components. Just a glimpse is needed to find out that wood carving decoration applied in South East Asia mosques have been influenced from several Malay styles. The woodcarving styles which were vastly used in timber mosques in Malaysia include floral, geometry and calligraphy. This study will focus on calligraphy wood carving decoration due to the fact that most of researchers in Malaysia had been concentrated in floral and geometry designs as the main ornamental motifs in timber mosques. The methodology which has been selected for this study will be measure drawing, photography, in-depth interview, questionnaire survey and statistical analysis. The expected results will indicate and improve public understanding about wood carving calligraphy motifs. Furthermore, an analysis of calligraphy design in terms of being combination with floral and geometry motifs will be discussed. However, this research proposal will examine the style of writing (Thuluth, Kufi, Naskh and Jawi) applied in wood carving. Keywords: Wood carving, calligraphy, mosque design and public perception INTRODUCTION In the early years of Islam, the concept of the arts was not under consideration in Islamic scope due to involving in the conquest of lands. Although after almost a century of stability, the lack of artistic values in architecture was sensed among Muslims. Based on the fact that the advent of Islam to Malaysia was in the 16 th century, the Malay traditions started to adapt its lifestyle with the teachings of Islam (Rasdi, 2000). In Islam the concept of meaning was always manifested in the abstraction or symbolization which in woodcarving decorations this conception was unveiled in three different categories. Floral or arabesque, geometric and Calligraphy used in a variety of architectural components; such as, structural elemental and ornamental components as a cultural heritage which must be conserved from being neglected. Islamic art has been stayed neglected from its internal meaning in spite of the huge numbers of documentation and explanatory (Bayrak, 1988; Burckhardt & Nasr, 2009; Ettinghausen, Grabar, & Powell, 1987; Hillenbrand, 1999). In spite of the existence of numerous studies carried out on floral and geometry wood carving in Malaysia, far too little attention has been paid to calligraphy wood carving decoration, despite its twofold importance as decorative elements as well as a way of reading the Quran (Memberitahu) simultaneously.