Islam grew rapidly in the Malay world at the end of the 13th and early 14th centuries AD spread by the missionaries from the Arab countries, India, Iraq and China. It came along with the teaching of Sufism or tasawwuf -the esoteric dimension of Islam supported and complemented by exoteric Sharia (law) practices of Islam. Mosques became the significant landmarks for this religion. The mosque construction development since the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) demonstrated changes. These can be used as thematic resources and theories in artistic architectural language. The mosque architectural typology has contextual values reflecting identities and models needed for the preservation of today's mosque heritage especially in epistemology and conception. The human's roles as caliphs with a Sufism psyche are the most important players in mosque construction. However, there were significant differences in the contemporary mosque typology aesthetical symbols and Islamic images compared to the ones before the 16th century; evident before the Western powers' colonisation of Malaysia. Traditionally the mosque architectural typology was without symbols, minarets or domes. It continued to fade after the colonisation period despite the deeply rooted simple Sufism approach that appeared for four hundred years before. The Melaka Tengkera Mosque built in the 18th century AD, demonstrated this simplicity with a hybrid value and characteristics of Sufism, the regional and Chinese architectural influences. This paper employed a qualitative method specifically in ethnography and phenomenology approaches supported by architectural documentation in emphasising the construction language. It analyses this mosque on the influential values of the Malay and Chinese architectural understanding and the teaching of Sufism. The simplicity reflected the influence of Sufism in the Islamic development among the Malay communities as visible in the mosque in the midst of the changes of cultural affinities.

The word 'biomimicry' appeared for the first time in scientific literature in 1962 and increased in usage -especially among materials scientists in the 1980s. Biomimicry "is learning from and then emulating natural forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs". Nowadays, biomimicry focuses on different areas such as working to build free policies that make use of it. This basically resolves challenges related to sustainability, supports educational programmes for professionals and students and encourages profitable organisations to use biomimicry and give economic support to biodiversity. Human skin is the natural concept utilised for this report. By analysing its characteristics and using ECOTECT software for analysis and stimulation, new strategies were applied inspired by human skin on an existing building to enhance sustainability and efficiency in areas such as the building envelope, filtration system, double glazing performance, vapour barrier system, evaporative cooling system and enhancing shading devices. The aim of this report is to mimic the natural function and analyse nature to innovate life-friendly and sustainable solutions within an existing architectural case study located in the United Arab Emirates -Sharjah Al-Rahmania, 4. The findings of this paper are that human skin as a natural concept can be a useful concept to learn from. After analysing adaptation of different strategies related to human skin, suitable solutions were tagged to create a good framework within the chosen case study.

Islam grew rapidly in the Malay world at the end of the 13th and early 14th centuries AD. It was spread by missionaries from Arab countries, India, Iraq and China. It comes along with the teachings of Sufism or tasawwuf-Islamic esoteric dimensions supported and complemented by Islamic exoteric Sharia practice. The mosque becomes a sacred symbol of importance to this religion. The construction of the mosque since the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has shown a lot of changes. The typology of the Malay mosque architecture is of medium scale and has its contextual value reflecting the identity of the Sufis former leaders such as the influence of the high priest, or ulama, of the Wali Songo, the revered saints of Islam in Indonesia. The legacy of the Sufis must be maintained so as not to be marginalized by modernity and globalisation. These questions arose as many people believed that the majority of contemporary mosques no longer inherit the value of the traditional Wali Songo mosque. This opinion is quite reasonable due to the formal expression of the mosque today which is different from the traditional Wali Songo mosque. For example, the contemporary mosques are dominated by domes and towers, both of which are of monumental scale. They are two non-local elements that have replaced local parts and altered the official expressions of the mosques in the archipelago. It continued to fade after the colonial period despite the deeply rooted approach of Sufism that emerged 400 years ago. The Melaka Tengkera Mosque built in the 18th century AD still demonstrates its simplicity in terms of its scale and traditional image, as well as the value of hybrid assimilation or Hindu-Buddhist syncretism and tolerance. This article uses qualitative methods particularly in ethnographic and phenomenological approaches supported by architectural documentation in emphasising the symbolic and semiotic aesthetic expression aspects. This emotional bonding contributes to the Sufistic symbolic aesthetics in the mosque. The study found that the traditional architecture of the mosque still creates the sacred Sufistic ambience through its more civilised concept of spatial transitions, with a complete ritual experience of the heritage of the Wali Songo Sufis.