The traditional Malay house require stairs to reach the elevated interior. Usually the stairs connected the land front of the house to the serambi (porch or verandah). Additional stairs might be found on back of the house. The stairs can be made of wood or brick structure covered with tiles. For example, in Melaka and Riau the staircase is always decoratively moulded and colourfully tiled. The interior is partitioned to create rooms such as "serambi" (verandah), living room, and bedrooms. A traditional Malay timber house usually in two parts: the main house called "Rumah Ibu" in honour of the mother ("ibu") and the simpler "Rumah Dapur" or kitchen annexe, which was separated from the main house for fire protection. Proportion was important to give the house a human scale. The "Rumah Ibu" was named after the spacings between stilts which are said to typically follow the arms-spread width of the wife and mother in the family of the house when being built. At least one raised veranda ("serambi") is attached to the house for seated work or relaxation, or where non-familiar visitors would be entertained, thus preserving the privacy of the interior. The roof of traditional Malay houses are designed to provide shade and protection from heat and rain, as well as to provide ventilation. The basic design of a roof on a Malay house is gabled roof, an extended frame with ornaments on the edges of the roof. The vernacular Malay roof is best suited for hot and humid tropical climates. An example of the gabled roof can be found in the design of Rumah Lipat Kajang. However a pyramidal styled pitched roof can also be found on houses such as the Palembang Rumah Limas. In Riau and Jambi there are several different styles, especially of the roof design. The Rumah Lancang or Rumah Lontik have curved roof with boat-like structure on stilts. The design somehow similar to Minang Rumah Gadang. The Rumah Lipat Kajang have flat roof structure with crossing edges forming "x" pinnacle on corners of the roof. The larger structure with similar crossed corner roof is called Rumah Limas. This type of roof and structure often used in palaces of Malay kings as well as government buildings. The Rumah Limas is also known as the traditional house of South Sumatra and Sundanese West Java, although they have same "Rumah Limas" name, the design is slightly different.