Rumoh Aceh

Nur Muhammad Julian Triasa

SMAKBo Indonesia

An individual or community’s confidence and their surrounding nature have a significant influence against the architecture of the buildings or home that they made. this can be seen from architecture of “Rumoh Aceh”, in Daerah Istimewa Aceh province, Indonesia. Rumoh Aceh, is a stage house with a high pole for about 2,5 – 3 meters, consists of three or five rooms, with one main room that also called by “rambat”. Rumoh with three rooms have a sixteen poles, while Rumoh with five rooms have a twenty-four poles. A modification from three to five rooms or reverse, can be done easily, just add or remove some part in right or left side of the Rumoh. This part can called by “sramoe likot” or back stoep and “sramoe bertangga” or ladder stoep, it`s the entry to the Rumoh that always are in the east.

The main door of Rumoh Aceh always have a lower height from adults-man. usually, the height of this door is just 120 – 150 cm, so every people that enter to Rumoh Aceh must bow down. But when we already inside, we`ll feel space is very roomy as in no furniture. All people sitting on “ngom” mats ( made from “ilalang” kind that grow in swamp ) that coated by pandanous mats.

Rumoh Aceh isn`t just an ordinary residential, but also an expression of trust in god and adaptation to nature. Therefore, through Rumoh Aceh, we can see culture, ways of life and the point that believed by the people of Aceh. Rumoh Aceh that forms a raised platform, poles that made from special wood, walls made from board and roof made from sago palm is adaptation of Aceh’s people against their environment. Utilization of nature can also be seen when they want to combine the parts of Rumoh, They don`t use any nails but they use pegs or ropes of rattan. Altough, just made from wood, with roof from sago palm`s leafs and unnails hehehehe^^, but Rumoh Aceh can stood still for about 200 years.

The influence of Aceh`s public confidence against home buildings architecture can be seen on home orientation that always that always lengthwise from east to west, that the front part is always facing east and backside that sacred always facing west, west direction is reflecting an effort of Aceh`s people to build imaginary line with Ka`bah that located in Mekkah. Beside that, the influence of faith can also be seen from the use of buffer poles that are always in even amount but the number of rooms are always odd.
The existence of Rumoh Aceh is also to show the social status of the owner. The more they have a garnish on their Rumoh, the more they rich. For the family that don`t have much wealth, then it`s enough with less of garnish or even with out garnish.

The Modern Appearence of Rumoh Aceh

The Old Appearence of Rumoh Aceh

HONAI HOUSE

Honai is the traditional house of the mountainous community in central Papua. The house has a round shape and is usually occupied by 5-10 people. Made from planks of rough wood with the sago palm roof-top, a Honai is approximately 4-6 meters in diameter and 5-7 meters in height. It has woven bamboo arranged circling the interior walls of the house and one door at the front.

HOUSES OF KAMPUNG NAGA

THE TRADITIONAL SUNDANESE HOUSES OF  KAMPUNG NAGA

A. 
Contributed by Ina Rizki Nuraini
MAN 2 Ciamis, Indonesia

LOCATION AND BORDERS

‘Kampung Naga’ lies at Desa Neglasari, Kecamatan Salawu, Kabupaten Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia. In the west, it borders on small hills, in the east, on Ciwulan river, and in the north and south on small rivers.

‘Kampung Naga’, 1,5 hectare in width, has 112 buildings. Those are 109 houses, a mosque, a village hall, and a rice barn. Although the population are only 314 people, it has its own uniqueness especially on the way they build their houses and rooms which still maintains the traditional culture of their ancestors.

B. BUILDING MATERIALS

At ‘Kampung Naga’, wood and bamboos take a very important role, almost all parts of its buildings are made of them. As a result, we will find a natural atmosphere when visiting this village.

The walls, floors, windows, and door frameworks are made of wood while the door and kitchen floor of bamboos. In addition to its function as ventilation, the bamboo doors are used to watch the outdoor situation as well. The person in the house is able to see everything outside. Contrarily, The person outside can see nothing in the house.

The roofs consist of two different layers. The fist layer, is made of ‘Tepus’, dry plaited leaves of sugar palm trees, whereas the second one or the surface is of ‘Ijuk’, fibers of the sugar palm trees which are arranged neatly. ‘Ijuk’ can least more than 20 years. Besides durable, ‘Ijuk’ is a good material for roof because it will make the houses cool in the dry season and warm in the wet one.

C. BUILDING SHAPE

The shape of the houses looks a like. It stretches along to the side in a scaffolding style. At the front part, there are two doors and some windows. The door on the right leads to the living room and the one on the left to the kitchen. Some windows are of wood while some others of glass. At the back part, there are neither doors nor windows.

Those almost same houses will look more beautiful if they were seen from the distance because they are arranged face to face or back to back each other so that they look like anumber of tents a camping ground.

D. SPATIAL SYSTEM

1. Living Rooms

When we enter the living rooms, we will not find any chairs or tables as usual. They only have mats. When there is a guest, he will sit on the floor, Lesehan.

2. Family Rooms

In general, the family room are furnish by nothing. Only do some houses have a television set. There is no electricity so the villagers use batteries to turn the television on. In the evening, they use ‘Patromax’, kerosene pressure lanterns, to light up the houses.

3. Bedrooms

In a house, there is usually a bedroom or two, depending on the family members.

4. Rice Barn

Each house has its own rice barn to store rice because almost all villagers are farmers.

5. Kitchens

The floor is made of ‘Pelupuh’, pounded bamboos, and the stove is called ‘hawu’, a traditional long firewood stove made a clay.

6. Toilets

The toilets are apart from the houses. They are like very small huts without any roof with plaited-bamboo walls. They are provided on the ponds. Each of them has a water tap.

On the other ponds, there are spots to wash clothes and other things. They are made of bamboos but without any walls. Those spots have water taps as well.

IBAN HOUSE

By Nik Suzana Mat Tahir

On close inspection, the iban house bears close resemblance to the bidayuh house. The longhouse is built of local timbers tied together with naturally-harvested fibre woods. Since the real Iban longhouses are often erected near the major rivers of Sarawak, the design emulates a raised floor concept to ensure the occasional surge of river flow will not enter the longhouse.

Among the traditional activities showcased in the iban house are kuih jala making (yes, if the malanau are known for tebaloi, the Iban are famous for their sweet kuih jala ),kain pua kumbu weaving (an exquisitedecorative clothes that Sarawak is famous for) and tuak processing (alcoholic beverage made from rice wine). The house also showcases a variety of tools and equipment for hunting (yes, head-hunting and for animals too),musical instrument such as drums and gongs, et cetera.

In the front yard of the longhouse is an open-air communal area where you can meet Iban ladies in colourful traditional dresses as well as the much revered elders of the longhouse.

MALAY HOUSE

The showcase house is taken out from a typical home design of traditional Malay villages commonly found in parts of Sarawak and most parts of Peninsula Malaysia.The house is built on stilts some metres above ground. There is a reason for that; houses built on the ground are prone to be flooded and not to mention the uninvited guests in the form of crawling creatures (snakes, centipedes, etc).

It is a customary practice to open your shoes at the veranda prior to entering a Malay house. At the communal living area, village personnel were seen playing with a traditional game of congkak (try it, it is quite fun) while chit-chatting about their daily life. The middle section of the house is considered to be the bedroom area, although have seen a typical designs where there are further separation walls as demarcation of the proper bedroom. After the bedroom area, you can see the kitchen area with cooking utensils and dining tables.

There is a unique feature that can be found at Rumah Melayu in the cultural village. There is an attic above the bedroom area connected by a wooden staircase. It managed to climb up the attic to see the internals. It is used commonly for storage space only and not for communal living mainly due to the relatively hotter air close to the rooftop. Another common but unique feature of a Malay house is the open-air grills on the side windows to allow better air circulation.

Outside the house compound is a special pavillion  where top spinning (main gasing) sessions are occasionally demonstrated to the public.

Author :

Nik Suzana Mat Tahir, Student of Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra Cluster Secondary School, Malaysia