ARCHITECTURE IN

INDONESIA

GEOGRAPHICAL
Indonesia is an archipelagic island country in
Southeast Asia, lying between the Indian Ocean
and the Pacific Ocean. It is in a strategic location
astride or along major sea lanes from Indian Ocean to
Pacific Ocean. The country's variations in culture have
been shapedalthough not specifically determined
by centuries of complex interactions with the physical
environment. Although Indonesians are now less
vulnerable to the effects of nature as a result of
improved technology and social programs, to some
extent their social diversity has emerged from
traditionally different patterns of adjustment to their
physical circumstances.

RELIGOUS
The first principle ofIndonesia's philosophical
foundation,Pancasila, is "belief in the one and
onlyGod". A number of different religions are
practiced in the country, and their collective
influence on the country's political, economic and
cultural
life
is
significant.TheIndonesian
Constitutionguarantees
freedom
of
religion.However, the government only recognizes
five
official
religions
(Islam,Catholicism,
Hinduism,BuddhismandConfucianism).Indon
esian
law
requires
that
every
Indonesian
citizenhold anidentity cardthat identifies that
person with one of these six religions, although
citizens may be able to leave that section
blank.Indonesia does not recognizeagnosticism

RELIGIONS

Islam (87.18)
Christians (9.87%)
Hinduism (1.69%)
Buddhism (0.72%)
Confucianism
(0.76%)

Architecture or Art Building of the

region of Central Java province are
grouped into two, namely:
Traditional Architecture
Modern Architecture

Traditional Architecture

That is the art of building native Java which is still alive

and growing in the Java community.The study of art by
the Java community building commonly called science or
also called Wong Kalang Kalang.Which is the main
building in the existing art building Java 5 (five) Types, are:

-Bake-pe, the form we have encountered as many

places selling drinks, rice and others who are on the
edge of the road.If the function can be developed as
a neighborhood watch, where the car / garage,
factory, and so on.
-Village, generally as a residence, either in city and
villages and in the mountains.The development of
this form is also used as a residence.
-Limasan, mostly for housing.Development with
the addition of patio or porch, as well as some rooms
will be created forms sinom, curses float, symbol
pendants, trajumas, and others.Only the form
unusual trajumas used as a residence.

-Joglo or Tikelan, the building is

generally used as a pavilion and also
to residence (palace) `
-Tajug or mosque, used as a sacred
place, such as: the mosque, where the
king reigns, tomb.There's nothing to
shelter.

TRADITIONAL HOUSES
In Indonesia, the construction of the house
symbolizes the division of the macrocosm into three
regions: the upper world, the seat of deities and
ancestors. The typical way of buildings in Southeast
Asia is to build on stilts, an architectural form usually
combined with a saddle roof. Another characteristic
of Southeast Asian houses is the forked horn on the
roof, which is considered to be a symbol of the
buffalo, regarded throughout the region as a link
between Heaven and this world. The most famous
stilt houses of Indonesia are those of the Dayak in
Borneo, the Minangkabau and Batak onSumatra,
and the Toraja onSulawesi.

The Long Houses of the Dayak

Long House - before 1920,Tumbang Malahui, Central Borneo.

The Dayak, some of the original inhabitants of

Borneo, build long houses on stilts, using
ironwood for the structure and tree bark for the
walls; the floor are simple planks of wood
placed side by side. The length of these houses
was for the last century of 110 meters (over
360 feet) and today they generally range from
10 to 70 meters (33 to 230 feet).
On Borneo the long house forms a center for
both social life and for rituals. Here people
meet to talk after work, and its here the central
ceremonies and rituals of the group are
performed.

In each long house is a central stilt or main

post which is the first to be placed in position
when the house is built. This post is associated
with the ancestor who founded the house has a
sacred significance; it stands in the center of
the house and its looked on as the link between
the underworld and the upper world. The long
houses
were
often
decorated
with
representations of water snakes and rhinoceros
birds. They were connected with the group's
central creation myth, for water snake is
associated with the underworld and the
rhinoceros bird with the upper world of the
good spirits.

The Houses of the Minangkabau

Rice store - Minangkabau architecture,Pagaruyung near Bukit Tinggi,
Sumatra.

The Minangkabau are the Malaysian people who lives in the

Padang highlands of Sumatra (west of Sumatra). Typical of
the houses of the Minangkabau are the distinctive roofs,
which look like buffalo horns. The word "Minangkabau" can
actually be interpreted as a compound of the words
menang(win) andkerbau(buffalo). This derives from a
local legends that people relates that a buffalo fight was
arranged by the locals and the people of the influential
kingdom ofMajapahit(eastern Java). The locals buffalo was
the winner and since that time they have called themselves
the "buffalo winners", Minangkabau, as a proud testament
to their strength and courage. The houses are calledrumah
gadang(large house) and are not inhabited by differents
families, but by three or four generations who come from
one ancestor and thus arumah gadangis also a family unit,
and each of the Minangkabau identifies completely with his
or her ownrumah gadang.

Therumah gadanghas three main areas:

immediately after the entrance comes a middle
ares (rumah tongah), where there is normally a
central post; adjoining this theanjuang, and the
bedrooms (biliak). Opposite theanjuangis the
kitchen and in front of that a large space
(pangkalan), where visitors are received. While
the long house is a meeting place for all,
therumah gadangis essentially a women's area;
none of the men spends much time in the house
with
his
mother
or
his
wife,
and
thebiliak(bedrooms) are seen as room of the
house reflects a woman's life cycle, and forms a
journey from the central post to theanjuang,then
thebiliak,and lastly to the kitchen.

The Houses of the Batak

Batak house -Rumah adat, Lake Toba on the Island ofSamosir.

The Batak, who live in north Sumatra, are divided into six
ethnic groups. Two Bataks races, the Mandailing and the
Angkola Batak, became Muslim in the middle of the 19th
century, and Toba Batak were converted to Christianity in
1864 by the German Rheinisch Missionary Society. The
others kept their native religion, though there have been
converts to Islam and Christianity more recently.
"The houses of the Toba and Karo are recognizable by
their massive style of building construction, which is
suited to the way the inhabitants settled more and less
permanently. The stilt house is an eminently pratical form
of architecture for life in the tropics. Unfortunately, the
Toba Batak houses are no longer being built. Earlier, rice
stores (sopo) were a part of the traditional house,
therumah adat. Thesopowere very important as status
symbols.

The ornaments put onto the external walls

of the house are meant to drive away evil
influences. These ornaments consist of
anthropomorphic
and
zoomorphic
representations,
carved
decorative
ornaments, and wall paintings. The colors
used are natural colors, the most iportant
being red (from red clay), white (from
chalk), and black (from charcoal), which
respectively represent the three spheres
of the cosmos: the human world, the world
of good spirits above, and the underworld.

The Houses of the Toraja

A tongkonan -Toraja area, Sulawesi (Celebes).

The ethnic groups in the mountain regions of

southwest and central Sulawesi (Celebes) are known
by the name of Toraja, which has come to mean
"those who live upstream" or "those who live in the
mountains". Their name is in fact derived fromRaja,
which in Sanskrit means "king". The society is
hierarchically
structured:
the
noblemen
are
calledrengnge, the ordinary people tomakaka, and
the slaves tokaunan; birth determines which rank a
person will occupy.
The
distinctive
features
of
the
traditional
houses(tongkonan) of the Toraja are the "buffalo
horns", the roof design and the rich decoration on the
walls. The buffalo is a symbol of status, courage,
strength and fighting spirit.

Designed as a representation of the

universe, thetongkonanis constructed
in three parts: the upper world (the
roof), the world of humans (the middle
of the building), and the underworld
(the space under the floor). The highly
distinctive roofs constructed by the
Toraja have given rise to various
ingenious interpretations. Certainly the
roof is something of deep significance
for the Toraja, and even today they
build "modern" (in other words houses
built with cement) houses with such

Modern Architecture

Modern architecture in Indonesia doesnt have its development in the

country. As other architectural style that is imported from the western
countries, This style coming to Indonesia because of influence of
globalization the modern architecture style developed as an
international style that has similar appearance and concept in all
countries. At least modern style keep having a similarity that function
as the beginning of design. In Indonesia, modern style is considered
as a style where functionality is also the beginning of design.

Kudus Mosque

Bogor Palace

Pagaruyung Palace

Niaga Tower

REFERENCES

Bertrand J,Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2004, 278 pages,ISBN 0-521-81889-3.
Retrieved October 22, 2006
Digital Atlas of Indonesian History by Robert Cribbfrom 17th century and
earlier
http://artasia.www2.50megs.com/Indonesia/houses.htm
http://
ruangkotahanun.blogspot.com/2011/09/traditional-houses-in-indonesia.htm
l
http://probohindarto.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/modern-architecture-stylein-indonesia/