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Sources

Every dimension the house is generated from is below, with its class and its citation. This is the project’s honesty layer, and it is given a room of its own because a smooth 3D render implies a precision the sources do not have.

The dimensions

DimensionValueClassWhat it means
bayLength2.60 mIf 20% out: 2.60 mInterpolatedLength of one bay along the ridge. The length of the house is this figure times the number of bays, and that number is always odd — the house is named by it. It also has to be large enough that even the shortest house stays longer than it is wide: a building lying north–south is not a rumoh Aceh, whatever shape its roof is.No source
keueDepth2.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the seuramoë keuë, the front veranda where guests and the men are.No source
tungaiDepth2.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tungai, the raised middle room. This is where people sleep and where they are born; it is the most closed part of the house.No source
likotDepth2.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the seuramoë likôt, the back veranda where the women work and cook.No source
raise0.35 mIf 20% out: 0.07 mInterpolatedHeight of the tungai floor above the two verandas. The Palembang rumah limas raises its floor to state a guest’s standing; here what is raised is the most closed room, and what is stated is something else entirely: not who is higher, but how far an outsider goes.No source
floorHeight2.50 mIf 20% out: 2.00 mInterpolatedHeight of the veranda floor above the ground. High, and the space beneath is used for work, storage and weaving.No source
floorThickness0.06 mIf 20% out: 0.01 mInterpolatedThickness of the board floor.No source
postSection0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a tameh, the post standing free on its footing.No source
postGrid1.60 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSpacing of the lines of posts across the width.No source
beamDepth0.26 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a toi, the beam threaded through a mortise cut clean through the post. This frame is lashed and pegged with no nails, which is what lets it move without breaking.No source
beamWidth0.14 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of a toi.No source
wallHeight2.10 mIf 20% out: 0.42 mInterpolatedHeight of the board wall from the floor to the eave.No source
wallThickness0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a wall board.No source
treadRise0.29 mIf 20% out: 2.00 mInterpolatedRise of one tread. This figure sets how many treads there are, and that number has to be odd — so nudging the rise can flip odd to even without changing anything else. It is what this building’s counterexample pushes, and the smallest counterexample in the project.No source
treadDepth0.27 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a tread.No source
ladderWidth0.95 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the ladder.No source
ridgeRise3.10 mIf 20% out: 0.62 mInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the eave.No source
eaveOversail1.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the overhang.No source
rafterSection0.08 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a rafter.No source
plateSection0.14 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the eave plate.No source
rumbiaCourseDepth0.22 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of sago thatch.No source
rumbiaThickness0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a course stands proud of the one below.No source
rumbiaLap0.50Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps.No source
rumbiaBed0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
ridgeRunsEastWest1Moves no measurementCanonThe ridge lies east–west, because prayer is toward the west: the room is already turned that way before anybody stands in it. The other nineteen buildings in this project are oriented by something local — a compass rule of their own, a granary, a river, a road, a stone, the root of a tree, the fall of a hillside. This one is oriented by a doctrine held by people in other countries too, and it is the first rule in the collection to arrive from outside the archipelago. This pack once called it the only one; the Madurese tanean lanjang, whose langgar closes its west end, makes that note wrong. What survives is the narrower claim: here a whole house plan is turned by it, there one small building is placed at the head of an arrangement.Dall, G., The traditional Acehnese house, in J. Maxwell (ed.), The Malay-Islamic World of Sumatra (Monash University, Melbourne, 1982).
oddSteps1Moves no measurementCanonThe number of treads is odd. Not roughly odd and not usually odd: odd, and the tradition says so. It is the only parity rule in this project, and it can fail in the way parity fails — by one.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Istimewa Aceh (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
oddBays1Moves no measurementCanonThe number of bays is odd, and the house is named by it: rumoh lhee ruang, rumoh limong ruang. Odd because the middle bay has to be the middle — the raised room sits on it, and an even count would put a joint where the centre should be.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Istimewa Aceh (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
noNails0Moves no measurementCanonZero nails in the frame. The toi pass through mortises cut clean through the posts and are pegged and lashed — a frame that can move without breaking, on ground that moves. The Nias omo answers the same problem by triangulating every bay; this is a different answer and an equally good one: not stiff, but limber.Dall, G., The traditional Acehnese house, in J. Maxwell (ed.), The Malay-Islamic World of Sumatra (Monash University, Melbourne, 1982).
threeParts3Moves no measurementCanonThree parts across the width: the seuramoë keuë at the front for guests and the men, the raised tungai in the middle for sleeping and for birth, the seuramoë likôt behind for the women’s work. The sequence is not a staircase of rank but an order of how far in a person may come.Dall, G., The traditional Acehnese house, in J. Maxwell (ed.), The Malay-Islamic World of Sumatra (Monash University, Melbourne, 1982).

Bibliography

  • dall-1982 · ethnography

    Dall, G., The traditional Acehnese house, in J. Maxwell (ed.), The Malay-Islamic World of Sumatra (Monash University, Melbourne, 1982).

  • depdikbud-aceh · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Istimewa Aceh (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).

  • waterson-1990 · ethnography

    Waterson, R., The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1990).

Which of these matters most

Nearly every dimension on this page is the author’s own. What the provenance bar does not say is whether that matters. Each row below is computed by rebuilding the house: one dimension is pushed 20%, and the house is measured to see how far it follows. Nothing is estimated — the figures are the difference between two runs of the generator.

  1. 1bayLength2.60 mlength of the house, east–west
  2. 2floorHeight2.00 mnumber of treads
  3. 3treadRise2.00 mnumber of treads
  4. 4ridgeRise0.62 mheight of the ridge
  5. 5wallHeight0.42 mheight of the ridge
  6. 6raise0.07 mheight of the raised room
  7. 7floorThickness0.01 mheight of the ridge

If only one dimension could be surveyed, this is the one. This is sensitivity, not uncertainty: it shows what moves, not how likely the value is to be wrong. The 20% is itself the author’s choice.

Invariants

There is no measured drawing yet, so correctness rests on structural truth. These checks fail the build.

  • pass
    Bilateral symmetry about Symmetric about the north–south mid-plane, z = 0 — and deliberately not across its width

    952 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    42 pasak, takik and tumpu joints; every one engaged.

  • pass
    No joint spans more than one stage

    Every joint engages two parts from the same stage or from consecutive ones.

  • pass
    Stage ordering, and nothing below ground

    94 parts, every one bearing on something already standing or on the ground.

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

    200 triangles; indices in range, none degenerate, every normal unit length.

  • pass
    The house is long east–west, and the ridge lies along it

    13.0 m along the ridge against 7.1 m across it. The reason is prayer and this check cannot see it: what a model can hold is which axis is long. The other nineteen buildings here are turned by something local; this one by a doctrine held in other countries too.

  • pass
    The ladder has an odd number of treads

    9 treads, rising 0.29 m at a step to a floor 2.50 m up. The count is not declared but falls out of those two figures — which is exactly why the rule can be broken by a centimetre.

  • pass
    Three parts across the width, with the middle one raised

    The front veranda → The raised middle room → The back veranda, with the tungai 0.35 m above its verandas. What the height states is not a guest’s standing but a boundary: how far in an outsider comes.

  • pass
    No nails in the frame: threaded beams, pegs and lashings

    42 joints, every one a threaded beam or a lashing. A frame that moves without breaking, on ground that moves — the Nias omo answers the same problem by triangulating every bay, and this is a different answer: not stiff, but limber.

  • pass
    Thatch courses lap with no bare band

    25 courses from eave to ridge.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    94 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 94 interpolated.

  • skipped
    Checked against a measured drawing of a real house

    Skipped. No measured drawing has been wired in, so there is nothing to compare against. This check will not be made to pass by weakening it.

What a check is preventing

Ten green rows are not a reason to believe anything. So one check is run against a house built to break it, and what is printed below is that check’s own verdict rather than a description of it.

Move the rise of a tread by a centimetre and the house does not move at all: the floor is at the same height, the ladder still reaches it, every step is still comfortable, the frame is untouched. All that changes is that the number of treads is now even, and the tradition says odd. It is the only counterexample in this project that turns on a count rather than a length — and the only one where the difference between the sound house and the broken one is a single piece of wood.

The house as built

pass9 / 0.290 mtreads · rise of a tread

9 treads, rising 0.29 m at a step to a floor 2.50 m up. The count is not declared but falls out of those two figures — which is exactly why the rule can be broken by a centimetre.

Rear prow raised to 0.31 m

fail8 / 0.306 mtreads · rise of a tread

8 treads, which is even

The second house is never rendered. It is built during the build, failed, and thrown away.

This bar moves as real surveys are wired in. That movement is the project's progress metric.