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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
radius2.60 mIf 20% out: 1.04 mInterpolatedRadius of the house at the ground. Small, and deliberately so: a small volume fills with smoke more readily and is easier to keep warm.No source
facets24Moves no measurementInterpolatedHow many facets the cone is drawn with. A tessellation count, not a dimension of the building.No source
wallHeight1.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the low timber wall, on the form that has one.No source
eaveHeight0.35 mIf 20% out: 0.07 mInterpolatedHeight of the eave above the ground on the form whose thatch comes down — nearly touching, and there is no wall at all.No source
domeRise2.90 mIf 20% out: 0.58 mInterpolatedRise of the dome above the eave.No source
postSection0.14 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a post.No source
postCount6Moves no measurementInterpolatedHow many posts stand in the ring, besides the centre post.No source
centreSection0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the centre post the loft hangs from.No source
rafterSection0.07 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a dome rafter.No source
thatchBed0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far the thatch stands off its frame.No source
thatchThickness0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the thatch.No source
thatchCourses7Moves no measurementInterpolatedHow many courses of thatch run from the eave to the apex.No source
loftBase1.45 mIf 20% out: 0.29 mInterpolatedHeight of the loft floor above the ground for one harvest. It is the most consequential figure in this pack: too low and the maize scorches, too high and the smoke is cold before it arrives.No source
loftPerYear0.28 mIf 20% out: 0.11 mInterpolatedHow much deeper the loft goes for each further harvest kept. The only dimension in this project taken from a length of time rather than from people, rooms or rank.No source
loftShare0.78Moves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the loft against the ring of posts carrying it. Derived from the posts rather than from the house’s radius: a thing that rests on something takes its size from what carries it.No source
smokeLow1.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThe bottom of the useful smoke band: below this the fire is too close and the maize scorches.No source
smokeHigh2.85 mIf 20% out: 0.57 mInterpolatedThe top of the useful smoke band, and the author’s figure. Above it the smoke is too cool and too thin to cure the seed, and a store out of its reach is a store of maize that rots.No source
hearthRadius0.45 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the stone hearth in the middle of the floor, directly under the loft.No source
hearthHeight0.12 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the ring of hearth stones.No source
doorWidth0.62 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the only opening.No source
doorHeight1.15 mIf 20% out: 0.23 mInterpolatedHeight of the only opening. Low on purpose: a person stoops through it, and the smoke and the heat do not follow them out.No source
jambSection0.09 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a door jamb.No source
standingHeight1.62 mIf 20% out: 0.32 mInterpolatedStanding height of an adult. Not from a source about Timor — its own source key so that this shows.Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Timor. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali, pak Waruga, dan pak Ngada.
stoopingHeight1.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of an adult stooping through a low opening. The door has to be taller than this to be usable, and lower than a standing person to be worth having.Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Timor. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali, pak Waruga, dan pak Ngada.
lopoRadius2.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the lopo, the open building in the same yard.No source
lopoFloorY0.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the lopo’s floor above the ground.No source
lopoRise2.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRise of the lopo’s cone above its floor.No source
lopoStand4.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDistance of the lopo from the house, in the same yard.No source
yardRadius9.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the swept family yard.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
smokeKeepsTheSeed1Moves no measurementCanonThe smoke of the floor fire cures the seed maize hung in the loft above it: it dries it, drives the weevils out, and keeps it fit to plant until the next rains. So this building has to hold smoke in — the only roof in this project with a second job, because the other twenty-seven only have to keep water out.Schulte Nordholt, H. G., The Political System of the Atoni of Timor (Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971).
oneLowDoor1Moves no measurementCanonOne opening, and no window at all. The door is low enough that a person stoops through it, and that is how the heat and the smoke do not follow them out. Its check is bounded on both sides — tall enough to pass, low enough to be worth having — and it is the only two-sided check in this project.Cunningham, C. E., “Order in the Atoni House”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 120, 1964.
seedIsMeasuredInYears1Moves no measurementCanonHow deep the loft goes is set by how many harvests a household keeps against a bad year. It is the only dimension in this project taken from a length of time; every other one comes from a body, a room, a rank, a household, a crowd, or what a building depicts.Schulte Nordholt, H. G., The Political System of the Atoni of Timor (Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971).
lopoIsTheOpposite1Moves no measurementCanonIn the same yard stands the lopo: a round open building on posts, with no walls and its own store under a conical roof. The same people build a thing that must not ventilate and a thing that is nothing but ventilation, a few metres apart, both round and both under a cone. The two together are one refutation of the idea that a form settles a purpose.Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).

Bibliography

  • schulteNordholt-1971 · ethnography

    Schulte Nordholt, H. G., The Political System of the Atoni of Timor (Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971).

  • cunningham-1964 · ethnography

    Cunningham, C. E., “Order in the Atoni House”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 120, 1964.

  • depdikbud-1986 · reference

    Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).

  • anthropometry · none

    Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Timor. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali, pak Waruga, dan pak Ngada.

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. 1radius1.04 mdiameter of the house
  2. 2domeRise0.58 mheight of the apex
  3. 3smokeHigh0.57 msmoke left above the seed
  4. 4standingHeight0.32 mmargin between the door and a standing person
  5. 5loftBase0.29 mheight of the loft
  6. 6doorHeight0.23 mmargin between the door and a standing person
  7. 7loftPerYear0.11 mtop of the seed
  8. 8eaveHeight0.07 mheight of the apex

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 The house is symmetric about the plane of its door, z = 0 — the lopo in the yard is not part of the claim

    535 points (27 of 33 parts); largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    2 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    The seed hangs in the smoke

    A loft at 1.45 m with 2 harvests 0.56 m deep reaching 2.01 m, inside a 1.10–2.85 m band. Where the loft sits follows from how the house is framed; how far the smoke stays useful is the author’s limit; nothing relates them — and what fails when they do not meet is not the building but the seed in it.

  • pass
    One door, and it is low

    An opening 1.15 m high: above 1.05 m so a stooping adult gets through, and below 1.62 m so they have to stoop. It is the only two-sided check in this project, and both bounds matter — a door too low is not a door, and a door too tall lets the smoke out.

  • pass
    There is no other opening anywhere

    7 courses of thatch, only the lowest of them cut for the door, and no window at all. The other twenty-seven roofs in this project only have to keep water out; this one also has to keep smoke in, and any further hole would cancel the reason the building exists.

  • pass
    The loft goes in before the thatch closes over it

    Once the dome is closed the only way in is a door a person stoops through. This order is not tidiness: it is the only order that is possible.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    33 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 33 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.

Raising the loft is the first thing anybody would do. A fire on an earth floor under a bamboo platform hung with dry maize is exactly as dangerous as it sounds, and lifting the seed away from the flame gives headroom, room to work, and one less thing to worry about. No part of the building objects: the dome is unchanged, the door still makes you stoop, there is still no window, the loft is still carried by the frame that carried it before. What fails is the seed — past a point the smoke reaching the top of the store is too cool and too thin to cure anything, and a store out of its reach is a store of maize that rots before the rains.

The house as built

pass2.57 m / 2.85 mtop of the seed · top of the smoke

A loft at 1.45 m with 4 harvests 1.12 m deep reaching 2.57 m, inside a 1.10–2.85 m band. Where the loft sits follows from how the house is framed; how far the smoke stays useful is the author’s limit; nothing relates them — and what fails when they do not meet is not the building but the seed in it.

Rear prow raised to 1.75 m

fail2.87 m / 2.85 mtop of the seed · top of the smoke

the seed reaches 2.87 m and the smoke is spent by 2.85 m

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.