Sources — Bale — Rumah Adat Nusantara

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

Dimension	Value	Class	Citation
Length of a hasta — elbow to fingertip — relative to a depa. A quarter of the arm span is ordinary anthropometry rather than a figure from the Balinese literature. What is sourced is that a hasta is a measure of the owner’s body; what the ratio is, is the author’s.hastaRatio	0.25If 20% out: 0.93 m	Interpolated	Tidak ada sumber Bali. Perbandingan antara satu ukuran tubuh dan ukuran berikutnya adalah antropometri umum yang ditetapkan penulis — bukan angka dari kepustakaan Bali mana pun. Kunci ini dipisahkan dari “tidak ada sumber” supaya perbedaannya terbaca di tabel.
Length of a musti — the closed fist with the thumb laid across — relative to a depa. The author’s anthropometry, as with the hasta.mustiRatio	0.07If 20% out: 0.10 m	Interpolated	Tidak ada sumber Bali. Perbandingan antara satu ukuran tubuh dan ukuran berikutnya adalah antropometri umum yang ditetapkan penulis — bukan angka dari kepustakaan Bali mana pun. Kunci ini dipisahkan dari “tidak ada sumber” supaya perbedaannya terbaca di tabel.
Length of a useran — one rotation of the thumb — relative to a depa. It is also the size of the pengurip, so this figure is what sets how far the house departs from its own whole multiples.useranRatio	0.01If 20% out: 0.02 m	Interpolated	Tidak ada sumber Bali. Perbandingan antara satu ukuran tubuh dan ukuran berikutnya adalah antropometri umum yang ditetapkan penulis — bukan angka dari kepustakaan Bali mana pun. Kunci ini dipisahkan dari “tidak ada sumber” supaya perbedaannya terbaca di tabel.
Width of one finger relative to a depa.nyariRatio	0.01If 20% out: 0.03 m	Interpolated	Tidak ada sumber Bali. Perbandingan antara satu ukuran tubuh dan ukuran berikutnya adalah antropometri umum yang ditetapkan penulis — bukan angka dari kepustakaan Bali mana pun. Kunci ini dipisahkan dari “tidak ada sumber” supaya perbedaannya terbaca di tabel.
Spacing between saka, in depa. One arm span per bay: enough for a person to lie across, which is what a bale is for. That the spacing is measured in depa is canon; that it is one, is the author’s.bayUnits	1If 20% out: 1.02 m	Interpolated	No source
Height of a saka, in hasta, from the sendi to the underside of the tie. Five hasta gives clear headroom without making the pavilion read as a house.sakaHeightUnits	5If 20% out: 0.42 m	Interpolated	No source
Height of the bataran, in musti. The platform is low — something to sit on rather than a storey — and that is what separates it from the three raised houses in this project.bataranHeightUnits	4If 20% out: 0.10 m	Interpolated	No source
How far the bataran stands outside the saka, in musti. There is a margin for a foot outside the posts, and the roof drops its water outside that margin.bataranOversailUnits	2If 20% out: 0.10 m	Interpolated	No source
How far the eave reaches past the bataran, in hasta. This is what makes a bale usable in rain: a building with no walls is dry only as far as its roof reaches.eaveOversailUnits	2If 20% out: 0.17 m	Interpolated	No source
Rise of the ridge above the eave, in hasta. It sets the pitch, and alang-alang needs a steep one so water leaves quickly. Written as three hasta first, which gives a pitch of 24° — this dimension’s own note already said “steep” while its value did not, and the silhouette read as an umbrella rather than a roof. Six hasta gives about 42°.ridgeRiseUnits	6If 20% out: 0.51 m	Interpolated	No source
Height of the sitting platform inside, in musti, above the bataran paving.deckHeightUnits	2Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Depth of the sitting platform, in hasta — one depa, enough for a person to lie across. Two hasta at first, 0.85 m, and in the render it read as a shelf rather than something to sit and sleep on. The bale-bale is what this building is for; making it too narrow to use is building a roof over a ledge.deckDepthUnits	4Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Rise of one step up to the bataran, in musti.stepRiseUnits	2Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Section of a saka, in fingers. This is a size of timber rather than a set-out dimension, so it takes no pengurip — and the module check states how many lengths it excludes for that reason. Given in nyari rather than musti because one musti, 128 mm, makes a 2.1 m post read as a stick in the render; eight fingers gives 150 mm. Stock is measured in fingers — it is the unit a person reaches for when saying how thick a thing is, and its whole multiples are closer together.sakaSectionUnits	8If 20% out: 0.03 m	Interpolated	No source
Depth of a tie beam, in nyari.sunduSectionUnits	3Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Section of a rafter, in nyari.rafterSectionUnits	2Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Thickness of a board, in nyari.boardThicknessUnits	1Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Height of a sendi, the stone a saka foot seats on, in nyari.sendiHeightUnits	2If 20% out: 0.01 m	Interpolated	No source
Width of a sendi relative to the saka section, in musti.sendiWidthUnits	2Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Width of a step, in musti.stepWidthUnits	4Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Going of one step, in musti.stepDepthUnits	3Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Width of the ridge finish, in nyari.murdaWidthUnits	3Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Section of a deck leg, in musti.deckLegUnits	1Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Rafters in each bay. Batten spacing rather than a set-out dimension.raftersPerBay	5Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Exposed depth of one course of alang-alang. Closer than ijuk because the material is grass rather than fibre.thatchCourseDepth	0.22 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
How far a course stands proud of the one below it.thatchThickness	0.08 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
The share of a course that the course above laps over.thatchLap	0.45Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Clearance between the frame and the first course.thatchBed	0.04 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Height of the ridge finish above the roof line.murdaRise	0.18 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Thickness of the paras facing over the brick body of the bataran.batturFacing	0.09 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Depth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.jointEngagement	0.30Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Depth of the dish in the sendi that the saka foot seats into, as a share of its height.postSeat	0.30Moves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
The house is measured with its owner’s body: depa, hasta, musti, useran, finger. The unit itself is the social fact — two households of identical standing build different buildings because their bodies differ. The other four houses here select a number; this one selects the unit.bodyMeasured	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Dwijendra, N. K. A., Arsitektur Rumah Tradisional Bali Berdasarkan Asta Kosala Kosali (Udayana University Press, Denpasar, 2008).
A principal measure is a whole number of body units plus a pengurip, because a measure landing exactly on its module is called mati — dead. This house is required not to be exactly its own rule, and that is the only rule of its kind in this project.penguripRule	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Dwijendra, N. K. A., Arsitektur Rumah Tradisional Bali Berdasarkan Asta Kosala Kosali (Udayana University Press, Denpasar, 2008).
Three vertical parts: the bataran as foot, the saka as body, the roof as head. The division applies to a building, a compound and a village alike, and it is on the building that it reads most directly.triAngga	3Moves no measurement	Canon	Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
The name of a bale is the number of its saka: sakepat four, sakenem six, sangasari nine, sakaroras twelve. The only rule in this project where the word and the number are the same fact said once.nameIsCount	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
A bale is open on its sides: zero wall planes between the floor and the eave. What makes it usable is the reach of the roof rather than any enclosure — so the dimension that decides its comfort is the depth of the overhang.openPavilion	0Moves no measurement	Canon	Budihardjo, E., Architectural Conservation in Bali (Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta, 1986).
The building stands on a bataran, a low masonry platform. Not a house on stilts: there is no space beneath it, and the bataran is the foot in the threefold division.raisedOnBataran	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
A saka foot seats on its sendi and is not buried — so the frame can be taken apart and raised again.seatedOnSendi	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
Orientation is set by the kaja–kelod axis: kaja toward the mountain, kelod toward the sea. It is not a compass direction. In south Bali kaja is north; in north Bali kaja is south — so the same rule gives opposite bearings depending on which side of the mountain you stand.kajaKelod	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Eiseman, F. B., Bali: Sekala and Niskala, Volume II — Essays on Society, Tradition and Craft (Periplus, Berkeley, 1990).
A hipped roof: four planes falling to an eave that closes all the way round, with a ridge shorter than the building. On a square bale that ridge length becomes zero and the roof becomes a true pyramid — the form follows from the number of saka rather than being declared.hipRoof	4Moves no measurement	Canon	Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
A bale stands inside a walled compound with several others around the natah, with the shrine in the kaja-kangin corner. The single building is a part; the compound is the house.walledCompound	1Moves no measurement	Canon	Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
Side of the walled compound. That there is a compound is canon; its size is the author’s.compoundSide	22.00 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Height of the compound wall. A Balinese wall is brick and paras with a gate; this is its massing only, with no carving and no gate form.wallHeightSite	1.80 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Thickness of that wall.wallThicknessSite	0.35 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
How far the shrine stands off the wall in the kaja-kangin corner.shrineInset	1.00 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Height of the shrine massing in the kaja-kangin corner. A real shrine is a tiered, carved structure; this is a stone block of that height and nothing more.shrineHeight	2.60 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source
Plan side of the shrine in the kaja-kangin corner. Only its footprint is drawn.shrinePlan	3.00 mMoves no measurement	Interpolated	No source

Bibliography

gelebet-1986 · reference
Gelebet, I N., Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Bali (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Denpasar, 1986).
budihardjo-1986 · reference
Budihardjo, E., Architectural Conservation in Bali (Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta, 1986).
eiseman-1990 · ethnography
Eiseman, F. B., Bali: Sekala and Niskala, Volume II — Essays on Society, Tradition and Craft (Periplus, Berkeley, 1990).
dwijendra-2008 · reference
Dwijendra, N. K. A., Arsitektur Rumah Tradisional Bali Berdasarkan Asta Kosala Kosali (Udayana University Press, Denpasar, 2008).
anthropometry · none
Tidak ada sumber Bali. Perbandingan antara satu ukuran tubuh dan ukuran berikutnya adalah antropometri umum yang ditetapkan penulis — bukan angka dari kepustakaan Bali mana pun. Kunci ini dipisahkan dari “tidak ada sumber” supaya perbedaannya terbaca di tabel.

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.

1bayUnits1.02 mlength of the bataran
2hastaRatio0.93 mridge height
3ridgeRiseUnits0.51 mridge height
4sakaHeightUnits0.42 meave height
5eaveOversailUnits0.17 mdepth of the overhang
6mustiRatio0.10 meave height
7bataranHeightUnits0.10 meave height
8bataranOversailUnits0.10 mwidth of the bataran

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 building mirrors about z = 0, the plane the ridge runs along
1112 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.
pass
Every tenon contained in its mortise
50 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
120 parts, every one bearing on something already standing or on the ground.
pass
Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals
176 triangles; indices in range, none degenerate, every normal unit length.
pass
The number of saka is the name of this building
Bale gede (sakaroras): 12 saka, 3 × 4. The name and the count are one fact said once.
pass
Every principal length is a whole number of its owner’s body
9 principal lengths, in 3 body measures, from a depa of 1700 mm. Not one length in this building is written as a metre; every one is counted off its owner.
pass
No principal length lands exactly on its module: an exact measure is dead
A pengurip of one useran, 21.3 mm, added to 9 principal lengths. This building is required not to be exactly its own rule, and no other rule in this project has that shape.
pass
Three vertical parts, in order: bataran, saka, roof
Foot 0 → 0.53 m, body → 2.71 m, head → 5.43 m. The head is the largest part, as it should be.
pass
Open on every side: not one wall plane between the floor and the eave
Zero enclosing planes between 0.53 m and 2.71 m. What makes this bale usable in rain is not a wall but 0.87 m of overhang.
pass
Four roof planes at one pitch, and a ridge shorter than the building
A ridge of 1.72 m over an eave of 7.61 × 5.89 m: shorter by exactly half the eave depth at each end.
pass
The eave reaches past the bataran on all four sides
0.87 m across and 0.87 m along. On a building with no walls this figure is what decides which of it stays dry.
pass
The saka feet seat on their sendi and are not buried in the bataran
12 saka standing on their stones. Because none is buried, the frame can be taken apart and raised again.
pass
Every frame member stops where its roof plane runs out
No point of the frame reaches outside the roof surface at its own height. On a hip the four planes narrow as they rise, so a rafter near a corner is shorter — and a fault of this kind is completely hidden by the thatch.
pass
Thatch courses lap with no bare band, from the eave to the ridge
18 courses over 3.91 m of slope.
pass
Every part declares the dimensions it came from
120 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 120 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.

The pengurip is one useran, and its job is to keep every principal measure off its own module. Grow the useran and nothing bends, nothing collapses and nothing goes to zero — the addition simply climbs until it is a whole unit in itself, and the measure it was keeping inexact lands squarely back on its module: dead again, just one unit larger. Every other counterexample in this project ends with a building that cannot be constructed. This one ends with a building that stands perfectly well and is wrong for a reason no amount of looking would reveal — which is the strongest argument the project has for why the rules live in the model rather than in the caption.

The house as built

pass21.3 mmthe pengurip

A pengurip of one useran, 21.3 mm, added to 9 principal lengths. This building is required not to be exactly its own rule, and no other rule in this project has that shape.

Rear prow raised to 0.08 m

fail127.5 mmthe pengurip

4 lengths still land exactly on their module even with the pengurip added.

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.