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 | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.40 mIf 20% out: 1.44 m | Interpolated | Length of one bay of the core along the entry axis. | |
| 3.60 mIf 20% out: 1.44 m | Interpolated | Half-width of the house. Fixed: what the rules change is its depth and the form of its roof. | |
| 2.60 mIf 20% out: 0.52 m | Interpolated | Length of the open platform at the front, where the house meets the road or the river. | |
| 3.00 mIf 20% out: 0.60 m | Interpolated | Length of the surambi, the roofed veranda between the platform and the core. | |
| 3.20 mIf 20% out: 0.64 m | Interpolated | Length of the padu at the back, where the kitchen and the household work are. | |
| 4.60 mIf 20% out: 0.92 m | Interpolated | Rise of the core ridge above its eave, on a rumah bubungan tinggi. This is the figure the house is recognised by and it is the author’s: the sources agree the ridge is steep and that the steepness is the point, and none gives an angle. The same shape of problem as the Sumbanese tower and the Palembang step, arriving for the third time. | |
| 2.30 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Rise of the core ridge on a gajah baliku: an ordinary gable, far lower. | |
| 2.60 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Rise of the core ridge on a palimasan: a hipped roof, its ridge shorter than the building. | |
| 1.10 mIf 20% out: 0.22 m | Interpolated | Rise of a shed ridge on the front and back segments. Low, and it has to be: what makes the sequence legible is that the middle one rises above both. | |
| 3.10 mIf 20% out: 0.62 m | Interpolated | Height of the core eave above the ground. The other segments drop their eaves with their floors. | |
| 0.90 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Depth of the overhang. | |
| 1.80 mIf 20% out: 0.36 m | Interpolated | Height of the core floor above the ground. Banjarmasin is built on swamp and tide; a raised house here is not a preference. | |
| 0.30 mIf 20% out: 0.12 m | Interpolated | How far each segment’s floor drops toward the front. The Palembang rumah limas also steps its floor, and the difference matters: there the steps are the standing, here they follow from the sequence of roofs and from water having to run away. | |
| 0.20 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Section of an ironwood post. | |
| 0.20 mIf 20% out: 0.04 m | Interpolated | Height of the stone a post foot stands on. | |
| 0.40 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Width of that stone. | |
| 0.22 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Depth of a bearer. | |
| 0.14 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Width of a bearer. | |
| 0.07 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Thickness of a board floor. | |
| 0.06 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Thickness of a board wall. | |
| 2.20 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | How far an anjung projects to the side from the body. | |
| 3.40 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Length of an anjung along the entry axis. | |
| 1.50 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Rise of an anjung’s ridge above its eave. | |
| 0.20 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Exposed depth of one course of shingles. | |
| 0.03 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | How far a course stands proud of the one below. | |
| 0.50Moves no measurement | Interpolated | The share of a course the course above laps. | |
| 0.03 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Clearance between the frame and the first course. | |
| 0.30Moves no measurement | Interpolated | Depth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member. | |
| 1Moves no measurement | Canon | The Banjar house is a family of types named for the roof over the core: bubungan tinggi for that steep gable, palimasan for a hipped roof, gajah baliku for a lower gable. The rest is the same building. It is the only rule in this project that selects a geometric primitive rather than a number, a name or a switch. | |
| 1Moves no measurement | Canon | This house is roofed in succession along one ridge: the platform, the surambi under a shed, the core under its own form, then the padu under a shed again. The other thirteen buildings in this project have one roof, whatever its shape, over the whole plan. This one is read by walking the ridge and naming what changes overhead. | |
| 1Moves no measurement | Canon | The middle one rises above both. If it did not, the sequence would not read and the house would no longer be the type its name says — so that height is not ornament but what makes the name true. | |
| 1Moves no measurement | Canon | The house stands on ironwood posts. Banjarmasin is built on swamp and tide, so this is a requirement rather than a preference. | |
| 1Moves no measurement | Canon | The posts and shingles are ulin, ironwood — the same material as the rumah betang, because the same forest and because the same water. | |
| 1Moves no measurement | Canon | The house faces the river, and the pelatar is where the house meets the water. In Banjarmasin the river is the road, so the water’s edge is what fixes which end is the front — and therefore which way the sequence of four roofs runs. | |
| 7.00 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Distance from the front of the pelatar to the water’s edge. The distance is the author’s; that the water is there is not. | |
| 60.00 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Width of the water drawn in front of the platform, enough to run past the edge of the drawing. The Barito is far wider than anything that fits in the model. | |
| 0.08 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Thickness of the water sheet on the model. The water here is a poured surface a few centimetres proud of the ground rather than a river cut into it: the ground in this model is one flat plane, and sinking the water below it hides the water completely. | |
| 0.16 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Diameter of a walkway post. | |
| 0.08 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Thickness of the walkway planks. | |
| 0.35 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Height of the walkway deck above the bank. | |
| 2.00 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Spacing of the walkway posts. | |
| 1.40 mMoves no measurement | Interpolated | Width of the walkway from the platform to the water. |
Bibliography
seman-2001 · reference
Seman, S. and Irhamna, Arsitektur Tradisional Banjar Kalimantan Selatan (Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia Daerah Kalimantan Selatan, Banjarmasin, 2001).
mentayani-2017 · reference
Mentayani, I., “Identitas dan Eksistensi Permukiman Tepi Sungai di Banjarmasin”, Prosiding Temu Ilmiah IPLBI (2017).
depdikbud-kalsel · reference
Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Kalimantan Selatan (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
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.
- 1.44 m
- 1.44 m
- 0.92 m
- 0.64 m
- 0.62 m
- 0.60 m
- 0.52 m
- 0.36 m
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.
- passBilateral symmetry about Symmetric across the entry axis — the one that does not carry the sequence
4080 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.
- passEvery tenon contained in its mortise
43 pasak, takik and tumpu joints; every one engaged.
- passNo joint spans more than one stage
Every joint engages two parts from the same stage or from consecutive ones.
- passStage ordering, and nothing below ground
318 parts, every one bearing on something already standing or on the ground.
- passMesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals
1536 triangles; indices in range, none degenerate, every normal unit length.
- passFour roofed segments, in order, meeting end to end along one ridge
Pelatar (sengkuap) → Surambi (sengkuap) → Palidangan (tinggi) → Padu (sengkuap), at 3 distinct ridge heights. The other thirteen buildings in this project have one roof over the whole plan; this one is read by walking the ridge and naming what changes overhead.
- passThe middle segment rises above both, and its form is the house’s name
Bubungan tinggi: a tinggi over the core, 3.80 m above its neighbours. This is not a claim about structure — if the middle did not rise, the sequence would not read and a house called bubungan tinggi would have no high ridge. What is tested is whether this building’s name is true of it.
- passThe type rule selects a form rather than a number
Bubungan tinggi → tinggi. The only rule in this project that selects a geometric primitive: elsewhere a rule picks a value and geometry follows it, here it picks the shape itself — and the house is named for that choice.
- passThe floors step down toward the front, and it is not a staircase of rank
From 2.00 m at the core down to 1.40 m at the platform. The Palembang rumah limas also steps its floor and means the opposite by it: there where a guest sits is their standing, here the steps follow the sequence of roofs and the water that has to run away from a house standing on a tidal swamp.
- passThe anjung stand on either side of the core, or not at all
Two wings, each projecting 2.20 m from the body, with their own roofs lower than the core’s.
- passShingle courses lap with no bare band, on every segment
32 courses on each of 4 segments. Split shingles need a greater lap than a thatched roof, because what leaks is the joint.
- passEvery part declares the dimensions it came from
318 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 318 interpolated.
- skippedChecked 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.
Bring the core ridge down and nothing fails: the chain still meets end to end, every segment still has its own roof, the shingles still lap, the floors still step. The only thing that stops being true is that the middle rises above its neighbours — and a building called “bubungan tinggi” whose ridge is not high is one whose name describes something that is not there. Fourteen buildings, fourteen rules that cannot be carried out, and only this one fails at its name: the others end with a building that cannot be constructed, or one that is dead, or one that has stopped being what it was for. This one ends with a building that is perfectly fine and is called something else.
The house as built
Rear prow raised to 0.69 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.