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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
shareLength4.20 mIf 20% out: 6.72 mInterpolatedLength of one household’s share along the building. This is the unit the building is made of: the whole length is this figure times the household count, and never a dimension of its own. The only house in this project whose length is never declared.No source
bilikDepth5.40 mIf 20% out: 1.08 mInterpolatedDepth of a family’s bilik, measured across the building. The enclosed part, and the part that belongs to one household.No source
samiDepth4.60 mIf 20% out: 0.92 mInterpolatedWidth of the sami, the common gallery in front of the bilik. Nearly as deep as the private room itself — which is a statement about how much of life here is lived in common.No source
floorHeight2.90 mIf 20% out: 0.58 mInterpolatedHeight of the floor above the ground. High because the river rises, because pigs and dogs live beneath it, and because a raised house is easier to hold.No source
postSection0.28 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of an ironwood post.No source
postsPerShare2Moves no measurementInterpolatedRanks of posts for each household’s share. Adding one household adds this many ranks — so even the posts are a count rather than a dimension.No source
bearerDepth0.24 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a bearer spanning between posts.No source
bearerWidth0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of a bearer.No source
floorThickness0.08 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board floor.No source
wallHeight2.40 mIf 20% out: 0.48 mInterpolatedHeight of a bilik wall from the floor to the plate.No source
wallThickness0.06 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board wall.No source
partitionThickness0.06 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a partition between bilik. This partition is the boundary between households, and there is always one fewer of them than there are households.No source
doorWidth0.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the door from the sami into a bilik. Each household has one, and every one of them opens onto the same gallery.No source
ridgeRise3.40 mIf 20% out: 0.68 mInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the eave.No source
eaveOversail1.30 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the overhang. Generous, because the gallery beneath it has to stay dry.No source
rafterSection0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a rafter.No source
raftersPerShare3Moves no measurementInterpolatedRafters over each household’s share.No source
shingleCourseDepth0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of shingles.No source
shingleThickness0.03 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a shingle course stands proud of the one below. Far thinner than a thatched roof: this is split wood, not leaf.No source
shingleLap0.50Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps. Greater than on a thatched roof, because a shingle that does not lap enough leaks at its joints.No source
shingleBed0.03 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
hejotReach3.60 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedLength of the hejot, the notched log leaning against the gallery edge. The only way up, and at night it is pulled in.No source
hejotSection0.34 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the hejot.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
lengthIsACensus1Moves no measurementCanonThe length of the house is the number of its households. It grows by adding bilik one at a time, so it may be forty metres long or two hundred with no proportion governing the difference — because the length is not a proportion, it is a census. It is the only building in this project with no characteristic size.Waterson, R., The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1990).
onePerHousehold1Moves no measurementCanonOne bilik per household, all the same size, all opening onto the same gallery. This is not a large house divided up; it is a row of equal shares under one roof.Sellato, B., Hornbill and Dragon: Arts and Culture of Borneo (Elf Aquitaine, Jakarta / Kuala Lumpur, 1989).
galleryIsCommon1Moves no measurementCanonThe sami runs the length of the house in front of every bilik and belongs to everyone. Most of life is lived on it, and its being nearly as deep as a bilik is a statement about that ratio.Schiller, A., Small Sacrifices: Religious Change and Cultural Identity Among the Ngaju of Indonesia (Oxford University Press, New York, 1997).
raisedOnPosts1Moves no measurementCanonThe house stands high on ironwood posts.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Kalimantan Tengah (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
oneWayUp1Moves no measurementCanonThe way up is the hejot, a notched log, and at night it is pulled in. One building, one way in, and that way can be removed.Sellato, B., Hornbill and Dragon: Arts and Culture of Borneo (Elf Aquitaine, Jakarta / Kuala Lumpur, 1989).
ironwood1Moves no measurementCanonThe posts and shingles are ulin, ironwood. That material is why a building of this length lasts for decades in a climate that consumes other timber.Sellato, B., Hornbill and Dragon: Arts and Culture of Borneo (Elf Aquitaine, Jakarta / Kuala Lumpur, 1989).
facesTheRiver1Moves no measurementCanonA rumah betang stands parallel to the river with its gallery facing the water, and in Borneo the river is the road. This house’s length is a census; its position is a bank.Sellato, B., Hornbill and Dragon: Arts and Culture of Borneo (Elf Aquitaine, Jakarta / Kuala Lumpur, 1989).
riverWidth70.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the water drawn in front of the house. Wide enough to run past the edge of the drawing, because a Bornean river does not stop a few metres from the house and a rectangular pond would say that it does.No source
waterSheet0.08 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness 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.No source
riverSetback14.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDistance from the front of the house to the water’s edge.No source

Bibliography

  • sellato-1989 · reference

    Sellato, B., Hornbill and Dragon: Arts and Culture of Borneo (Elf Aquitaine, Jakarta / Kuala Lumpur, 1989).

  • waterson-1990 · ethnography

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

  • schiller-1997 · ethnography

    Schiller, A., Small Sacrifices: Religious Change and Cultural Identity Among the Ngaju of Indonesia (Oxford University Press, New York, 1997).

  • depdikbud-kalteng · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Kalimantan Tengah (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. 1shareLength6.72 mlength of the house
  2. 2bilikDepth1.08 mwidth of the house
  3. 3samiDepth0.92 mwidth of the house
  4. 4ridgeRise0.68 mridge height
  5. 5floorHeight0.58 mfloor height
  6. 6wallHeight0.48 mridge height

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 members running the whole length of the house mirror about its middle

    40 points (5 of 189 parts); largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    101 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    Every household’s share is equal, and there is always one fewer partition than households

    8 shares of 4.20 m each, divided by 7 partitions. This is not a large house divided up; it is a row of equal shares. Note that no mirror check is made here: a house grown from one end is genuinely not symmetric along its length, and picking an axis that happens to pass would state something untrue.

  • pass
    This building has no characteristic size: its length is a census, not a proportion

    From 3 households to 20 the length-to-width ratio runs from 1.3 to 8.4 — 6.7 times — while the width, the floor height and the ridge height do not move at all. Each household adds exactly one share and adds nothing else. It is the only check in this project that passes by showing a proportion failing to hold.

  • pass
    One floor, continuous end to end, under both the bilik and the gallery

    One plane 33.60 m long. This is one building rather than a row of houses touching — which is what separates it from a village.

  • pass
    The sami is never walled: the part that belongs to everyone cannot be claimed

    A gallery 4.60 m deep, open along all 33.60 m of the house, enclosed only by a rail 0.77 m high. It is nearly as deep as the private room behind it, and that ratio is the statement.

  • pass
    One way up, and it is at the end the house did not grow from

    One hejot at z = -14.70 m. Tumbuh ke hilir: the house lengthens at the other end, so the way in stays where it has always been through the building’s whole history. At night the log is pulled in.

  • pass
    A gable: the ridge runs the whole length of the roof

    A ridge of 36.20 m, the same length as its eave, so the two ends stand vertically instead of falling inward. The third distinct form out of one primitive — a stepped hip, a pyramid, and now a gable.

  • pass
    Shingle courses lap with no bare band, from the eave to the ridge

    36 courses over 7.16 m of slope; smallest lap 2.8%. Split shingles need a greater lap than a thatched roof, because what leaks is the joint.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    189 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 189 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 two strongest checks in this pack cannot be broken by pushing any single dimension — a length that is not a proportion stays not a proportion whatever the numbers are, and the bilik wall stands exactly on the gallery boundary by construction. Both are tested directly in the test file, against their own arithmetic. What is shown here compares two genuinely independent numbers: a shingle roof does not leak through its shingles, it leaks at the joints between them, and the only thing holding water out there is how far each course laps the one below. Take the lap away and the roof is still made of exactly that much ironwood, over exactly the same rafters, and it stops covering itself.

The house as built

pass50.0% / 36lap · courses

36 courses over 7.16 m of slope; smallest lap 2.8%. Split shingles need a greater lap than a thatched roof, because what leaks is the joint.

Rear prow raised to 0 m

fail0.1% / 36lap · courses

course 2 does not lap course 1; course 3 does not lap course 2; course 4 does not lap course 3; course 5 does not lap course 4; course 6 does not lap course 5; course 7 does not lap course 6; course 8 does not lap course 7; course 9 does not lap course 8; course 10 does not lap course 9; course 11 does not lap course 10; course 12 does not lap course 11; course 13 does not lap course 12; course 14 does not lap course 13; course 15 does not lap course 14; course 16 does not lap course 15; course 17 does not lap course 16; course 18 does not lap course 17; course 19 does not lap course 18; course 20 does not lap course 19; course 21 does not lap course 20; course 22 does not lap course 21; course 23 does not lap course 22; course 24 does not lap course 23; course 25 does not lap course 24; course 26 does not lap course 25; course 27 does not lap course 26; course 28 does not lap course 27; course 29 does not lap course 28; course 30 does not lap course 29; course 31 does not lap course 30; course 32 does not lap course 31; course 33 does not lap course 32; course 34 does not lap course 33; course 35 does not lap course 34; course 36 does not lap course 35

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.