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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
bayLength3.10 mIf 20% out: 2.48 mInterpolatedLength of one bay between two lines of posts. Two households occupy a bay, one on each side, and there is no partition between them — so the bay is a unit of position rather than a unit of room.No source
halfWidth3.60 mIf 20% out: 1.44 mInterpolatedHalf-width of the room. One room for every household: what divides them is position, not a wall.No source
floorHeight1.85 mIf 20% out: 0.37 mInterpolatedHeight of the floor above the ground.No source
floorThickness0.07 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the board floor.No source
postSection0.22 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a post.No source
stoneHeight0.28 mIf 20% out: 0.06 mInterpolatedHeight of a pad stone.No source
stoneWidth0.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of a pad stone.No source
beamDepth0.30 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the great beam running the length. This is the member that keeps the direction the tree grew, and so sets the order of the households.No source
beamWidth0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of that beam.No source
wallHeight1.55 mIf 20% out: 0.31 mInterpolatedHeight of the outward-leaning wall from the floor to the eave. A Karo house’s walls lean out, and they are only on the perimeter: there is not one inside.No source
wallLean0.28 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far the wall leans out from its foot to the eave.No source
wallThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a wall board.No source
hearthRadius0.55 mIf 20% out: 0.11 mInterpolatedRadius of a hearth. One hearth is shared by two households, and in this house it stands in open room: there is no cubicle around it.No source
hearthClearance0.85 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedLeast clearance from the edge of a hearth to the nearest post or wall. This figure exists because there are no partitions: in a rumah betang each hearth is inside its own bilik, here the fire burns in the same room as everybody, and what keeps it apart is distance and nothing else.No source
hearthDepth0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the hearth kerb above the floor.No source
ridgeRise3.90 mIf 20% out: 0.78 mInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the eave. A Karo house’s ijuk roof is large and steep over a low body.No source
eaveOversail1.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the overhang.No source
rafterSection0.09 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a rafter.No source
plateSection0.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the eave plate.No source
ijukCourseDepth0.23 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of ijuk.No source
ijukThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a course stands proud of the one below.No source
ijukLap0.50Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps.No source
ijukBed0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
tersekRise1.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRise of the upper tier at the end of the roof. It covers nothing that is not already covered: what it does is make the end of the house taller.No source
tersekReach1.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far that upper tier reaches in from the end of the roof.No source
doorWidth1.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the door at the end of the house.No source
doorHeight1.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the door.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
manyHouseholdsOneRoom1Moves no measurementCanonEight households live in one room with no partition. A rumah betang gives each household a room of its own and lengthens by one each time; a baileo makes every clan’s seat equal by rule; this house divides nothing at all. One social fact, three buildings, and three answers that share no member.Singarimbun, M., Kinship, Descent and Alliance among the Karo Batak (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1975).
standingIsPosition1Moves no measurementCanonA household’s standing is where it sits in that room. The rumah limas states standing in the height of a floor, the saoraja in a stack of boards, the tongkonan in a multiplier; this house states it in a position — and a position is the one marker that cannot be removed without removing the room.Singarimbun, M., Kinship, Descent and Alliance among the Karo Batak (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1975).
sharedHearths1Moves no measurementCanonOne hearth is shared by two households: eight jabu, four hearths. Cooking is a matter for two rather than for one, and what arranges it is where the hearth is rather than any partition.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Utara (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
orderedByTheTree1Moves no measurementCanonThe great beams are laid with the root end of the tree at one end of the house, and the household at that end — jabu bena kayu — is the senior one; jabu ujung kayu is at the other. The order of standing in this house is oriented by the direction a tree grew: the only rule in this project whose datum is a fact about the material rather than about people or place.Domenig, G., Religion und Architektur im westlichen Indonesien (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2014).
wallsLeanOut1Moves no measurementCanonThe walls lean outward from the floor to the eave.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Utara (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).

Bibliography

  • singarimbun-1975 · ethnography

    Singarimbun, M., Kinship, Descent and Alliance among the Karo Batak (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1975).

  • domenig-2014 · ethnography

    Domenig, G., Religion und Architektur im westlichen Indonesien (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2014).

  • depdikbud-sumut · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Utara (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. 1bayLength2.48 mlength of the room
  2. 2halfWidth1.44 mwidth of the room
  3. 3ridgeRise0.78 mheight of the ridge
  4. 4floorHeight0.37 mheight of the floor
  5. 5wallHeight0.31 mheight of the ridge
  6. 6hearthRadius0.11 mgap from a hearth to the nearest wall
  7. 7stoneHeight0.06 mheight of the floor

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 long mid-plane, z = 0 — and deliberately not along its length

    896 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    20 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    No partitions: one room for every household

    8 households in one room 12.4 × 7.2 m, and not one board stands between them. A rumah betang gives each household a room of its own; the difference between the two buildings is exactly the board that is not here.

  • pass
    One hearth to every two households, one on each side of it

    4 hearths for 8 households. Cooking is a matter for two, and what arranges it is where the fire is.

  • pass
    Every hearth stands clear of every post and wall

    The tightest gap is 1.05 m against the 0.85 m required. This check exists because there are no partitions: in a rumah betang each fire is inside its own bilik, here what keeps it off a post is distance.

  • pass
    The senior place is at the root end of the timber, and the order runs from there

    8 places, ordered from Jabu bena kayu — the base-of-the-tree place at the root end to Jabu ujung kayu — the tip place at the tip. The order of standing in this house is oriented by the direction a tree grew.

  • pass
    Ijuk courses lap with no bare band

    27 courses from eave to ridge, over a low body and leaning walls.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    84 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 84 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.

Grow the hearth and nothing about the building changes: the room is still one room, the eight places are still in their places, the order still runs from the root end, the roof still laps. What happens is that an open fire reaches a timber post inside a building with no partition anywhere to stop it. Eighteen buildings, eighteen rules that cannot be carried out — and this one fails for exactly the reason it was worth building: with no partitions, the only safety left is distance.

The house as built

pass1.05 m / 0.85 mtightest gap · what is required

The tightest gap is 1.05 m against the 0.85 m required. This check exists because there are no partitions: in a rumah betang each fire is inside its own bilik, here what keeps it off a post is distance.

Rear prow raised to 0.8 m

fail0.80 m / 0.85 mtightest gap · what is required

4 too close: ujung-b-b (0.80 m), ujung-b-a (0.80 m), ujung-a-b (0.80 m), ujung-a-a (0.80 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.