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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
nuaWidth14.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the nua, from one row of houses to the other.No source
pairSpacing6.50 mIf 20% out: 3.90 mInterpolatedDistance from one pair to the next along the nua. The length of this square is a count of clans.No source
nuaMargin4.00 mIf 20% out: 0.80 mInterpolatedThe stretch of nua left at either end.No source
nuaThickness0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the stone paving of the square.No source
pairOffset1.60 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far the ngadhu and the bhaga stand off the axis of the square, in opposite directions. They stand facing each other, and it is the only dimension in this project stating that two objects are one statement.No source
ngadhuShort3.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the ngadhu post above ground, for a short one.No source
ngadhuMid4.10 mIf 20% out: 0.82 mInterpolatedHeight of the ngadhu post above ground, middling.No source
ngadhuTall5.30 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the ngadhu post above ground, for a tall one. The sources agree that a taller post belongs to a clan that has held the larger feasts, and not one of them gives a figure.No source
ngadhuPlanted1.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow deep the ngadhu post is planted. The figure is declared and not drawn: the core refuses any part below y = 0, and that refusal is right for the other twenty-six buildings here.No source
ngadhuSection0.34 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDiameter of the ngadhu post.No source
ngadhuArm0.95 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedLength of the forked arms at the head of the post.No source
ngadhuArmSection0.13 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of an arm.No source
capRadius1.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the thatch cap over the post. The cap shelters its own post and nothing else: there is no floor under it, and nobody stands in it.No source
capRise1.05 mIf 20% out: 0.21 mInterpolatedRise of the thatch cone.No source
capFacets20Moves no measurementInterpolatedHow many facets the cone is drawn with. A tessellation count, not a dimension of the building.No source
bhagaWidth1.35 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of a bhaga. It is not room for anything: it is a house made small, and its size comes from what it depicts rather than from what it holds.No source
bhagaDepth1.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a bhaga.No source
bhagaFloorY0.55 mIf 20% out: 0.11 mInterpolatedHeight of a bhaga’s floor above the ground, on its short posts.No source
bhagaWallHeight0.85 mIf 20% out: 0.17 mInterpolatedHeight of a bhaga’s wall.No source
bhagaRise1.10 mIf 20% out: 0.22 mInterpolatedRise of a bhaga’s ridge above its wall.No source
bhagaEave0.30 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedOverhang of a bhaga’s roof.No source
bhagaPost0.11 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a bhaga’s short post.No source
bhagaBoard0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a bhaga’s boards.No source
doorWidth0.42 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the opening in the front of a bhaga.No source
doorHeight0.50 mIf 20% out: 0.10 mInterpolatedHeight of the opening in the front of a bhaga. It is smaller than a human body on purpose, and that is what separates a model of a house from a very small house.No source
crouchingHeight1.28 mIf 20% out: 0.26 mInterpolatedHeight of a human body stooping through an opening. Not from a source about Ngada — its own source key so that this shows, exactly as in the Bali and Waruga packs.Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Ngada. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali dan pak Waruga.
shoulderWidth0.46 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedShoulder width of an adult.Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Ngada. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali dan pak Waruga.
tureWidth2.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the stone platform beside a pair.No source
tureDepth1.80 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the stone platform.No source
tureHeight0.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the stone platform.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
pairIsTheUnit2Moves no measurementCanonA ngadhu is a clan’s male ancestor and a bhaga its female one, and a clan has both. One without the other is not a smaller statement but an incomplete one. The twenty-six entries before this are one object each; this is two objects of different kinds that have to exist together.Arndt, P., Gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse der Ngadha (Anthropos-Institut, Wien, 1954).
bhagaIsAModel1Moves no measurementCanonA bhaga is a house made small: too small to enter, and meant to be. Every other size in this project comes from a body, a room, a rank, a household or a crowd; this one comes from what it depicts. So the pack declares a human body and requires the building to be smaller than it.Schröter, S., “Death in Ngada: Ancestor Worship, Rituals and Social Structure”, Anthropos 93, 1998.
neitherIsShelter0Moves no measurementCanonZero people sheltered. A ngadhu’s cap covers its own post and has no floor under it; a bhaga’s floor is a little over a metre across. The bade’s tiers shelter nothing either, but a bade still carries a body; these carry nobody.Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).
onePairPerClan1Moves no measurementCanonOne pair for each clan, ranged along the nua. The length of the square is a count of clans — as the length of a betang is a count of households, and the length of a tanean is a genealogy.Arndt, P., Gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse der Ngadha (Anthropos-Institut, Wien, 1954).

Bibliography

  • arndt-1954 · ethnography

    Arndt, P., Gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse der Ngadha (Anthropos-Institut, Wien, 1954).

  • schroter-1998 · ethnography

    Schröter, S., “Death in Ngada: Ancestor Worship, Rituals and Social Structure”, Anthropos 93, 1998.

  • 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 Ngada. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali dan pak Waruga.

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. 1pairSpacing3.90 mlength of the square
  2. 2ngadhuMid0.82 mheight of the ngadhu post
  3. 3nuaMargin0.80 mlength of the square
  4. 4crouchingHeight0.26 mmargin between the opening and a body
  5. 5bhagaRise0.22 mridge of the bhaga
  6. 6capRise0.21 mapex of the thatch cap
  7. 7bhagaWallHeight0.17 mridge of the bhaga
  8. 8bhagaFloorY0.11 mridge of the bhaga

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
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    9 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    Every post has its little house, standing with it

    3 ngadhu and 3 bhaga, facing each other 3.20 m apart, one pair to a clan. One without the other is not a smaller statement but an unfinished one — and this is the only check in the project whose subject is two objects of different kinds having to exist together.

  • pass
    Nobody can get into the bhaga, and that is what makes it a model

    The opening is 42 × 50 cm against 46 cm shoulders and a 128 cm stooping body; the floor is 1.35 m across — room enough to put something in, and no way to get into it. A Balinese bale is measured by its owner’s body so that they fit; a waruga’s chamber is measured against a body seated and folded so that one fits inside; this one is measured so that nobody does.

  • pass
    Neither of them shelters anybody

    The thatch cap covers its own post: there is no floor under it, so there is nowhere for anybody to stand. The bhaga is closed on every side but one opening nobody fits through. The bade’s tiers shelter nothing either, but a bade still carries a body; these carry nobody.

  • pass
    The pairs are ranged inside the nua, at one spacing

    3 pairs at 6.50 m within a 23.5 m square. The length of this square is a count of clans — as a betang’s length is a count of households.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    52 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 52 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.

Making the opening bigger is the most reasonable thing anybody could do to this object: whatever is kept in a bhaga has to go in and come out again. And not one part of it becomes wrong — the pair still stands complete, the post still carries its cap, the spacing still holds, everything is still as well made. What stops being true is what the thing is: past the height of a stooping body, a model of a house nobody can enter has become a very small house somebody can — and the difference between those two is the entire reason a bhaga is built.

The house as built

pass50 cm / 128 cmheight of the opening · a stooping body

The opening is 42 × 50 cm against 46 cm shoulders and a 128 cm stooping body; the floor is 1.35 m across — room enough to put something in, and no way to get into it. A Balinese bale is measured by its owner’s body so that they fit; a waruga’s chamber is measured against a body seated and folded so that one fits inside; this one is measured so that nobody does.

Rear prow raised to 1.32 m

fail133 cm / 128 cmheight of the opening · a stooping body

the opening is 1.32 m and a stooping body is 1.28 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.