Skip to content

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
stepRise0.32 mIf 20% out: 0.26 mInterpolatedRise of each kekijing above the one before it. This is the only figure in the pack that states how sharply this household distinguishes between its guests — and it is the author’s. The sources describe the sequence, name the levels and say what each is for; none gives a rise. The most socially loaded number here is an invented one, and that is said here rather than left to be discovered.No source
stepDepth2.30 mIf 20% out: 2.30 mInterpolatedDepth of one kekijing, front to back. Each level is deep enough to sit cross-legged facing another, which is what it is for.No source
bayWidth2.60 mIf 20% out: 2.08 mInterpolatedWidth of one bay. This is the axis that carries nothing: a wider house is only a larger house.No source
floorHeight1.90 mIf 20% out: 0.38 mInterpolatedHeight of the frontmost floor above the ground. The levels rise from here, so this figure is the base of the whole sequence.No source
postSection0.24 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of an unglen post. The posts in this house are not all the same length — each level calls for its own height, and that shows from beneath.No source
stoneHeight0.22 mIf 20% out: 0.04 mInterpolatedHeight of the stone a post foot stands on.No source
stoneWidth0.42 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of that stone.No source
bearerDepth0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a kijing, the bearer that sets each level.No source
bearerWidth0.14 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of a kijing.No source
floorThickness0.07 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board floor.No source
wallHeight3.40 mIf 20% out: 0.68 mInterpolatedHeight of the wall above the frontmost floor — the lowest. Measured from there because that is how a wall is built: one board from the bottom floor to the plate, not one board per level. It follows that headroom at the top level is this figure less the whole rise of the sequence, which is a comparison of two independent numbers. Written first as measured from the topmost level, which made headroom there exactly this figure and the check on it a restatement.No source
wallThickness0.06 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board wall.No source
tenggalungDepth2.10 mIf 20% out: 0.42 mInterpolatedDepth of the pagar tenggalung, the front gallery where the house meets the street.No source
kisiHeight1.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the lattice screening the front gallery when it is screened.No source
kisiPitch0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSpacing between the lattice bars.No source
kisiSection0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of one lattice bar.No source
ridgeRise5.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the eave. Written as 3.2 m first, which gives a pitch of 23° — in the render the roof read as a flat lid on a box, and this house is named for its roof. Five metres gives about 32°.No source
eaveOversail1.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the overhang.No source
rafterSection0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a rafter.No source
raftersPerBay3Moves no measurementInterpolatedRafters in each bay.No source
tileCourseDepth0.19 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of tile.No source
tileThickness0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a course of tile stands proud of the one below.No source
tileLap0.50Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps.No source
tileBed0.03 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
simbarRise0.70 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of a simbar at the end of the ridge.No source
simbarSection0.09 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a simbar.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
postSeat0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the dish in the stone the post foot seats into.No source
floorIsTheHierarchy1Moves no measurementCanonThe floor rises in steps from the front to the back, and where a guest is seated on that sequence is their standing. Nobody is refused entry; what differs is how high they sit. It is the only house in this project where the social fact is literally a height rather than something a height is derived from.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Selatan (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
depthIsSocialWidthIsNot1Moves no measurementCanonThe house grows deeper by adding a kekijing and wider by adding a bay. The two axes are separate and say different things — one a social sequence, the other merely size. The other eight houses in this project treat a plan as one thing.Siswanto, A., “Kearifan Lokal Arsitektur Tradisional Sumatera Selatan”, Jurnal Rekayasa Sriwijaya (2009).
threeOrFive1Moves no measurementCanonThe levels are three or five, and never an even number. A three-step house is not a smaller five-step house; it is a household with a shorter guest list.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Selatan (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
entryIsLowest1Moves no measurementCanonA person enters at the lowest level and rises from there. The sequence begins at the street and ends at the family.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Selatan (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
raisedOnPosts1Moves no measurementCanonThe house stands on posts, and the posts are not all one length because the floor is stepped.Waterson, R., The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1990).
seatedOnStone1Moves no measurementCanonThe post feet stand on stones; they are not buried.Waterson, R., The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1990).
limasRoof4Moves no measurementCanonA limas roof: four planes falling to an eave that closes all the way round, with a ridge shorter than the building. The house is named for its roof rather than for its floor — though it is the floor that says something.Ju, S.-R. and Saito, Y., “Traditional Houses of Southeast Asia”, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 11(1) (2012).
yardDepth11.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the front yard from the stair to the fence. The kekijing begins before the stair: a guest stops in the yard, climbs, and is then seated on the step that states their standing. That there is a yard in front is ordinary; its size and its fence are the author’s.No source
fenceHeight1.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the fence around the front yard. Low, so the stair and the stepping floor stay readable from outside; the figure is the author’s, like the whole arrangement.No source
fencePostWidth0.12 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSide of a fence post.No source
fenceRailDepth0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a fence rail.No source
fencePostSpacing2.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSpacing of the fence posts.No source
yardWidth16.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the front yard.No source

Bibliography

  • depdikbud-sumsel · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Sumatera Selatan (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).

  • siswanto-2009 · reference

    Siswanto, A., “Kearifan Lokal Arsitektur Tradisional Sumatera Selatan”, Jurnal Rekayasa Sriwijaya (2009).

  • ju-saito-2012 · reference

    Ju, S.-R. and Saito, Y., “Traditional Houses of Southeast Asia”, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 11(1) (2012).

  • 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. 1stepDepth2.30 mdepth of the house
  2. 2bayWidth2.08 mwidth of the house
  3. 3wallHeight0.68 meave height
  4. 4tenggalungDepth0.42 mdepth of the house
  5. 5floorHeight0.38 meave height
  6. 6stepRise0.26 mheight of the topmost level
  7. 7stoneHeight0.04 meave 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 Symmetric about the width axis — the one that carries nothing

    2560 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    70 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    The floor rises in order, step by step, from the street to the family

    5 levels, each 0.32 m above the last, rising 1.28 m in all from the Jogan to the Gegajah. That sequence is the standing: a floor that stepped down anywhere would seat an honoured guest below a stranger.

  • pass
    The depth carries the sequence, the width carries only size, and neither moves the other

    Adding kekijing deepens the house from 9.00 m to 13.60 m and does not touch its width; widening it runs from 7.80 m to 18.20 m and adds not one level. The other eight houses here treat a plan as one thing; a model that lengthened the guest list by widening the house would say something untrue and look entirely reasonable.

  • pass
    Every level is named, and the sequence begins at the street and ends at the family

    Jogan → The second kekijing → The third kekijing → The fourth kekijing → Gegajah. A three-step house keeps the first, the middle and the last; the two distinctions it drops are the ones in between, and that is what a shorter guest list means.

  • pass
    A person enters at the lowest level, and the front gallery is a threshold rather than a step

    A pagar tenggalung 2.10 m deep, at the same height as the Jogan. Putting it one rise lower would make a five-step house into a six-step one, and quietly give this household a distinction it never claimed.

  • pass
    Every rank of posts stands to its own level

    5 distinct post lengths for 5 levels. This house’s social sequence is legible from underneath before a single board is laid — which is why this is not a restatement of the floor check.

  • pass
    The topmost level still has headroom under its roof

    2.12 m above the Gegajah. The wall is one board from the lowest floor and the roof does not step with it — so every kekijing eats into the air above it. A household distinguishing its guests ever more sharply eventually cannot stand up in its own gegajah.

  • pass
    The lattice screens without enclosing: bars, not a panel

    66 bars at 0.16 m. A screen you can see through is not a wall, and a solid panel would have said it was.

  • 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.

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

    50 courses over 9.43 m of slope.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    269 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 269 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.

Raise each step and the sequence stays perfect: five levels, each above the last, in the right order, correctly named. The check on the sequence goes on passing. What runs out is the air over the top of it, because the roof does not step with the floor — so a household insisting on ever sharper distinctions between its guests eventually cannot stand up in its own gegajah. The shape of failure is the same as in the eight houses before: a rule that cannot be carried out rather than one disobeyed. What differs here is which rule gives way — the social demand is satisfiable to any degree; it is the building that runs out first.

The house as built

pass0.32 m / 2.12 meach step · headroom at the top

2.12 m above the Gegajah. The wall is one board from the lowest floor and the roof does not step with it — so every kekijing eats into the air above it. A household distinguishing its guests ever more sharply eventually cannot stand up in its own gegajah.

Rear prow raised to 0.38 m

fail0.38 m / 1.86 meach step · headroom at the top

only 1.86 m above the Gegajah: the sequence has eaten the air under its own roof.

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.