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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
beam4.60 mIf 20% out: 0.92 mInterpolatedWidth of the house, which is called the beam here. It is the figure the shape rule presses on: a house wants to be wider, a boat does not.No source
bayLength2.60 mIf 20% out: 2.60 mInterpolatedLength of one bay along the hull.No source
hullLeast2.10Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe least length-to-beam ratio that still reads as a hull. Below it the shape is an ordinary house plan.No source
hullMost4.60Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe greatest length-to-beam ratio that is built. It is a range rather than a figure: hulls vary too.No source
floorHeight1.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the floor above the ground.No source
padHeight0.26 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the stone under a post; nothing is buried.No source
padSocket0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the hollow in the stone the post foot sits in, so that the two actually engage.No source
postSection0.18 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a post.No source
bearerDepth0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a floor bearer.No source
deckThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a floor plank.No source
keelSection0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the ridge beam, which is called the keel here.No source
keelRise3.40 mIf 20% out: 0.68 mInterpolatedHeight of the keel above the floor.No source
roofFall0.72If 20% out: 0.33 mInterpolatedThe fall of the roof for each metre out from the keel. Because the roof comes down nearly to the floor, this figure and the beam decide how much gap is left to get in by — and the beam can be widened while the pitch cannot.No source
keelCamber0.35 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedCamber of the keel from end to middle — like a boat’s keel, it is not straight.No source
ribSection0.08 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a roof rib.No source
ribSpacing0.70 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSpacing of the ribs.No source
thatchThickness0.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the leaf covering.No source
thatchOversail0.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedOverhang at the bow and the stern.No source
doorWidth0.85 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the gap under the eave, which is the only way in.No source
doorHead1.35 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the head of the gap above the floor. The eave has to sit above this figure: below it there is no way into the house at all.No source
bowPost0.22 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the bow post, which is larger than the others and is not interchangeable with them.No source
sternRise0.45 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow much higher the stern end stands than the bow: the two ends are not alike, as on a boat.No source
duruY1.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the duru floor above the house floor.No source
duruShare0.42Moves no measurementInterpolatedLength of the duru against the length of the house.No source
duruThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the duru floor.No source
yardRadius11.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the swept yard, with the tapped lontar palms around it — and the palms are not modelled, like every plant in this project.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
theHouseIsAVessel1Moves no measurementCanonThis house is built and spoken of as a boat: its ridge is a keel, its ends a bow and a stern, its family a crew. Eleven buildings ago this project modelled an actual hull — the Bajau lepa — so the likeness can be tested rather than asserted: the plan has to hold a hull’s proportion rather than a room’s.Duggan, G. & Hägerdal, H., Savu: History and Oral Tradition on an Island of Indonesia (NUS Press, Singapore, 2016).
endsAreNotAlike2Moves no measurementCanonA boat has a bow and a stern and they cannot be swapped. Neither can this house’s: the bow post is larger, the stern end stands higher, and the model is deliberately asymmetric along its length — while across it, it is symmetric exactly as a hull is.Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).
theRoofIsTheHull1Moves no measurementCanonThe roof comes down nearly to the floor, so what is a wall on other houses here is the lower part of the roof, and the way in is a gap left under the eave rather than a door cut in a wall. That is where this building’s limit comes from: widen the hull and the eave comes down, and past a point there is no way in.Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).
lontarPaysForIt1Moves no measurementCanonSabu lives on the lontar palm: its juice, its syrup, its leaf, its timber. The duru over the inner room is where those stores hang, and a roof of lontar leaf over a store of lontar syrup is not a coincidence worth hiding in a materials list.Fox, J. J., Harvest of the Palm: Ecological Change in Eastern Indonesia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1977).

Bibliography

  • fox-1977 · ethnography

    Fox, J. J., Harvest of the Palm: Ecological Change in Eastern Indonesia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1977).

  • duggan-2016 · ethnography

    Duggan, G. & Hägerdal, H., Savu: History and Oral Tradition on an Island of Indonesia (NUS Press, Singapore, 2016).

  • depdikbud-1986 · reference

    Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).

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. 1bayLength2.60 mlength of the hull
  2. 2beam0.92 mthe beam
  3. 3keelRise0.68 mkeel above the floor
  4. 4roofFall0.33 mheight of the way in

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 keel, x = 0 — as a hull is, and only in that direction

    680 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    13 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

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

  • pass
    The plan holds a hull’s proportion rather than a room’s

    13.00 m long to a 4.60 m beam, which is 2.83 : 1, inside a 2.10–4.60 range. It is the first check in this project to test a likeness: a tradition that calls its house a boat is making a claim, and the claim can be about words or about shape. This checks the second.

  • pass
    The two ends are not alike

    A 22 cm bow post against 18 cm elsewhere, and a stern standing 0.45 m above the keel. A boat has a bow and a stern that cannot be swapped; this is the only check in the project that succeeds precisely when a symmetry fails.

  • pass
    There is a way in under the eave

    A 1.74 m gap under the eave against the 1.35 m needed. The eave falls with the beam: what sets the height of this opening is not the door but how wide the house was made.

  • pass
    The roof is the wall

    Only 1.74 m of wall in a 3.40 m section; the rest is roof. What is a wall on the other twenty-eight buildings here is the lower part of this roof — which is why the way in is a gap under the eave rather than a door cut in something.

  • 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.

A wider house is a better house by every ordinary measure: more floor for the same length, more room around the hearth. And no part of it becomes wrong — the posts still carry, the keel still cambers, the stern still stands above the bow, the roof still comes down to the floor. What stops being true is that the plan is a hull’s. Past a point the proportion is a room’s, and a house that calls itself a boat has stopped resembling one — which on this island is not a figure of speech. Keep widening and a second thing goes: the eave falls with the beam, and the gap under it that is the only way in closes. The likeness fails first, the door afterwards.

The house as built

pass2.26 : 1 / 2.10 : 1length : beam · least that is still a hull

10.40 m long to a 4.60 m beam, which is 2.26 : 1, inside a 2.10–4.60 range. It is the first check in this project to test a likeness: a tradition that calls its house a boat is making a claim, and the claim can be about words or about shape. This checks the second.

Rear prow raised to 5.01 m

fail2.07 : 1 / 2.10 : 1length : beam · least that is still a hull

2.07 long to the beam, and a hull is at least 2.10

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.