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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
width7.80 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the sasadu, across.No source
bayLength2.40 mIf 20% out: 2.40 mInterpolatedLength of one bay, and a bay is a length of bench several people eat at.No source
seatsPerBay6Moves no measurementInterpolatedHow many people sit at one bay, counting both sides. This is where the length comes from: the hall is as long as the number of people who have to be able to eat together at once.No source
floorHeight0.45 mIf 20% out: 0.09 mInterpolatedHeight of the floor above the ground.No source
padHeight0.24 mIf 20% out: 0.05 mInterpolatedHeight 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
postSection0.17 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
benchHeight0.42 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the bench around the floor above the floor.No source
benchDepth0.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the bench.No source
eaveHeight1.45 mIf 20% out: 0.29 mInterpolatedHeight of the eave above the floor. Low on purpose: it is where the head of every opening comes from, and no opening is higher than the eave over it.No source
roofRise3.20 mIf 20% out: 0.64 mInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the eave.No source
eaveOversail1.30 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedOverhang of the sago-leaf roof, which is the only wall this building has.No source
roofThickness0.14 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the sago-leaf roofing.No source
headHigh1.42 mIf 20% out: 0.28 mInterpolatedHead height of the highest opening: for guests and for people from outside the village. It is the highest of them and it is still lower than a standing adult.No source
headStep0.11 mIf 20% out: 0.04 mInterpolatedThe step in head height from one opening to the next. It is the unit this building states difference in — not size, not position, not number, but so many centimetres over somebody’s head.No source
doorWidth0.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of each opening; they are all the same, because what differs is the height.No source
jambSection0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of an opening’s jamb.No source
standingHeight1.62 mIf 20% out: 0.32 mInterpolatedStanding height of an adult. Not from a source about Sahu — its own source key so that this shows.Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Sahu. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali, Waruga, Ngada, Atoni, dan Rimba.
stoopingHeight1.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of an adult stooping through a low opening. Even the lowest opening has to be above it: the bow is a mark of respect rather than an obstruction.Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Sahu. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali, Waruga, Ngada, Atoni, dan Rimba.
kainWidth0.34 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the red and white cloth tied to a post.No source
kainDrop0.85 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far the cloth hangs.No source
yardRadius13.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the open ground around the sasadu, in the middle of the village.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
doorsAreNotAlike1Moves no measurementCanonIts openings are cut to different heights, and which one a person comes in by follows from who they are. The thirty-two buildings before this state standing through size, position, floor height, count, roof tiers, brackets or a stack of boards. This one states it in the space over somebody’s head, and it is the only pack here that does.Yasin, dkk., “Sasadu: Rumah Adat Suku Sahu di Halmahera Barat”, dalam kajian arsitektur tradisional Maluku Utara, 2018.
everybodyBows1Moves no measurementCanonEven the highest opening is lower than a standing adult: the bow is not something demanded of the low-ranking but what the building asks of everybody who comes in — including of the person the lowest opening was made low for.Visser, L. E., My Rice Field is My Child: Social and Territorial Aspects of Swidden Cultivation in Sahu, Eastern Indonesia (Foris, Dordrecht, 1989).
nobodyIsShutOut0Moves no measurementCanonZero door leaves and zero walls. What this building has is openings of different heights, not doors that can be shut. A hall that distinguishes people by headroom is an entirely different thing from a hall that distinguishes them with a lock.Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Maluku (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1985).
eatenInTogether1Moves no measurementCanonIts length is how many people have to be able to sit down and eat together at once. A bade’s lattice also comes from a headcount, and that one counts people carrying; this one counts people sitting.Visser, L. E., My Rice Field is My Child: Social and Territorial Aspects of Swidden Cultivation in Sahu, Eastern Indonesia (Foris, Dordrecht, 1989).

Bibliography

  • visser-1989 · ethnography

    Visser, L. E., My Rice Field is My Child: Social and Territorial Aspects of Swidden Cultivation in Sahu, Eastern Indonesia (Foris, Dordrecht, 1989).

  • depdikbud-1985 · reference

    Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Maluku (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1985).

  • yasin-2018 · reference

    Yasin, dkk., “Sasadu: Rumah Adat Suku Sahu di Halmahera Barat”, dalam kajian arsitektur tradisional Maluku Utara, 2018.

  • anthropometry · none

    Ukuran tubuh manusia yang ditetapkan penulis, bukan dari sumber tentang Sahu. Kunci yang sama dipakai pak Bali, Waruga, Ngada, Atoni, dan Rimba.

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. 1bayLength2.40 mlength of the hall
  2. 2roofRise0.64 mheight of the ridge
  3. 3standingHeight0.32 mhow far the highest opening makes you stoop
  4. 4eaveHeight0.29 mheight of the ridge
  5. 5headHigh0.28 mthe highest opening
  6. 6floorHeight0.09 mheight of the ridge
  7. 7padHeight0.05 mheight of the ridge
  8. 8headStep0.04 mthe lowest opening

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

    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

    45 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 openings differ, and they differ in order

    3 openings, from 1.42 m and stepping down 0.11 m each time, each on its own side. The Maluku baileo checks the exact opposite — there several things of one kind must be the same, and the refusal to distinguish is the statement. Here the distinction is, and it is said in centimetres over somebody’s head.

  • pass
    Everybody bows, including whoever the highest opening was made for

    The highest opening is 1.42 m, still under the 1.62 m of a standing adult; the lowest is still over the 1.05 m of a stooping one. The bow here is not what is demanded of the low-ranking but what the building asks of everybody.

  • pass
    There is no wall and no door leaf

    Zero walls and zero door leaves: the space under the roof is open on all four sides, and what distinguishes people is the height of the opening they come in by. A hall that distinguishes with headroom is an entirely different thing from a hall that distinguishes with a lock.

  • pass
    Its length is the number of people who eat in it

    5 bays × 6 people = 30 sitting down at once, along 12.0 m. A bade’s lattice also comes from a headcount, and that one counts people carrying; this counts people sitting down to eat.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    45 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 45 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.

Raising the guests’ opening is the ordinary courtesy anybody would think of: people arrive carrying dishes for a feast the whole village eats, and a taller opening is easier to get through. No part of the building objects — the hall still holds everybody, the openings still differ in order, there is still no wall and no door leaf. What stops being true is that everybody bows. Past the height of a standing adult the highest opening is one somebody walks through upright, and the gesture that was asked of everyone becomes a gesture asked only of the people whose openings are lower. The building has not got worse; it has started saying something else.

The house as built

pass142 cm / 162 cmthe highest opening · a standing adult

The highest opening is 1.42 m, still under the 1.62 m of a standing adult; the lowest is still over the 1.05 m of a stooping one. The bow here is not what is demanded of the low-ranking but what the building asks of everybody.

Rear prow raised to 1.65 m

fail165 cm / 162 cmthe highest opening · a standing adult

tamu is 1.65 m and a standing adult is 1.62 m: nobody has to bow at it

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.