Uma

East Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara

An uma is the house of the Sumbanese, and the best known is the uma mbatangu — the house with a tower. Above a low four-post core rises a thatched peak several times the height of the house, and it is there because of what is in it: the uma deta, the loft where the marapu are kept. What makes it worth building here is that inversion. On the other seven houses in this project the roof shelters something; this one contains something, and the house beneath is its foot. The parts named on this screen — uma, uma mbatangu, uma kamadungu, kambaniru, uma deta, marapu, bangga — are Kambera words from East Sumba. The sun in this model is computed for East Sumba, 9.66° S and 120.26° E.

Three things to state outright. First, the most consequential number here is also the least supported: the height of the tower relative to the house is the author’s interpolation, and it is precisely that figure which shapes the silhouette a photograph of Sumba is recognisable by. The sources agree the peak is tall and that taller says more; none gives a figure. Second, the names and roles of the four kambaniru are given as roles rather than as a claim about ritual practice — what is sourced is that there are four, that they are named, and that each corner means something different. Third, Sumba has many domains with real differences in plan, in naming and in practice; the terms here are from East Sumba, and this pack does not pretend to stand for the island. There is no carving, and not one figure here comes from a measurement.