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
coreSpanX6.20 mIf 20% out: 1.24 mInterpolatedSpan between the kambaniru across the building. The house is set out from those four posts rather than from a grid: each is named and each has a role.No source
coreSpanZ6.80 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSpan between the kambaniru along the building.No source
postSection0.30 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a kambaniru. Heavy, because these four carry the whole tower.No source
stoneHeight0.26 mIf 20% out: 0.18 mInterpolatedHeight of the stone a post foot stands on.No source
stoneWidth0.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of that stone.No source
floorHeight1.50 mIf 20% out: 1.06 mInterpolatedHeight of the floor above the ground. Low compared with the other raised houses here: what matters on this building is not what is beneath it but what is on top.No source
floorThickness0.07 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board floor.No source
wallHeight1.90 mIf 20% out: 1.34 mInterpolatedHeight of the core wall from the floor to the plate. Low — this is a house people sit in rather than stand in.No source
wallThickness0.06 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board wall.No source
beamDepth0.22 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the beam tying the post heads.No source
beamWidth0.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of that beam.No source
banggaDepth1.70 mIf 20% out: 0.68 mInterpolatedDepth of the bangga, the veranda outside the core.No source
banggaDrop0.35 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far the bangga sits below the core floor.No source
eaveOversail1.50 mIf 20% out: 0.60 mInterpolatedDepth of the overhang outside the bangga. Generous, because the veranda beneath it has to stay dry.No source
eaveDrop0.50 mIf 20% out: 0.35 mInterpolatedHow far the eave falls below the plate.No source
shoulderRise2.60 mIf 20% out: 1.83 mInterpolatedRise of the lower roof’s shoulder above its eave. This is where the lower roof stops and, on a towered house, where the tower begins.No source
menaraRise2.10If 20% out: 2.90 mInterpolatedHeight of the tower relative to the house beneath it, as a base value before the tower rule multiplies it. This is the most visible number in the pack — it sets the silhouette a photograph of Sumba is recognisable by — and it is also among the least supported. The sources agree the peak is tall and that taller says more; none gives a figure. That the boldest number here is also the softest is precisely what should be legible rather than hidden.No source
menaraTaper0.34Moves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the tower’s top relative to its foot. Not zero: the peak is flat rather than pointed, and that is where the finials stand.No source
towerSection0.16 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a tower frame member.No source
thatchCourseDepth0.24 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of alang-alang.No source
thatchThickness0.09 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a course stands proud of the one below it.No source
thatchLap0.45Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps over.No source
thatchBed0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
rafterSection0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a rafter.No source
raftersPerSide7Moves no measurementInterpolatedRafters on each plane of the lower roof.No source
tandukRise0.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of a finial at the end of the tower’s ridge.No source
tandukSection0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a finial.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, as a share of stone height.No source
loftIsTheTowerFloor1Moves no measurementCanonThe uma deta is the floor at the foot of the tower: the ceiling of the house below and the base of the space the marapu are kept in. Its height is not the author’s to set — it falls where the tower begins, on the heads of the four kambaniru. Written first as a share of the tower’s height, which put it in mid-air and called for a support the real building does not have.Forth, G. L., Rindi: An Ethnographic Study of a Traditional Domain in Eastern Sumba (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1981).
towerHoldsTheMarapu1Moves no measurementCanonThe tower exists because of the loft inside it: the uma deta, where the marapu — the ancestral objects — are kept. On the other seven houses here the roof shelters something; this one contains something. A house that keeps no marapu has no reason for a tower, and does not build one.Forth, G. L., Rindi: An Ethnographic Study of a Traditional Domain in Eastern Sumba (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1981).
fourNamedPosts4Moves no measurementCanonFour kambaniru, each named and each with a role — rice is kept at one corner, offerings made at another, and the men’s and women’s sides begin at the remaining two. The only house in this project whose posts are individuals rather than members of a rank.Forth, G. L., Rindi: An Ethnographic Study of a Traditional Domain in Eastern Sumba (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1981).
towerIsARank1Moves no measurementCanonA taller tower says more about the marapu it holds and therefore about the household holding them. It is the only rule in this project that is a ratio rather than a choice or a count.Hoskins, J., Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People’s Lives (Routledge, New York, 1998).
peakIsFlat1Moves no measurementCanonThe top of the tower is flat rather than pointed, and the finials stand on it. A form tapering to a point would remove the place the loft occupies.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
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).
raisedOnPosts1Moves no measurementCanonThe house stands on posts, but low — what matters here is not what is under it.Waterson, R., The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1990).
villageSquare1Moves no measurementCanonUma stand around a village square on a hilltop, and in the square lie the megalithic graves of the ancestors. The house that keeps the marapu in its tower stands facing the graves of the people it keeps them for.Hoskins, J., Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People’s Lives (Routledge, New York, 1998).
squareDepth12.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDistance from the front of the house across the square.No source
graveLegHeight0.85 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHeight of the stone legs carrying the grave slab. A Sumbanese stone grave is a great slab on stone legs; the figures here are the author’s, and a real grave is carved where this one is not.No source
graveLegWidth0.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSide of one stone leg.No source
graveSlabOverhang0.25 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far the grave slab oversails its legs.No source
graveGap1.80 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDistance between the two graves in the square.No source
graveSlabDepth0.42 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the slab over them.No source
gravePlan2.60 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedPlan side of one stone grave. Only the footprint is drawn; the slabs are not modelled.No source

Bibliography

  • forth-1981 · ethnography

    Forth, G. L., Rindi: An Ethnographic Study of a Traditional Domain in Eastern Sumba (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1981).

  • hoskins-1998 · ethnography

    Hoskins, J., Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People’s Lives (Routledge, New York, 1998).

  • waterson-1990 · ethnography

    Waterson, R., The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1990).

  • depdikbud-ntt · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).

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. 1menaraRise2.90 mheight of the peak
  2. 2shoulderRise1.83 mheight of the peak
  3. 3wallHeight1.34 mheight of the peak
  4. 4coreSpanX1.24 mwidth of the eave
  5. 5floorHeight1.06 mheight of the peak
  6. 6banggaDepth0.68 mwidth of the eave
  7. 7eaveOversail0.60 mwidth of the eave
  8. 8eaveDrop0.35 mheight of the peak

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 The building mirrors about z = 0

    1776 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    14 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    Four kambaniru, each named, each at its own corner

    Kambaniru uratungu, Kambaniru uma, Kambaniru padua, Kambaniru mata. The only house in this project whose posts are individuals rather than members of a rank — elsewhere the seventh post is the same thing as the eighth.

  • pass
    The tower holds something, and what it holds is inside it

    A tower 14.52 m tall with the uma deta at 5.76 m inside it. On the other seven houses here the roof shelters something; this one contains something — and it is the only check in this project that tests a purpose rather than a form.

  • pass
    The loft goes in before the tower that exists for it

    The loft first, and the tower built around it. Reversing them produces a byte-identical model — what changes is what the raising sequence says the building is for, which is why this needs a check rather than a comment.

  • pass
    The tower stands taller than the house beneath it

    A house of 5.76 m under a tower of 14.52 m — 2.52 times. That proportion, rather than any dimension, is what makes the Sumba silhouette recognisable; and the figure that sets it is the least supported number in this pack.

  • pass
    The top of the tower is flat rather than pointed

    A top of 2.21 × 2.41 m, and that is where the finials stand. A form tapering to a point would remove the place the loft occupies — so the flat peak follows from the purpose rather than from taste.

  • pass
    The bangga runs all the way round, or along the two long sides

    A full circuit: a house that receives on every side.

  • pass
    Thatch courses lap with no bare band, from the eave to the peak

    77 courses over 18.68 m — past the shoulder and on up the tower, unbroken where the form changes.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    140 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 140 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.

Shrink the ratio that sets the tower’s height and nothing collapses, nothing is zeroed; the loft is still inside the tower and the thatch still covers it. What stops being true is that the building is a container with a house at its foot — below a certain height it becomes a house with a tall roof, a different kind of object with a different reason for existing. Nobody could look at the model and say which side of the line it was on without being told what the line was for. After eight houses the shape of failure is the same as ever — a rule that cannot be carried out rather than one disobeyed — except that here what fails is not the geometry but the claim the geometry makes.

The house as built

pass5.76 m / 14.52 mhouse · tower

A house of 5.76 m under a tower of 14.52 m — 2.52 times. That proportion, rather than any dimension, is what makes the Sumba silhouette recognisable; and the figure that sets it is the least supported number in this pack.

Rear prow raised to 0.73 m

fail5.76 m / 5.08 mhouse · tower

A house of 5.76 m under a tower of 5.08 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.