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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
bayLength3.10 mIf 20% out: 6.20 mInterpolatedThe spacing of the posts, and the only figure left for making this building larger. The number of posts cannot be added to, so a household that wants a bigger palace has only this.No source
beamSpan3.70 mIf 20% out: 0.74 mInterpolatedThe furthest a single beam crosses with no post under the middle of it. A figure belonging to timber rather than to a rule — and because the two belong to different parties, a post count fixed by a text can run into what a piece of wood will carry.No source
floorHeight1.55 mIf 20% out: 0.31 mInterpolatedHeight of the floor above the ground.No source
padHeight0.32 mIf 20% out: 0.06 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
postSection0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a post. All ninety-nine are the same, because what is counted is posts rather than great posts.No source
bearerDepth0.24 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a floor beam.No source
deckThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a floor plank.No source
wallHeight2.70 mIf 20% out: 0.54 mInterpolatedHeight of the board wall to the plate.No source
wallThickness0.06 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a wall board.No source
hallShare0.58Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of the length that is the bala rea, the great hall; the rest is the inner part. The two stand under one roof and on one frame.No source
bilikWidth2.60 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of each room in the inner part.No source
roofRise3.60 mIf 20% out: 0.72 mInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the plate.No source
ridgeShare0.42Moves no measurementInterpolatedLength of the ridge against the length of the building.No source
eaveOversail1.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedOverhang of the shingle roof.No source
roofThickness0.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the shingle covering.No source
serambiReach6.50 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedLength of the covered walkway to the building behind.No source
serambiWidth2.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the walkway.No source
courtRadius24.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedRadius of the palace yard inside its wall.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
ninetyNinePosts99Moves no measurementCanonNinety-nine posts, as many as the names of God. Every other tally in this project counts something in front of the builders — households, clans, hearths, seats, shoulders, sleeping bodies — and could come out differently next year. This one cannot: it is given, it is exact, and the frame has to be arranged around it.Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Nusa Tenggara Barat, Istana Dalam Loka Sumbawa (Mataram, 2012).
theGridIsNotFree1Moves no measurementCanonNinety-nine is nine elevens, so the frame is nine post lines one way and eleven the other, and all that is left to choose is which way round. A rule that fixes a count turns out to fix a shape — and no other rule in this collection does that.Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Nusa Tenggara Barat (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta, 1986).
growthComesOutOfTheSpans1Moves no measurementCanonAnybody wanting a larger palace cannot add posts, because the number is not theirs. All that is left is to stretch the spacing — and that runs into the span a single beam will cross. The count belongs to a text, the span belongs to the timber, and nothing relates them.Goethals, P. R., Aspects of Local Government in a Sumbawan Village (Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Ithaca, 1961).
everyPostCarries1Moves no measurementCanonEvery one of the ninety-nine carries something. Any building can be made to have ninety-nine posts by standing eleven ornamental ones in its corners; what makes this count a fact about the structure rather than about arithmetic is that not one of them stands under nothing.Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Nusa Tenggara Barat, Istana Dalam Loka Sumbawa (Mataram, 2012).

Bibliography

  • depdikbud-1986 · reference

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

  • ntb-2012 · reference

    Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Nusa Tenggara Barat, Istana Dalam Loka Sumbawa (Mataram, 2012).

  • goethals-1961 · ethnography

    Goethals, P. R., Aspects of Local Government in a Sumbawan Village (Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Ithaca, 1961).

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. 1bayLength6.20 mlength of the building
  2. 2beamSpan0.74 mmargin against what a beam crosses
  3. 3roofRise0.72 mheight of the ridge
  4. 4wallHeight0.54 mheight of the ridge
  5. 5floorHeight0.31 mheight of the ridge
  6. 6padHeight0.06 mheight of the ridge

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 axis of the grid, x = 0 — the walkway to the building behind is not part of the claim

    1760 points (219 of 224 parts); largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    100 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

    224 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
    Ninety-nine posts, and every one of them under something

    99 posts on a 9 × 11 grid, all of them under a beam. Any building can be given ninety-nine posts by adding ornamental ones; what makes this count a fact about the frame is the second half of this check.

  • pass
    The spacing stays inside what a beam will cross

    A 3.10 m spacing against a 3.70 m span. The number of posts cannot be added to, so the only way to a larger palace is a wider grid — and the count belongs to a text while the span belongs to the timber.

  • pass
    Two halls, one frame, one roof

    A 18.0 m bala rea with the inner part behind it, both on the same grid and under one roof. What separates them is a partition — the thinnest thing that separates anything in this collection.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    224 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 224 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 sultan wanting a larger palace has exactly one move. The number of posts is not his: ninety-nine is the count of the names of God, and a hundred and eight would be a different building making a different claim. So the grid gets stretched, and stretching it is the whole of what “larger” can mean here. No part of the building objects — still ninety-nine posts, every one still under a beam, both halls still under one roof. What runs out is the beam: past a point a single piece of timber will not cross from one post line to the next, and the only way out is a post in the middle of the span, which is precisely what the rule forbids.

The house as built

pass3.10 m / 3.70 mspacing of the posts · what one beam crosses

A 3.10 m spacing against a 3.70 m span. The number of posts cannot be added to, so the only way to a larger palace is a wider grid — and the count belongs to a text while the span belongs to the timber.

Rear prow raised to 3.72 m

fail3.72 m / 3.70 mspacing of the posts · what one beam crosses

the spacing is 3.72 m and a beam only crosses 3.70 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.