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
length7.20 mIf 20% out: 1.44 mInterpolatedLength of the body, running up the slope.No source
halfWidth2.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHalf-width of the body.No source
clearance0.55 mIf 20% out: 0.11 mInterpolatedLeast clearance from the ground to the underside of the floor, measured at the highest point of the ground. The floor is one level plane; what changes is not the floor but the length of each post.No source
postSection0.15 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a post.No source
stoneHeight0.26 mIf 20% out: 0.05 mInterpolatedHeight of the stone a post foot stands on. The stones are set where they lie: nothing is dug and nothing is levelled.No source
stoneWidth0.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of that stone.No source
bay2.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSpacing of the lines of posts along the slope.No source
beamSection0.13 mIf 20% out: 0.03 mInterpolatedSection of a floor beam.No source
floorThickness0.05 mIf 20% out: 0.01 mInterpolatedThickness of the palupuh floor: split bamboo, not sawn board.No source
wallHeight1.90 mIf 20% out: 0.38 mInterpolatedHeight of the woven bilik wall from the floor to the eave.No source
wallThickness0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the woven bamboo.No source
slopeGentle0.10Moves no measurementInterpolatedSlope of gentle ground, as rise over run.No source
slopeMedium0.22If 20% out: 0.42 mInterpolatedSlope of medium ground. Kanekes is hill country, and level ground is not what is usual.No source
slopeSteep0.34Moves no measurementInterpolatedSlope of steep ground. This is the figure the counterexample pushes: on steep enough ground the longest post exceeds a single pole, and the only way out is to cut the ground — which is the thing that is forbidden.No source
groundThickness0.50 mIf 20% out: 0.10 mInterpolatedThickness of the slab of ground that is drawn. The ground is not a built part; it is in the model precisely because it is the one thing that may not be changed.No source
groundMargin2.50 mIf 20% out: 0.11 mInterpolatedHow far the drawn ground runs past the plan of the house.No source
poleLength3.40 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThe longest post one piece of timber gives. Posts are not spliced and timber is not sawn — so this is a hard limit: on steep enough ground the downhill post passes it, and the house cannot stand there without breaking a prohibition.No source
ridgeRise2.30 mIf 20% out: 0.46 mInterpolatedRise of the ridge above the eave.No source
eaveOversail0.95 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the overhang.No source
rafterSection0.07 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a bamboo rafter.No source
plateSection0.11 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of the eave plate.No source
hateupCourseDepth0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of palm thatch.No source
hateupThickness0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a course stands proud of the one below.No source
hateupLap0.50Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps.No source
hateupBed0.03 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
sosoroDepth1.80 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the sosoro, the front platform where visitors are received. A visitor stops here; the inner room is not where an outsider goes.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
groundIsNotCut1Moves no measurementCanonThe ground may not be dug or levelled for a house. The stones are set where they lie and the posts are cut to what the ground leaves — so every post is a different length while the floor is one level plane. The other eighteen buildings in this project stand on level ground because a model needs somewhere to start; this one stands on a hillside that is in its own part list, precisely because that is the one thing which may not be changed.Garna, J. K., Masyarakat Baduy di Banten, dalam Koentjaraningrat (ed.), Masyarakat Terasing di Indonesia (Gramedia, Jakarta, 1993).
noSawnTimber1Moves no measurementCanonTimber is split, not sawn, and posts are not spliced. This prohibition cannot be checked by any model — a sawn beam and a split one are the same shape — and it is stated here because a pack that wrote down only the rules it could test would be quietly editing the tradition to fit the software.Permana, R. C. E., Tata Ruang Masyarakat Baduy (Wedatama Widya Sastra, Jakarta, 2006).
noIronInTheFrame0Moves no measurementCanonZero nails in the frame: the joints are lashings and notches. On the Minahasa woloan house a reversible joint is a choice that lets the building be carried away; here it is a prohibition, and the two buildings arrive at the same joint by two unrelated reasons.Garna, J. K., Masyarakat Baduy di Banten, dalam Koentjaraningrat (ed.), Masyarakat Terasing di Indonesia (Gramedia, Jakarta, 1993).
guestStopsOutside1Moves no measurementCanonA visitor is received on the sosoro, the platform at the front, and does not enter the inner room. The Palembang rumah limas seats a guest on the step that states their standing; this house does not seat them inside at all.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Jawa Barat (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
innerVillagesStricter1Moves no measurementCanonBaduy Dalam keeps the prohibitions in full and Baduy Luar keeps most of them. This is not a rank: neither is above the other, and the strictest have the least.Garna, J. K., Masyarakat Baduy di Banten, dalam Koentjaraningrat (ed.), Masyarakat Terasing di Indonesia (Gramedia, Jakarta, 1993).

Bibliography

  • garna-1993 · ethnography

    Garna, J. K., Masyarakat Baduy di Banten, dalam Koentjaraningrat (ed.), Masyarakat Terasing di Indonesia (Gramedia, Jakarta, 1993).

  • permana-2006 · ethnography

    Permana, R. C. E., Tata Ruang Masyarakat Baduy (Wedatama Widya Sastra, Jakarta, 2006).

  • iskandar-2016 · ethnography

    Iskandar, J. & Iskandar, B. S., Ethnoecology and Sustainable Agriculture among the Baduy, Banten (Biodiversitas / journal literature).

  • depdikbud-jabar · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Jawa Barat (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. 1length1.44 mlength of the house
  2. 2ridgeRise0.46 mheight of the ridge
  3. 3slopeMedium0.42 mheight of the level floor
  4. 4wallHeight0.38 mheight of the ridge
  5. 5clearance0.11 mheight of the ridge
  6. 6groundMargin0.11 mheight of the ridge
  7. 7groundThickness0.10 mheight of the ridge
  8. 8stoneHeight0.05 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 across the slope, z = 0 — and deliberately not along it

    696 points; largest mirror deviation 0.00 mm.

  • pass
    Every tenon contained in its mortise

    16 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    Nothing dug and nothing levelled: every stone sits on the ground as it is

    10 stones on a 22% slope, and not one of them off its own patch of ground by more than 0 mm. The other eighteen buildings here stand on level ground because a model needs somewhere to start; this one stands on a hillside that is in its own part list.

  • pass
    The floor is one level plane, over ground that is not

    The ground falls 1.58 m along the house and the floor does not fall at all. Refusing to level the ground is only a statement if something above it is level; otherwise the house is just a tilted box.

  • pass
    Every post as long as the ground leaves it, and none longer than one pole

    4 different lengths, from 0.68 m uphill to 2.26 m downhill, against the 3.40 m one pole gives. The difference between the longest post and the shortest is the slope, stated in metres.

  • pass
    No iron in the frame: lashings and notches only

    16 joints, every one a lashing or a notch. The Minahasa woloan house arrives at reversible joints because the building has to be carried away; here the reason is a prohibition, and the two end at the same joint by two unrelated routes.

  • pass
    Thatch courses lap with no bare band

    22 courses from eave to ridge.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    65 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 65 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.

Steepen the ground and everything the builders do stays correct: the stones still sit where they lie, the floor is still one level plane, no iron goes into the frame, nothing is sawn. What happens is that the downhill post grows longer than a single pole, and a post is not spliced. At that point the only way to put a house on that piece of hillside is to cut the hillside — the prohibition the whole building exists to keep. Nineteen buildings, nineteen rules that cannot be carried out, and this is the first where the rule defeats itself.

The house as built

pass3.13 m / 3.40 mlongest post · one pole gives

4 different lengths, from 0.68 m uphill to 3.13 m downhill, against the 3.40 m one pole gives. The difference between the longest post and the shortest is the slope, stated in metres.

Rear prow raised to 0.39 m

fail3.50 m / 3.40 mlongest post · one pole gives

the downhill post is 3.50 m, and one pole gives 3.40 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.