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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
radius3.30 mIf 20% out: 9.69 mInterpolatedRadius of the octagonal plan at the lowest floor, centre to corner. That the plan is eight-sided is canon; its size is the author’s.No source
postSection0.20 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a post. The posts are driven into the bed of the bay, so there is no pad stone under any of them — not an omission but the situation: there is nowhere to set a stone.No source
embedment1.60 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow deep a post is driven into the mud of the bed. A figure nobody can see on a finished building, and one that has to be declared for exactly that reason.No source
waterDepth1.50 mIf 20% out: 0.30 mInterpolatedDepth of the water at mean tide above the bed of the bay. In this project y = 0 is the ground; here the ground is the sea bed, and the water is a sheet lying on it.No source
tide0.85 mIf 20% out: 0.17 mInterpolatedTidal range: the difference between the highest water and the mean. It is the figure that sets the floor height, and on the other fifteen buildings no figure of this kind exists.No source
floorHeight3.60 mIf 20% out: 0.98 mInterpolatedHeight of the lowest floor above the bed of the bay — how high the posts are cut. This is what the builders choose.No source
freeboard0.90 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThe least clearance that must be left between the highest water and the underside of the bearers. This one is decided by the sea rather than by the builders — and that is exactly why it stands on its own: the floor height is a choice, the clearance is a requirement, and the check compares the two. Lowering the choice until the water comes through the floor is this building’s counterexample, and the only one in the project defeated by something nobody controls.No source
levelHeight2.30 mIf 20% out: 1.38 mInterpolatedHeight of one level. The same for every level: what falls as you go up is the floor area, not the headroom.No source
taper0.55If 20% out: 3.66 mInterpolatedRadius at the head of a post against the radius at its foot. The posts lean inward over their whole height and every level reads its radius off that line — one description, not two. The older the grade the fewer the people in it, and the building states that by narrowing upward: the only pyramid of age in this project.No source
floorThickness0.07 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of a board floor.No source
bearerDepth0.22 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of a bearer.No source
bearerWidth0.14 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of a bearer.No source
wallThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedThickness of the board wall on each side of the octagon.No source
apexRise6.40 mIf 20% out: 1.28 mInterpolatedRise of the peak above the topmost floor. Tall and sharp: a kariwari is recognised by an eight-sided cone standing well above the water, and this is the figure that makes it — and the figure is the author’s, as with the Sumbanese tower and the Banjar ridge before it.No source
eaveOversail0.70 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the overhang beyond the topmost wall.No source
rafterSection0.08 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedSection of a rafter.No source
thatchCourseDepth0.26 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedExposed depth of one course of sago thatch.No source
thatchThickness0.05 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedHow far a course stands proud of the one below.No source
thatchLap0.50Moves no measurementInterpolatedThe share of a course the course above laps.No source
thatchBed0.04 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedClearance between the frame and the first course.No source
ladderWidth0.42 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the notched pole between two levels. There is one between each consecutive pair and none that skips a level: an age grade is climbed one at a time.No source
walkwayWidth1.10 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedWidth of the walkway from the shore.No source
walkwayReach9.00 mMoves no measurementInterpolatedLength of walkway drawn. The village is far larger than anything that fits in the model; this is enough to state that the house is reached along a road over the water.No source
jointEngagement0.30Moves no measurementInterpolatedDepth of the tested joint engagement, as a share of the smaller member.No source
standsInWater1Moves no measurementCanonThis house stands in the water of Youtefa Bay, on posts driven into the bed. The other fifteen buildings in this project stand on ground — earth, masonry, tidal swamp, a cleared slope. This one does not stand on ground at all, and every consequence differs in kind rather than degree: there is no pad stone under a single post, and the height of the floor is a statement about the tide.Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Rumah Kariwari: rumah adat Tobati-Enggros, Teluk Youtefa, Jayapura (catatan warisan budaya takbenda).
eightSided8If 20% out: 0.86 mCanonThe plan is eight-sided. The other fifteen buildings here are rectangles or circles, and an octagon is neither: it has corners, but it has no long face and no short side — so no side becomes the front by being the widest.Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Irian Jaya (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).
levelsAreAges1Moves no measurementCanonThe levels are age grades: boys are taught below, young men live above them, and the elders meet at the top. It is the only vertical division in this project that a person passes through rather than belongs to: a man does not choose his level and does not stay on it — he climbs it, once, over a lifetime.Mansoben, J. R., Sistem Politik Tradisional di Irian Jaya (LIPI–RUL, Jakarta, 1995).
fewerHigherUp1Moves no measurementCanonEach level is smaller than the one below it. The older grades hold fewer people, and the building narrows to match — a pyramid of age that is built rather than drawn.Mansoben, J. R., Sistem Politik Tradisional di Irian Jaya (LIPI–RUL, Jakarta, 1995).
menOnly1Moves no measurementCanonA kariwari is a men’s house. Women have their own building, and this project does not model it — an absence stated rather than a building presented as neutral.Mansoben, J. R., Sistem Politik Tradisional di Irian Jaya (LIPI–RUL, Jakarta, 1995).

Bibliography

  • mansoben-1995 · ethnography

    Mansoben, J. R., Sistem Politik Tradisional di Irian Jaya (LIPI–RUL, Jakarta, 1995).

  • depdikbud-papua · reference

    Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Arsitektur Tradisional Daerah Irian Jaya (Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan Daerah, Jakarta).

  • kemendikbud-kariwari · reference

    Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Rumah Kariwari: rumah adat Tobati-Enggros, Teluk Youtefa, Jayapura (catatan warisan budaya takbenda).

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. 1radius9.69 marea of the lowest level
  2. 2taper3.66 marea of the topmost level
  3. 3levelHeight1.38 mheight of the point
  4. 4apexRise1.28 mheight of the point
  5. 5floorHeight0.98 marea of the lowest level
  6. 6eightSided0.86 marea of the lowest level
  7. 7waterDepth0.30 mclearance above the tide
  8. 8tide0.17 mclearance above the tide

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 z = 0 — one of its eight mirror planes

    942 points (84 of 98 parts); 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

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

  • pass
    Mesh integrity: indices, triangles, normals

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

  • pass
    Everything above the highest water, and not one pad stone

    Mean water at 1.50 m, a 0.85 m tide, and the lowest bearer 0.96 m above the highest water. The posts are driven into the bed with no pad stone — there is nowhere to set one, and the part of the post that holds this building up will never be seen.

  • pass
    Every level is smaller than the one below it

    The boys 22.0 m² → The young men 17.2 m² → The elders 13.0 m²

  • pass
    One pole between consecutive levels, and none that skips

    2 poles for 3 levels. A grade is left by climbing into the next one: there is no route from the boys’ floor to the elders’ that does not pass through the floor between.

  • pass
    Eight-sided, and the plan and the peak agree about it

    Eight sides, eight posts, eight rafters, 24 wall panels. The other fifteen buildings here are rectangles or circles; an octagon is neither, and no side of it becomes the front by being the widest.

  • pass
    Thatch courses lap with no bare band, up to the point

    27 courses from the eave to the point, rising 6.4 m.

  • pass
    Every part declares the dimensions it came from

    98 parts, every one tagged. By least-sourced input: 0 measured, 0 canon, 98 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.

Cut the posts shorter and the building is still perfectly well made: eight posts, eight walls, every level smaller than the one below, a pole between each pair, and a cone over the top. What happens is that the sea comes up through the floor twice a day. Sixteen buildings, sixteen rules that cannot be carried out — and this is the first defeated by something nobody controls. A rank can be refused, a screen can be left low, a ridge can be built high. The tide comes in whatever anybody decides.

The house as built

pass3.60 m / 2.35 mlowest floor · highest water

Mean water at 1.50 m, a 0.85 m tide, and the lowest bearer 0.96 m above the highest water. The posts are driven into the bed with no pad stone — there is nowhere to set one, and the part of the post that holds this building up will never be seen.

Rear prow raised to 3.24 m

fail3.24 m / 2.35 mlowest floor · highest water

only 0.60 m of clearance, where 0.90 m is needed

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.