Indonesian Houses

This collection aims to attract attention to the admirable achievements of indigenous builders in Indonesia and to contribute to a broader sense of commitment to the endangered architectural heritage in the region. It presents the second part of the results of a research project on vernacular architecture in western Indonesia, sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. The volume is intended to provide an introduction to all relevant vernacular architectural traditions and developments in western Indonesia.

The traditional houses and settlements of the several hundred ethnic groups of Indonesia are extremely varied and all have their own unique history. Underlying this rich diversity are fundamental similarities rooted in the ancient heritage that is shared by all the peoples in the Indonesian field of study. The multiplicity of ways in which this heritage is given shape in each local situation bears witness to an amazing creativity in adapting to regional circumstances and social changes. Inter-ethnic comparison of the architectural structures is a way to arrive at a better understanding of both the shared traditions and the diverging developments. In many cases, the variety of house forms will reflect successful attempts at one group's making distinct its buildings from those of neighbouring groups in an ongoing ethnic process of what could be called 'mutual contrasting', although sometimes by means of pseudo-traditions which have little to do with indigenous customs of the past. The contributions to this volume are grouped in four sections. The first consists of essays describing approaches to the transformation and variation of houses. The second set presents applications of these approaches in case studies of specific Sumatran cultures. The third group widens the perspective through the inclusion of a number of cultures from outside Sumatra, namely from Flores, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Palu'é, and Roti. The final set deals not so much with houses as with settlements. In their pursuit of the cultural dimension of houses, the contributions focus on villages and towns, exploring their cosmological and symbolic organization.

With over 350 full-color photographs, this Indonesia architecture and interior design book showcases the stunning luxury homes of Indonesia. The New Indonesian House presents twenty-eight homes in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali that illustrate the remarkable advances that have taken place in residential design in Indonesia over the last two decades. Indonesia's new generation of architects demonstrates not only their Absorption of modern influences from the West and the more recent processes of globalization but also their sensitivity to the physical environment, the social context and the aspirations of the leading elite. With its stunning color photographs, The New Indonesian House will both delight and inspire the application of its exhilarating architectural and interior design expressions in any global setting.

Ritual language, wild and domestic animals, and objects of material culture like houses, palaces, and works of art, are often loaded with symbolic meaning. Reading the landscape , or giving meaning to the natural environment, is a cultural act as well, and one must discover what mountains, coastlines, and islands mean to different groups of people. In this book, written on the occasion of Professor Reimar Schefold s retirement from the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University, colleagues and former students from the Netherlands and abroad demonstrate the variety and wealth of the field of symbolic anthropology. The regional focus of the book is Indonesia. The studies presented range from small island communities in western, northern, and eastern Indonesia to urban settlements in Java and Sumatra. All the contributions are in one way or another related to Reimar Schefold s work over the past thirty-five years, work that includes extensive studies on material culture, rituals, and the use of symbols in the expression of ethnicity among the various cultural groups of Indonesia.

25 Tropical Houses in Indonesia offers a selection of the best contemporary architecture and interior design in the archipelago. Architects working in Indonesia—and elsewhere in Southeast Asia—face the challenge not only of creating spaces to suit the lifestyles of their users but also of addressing the environmental and climatic problems associated with living in the tropics. Featured in this book are twenty-five of the most innovative solutions to these challenges by some of Indonesia's foremost architects, among them Jeffrey Budiman and Andra Matin. Economic crises and political change within the country have inspired a new spirit of appreciation of modernist architecture and fostered a wave of architectural creativity which is distinctly Indonesian, lively, and refreshing. Featured projects range from a new type of urban shop house to dramatic and flamboyant buildings emerging from the countryside. Drawing on classical Indonesian aesthetics and conventions and blending these with dynamic, cutting-edge design ideas, modern architecture in Indonesia has become dramatically aligned with international concepts of space, incorporating stunning local elements and materials.

In Religions and Architecture in Premodern Indonesia Gaudenz Domenig presents a new approach to the study of indigenous religions and their influence on vernacular architecture in Indonesia.