Translator: Reno Kanti Riananda Reviewer: Nathaniel Soesilo
The philosophy of beautifying the world’s beauty, or “memayu hayuning bawono”,
is not only exclusive to the Javanese.
This value that I hold in my everyday life,
in fact, applies universally.
This concept of creating harmony with nature
is also held by the Nias community,
an island on the west side of Sumatra,
through their traditional house design in Bawamataluo village,
called Omo Hada.
A traditional vernacular house --
these houses are located on top of hills,
which is also dubbed the Sun Hill,
and are the tallest wood-crafted residence in Asia.
At that moment, I was instantly mesmerized --
though only seeing them in pictures
inside an article from National Geographic back in 2013.
In my mind, they are traditional houses,
but they are also futuristic,
like deconstructed architecture.
The Omo Hada traditional house is a house on stilts.
Built with a linear or elongated pattern,
face to face,
and it is connected to its neighbouring house by a door.
There are large ventilations with horizontal linings,
called Jara-jara.
On the roof,
there are adjustable ventilations, called Lawa-lawa.
Some of the building structures are vertical,
and some are diagonal.
The V-shaped column
is called Ndriwa,
and can only be found in the Nias archipelago.
The total sum of the column can reach 112
to support the house
and protect against earthquakes.
Today, there are still approximately 255 traditional houses.
There is one building called Bale,
which functions as a meeting hall.
There is a king’s house, called Omo Sebua,
located centrally,
and soars up to 20 meters in height.
Right in front of the house, there is a jumping rock
called Hombo Batu.
Situated in the middle of the plaza or communal space,
it is used in traditional events and cultural festivals.
As time went by,
there were a lot of changes happening to the Omo Hada.
The switch of staples from sago
to rice in 1920,
and the diminishing of forests in 1975
affected the sustainability of Bawumataluo traditional house’s original structure.
Both these events contributed
to the skyrocketing price of wood.
And the introduction of industrial goods into Nias
had made a lot of people
decide to change their roof
from sago leaves into zinc boards.
These shifts brought extreme changes into the temperature and humidity
inside the house,
resulting in a decrease in their durability.
These changes,
along with recent advancements,
encouraged the people to make use of
the structural space under the house
for selling goods.
They also used the leftover wood from renovations
to produce carved souvenirs,
and used the income for costs of daily living.
There were indeed many challenges faced by Bawumataluo
due to recent advancements,
but many inspirations also emerged from every corner of Bawumataluo.
During my time visiting
and staying in Bawumataluo,
I became more connected with this village.
In my opinion,
traditional vernacular architecture of Bawumataluo is deeply honest,
simple,
but also futuristic.
They were considerate of their surroundings,
the type of climates,
the kind of common natural disasters,
and also their beliefs.
All of which are realized in their housing design.
Tall ceilings,
abundance of airways in every corner,
truly brought comfort
when living in a tropical rainforest region.
This existence of Omo Hada
became a journey
of maintaining harmony with nature,
obeying the laws of nature by conforming to functions,
symbols,
and the culture they have dearly held
through the generations.
The persistence to preserve tradition that is in harmony with nature,
in my opinion, becomes the secret of the sustainability
of Nias’ cultural civilization,
as evident by their enduring buildings.