Lombok Traditional House

Sasak house is a traditional ancestral house of  the ethnic group in Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia. The roof of this house is made from straw and the wall is built from plaited bamboo. Sasak house has unique floor. The floor is created from clay that mix with dung (of buffalo), latex, and straw ash. The function of that mixture is like cement.

All materials to build a Sasak house are from the environment around them, even to connect parts of the wood, they don’t use iron nails, they use bamboo nails. And the house’s sole access is through a narrow door and no windows there

House isn’t just a dwelling place, but also has aesthetic values and philosophical messages inside the architecture for the dweller. The shape of Sasak house was developed when the Karang Asem monarchy existed in the 17th century. Lombok architecture is integrated with Bali architecture, for example, the living room doesn’t have walls and the top of prop is carved. Lombok and Bali are two other different islands in the Indonesian archipelago.

http://mygiza.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/house-of-sasak-tribe.jpg

Depending on the location, house on Dusun Segenter is built by using mirror principle (the door of a house is facing the door of the other house, and there is a berugak in the middle). Berugak is like a living room, but it isn’t inside the house.

(Berugak)

On Dusun Limbongan, a house is behind the other house. So, the house is not facing another house like on Dusun Segenter. Beside that, on Dusun Sade there is mixture principle of Dusun Segenter’s principle and Dusun Limbongan’s principle.

The construction of Sasak House has a connection with Islam’s perspective. In a house, there are three stairs, three stairs are the symbol of human life (birth, grow, death), and family (father,mother, and children). And the meaning of four berugak props are the symbol of Islamic Laws (Qur’an, Hadits, Ijma, and Qiyas).

The location of the parent’s house is in the highest level of the other house, followed by the oldest son, and youngest child is in the bottom level. This is a teaching of moral character, the older brother should behave and be a role model to the younger brother.