Appropriate Use and Conservation Methodology of Cultural Architecture in Indonesia :case Study of Nias Bawömataluo Conservation Project

Fanitra Pedi Atmanti

1.

Bawömataluo village to find the proper way to do theIntroduction

Bawömataluo village which is located in Nias Island,Indonesia is among the most important National CulturalProperties. The village has most number of traditional
houses left in one village in Indonesia. The architecture isconsidered to be the most finest artistic masterpiece inIndonesia.
Although 53% of the traditional houses in Bawömataluo
village are still preserved, the number might bedecreasing in the following year. The vast improvementof infrastructure in the 21st century causes the poverty
which brings difficulties in sustaining the culturalproperty.

Themassemigration

fromtraditional

conservation activities. References from the previous
research about Bawömataluo village and also sample ofhomestay program in other traditional village have also
been studied in order to give an idea about what kind ofconservation methodology that can be applied to thisliving heritage. Recommendation for the reuse of
traditional house Omo Hada will also be given in orderfor us to preserve its cultural property and its society for along period of time. This research wishes to contribute to
the preserva
conservation field.

homelands into urban centers also change their lifestyle.
Villagers modify their house by replacing some ofbuilding materials that are more economical in price butthese affects to the destruction of the original structure.
Most of the villagers still want to stay in their traditional
houses. Due to the maintenance funding problem and did

2.

Case Study Bawömataluo Village

Nias is a small island located in the western side of
Sumatera Island, surrounded by vast Indian Ocean and is
far from the hustle of big cities in Indonesia.

not receive financial support from the national and local
government, many villagers can

not afford themaintenance activity.
As for the official law for the protection of the culturalproperty, Indonesia has a national regulation under UU
No. 11 Tahun 2010 but the law is mostly dedicated to thearchaeological sites. Local government of Nias Island has
not yet developed local policy to protect the living
heritage and the wooden architectural cultural property.
The other problems appearing in the conservation field inIndonesia is that there are only few experts in culturalproperty and the conservation of wooden culturalproperty has rarely been discussed.
This research attempts to record and analyze the current
condition and modification of traditional house in

Figure 1 The Location Map of Nias Island in Indonesia.
Source : Matthew Teismann

The island covers an area of 5,121.3 km2 and about 150
km long, 50 km wide and has three division areas theNorth, the Centre and the South. The capital of Nias is
Gunungsitoli, while the largest town in the South is called
Teluk Dalam. Nias island is a part of North Sumatra
Province which has 756,763 inhabitants, according to2010 census including the indigenous inhabitants (onoplace, huge flight of stone as entrance (bawagöli),niha). On January 2014 the number had risen into

traditional street. Nias traditional house use ironwood

788,132 inhabitants. Traditional villages in Nias island

piles with huge diameter to form the substructure of thewere usually built away from the sea. Inland, high andhouse. Omo hada which means rumah adat (traditional

inaccessible places and locations were favored. Each areahouse), uses special diagonal and vertical V-shaped pair

has its own traditional villages, but the South area has thepiles, which added resistance to earthquake stresses as

most number of traditional villages. One of the great

well as stability to the structure as a whole. The housecharacter and traditional architecture are still remained in

has many details in the wood joints and use two kinds of

the Southern region called Bawömataluo village which

hardwoods

originallyfromNias Island

calledarea

manawadanö and berua. Omo hada has three main partsof 5 hectares with an altitude of 270 m above the sea. The

which are the substructure, the main structure, and the

majority of the villagers are farmer and the other are civil

superstructure. Until 2017, 53% of the houses still

servants, carpenters, teachers, and fishermen. The total

traditional and the three main parts still remain although

population of this village has recorded a total of 6.200

some functions have been modified and developed.

people which consist of 1.310 family heads (2014). The
population growth makes the villagers built new houses
which is located on the outside of the traditional village.

Figure 3
Architecture. Source : Inoue K. Univ.of Tokyo 1983

Figure 2 Sketch plan of Bawömataluo village. Source : After
Feldman (1977:237), from an original by Aileen
Matsuyama-Feldman)

The village is structured from the raya direction (refers tothe higher area or the mountain and the sunrise) to löu

Figure 4 Left to righ : floorplan of substructure, view ofdirection (refers to the lower area, the seaside and thetawolo in masunset). The village has wooden and stilt house which

Source : Author

stand in a row. The houses face toward the straight ofthe streetsand create harmonious landscape of thevillage. The village has some special component such as:
villbatu banua), the navel stone (fusö newali),stone jumping (hombo batu), traditional house (omohada)(omo sebua), traditional stone bathing

3.

The Utilization and Modification of Omo
Hada

As it has been mentioned in previous references that

homestay idea might be one good option to preserve thecompletely different from omo hada.

traditional house because it raises the possibility toreceive more income and it will be useful for house
maintenance. To know whether homestay program mightsuitable or not for Bawömataluo Village , site survey andquestionnaire were held. The survey was held twice inBawömataluo Village on September 19th-26th 2016 and
September 12th-14th 2017. The survey is expected torecord the current housing type, current condition, newconstruction and modification activities of omo hada.
Bawömataluo Village is located in two areas: up hill anddown hill. Most traditional housing are located in up hill

Figure 6. Illustration of the housing type. Source : Author(original area of the traditional village) while the downhill

Among the 255 houses, there are 6 houses of type A(expansion from the up hill) are filled with modernhouses, 130 houses of type B houses and 120 type C

concrete housings. The survey was conducted only in thehouses. This means that 53% of the houses are still

up hill because there are still many wooden traditional

traditional with some modifications and 47% of them arehouses left. Basedmodern houses with different style of housing. From theBawömataluo Village is inhabited 6200 people or 1310

above map, containing the number and locations offamily heads in total. But this survey only recorded the up

different housing types, it is clear to understand that mosthill part of Bawömataluo village which is inhabited bytraditional preserved houses are located in the center of1559 people and has 255 houses in total with one bale

settlement. The raya area has the most traditional house(traditional council house).

among all aisles in Bawömataluo Village. There are 4 oftype A houses and 51 house of type B in the raya area.
The first survey also recorded that there are many new
construction activities for building new houses, newfacilities, and modifying the interior of the traditional
houses. In löu area the new building was built on thevacant land near the entrance. It has been planned toprovide accommodation for tourist who visit Teluk Dalam.
The new building use the same style of omo hada but

Figure 5 From left to right : house type A, B and C. Source :Author, photographed on 2016ththuse one ndriwa or v-brace for two traditional houses. The
other house inarea is modified because new

The first survey (September 19 -26 2017) recorded thatfamily member come to stay, so the house needs to add

there are three types of houses in Bawömataluo Village:

more space. They made new split-level space near thetype A (traditional and original), type B (traditional withattic for new family members. The additional space near

various modification especially in façade), and type C

the attic needed more room, so the additional vertical(different style of housing). Type A is where thespace was made. The house owner also changed the sago

traditional omo hada still has full components of v-bracepalm roof into red plastic tile. The reason of material

column, sago palm roof, and horizontal lattice ventilation

change is also because of the financial problems. The(zarazara). Type B shows the modified traditional omo

other house in raya area was renovated the house floor byhada, with modification on the foundation part by adding

changing the old material with new wooden material. The

new wooden or concrete material and changing the roof

old wooden floors were damaged by the termites andmaterial into metal zinc. Type C is a different style ofweather condition. The old material had not been changed

housing. Some houses are built with concrete materials

since more than fifty years ago and the house ownerand some are still using wooden materials but the shape isthought the damage would harm the users later. They stilluse the same wood as the old one. They also built a new

dotted area marked on the map (figure 8) refers to thewooden wall covering the semi open space on the groundlocation of the questionnaire activity.

level.

Figure 8 Questionnaire village map. Source : Author

The result of the questionnaire shows that among 30
Figure 7 New Construction and modification in Omo Hada.

houses, 29 are inherited land. They are mostly work as

Source : Author, photographed on 2016

farmer and the rest : Teacher, Fisherman, Entrepreneur,thth

The second survey was held on September 12 - 14 2017.

andThis survey was held in order to understand the utilization,

10 million rupiah annual income, while highest annualcondition, reason of modification and current activities

income is more than 30 million rupiah. The income isinside omo hada. It is mentioned before that this thesis

considered as low because the usual annual salary in Nias

tries

conservationis 24.5 million rupiah. Many people are in active age

methodology for omo hada and this survey might be one

because they are in their 23-40 years old (24 people) andof the tools to find the appropriate use of omo hada. The

41-60 years old, (34 people). Then15 houses answered

result of this survey wishes to understand the suitablethat they use tawolo (front space) as most frequently usedfunction for the reuse the omo hada and to solve thespace while 9 houses thought that foroma area are leastcurrent problems which were mentioned in the firstfrequently used space. Most activities inside omo hada

chapter of this thesis.

are sleep, eat, cook, study, traditional ceremony (wedding,The second survey is the questionnaire and measurement

funeral,method of selected omo hada in Bawö

activities are orahu/meeting, carving, play music,

up hill area. The questionnaire was done in 30 traditional

weaving, religious event. Among 30 houses, 13 houses

houses (10 houses in löu area, 2 houses in bagoa area, 9has ever received guest whom come from Indonesia andhouses in raya area, and 9 houses in halam barea).

abroad. The visiting purposes are holiday and research

The criteria of the chosen 30 houses as questionnaire

activity. Then the among 30 houses, 1 house is notare:interested to guesthouse program because of the privacy

tofindappropriate

useand1) Type A (traditional house) and type B(traditional modified house),
2) House with maximum 5 inhabitants.
The questionnaire only choose the traditional typebecause the traditional house is the main purpose of theconservation activity and the minimum number of
inhabitant will have the possibility to receive guest. The

pension. Half of the questionnaire have less thanhygiene, laundry. While additional

reason. The most modification of omo hada is making
additional space on foroma (back of the house).
The result of the questionnaire also show the importanceand possibility of homestay program because the annual
salary of most questionnaire participant are low compare
to other Nias people, many people who lived in thevillage are in active age so they are possible to actively

guest and most house are really interested to homestay

used as kitchen, and might have some activities related toprogram, the foroma (back of the house) is the least

fire. The house owner thought that concrete and zincfrequently used space so it is possible to modify the spacematerial will be safe for some activities using fire.

division for guest and house owner, and tawolo (frontspace) is the most frequently used space and used for
between house owner and guest during the homestay
program.

Figure 11 The three level structure of house number 144.
Source : Author

The three main structures of this house are still clearlyseen such as the substructure, main structure andsubstructure which means that the originality of the houseis stronger than the other omo hada houses in
Bawömataluo Village. The pictures below show the threemain traditional structures are still preserved in the house
Figure 9 House number 144 in raya area. Source : Author

number 144.

After analyzing the questionnaire, one representative omo
hada is selected for the home stay program idea. The
selected omo hada is a house number 144. After the4.

Appropriate Use and Conservation Methodin Omo Hada

measurement survey, the space inside house number 144

Homestay program will be one of the idea to reuse thecan be observed clearly.

traditional omo hada in order to receive benefit that canbe used for the preservation activity and funding. In
Undang-Undang No.11 Tahun 2010 article 78 number 3,
it is mentioned that the development of National Cultural
Property is possible for improving the quality of life of
the inhabitants and for preserving the cultural property.
The development might be adding new space andFigure 10 Section of house number 144. Source : Author

function which should be harmonized with the local

Here are some of the reason to choose house number 144

activities in the cultural property area.

to become the sample model of the home stay program:

The idea of the homestay are to make separate access

Arönoma (the ground level area) is still original. Somebetween house owner and guest, to add new space behindndriwa (v-brace structure) were damaged by the termite.

the foroma (back of the house) using concrete as material

Kolukolu (the middle private room) is still being used as

because to show the clear distinction between the new

bed room. Tawolo (the front area) is the most frequently

and old building and concrete material will save theused space while föröma is the least frequently used space.

building from the fire activity, to use attic only for storage

The house owner has the initiative to receive more guests

and do not use attic for rest area because it is dark andfrom outside the family and they make additional space inreceive less fresh air, to modify the space division inorder to provide enough accommodation. Omo hada still

foroma (back of the house) area such as use kolukolu for

use bulu zagu (sago palm material) roof for the front

guest room and build toilet on second ffaçade because the sago palm material provide better air

facility, while house owner will stay in the second level

temperature for the interior. The back of the house uses

which is located behind foroma and can access the groundzinc metal roof material because the back of the house islevel using special stairs.

Different material in the back of the house such as

phenomenon brings poverty and difficulties in sustaining

concrete, is exposed for the clear distinction between thethe native culture that has been preserved.

new and old building.

The appropriate use in the traditional house omo hada,
modifying omo hada for new function is possible tocontinue their living and preserve the cultural property.
One idea is the homestay program, which allows thevillagers to receive money for maintenance activity and atthe same time to preserve the daily life and tradition. The
homestay program keeps the basic concept of omo hada
where there are three important structure in a building
such as substructure, main structure and superstructure.
New space and facilities are added in order to provide themodern living necessities.
This conservation activities should also create sustainable
impact to the local (the involvement of local community

Figure 12 The current space program in house number 144.

will create new spirit to keep the tradition), social (theSource : Author

conservation activity will engage many experts and theawareness of local wisdom will be raised), policy (theconservation activity should also create conservation
master plan and building guideline where it will enrich
the policyfor

traditional

wooden building andenvironment (the material usage activity should becontrolled and use efficiently to keep the environment
sustained).
References-Form : Construction
and FormaUniversity,1983.

Figure 13 The new space for homestay in house number 144.

of Traditional House Omo Hada in Bawömataluo,Nias Island,

Source : Author

Indonesia for Architecture Preservation and Tourism Development Conservation for Wooden Buildings of Traditional Villages in Nias

5.

Conclusion-624,

Indonesia which is comprised of 14,000 islands and 300
ethnic groups has shown diverse native cultures. It is an, 2017.
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Indonesia in Dwellings, Settlements, and Tradition: Cross-Culturalidentity. With the continuous rapid economic growth sincest

the 21 century, economic disparity between central regionand other small island is becoming larger while at the sametime, infrastructure is vastly improved. The local andnational government also do not support the financial forthe preservation of their cultural property. ThisPerspectives. University Press of America, 1989.
Loeb, Edwin M. Sumatra Its History and People. Oxford University
Press. Malaysia, 1972
Nas, Peter J.M. The Past in the Present: Architecture in Indonesia. NAI
publishers, 2007.
Taylor , J. Indonesia: Peoples and Histories, Yale University Press, 2004.