page_title: Rumah adat
section_title: Contemporary adaptation
hierarchical_section_title: Rumah adat / Contemporary adaptation
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Pavillon des Pays Bas
context_page_description: Rumah adat are traditional houses built in any of the vernacular architecture styles of Indonesia. The traditional houses and settlements of the several hundreds ethnic groups of Indonesia are extremely varied and all have their own specific history.
  Ethnic groups in Indonesia are often associated with their own distinctive form of rumah adat. The houses are at the centre of a web of customs, social relations, traditional laws, taboos, myths and religions that bind the villagers together. The house provides the main focus for the family and its community, and is the point of departure for many activities of its residents. Villagers build their own homes, or a community pools its resources for a structure built under the direction of a master builder or carpenter.
  The vast majority of Indonesians no longer live in rumah adat, and the numbers have declined rapidly due to economic, technological, and social changes.
context_section_description: During the colonial Dutch East Indies period around the first half of the 20th century, the typical style and elements of vernacular Indonesian rumah adat were often used as the inspiration, recreated and replicated intentionally to represent the cultural diversity of the colony, also intended to create a festive atmosphere with fantastic architecture. The annual Pasar Gambir for example — a fair held between 1906 to 1942 in Batavia, was known to have gates, stages, towers and pavilions constructed in rumah adat style drawn from all over the archipelago. Each year, these uniquely designed rumah adat pavilions were created and constructed anew using locally available materials, thus also become the attraction of the fair.
  This period also saw the pride and desire to showcase the cultural diversity of the colony through showcasing the vernacular architecture of the archipelago. In 1931, during Paris Colonial Exposition, the Netherlands presented a beautiful cultural synthesis from their colony — the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch colonial pavilion was located on exhibition lot as wide as 3 hectares and was built based on the combination of many cultural elements of the Nusantara (Indonesian archipelago), a combination of Indonesian vernacular architecture. It has walls consisted of 750,000 pieces of ironwood from Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). As the centerpiece, the front part is decorated with twin 50 metres-tall Balinese Meru towers. The pavilion's roof was done in tumpang or tajug style, a signature of Javanese mosque, completed with carved wooden door of kori agung typical towering portal of pura Balinese temple, combined with arched roof of Minangkabau's atap bagonjong typical of rumah gadang. This fusion of Indonesian vernacular architecture presented a splendid and majestic palace-like pavilion. However, on 28 June 1931, an enormous fire burnt down the Dutch pavilion, along with all cultural objects displayed inside.
  Buildings are sometimes built with modern construction techniques that include stylistic elements from rumah adat, such as The House of the Five Senses in the Efteling, a building modeled on the Minangkabau rumah gadang. In the colonial period some Europeans constructed homes according to hybrid Western-adat designs, such as Bendegom, who built a 'transitional' Western-Batak Karo house.
  In numbers of places, elements or ornaments of rumah adat  has become the regional identity of provinces or regencies (kabupaten). Thus the construction of government and public buildings are encouraged to include or feature this native architectural elements. Despite technically the new buildings are constructed in contemporary technique with concrete frames and brick walls, instead of traditional timber carpentry. Most often the result is the implant of traditional roof sit on top of modern buildings. This tendency can be seen in West Sumatra and Tana Toraja, where the typical Minang bagonjong (horned) roof and Toraja tongkonan roof are implanted in almost any public buildings; from airports to hotels, restaurants and government offices.
  It has been noted that the traditional wooden houses are generally more earthquake-resistant than modern brick designs, although they are more vulnerable to fire. The construction of modern concrete framed and brick walled rumah adat has undermine the very characteristic of traditional wooden house, which is its flexibility to absorb shock-waves generated by an earthquake. These concrete rumah adat-style building often can not withstand earthquake and collapsed, like those buildings collapsed in 2009 Padang earthquake. In some areas, a 'semi-modern' rumah adat concept has been adopted, such as among some Ngada people, with traditional elements placed inside a concrete shell.
caption: The Dutch colonial pavilion in Paris Colonial Exposition 1931 showcasing a synthesis of various rumah adat of the Dutch East Indies.
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