Architecture of Indonesia
Template:Regional-arch Indonesian Architecture reflects the same diversity of cultural, historical, and geographic influences that have shaped Indonesia as a whole. Invaders, colonisers, missionaries, merchants and traders brought cultural changes that had a pronounced effect on building styles and techniques. Traditionally, the most significant foreign architectural influences have been Indian, although European influences have also been important since the 19th century.
Religious architecture
Although spread throughout the archipelago, the most significant religious architecture has arguably been on Java. The island's long tradition of religious syncretism extended to architecture, which fostered styles of Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and to a smaller extent, Christian architecture that are uniquely Javan in interpretation.
A number of often large and sophisticated religious monuments remain in Java that were built during the peak of the great Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms between the 8th and 14th centuries. The earliest surviving Hindu temples in Java are at the Dieng Plateau. They are originally thought to have numbered as many as 400, although only 8 remain today. The Dieng structures were small and relatively plain, but architecture developed substantially and the second Kingdom of Mataram built the Prambanan complex near Yogyakarta, the largest and finest example of Hindu architecture in Java. The Buddhist monument Borobudur was built by the Sailendra Dynasty between 750 and 850 AD but was abandoned shortly after its completion following the decline Buddhism and a shift power to eastern Java. It contains a vast number of intricate carvings that tell a story as one moves through to the upper levels, metaphorically reaching enlightenment. With the decline of the Mataram Kingdom, eastern Java became the focus of religious architecture with an exuberant style reflecting Shaivism, Buddhism and Javanese influence; a fusion that was characteristic of religion throughout Java.
By the fifteenth century, Islam had become the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia's most populous islands. As with Hinduism and Buddhism before it, the new religion, and the accompanying foreign influences, were absorbed and reinterpreted, with mosques given a unique Indonesian/Javanese interpretation. At the time, Javanese mosques took many design cues from Hindu, Buddhist, and even Chinese architectural influences. They lacked, for example, the ubiquitous Islamic dome which did not appear in Indonesia until the 19th century, but had tall timber, multi-level [[roof|roofs] not that dissimilar to the pagodas of Balinese Hindu temples still common today. A number of significant early mosques survive, particularly along the north coast of Java. These include the Mesjid Agung at Demak, built in 1474, and the Al-Manar Mosque in Kudus (1549) whose menara ("minaret") is thought to be the watch tower of an earlier Hindu temple. Particularly during the decades since Indonesian independence, mosques have tended to be built in styles more consistent with global Islamic styles, which reflects the practice of Islam itself in Indonesia.
An enormous number of Hindu temples of varying sizes are spread throughout Bali. Several Significant temples can be found in every village, with shrines, even temples in most family homes. Although they have common elements with global Hindu styles, they are of a style largely unique to Bali and owe much to the pre-Majapahit era.
Traditional vernacular architecture
Rumah adat are the distinctive style of traditional housing unique to each ethnic groups in Indonesia. These 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.
Traditional Indonesian homes are not architect designed, rather villagers build their own homes, or a community will pool their resources for a structure built under the direction of a master builder and/or a carpenter. The norm is for a post, beam and lintel structural system with either wooden or bamboo non load-bearing walls. Timber is the main material used in rumah adat. Hardwood is generally used for piles and a combination of soft and hard woods are used for the upper house's non-load bearing walls, and are often made of lighter wood or thatch. The thatch material can be coconut and sugar palm leaves, alang alang grass and rice straw.
Traditional dwellings have developed to respond to natural environmental conditions, particularly Indonesia's hot and wet monsoonal conditions. As is common throughout South East Asia and the South West Pacific, Indonesian traditional vernacular homes are built on stilts, with the notable exceptions of Java and Bali. A raised floor serves a number of purposes; it allows breeze to moderate the hot temperature, it elevates the dwelling above stormwater runoff and mud, lifts living quarters above malaria carrying mosquitos and the house is much less affected by dry rot and termites.
Many forms of rumah adat have walls that are dwarfed in size by large roof, sometimes saddle roof, structures which are supported independently by sturdy piles. Steeply inclined roofs are built over all traditional styles, allowing tropical rain downpours to quickly sheet off, and large overhanging eves keep water out of house and provide shade in the heat. The houses of the Batak people in Sumatra and the Toraja people in Sulawesi are noted for their stilted boat-shapes with great upsweeping ridge ends. In hot low and humid low-lying coastal regions, homes can have many windows providing good cross-ventilation, whereas in cooler mountainous interior areas, homes often have a vast roof and few windows.
Some of the more significant and distinctive rumah adat include:
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Palace architecture
Colonial architecture
Contemporary architecture
References and further reading
- Beal, Gillian (202). Island Style: Tropical Dream Houses in Indonesia. Hong Kong: Periplis Editions Ltd. ISBN 962-593-415-4.
- Dawson, B., Gillow, J., The Traditional Architecture of Indonesia, 1994 Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, ISBN 0-500-34132X
- Helmi, Rio (1995). Bali Style. London: Times Editions Pte Ltd. ISBN 0-500-23714-X.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Wijaya, M., Architecture of Bali: A source book of traditional and modern forms, 2002 Archipelago Press, Singapore, 224 pages, ISBN 981-4068-25-X
- Schoppert, P., Damais, S., Java Style, 1997, Didier Millet, Paris, 207 pages, ISBN 962-593-232-1
- Wijaya, M., Architecture of Bali: A source book of traditional and modern forms, 2002 Archipelago Press, Singapore, 224 pages, ISBN 981-4068-25-X
