The shift of zoning in the architectural adaptation of stilt house

Abstract

Indonesian’s society has character as collective society because of the stronger group interest than personal interests. It is reflected on the architecture of traditional stilt house particularly on its space order. However, the modern life brings the concept of individualism in the society and some changes in space order of stilt house. This paper aims to understand how the stilt house adapts to the space demand in responding the collective culture in current context. Study hypothesize that there is a change in applying the collective culture that influence the adaptation of the stilt house. In order to achieve that, this study observed the space used of nine old stilt houses in Palembang which were built in the period of 1928 to 1964. This study used the theory of collectivism and individualism to examine the origin and current space usage. Paper founds most of stilt houses use the space under the stilt structure as a part of its inner space. Furthermore, that there is a shift in the zoning of the space under the stilt house. For first use, the space change from collective function to individual as it bordered the space as inner side the house. Then the bordered space was arranged as public zone, shifted again to the collective function. Paper concludes that the shift reflect the life orientation changes in the society.