SUMMERY OF PAPER OF MANURUNG

Traditional architecture designed by ancestors in Indonesia as well as responding to natural

context was built on a tradition inherited from one generation to the next. The aim of this
research is to know how the traditional architecture system to respond the site, climate and
the earthquake in Indonesia. This paper used qualitative descriptive method to show that the
traditional architecture in Indonesia has been designed to respond the nature and in each
region has an approach in aligning themselves in their specific site.
From the research, we know that traditional architecture was resolved by utilizing local
potential as a reason of differences in the architectural design of each region. The roof and
openings in buildings to response natural light and thermal comfort are two aspects that make
the different of the buildings in each region because their different site context. It showed that
vernacular architecture oriented to the needs and potential of nature, not influenced by trends.
This paper discussed four basic elements of buildings. They are building services and
building management as that are more common in modern buildings. The other elements are
building systems and building structure as a focus study. The study used some traditional
architecture in Indonesia as analysis materials. They are located at Nias Island, Java Island
and Sulawesi Islands. First about the respond of the buildings to the earthquake. The used
different structures, among them V-Shape structure system, a structural respond to lateral
load caused by earthquake in Nias. Meanwhile, in responding to the force caused by the
earthquake, Tongkonan, responds with different local materials such as the stone, the local
wood and the bamboo. The traditional buildings also have an unique structure to respond the
climate. One of them is stilt house as a problem solving for humidity.
As a country which has hundreds of tribes, Indonesia has hundreds of traditional architecture
designed by the ancestors. They were built to respond to natural context such as the
earthquake, the climate and the other site context. They have many different structures as the
problem solving to the context in their site so the traditional building have many different
structure system in every site context.
In my opinion, this paper is an interesting reading for architecture students. This paper
explains the traditional architecture that belongs to Indonesia. This paper discusses how
architecture responds to site conditions in Indonesia with local potential so that there are
many structural systems that can be learned. The use of qualitative descriptive methods by
reviewing several examples of buildings from three different islands can enrich knowledge of
the natural context in each of these different islands. In addition, the discussion includes
supporting images to provide a detailed description of the structure to provide detailed
structural information in response to surrounding conditions. The order of the discussion is
very good where this paper explains from the general section and limits the discussion to
detail building elements that will be discussed further. I think this paper is in order and uses
language that is easy to understand for students with sufficient English language skills