The house is not just a multifunctional residential place, but also has aesthetic value and philosophical messages for its residents, both architecture and layout.
It can be seen in the traditional houses of the Sasak tribe, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, such as in the hamlet of Limbungan, Perigi Village, Suwela District, East Lombok; Sade Hamlet, Rambitan Village, Pujut District, Central Lombok; and Segenter Hamlet, Sukadana village, Bayan District, West Lombok.
Indeed, the function and physical form, the traditional house is changing and different, in line with the increasing number of residents and depending on the risks (security, geographical, and topographical conditions) in each hamlet. But the concept of construction: architecture, layout, and patterns seem to refer to still display its traditional characteristics.
The residential pattern in the three hamlets is complex even though the location is in a flat place, such as Segenter Hamlet, or Highlands as in Limbungan Hamlet and Sade Hamlet. While the existing buildings include bale (House), berugak (bale-bale four-masted called sekepat or six-masted or sekenem), barns and stables (bare) cattle. The buildings follow the contours of the land, specifically the house building area of 7 x 6 meters (calculated from the outside) and 6 x 5 meters (calculated from the inside) per unit.
Part of the house consists of a roof that is generally in The Shape of a mountain, swooping down a distance of 1.5-2 meters from the ground (Foundation). Its roof and Ridge (bungus) are alang-alang generally facing Mount Rinjani and walled with woven bamboo (kampu). The room (rong) is divided into Inan bale (main room includes bale luar (sleeping room) and bale dalem in the form of a place to store property, maternity room as well as a room where the body is buried if there are residents before burial.
Bale Dalem room is equipped with bed and kitchen, sempare (a place to store food, other household appliances) made of bamboo size 2 x 2 square meters or can be rectangular. Then there is a sesangkok (living room) and an entrance with a sliding (sliding) system. Between the outer bale and bale dalem there are doors and stairs (three steps) without windows. The floor of the house is generally soil mixed with horse manure, SAP, and straw ash, as seen in Sade Hamlet and shipyard.
The residential complex looked orderly as there was a" living fence " that limited the residential complex, a dirt road and berugak where each house was flanked by two houses. The arrangement, in addition to looking so orderly that it seems to describe the harmonious life of the population, is also the same as today's modern residential patterns.
Lombok traditional house form developed during the reign of the Kingdom of Karang Asem (17th century), where Lombok architecture mated with Balinese architecture. For example, the living room is open without walls, the supporting pillars of the upper building are carved.
In fact, in the last 15 years, Lombok architecture has been used as a complement to official/agency office buildings in Mataram. The barn is built at the front or exit-entry door of the office. The building material is adapted to office building materials in the form of cement, sand, and tile. The purpose of establishing the barn is to show the uniqueness and preservation of physical culture, especially on the island of Lombok.
As mentioned above, in addition to shelter, the House also has aesthetic value, philosophy, and The Simple Life of the residents in the past who relied on natural resources as a daily living mine, as well as a material for building a house. The floor of the house is a mixture of soil, banten tree sap and bajur (local terms), mixed with coal in Batu baterai, straw ash burned, then smeared with cow dung on the floor surface.
The material makes the floor of the House function as an adhesive, also to avoid damp floors. The floor material is used, by residents in Sade Hamlet, considering that Buffalo or cow dung cannot be combined with clay which is a type of soil in the hamlet.
The architecture of the houses in the three hamlets is relatively similar, which is somewhat different perhaps the function of the room. Hanya rong dalam rumah di Dusun Segenter is attached to its wetu telu tradition. For example, in Inan bale, except storing rice in a barrel (temberasan/kemeras), other valuables, also a place to store nenoq (offerings to the spirits of ancestors and spirits of the inhabitants of the house), and at certain times used as a place of worship/family meditation.
Houses in the hamlet Segenter built with the principle of the mirror, (the door of the house with the house in front of each other face to face and interspersed with a berugak in the Middle), not back to back like houses in the Hamlet or Hamlet Sade Limbongan that direction there are facing, some are back to back.
The selection of the settlement site was related to the typical farming patterns of agricultural communities, said M Yamin, Sasak culture observer, Lombok. They need water for irrigation and household activities that are usually sources of spring water, generally located in the Highlands.
Mountains near the forest make it easy for them to get a source of food every day. It may also have something to do with the traditional belief that mountains and plateaus make man's "communication relationship" with the creator "closer".
Because it is located in the highlands, such as Dusun Segenter and Dusun Limbungan, the function of the kitchen is also as a heater, while lighting during the day only with sunlight that sneaks from behind the fence, which also serves as air circulation, for security in case of wild animal attacks and monitoring people who mean evil to the host.
The construction of traditional Sasak houses seems to be related to the Islamic perspective. The Three steps are symbols of the human life cycle: birth, development, and death, the symbol of the batih family (father, mother, and child), or the four pillars of Islamic law: Quran, Hadith, Ijma’, Qiyas).
Children who are juniors and seniors in age determined the location of his home. The parents ' house is on the highest level, followed by the eldest and youngest children are on the lowest level. This is an ethical teaching that the brother in behaving and behaving should be a role model for the younger brother.
A house facing the East symbolically means that the older ones first receive / enjoy the warmth of the morning sun than the Young who are physically stronger. It can also mean, once out of the house to work and earn a living, people hope to get the pleasure of Allah among them through prayer, and it has been reminded that the door of his house facing east or opposite the direction of the Sunset (West/Qibla). Guests also have to duck when entering the door of a relatively short House. Perhaps the bowing position indirectly indicates an ethical or a form of respect for the host from the guest.
Then the barn, unless it teaches its citizens to live frugally and not wastefully because the logistics stock stored in it, can only be taken at a certain time, for example once a month. Logistical materials (rice and crops) should not be drained, but left for sudden needs, for example to anticipate crop failure due to weather and animal attacks that damage crops or materials to hold Thanksgiving if one family member dies.
The Berugak in front of the house, in addition to being a tribute to the sustenance given by God, also serves as a family room, receives guests, and is also a means of control for local residents. For example, "if until nine in the morning there are still those who sit in berugak and do not leave the house to work in rice fields, fields, and gardens, maybe he is sick," said Amak Yani, a resident of Dusun Limbungan Timur.
Since the House planning process was established, the role of women or wives took precedence. For example, the distance of the bamboo pallet roof frame is as wide as the wife's head, the storage height of the kitchen appliance (sempare) must be reached by the wife's arm, even the width of the door of the house is the size of the wife's body.
Building and rehabilitating houses is done by mutual cooperation even though food and drink, along with building materials, are provided by the host.
The preservation of construction materials and The Shape of the house is a non-negotiable provision. Therefore, those who live in kampu comply with that provision, but choose a location a little away from their parents ' house. His consideration, " worry, do not let my mother speak normally for example, then heard and misunderstood by my wife, making our relationship with parents so murky," said Suparman, head of Dusun Limbungan.