The traditional architecture of Nias

(1)

Book Chapter

Reference

The traditional architecture of Nias

VIARO, Mario Alain

VIARO, Mario Alain. The traditional architecture of Nias. In: Nias, Tribal Treasures, cosmic reflections in stone, wood and gold . Delft : 1990. p. 45-78

Available at:

http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:25077

Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version.

1 / 1

(2)

(3)

NIAS

Tribal Treasures

Cosmic rejlections in ston e, wood and gold

Volkenkundi g Museum Nu santara, D elft

(4)

CIP-GEGEVENS KONlNKLIJKE BlBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Nias

Nias, tribal treasures : cosmic reflections in stone, wood

and gold 1 [J.A. Feldman ... et al. ; ed. staff W. Gronert ... et al.

transi. from the Dutch by Rosemary Robson-McKillop ; photogr. Rein A. van der Zwan ... et al.]. - Delft : Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara. - III., foto's, tek.

Met lit. opg. - Met samenvattingen in het Nederlands.

ISBN 90-71423-05-0 pbk.

ISBN 90-7!423-06-9 geb.

SISO az-indo 943 UDC 930.85(594) Trefw. : lndonesië : cultuurgeschiedenis.

Gewijzigde kaart.

Copyright reserved. Subject to the exceptions provided for by law, no part of this publication may be reproduced and/or published in print, by photo-copying, on

microfilm or in any other way without the written consent of the copyrightholder; the same applies to whole or partial adaptions.

(5)

THE TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURES OF NIAS

ALAIN VIARO

The villages of Nias have often been identified with the villages and architecture of the south of the island, which are the most spectacular for the foreign visitor. However, between the three regions of the south, the centre and the north, important differences do exist, as much from the cultural, linguistic and architectural point of view as from the way in which the territory is occupied. We shall make an attempt to produce evidence of the richness of the regional diversity, but will restrict this topic to the morphology of the villages and the construction of the bouses, which are among the most impressive to be seen in South-East Asia.

fORMS AND ORGANIZATION OF VILLAGES

Between the ti me of the first testimonies from travellers at the beginning of the 19th century up to the present day, the function of the villages has evolved a great deal. The traditional political organization, in which the villages were

independent of each other (in the south and the centre) or allied into more permanent

confederations (in the north), was profoundly changed during the colonial era by the creation of administrative subdistricts and the compulsory resettlement of villages in the vicinity of the newly introduced roads. After lndependence in 1949, the central Indonesian State merely accelerated these changes, the power of the customary chiefs having been greatly reduced to the advantage of a

centralized administration. Certain public and religious buildings have completely disappeared.

The villages have grown according to the

Indonesian mode! and have been attached to their site definitively. N evertheless, the traditional organization still lives on in the minds of the people and preserves its value at the social leve!

unimpaired. lt should be specified that the people of Nias were warriors. Of course there have always been agricultural activities on the island, carried out either by free men or by slave-labour, but it is obvious from the traditional values, that priority was accorded to warlike qualities and feats of arms

above agricultural achievements; the manufacture of weapons above that of agricultural implements;

the laying out of defensive systems above those intended for cultivation. Indeed, these defence systems were so complex that they aroused the admiration of the Dutch soldiers ordered to reduce this region in the second half of the 19th century.

In the centre and the south only traces of these defence system remain in the lay-out of the village.

The term banua equally designates the village and the village community, the earth and the sky. The village is thus at one and the same time the framework for the life of the individual as weil as the reference to the primordial village, Tetehdli ana'a, situated in the sky and the residence of the god, Sirao. The site of the village is chosen with the utmost care and undergoes setting up ceremonies equivalent to those which take place when a new house is constructed.¹A village can be moved as the consequence of events (fires,

epidemies, war and interna] conflicts leading to the breaking up of the group) or out of necessity (shortage of land or water for crops, overpopulation and so forth). The new village, even though it has the same population, changes its name often. This also applies to a village built on the same site, for instance after a fi re. The villages of the south, perched on tops of hills, are compact and have the demographie proportions of small towns,²whereas the villages of the centre and the north, smaller in size, have a more rustic character. The settlements which date from the colonial time have often been laid out in a scattered fashion along the roads (ribbon development). The morphology of the village is only properly revealed through a knowledge of the socio-political framework which supports them, and this differs according to the regions. In the south the villages are independent 'republics', placed under the authority of a chief, with a cou neil of villagers. In the centre, the government is patriarchal and hereditary in character, which is explained by the fact of the isolation and the small size of the settlements. In the south and centre each village is closed off and

(8)

Fig. 17 'On a Sunday after church', Bawtimata1uo, South Nias. (Photograph Viaro, 1980.)

mere furnishings, but is the 'spatialized' expression, the physical translation of the social organization of the village. The social categories, the ranks, the status of the various in habitants are clearly legible and registered in the life and the geography of the village.

Private spaces and public space

In a society in which the boundaries of the village were those of the 'world', the control over what happens there and those who pass through it, was and remains, of basic importance. The windows of the bouses are the means of this control. 'Eye' of the village they allow ali the village area to be encompassed, including the very bottom of the bouses due to their overhanging situation. A stranger passing through the village bas no choice but to take the central paved lane of the street.

Should he venture anywhere else, the inhabitants would basten out of tbeir bouses to ask bim what his business is and to bring him in front of the chief. rf morphologically the covered area extended in a way by the overhang of the roofs of the bouses, evokes a passage, in fact it concerns a juxtaposition of external private spaces, and is not a

public passage. To gain access to a bouse from the 48 ALAIN VlARO

central lane il is necessary to announce oneself and ask permission to approach from the inhabitants.

The rear façade of the bouse is left entirely undecorated, without even the corbelling so

characteristic of the façade on the street side. It bas no openings except sometimes for a small spy hole which permits a little feeble light to enter into the interior. As in the West, decoration and wealth are only expressed on the façade which is destined to be seen by ail and sundry. The area at the rear of the bouses has none of the arrangements which exist on the side of the street. This is always muddy and is the place where the pigs root around and the household rubbish is dumped to decay. A little further to the rear are the pigsties and the latrines. Starting from here are the narrow tracks through the vegetation which give access to the river below.

The centre of the village

This is generally occupied by some buildings, the chief's bouse and the meeting-bouse as weil as an assembly square. The site of the chief's bouse, omo sebua, has often been changed in the course of time. The bouses which one can still observe today are about a hundred years old but the locations of those which preceded them are still known exactly.

Jn the majority of cases they are - or were - erected in the middle of a row of bouses, not mattering whether they stood to the left or right viewed from the entrance to the village. Only in a very rare instance were they raised up at the upper end of the village. The reasons behind this

favoured position are of a defensive nature (protection being increased by distance from the entrance to the village) and also practical (rapid assembly of men in an emergency).

The meeting-bouse, baie, accommodates the assembly of the men of the village, the orahua. Du ring this, justice is administered, the communal tasks are allotted according to the customary law, the adat. The founding ancestors of the village, with whom communication is essential to ensure the correct interpretation of the adar, bad their statues here.

The most important urban and megalithic element is the assembly square, gorahua newali, which is always in front of the bouse of the chief. It is rectangular, beautifully paved and surrounded by stone benches. The biggest and finest megaliths are collected here, linked to the power of the chief.

Here feasts, dances and orahua meetings take place.

Very close to this square is a pyramid of stones built up to a height of about two metres, batu

(9)

hdmbd, which was used to train warriors to jump over fortification palisades.

The baths

Another important traditional element in the life of the village is the public bath, hele. This is a site located outside the village, close to a source or the river, with stone walls and floor, fitted with a tank 50 ALAIN VIARO

Plan H Commoner's house, omo ada, Botohilitano, South Nias. Axonometric drawing of the construction of a house. (Drawing Viaro & Carlen).

into which water is diverted by a raised conduit made of stone or bamboo. The baths may be constructed separately according to sex or may be used by each of them at different times.

The shelters in rhe fields

The fields and gardens are surrounded by barriers of wood or bamboo, the purpose of which is to

(10)

prevent the stock straying. In each field a simple shelter, ose, protects the workers from the sun or the rain. lt is a square construction with one sided roof covered with palm fronds, the raised floor is made of a lattice-work of split bamboo, a rough shelf runs the length of the ose. Three stones serve as a fireplace. They are placed in front of the shelter and complete a garden, ose, whereas those in the ricefields also have a slit-gong, a hollow log, which is beaten with a stick to keep away monkeys and birds.

THE VILLAGES OF THE CENTRE

The most ancient villages are located in the area of the original population of the island, the district of Gomo. They are built on the summit of a hill, in a restricted space which generally does not allow for the construction of more than a dozen bouses.

These follow the crest and are oriented north- south. A steep staircase gives access from the river or road. The precipitous slopes of the hill form a

natural protection. Moreover, the villages used to be surrounded by earthworks, clumps of thorny bamboo and stinging plants, lata. A stockade of thick bamboo was sometimes added to these deferrees, with large blocks of stone used to close off the entrance at night. The typicallayout is organized around a rectangular paved square, one of the smaller sides of which is occupied by a raised terrace on which stood the chiers bouse; the one opposite being occupied by a megalithic terra ce, the osa li, where justice was di'spensed. A single access opens on to one of the sides of the square.

Ali around the square are megaliths, more

numerous and more varied in form than anywhere else, forming a real wall between it and the bouses.

This abundance is explained by the important series of feasts necessary for the validating of social rank (Schnitger 1939: 146-158; Ziegler 1986).

Contrary to those which one can see in the south, the bouses are far from offering any typological coherence. Sorne of them are extended by a veranda as spacious as themselves; others are

Fig. 18 0/i ba tu in front of the houses and the batu hombo jumping pyramid used to train warriors, Hilisimaetano, Nias. (Photograph Viaro, 1977.)

ALAIN VIARO 51

(11)

double or triple; sorne have storeys; others have been extended by additions at the sides and at the back.

Malay houses are very common. The chiers house, often ofbigger dimensions without however being monumental, displays a richly decorated façade. These villages have no special facilities. There is neither a meeting-house nor a place for assembly, even though the memory of buildings, aregosali, destined for such a purpose still exists. Baths have not been the target of any special arrangements. People bathe in the river: a bathing place sometimes being marked out by a light fence, to prevent people seeing.

Plan K Commoner's house, omo ada, Tetegewo, Tae River, Central Nias. Axonometric drawing of the construction of a house. (Drawing Viaro & Carl en).

The villages with a rectangular groundplan do not have any extensions: in most cases the site itself would prevent this, and no one of them has ever become demographically important enough to warrant enlargement.

The villages set on a megalithic terrace on the slopes which juts out over rivers are very different.

These are to be found on the upper courses of the Gawo and Mola Rivers, in the region ofHoli, and most of them are occupied by the same clan, mado Zai. They are reached by means of long, steep staircases rising from the river, which is used as a path only

(12)

Fig. 19 Chiers house, Onohondro, South Nias.

(Photograph Viaro, 1977.)

practicable at low water. The paved terraces are separated from one another by drystone walls and are linked by wide flights of stairs. Each terrace contains only three or four bouses. Among the rare examples of traditional hou ses surviving are sorne double bouses. Lined up in front of these bouses are the memorials of feasts. Most are in the form of truncated pyramids, erected by piling up slabs of stone. No stone sculptures embellish the site. On the other band, numerous effigies of ancestors, in wood, of a fairly rustic fashion, were formerly lined up in front of these monuments. The chiers bouse was little differentiated from the rest and was not accorded any privileged site. Here also there is no assembly square or meeting-bouse. The settlement on terraces does allow for some expansion but this does not happen very often.

Throughout the whole central region, recent villages stretch out along the roads in the bottom of valleys or are ranged in terraces perpendicular to the road. In these one hardly ever cornes across a chiers bouse or a meeting-bouse. The buildings are either traditional or of the Malay type.

Fig. 20 Chiers house, Bawomataluo, South Nias. One can see the painted protruding sicho/i beams and the /asara heads above. (Photograph Viaro, 1979.)

THE VILLAGES OF THE NORTH

Contrary to th ose in other regions of the island these villages have an open plan; physically their limits are scarcely marked. The bouses are either grouped in hamlets or dispersed. Formerly, and theo only in times of emergency, was any sort of defensive system built. This took the form of bamboo fences, sometimes supplemented by earthworks. The system of enclosure by trees planted very closely together, which did indeed protect villages, was known but this was also used for a supply of rectilinear trunks for construction.

This relative weakness in defensive dispositions, compared to those in the south of the island, can be explained by the organization of the villages into ori, which is often translated as 'confederation'

'

Qf allied villages. Let us pursue a digression for a moment on this form of organization, which is very closely linked to the clans and their territorial domination. According to the tradition the founding ancestors of the four most ancient clans installed themselves in different parts of the island,

(13)

Fig. 21 The communal room, tawala, in Bawéimataluo chiers house. One can see in the right gable wall, decorated panels lasu so hagu with representations of golden ornaments. In the centre, resting on the bata platform, is the decorated pillar chalo chalo. (Photograph Viaro, 1979.)

founded families there and set up, through their descendants, groups of villages. Each su ch group constituted an ori. Literally an ori means a ring or circle and, by extension, unity, group of villages. At this stage the ori was the territorial equivalent of a clan. The foundation of an ori was ratified by a jondrako, a ceremonial which is as much a feast as

an act inaugurating customary law and sealing an economie and defence part. Each of the villages had a chief, but within the ori ali village chiefs did not have the same status. The eldest chief of the clan occupied the pre-eminent position. This was the tuhenori or sanuhe - he who is above - and his village functioned as the capital of the ori. The other chiefs were ordered hierarchically according to the age of their villages and the ranks they bad obtained through the feasts. Each was master in his village but ali remaining subordinate to the ori.

The government of which was assured by the assembly of the chiefs of ali the villages, who were members of it und er the authority of the tuhenori.

In order to function this system implied that it had a dimension which would allow it to maintain control. This then required that clans divide themselves up and new ori be created, inevitably issued of the first clans. The main characteristic of this

system is the fact that spatial mobility is

intrinsically linked to soèial mobility. When a man in a village wished to reach the very highest social strata, he could only do so by founding a new village - of which he would become the chief- the ultimate objective being, through the founding of a new ori, the obtaining of the title of chief of the ori. Beside the aspect of social (and spatial) dynamism, implied by this system valorizing scission, it must be said that the successive creation of new ori was also the means of their conserving a size that was compatible with the smooth running of inter-social contacts. The creation of an ori could be realized during one or more generations.

The territories involved could fluctuate between the beginning and the end of the process, the ties with the villages of origin becoming more

attenuated with the passing of ti me. Contrary to what happened in the south, the creation of a new village was a positive event, forming part of the system, and was not the outcome of dissension. By referring themselves first and foremost to the ori, the villages do not shut themselves off within their territory but are involved in a political system which favours interdependence. The fluidity of the whole system has not encouraged the provision,

(14)

within the village, of constructive elements

expressing the entity of the village with its internai hierarchy. Here there is no assembly square nor are there any other monumental megalithic

constructions. The territory of an ori was thus in a state of constant evolution. The villages were only functional units spread throughout this territory.

Although people lived in the villages, they could stay in allied villages or in the shelters in the fields belonging to them. Finally, to close this

parenthesis, it should be stressed that the territory of the ori took precedence over the village, both on the social leve! as well as on that of defence.

There are various configurations of villages: many villages can be contiguous on the same site or, conversely, the buildings spread out over a relatively wide area can belong to one single village. It is rare to find more than half a dozen oval bouses in a village. They are not far from one another, their semi-circular extremities facing each other and their façades opening on to the central area. In front of the façades one finds again an area for social identification: the megaliths are simply vertical stones with large slabstones or, more rarely, fine looking anthropomorphic statues.

The large chiers bouses, situated approximately in the centre of the villages, were distinguished by

Fig. 22 Front infrastructure, doorstep and corridor of chiers house, omo sebua, Bawi:imataluo, South Nias.

their size and the rich sculptures on the pillars supporting the façade.⁵They served as the citadel, the arsenal, the communal house and the temple, in short they were the principal feature of the village, with the capacity for providing shelter for all. The other buildings in the village were often no more than isolated shelters. A symbol of the former order in the eyes of their occupants since their Christianization, they have all disappeared as the result of the lack of maintenance. Descriptions

Fig. 23 The village of Orahili Gomo with the chiers house at one end, Central Nias. (Photograph Viaro, 1979.)

(15)

Fig. 24 Groups of megaliths in front of Orahili Gomo chiers house, Central Nias. (Photograph Viaro, 1979.)

from the beginning of this century indicate

however that the village integrated other elements: - in the centre of the square, on a mound

composed of trunks and piled up stones, stood a small construction with a roof of palm fronds, the osali, which housed a range of statues, probably of founding ancestors, protectors of the village (Wegner 1915: 33).

- close to the chief's bouse stood a meeting-bouse, aregosali or osali, a round construction without any walls, which was differentiated from other buildings by the presence of a unique central pillar supporting the rafters of the roof which were arranged conically, therefore without a ridgepole, in contras! to all other constructions on the island.⁶

- in the area of the Moro'o River, on the west coast, one could see a characteristic tomb called simalao in front of the chief's house. It

represented a miniature bouse, with an aval roof, and the outside structure was painted in vivid colours. ^lthoused the coffin. It could be

interpreted as a temporary funerary construction, a practice known in the Indonesian archipelago.⁷ To conclude, it is obvious that a great variety holds sway as far as the morphology, the social concepts

and the arrangements of villages are concerned in Nias. The same can be said about the architecture.

THE DWELLING: CONSTANTS AND DIVERGENCES

The traditional bouses on the island share certain characteristics which bear witness to the cultural unity of this architecture. Ail the bouses are wooden, built on posts, have a large two sided roof volume. On ali of them the front section facing the street is corbelled. Ali contain a public front area and a private area neatly differentiated. This uniformity factor in the setting out of the ground plan is found just as much in old bouses as in the most modern ones. The other traits common to Niha constructions have to do with earthquakes and climatic constraints and the utilization of materials.

Finally it is the village, not the bouses, which is fortified, but the latter are conceived for deferree. The support posts reached a height of two to three metres (a Niha has an average height of 1.60 rn).

Access was by a portable ladder and thence

through a trapdoor set in the floor, which could be shut down and firmly fastened at night or in times of danger. The young warriors, unmarried sons of

(16)

Plan Q Commoner's house, omo ada, Loloakha, Botombawo area, North Nias. Axonometric drawing of the construction of a house. (Drawing Viaro & Carl en.)

the head of the house, slept in the public room alongside it so as to be able to repulse all attacks.

A door, which was also closed at night, separated the front public area from the private rooms where the cham ber of the chief, which harboured the chest containing the family possessions, was a windowless room in the very heart of the house.

60 ALAIN VIARO

A daption to earthquakes

In order to withstand the frequent earthquakes in the region, the Niha have developed an original solution, unique in the world of vernacular architecture. All the houses rest on a structure of vertical and oblique posts which, themselves, rest on slabs of stone. This three-dimensional structure offers great resistance and has the required

elasticity because it does not settle in the ground.

(17)

Fig. 25 House in Salo'o, Tae River, Central Nias.

In the south the oblique posts lean against each other at their base and at their upper ends are embedded in the horizontal joints under the floor which support the domestic nucleus. They are placed both transversely and longitudinally.

A similar structure in the transverse direction only, is found in the roof structure: the oblique purlins cross each other at their centre, at their upper and lower ends they lean against the horizontal and vertical elements of the roof frame. In the event of any seismic movement, the oblique elements of both the infrastructure and the superstructure play a role as stiffeners of the construction and ensure the stability of the who le. The width of a

commoner's bouse, omo ada, is invariabJy 4 posts, ehomo.⁸The number of ehomo in the Jength of the bouse varies according to its size. A chiers bouse, omo sebua, bas a width of 6 ehomo and a length which varies between 9 and 11 ehomo. In the façade the oblique transverse posts, driwa, are always placed in front of the vertical posts, ehomo.

The driwa rest against each other at their base.

In the centre the system is very similar, although here there are no oblique struts in the roof-frame.

In former times commoner's bouses were no wider than 3 ehomo, today their width varies between 4 and 5 ehomo. The chiers bouses are 5 to 6 ehomo wide. The driwa are most commonly placed behind the vertical posts. They cao lean against each other at their base, thus forming a V, or they cross in their centre in an X, as is the case in the north.

In the north the vertical posts form an oval, the long sides (including that of the façade) being comprised of 4 to 5 rows of ehomo. The bouses are always much wider than they are long, which is the

Fig. 26 House with a big lateral extension having no façade, Central Nias, Orahili Gomo. (Photograph Viaro,

1981.) .

opposite to the situation in the south and centre.

Behind the row of outermost ehomo runs the first line of driwa, which goes from one semi-circular extremity of the bouse to the other. The slanting beams cross at their centres and their bases abut on to a block of stone. The system of slanting beams oriented in two directions functions in a different way to elsewhere in the island. The slanting beams at the centre of the infrastructure are set transversely and are stabilized by trunks or blocks of stone, a deviee aimed at increasing the stability of the whole. Astonishingly, considering its great volume, the frame of the roof is not braced.

This cao be justified by the aerodynamism of the roof which does not allow the wind to become trapped and the relative lightness of the superstructure.

The adaptation ta climatic conditions

Nias lies on the equator. The frequent rain and the high degree of humidity could make any dwelling terribly insalubrious if no remedy could be found.

The construction on high posts, resting on slabs of stone prevents the rotting of the posts. Access to the bouse is by means of a ladder leading to the veranda. This intermediate space serves as a transitional zone between the humid exterior and the dry interior. A wide roof overhang protects the space immediately around the bouse from the rain.

This area is, moreover, slightly raised above the ground, paved and bounded by a culvert to drain off the rainwater. The steep slope of the upper part of the roof guarantees a rapid flow off, while the overhang with its more gentle slope ensures that the water gushes out at a distance. The vegetable

ALAIN VIARO 61

(18)

roof covering, which is made up of several thicknesses of prefabricated palm tiles, secures a good waterproofing. The interior volume is well ventilated: flap-like openings in the roof permitting the adjustment of the amount of air and light entering the house. The open-work on top of the lateral walls also helps the flow of air. Finally the free space between the posts ensures the

ventilation of the lower part of the house. The humidity encourages the presence of vermin and parasites in the roofing and the framework. This menace is combatted by the continua! smoking of the roof space from the hearth which is not provided with a chimney to evacuate the smoke.

The reduced openings in the façade, the wide roof overhang, the flap-like openings of the roof all provide good protection against the sun's rays.

Moreover, the large volume of the interior air circulates constantly and thus avoids stagnation of the :masses of warm air. This is sufficient to ensure comfort.

On the village scale rainwater is more or less wèll drained off, only the south having produced a really efficacious system. The paved roadway bas a slight slope and a gutter of jointed stones catches the water from the roof overhang and carries it away towards the boundaries of the village. In the

Centre

North

infrastructure walls

The differences in the type of construction.

centre of the island the square is only partially paved and culverts are seldom to be found, hence the central area is often muddy. In the north there are no arrangements for keeping the central square clear of mud, with the exception of sorne (too!) rare stones. In return, the houses are often built on small paved mounds and encircled by a drainage gutter for the water coming off the roof.

The materials and their implementation

The traditional houses are entirely constructed of local vegetable materials. Their selection and the way in which they are implemented betray a thorough knowledge of their static qualities, resistance and durability. Timbers used are of a great diversity and the variations from one region to another are minimal. The construction excludes all recourse to nails and screws. The different pieces are assembled and pegged together. Bindings are confined exclusively to the roofing.

The organization of the houses:

plan and patterns of use

All the houses are divided into a communal part or public front section, and a private rear section,

----------:-,

roof structure supports of the ridgepole

(19)

sometimes divided into severa! rooms. All of them have a vertical tripartition: infrastructure, domestic nucleus and superstructure. The infrastructure can be used as a storage place or an enclosure for domestic animais (chickens and pigs). In the south rice chests are placed at the bottom of the house, under the shelter of the roof overhang, whereas in other regions these chests, either of wood or of bark, are scattered about in the domestic nucleus or put up in the framework of the roof. There are no other constructions to be used as granaries. The superstructure is not used: only the lower beams, within arm's reach, serve to store the sleeping mats or to hang up arms, tools or baskets. The domestic nucleus is organized differently according to the various regions.

In the south the houses are joined together in groups of two (semi-detached), each of the pairs being separated by a footbridge giving access and serving two houses. As these footbridges are roofed, we are in fact dealing with contiguous houses along the whole length of the row.

Therefore one enters the front room, tawdlo, from the side. This room is lit by a narrow longitudinal opening in the façade. The corbelling of the façade is translated into the interior by three benches: the

bata, which serves to sleep guests; the farakhina, a bench which runs the width of the opening with back and armrest, salogoto, and finally the hart;[a, an elevated shelf which gives access to the flap-like openings in the roof. A wall with a door opposite the entrance divides the public and private areas.

The private zone, foroma, varies in layout and size according to the wealth of the owner. The most simple example has just a single room, with a hearth in the central wall. The rear façade is also translated into the interior of the house by means of benches. The largest of these serves as bed for the family. A chest is often integrated into it.

Traditionally houses were not furnished with the exception of a few stools made from single tree trunks. The use of tables and chairs in the

European manner is spreading. The chief's house, omo sebua, has the same plan as that of the commoners but is of impressive size (width 10 metres, length about 30 metres, height

21 metres).⁹One enters it by a footbridge running under the house along the central longitudinal axis, between a forest of posts. A staircase gives access to a massive door which opens into a wide public room, used for assemblies and ceremonies. The walls of this room are decorated with carved panels, zoomorphic hooks and sculptured pillars.¹⁰

Fig. 27 Village of Onolimbu Lahomi, Lahéimi River, North-West Nias. (Photograph Viaro, 1980.)

(20)

Fig. 28 Anthropomorphic statue of Balugu Erozago, (height 220 cm), North Nias, village Iraonogambo, Moro'o River.

(Photograph Viaro, 1980.) 64 ALAIN VIARO

(21)

A back room of equal size is reserved for the family. In the case of the omo sebua of

Bawomataluo, this is supplemented by numerous bedrooms constructed in the extensions of the original nucleus. Decorative motifs also abound he re.

The houses of the centre are also rectangular but not contiguous. Because of this they often have appendages at the sides or at the back, the whole being covered by one vast roof. This means that there are wide variations between one house and another: sorne are narrow and deep, others spread out in width and sorne of them are raised up one storey. A vast veranda without a façade is

sometimes added to the house along the side. One usually enters the house by a porch raised on the side. The public room has no furnishings except for a narrow bench running in front of the window in the frontage. The back room does not have any particular furnishings. Today the hearth is set up in an extension constructed at the back, at ground level. ln certain cases, houses grouped side by side have the side walls removed. This is structurally possible because the walls are not bearing. This creates a spacious communal room, parallel to the street, which one enters from the front. Ali the private rooms open on to this one single front room. lt is obvious from the many possibilities for layout which cao be seen in the houses of the centre that, contrary to what can be observed in the other regions, these do not reveal any archetype which functions as a single model.

The houses of the north are oval, a form which is almost unique in South-East Asia. The traditional plan divides down into a central rectangle to which are joined two semi-circles. Nowadays a rectangular extension at the back, in which are found the kitchen and the hearth, has been added to this basic nucleus. The flexibility of the building structure allows these houses the possibility of having a storey, itself oval. In the oldest houses access is gained by a ladder under the house leading to a trap-door closed at night. In the most modern houses one enters by a porch constructed at the side of one of the semi-circular ends and opening into the communal room, talu salo. In this room a narrow bench runs at the foot of the long opening in the façade. Here again there are no furnishings with the exception of a shelf on the wall facing the entrance, which is intended for the ancestral images. Partition-walls mark out the private area, the size of which varies according to the importance of the family but which al ways comprises the semi-circular section opposite the entrance. Generally one finds here rooms for the

Fig. 29 Antropomorphic statue of Balugu Gadao (height 190 cm), North Nias, village of Lolozirugi, Ojo River.

old people, bate'e zatua, rooms for married sons, bate'e, and the room reserved for women, bate'e sebua. The latter is also sometimes the kitchen and the place for storing the rice. Finally, in sorne very old houses, a room close to the entrance trap-door, bate'e to'u nora, was set aside for the use of the young unmarried warriors, who would thus be able to repulse an attack.

THE DIFFERENCES IN THE TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION

At first sight the architecture of Nias presents differences which are essentially in form,

contrasting the oval houses of the north with the square houses of the centre and the south. To this one must add, still at first sight, qualitative

differences between the centre and the south.

However, after analysis, sorne more marked differences begin to emerge. These differences provide clear evidence of three types of

construction which correspond fairly precisely with the cultural divisions of the island.

The infrastructure

In the south the floor does not overflow laterally the space on the ground occupied by the vertical posts. The lateral rows of posts stop under the floor and support the gable walls. There is no row of posts in the longitudinal median axis of the ho use.

In the centre the floor overflows laterally the area of ground occupied by the vertical posts. One of every two posts in the lateral rows reaches up to

(22)

Fig. 30 The room for the family with the hearth on the left, North-West Nias, Hiligoe, Moro'o River. (Photograph, Viaro 1980.)

the first leve! of the roof structure, on its exterior, with the function of preventing the rocking of the gables. There is always a median longitudinal range of posts.

In the north, the floor overflows the base of posts only to mark out the oval curve. The posts stop under the tloor, with the exception of four of them, the si lalo jawa, of the central nucleus, which pass through it to rise up ta the roof structure of which they are the principal supports.

The system of bracing by means of oblique struts, although found throughout the island, differs in the way in which the struts are placed.

The wal/s

In the south the walls bear the framework of the roof over the lateral posts and jointly with them.

The walls ' are part of the gables.

In the centre the walls are set off laterally, with regard to the posts and the framework. They have no bearing function at ali: they are merely

enclosing panels built on a frame.

In the north the wall does not bear the roof structure. It consists of enclosing panels working like a rigid basket set between the tloor and the framework.

The roof framework

In the south the roof structure is borne by the lateral walls, (the gables). The side frames of the roof are part of the gables. The central frames rest on transverse beams supported by the lateral walls.

Ali the frames are braced. The roof structure is a heavy massive whole, especially in the chiers ho uses.

In the centre the roof structure is borne by a set of posts resting on the tloor. This set of posts is disposed just inside the lateral posts of the infrastructure, and they support the lateral frames. The central frames are supported by this set of posts through small transverse beams, which are sometimes braced.

In the north the roofframing is supported by four pillars, si lalo jawa, rising from the ground leve!. Four other posts, resting on the interior floor relieve them of the load. The roof structure is not braced.

Bath in the centre and in the north the roofframing is much lighter and more simplified than in the south.

The ridgepole

In the south the ridgepole is supported by the gables through a kingpost embedded at the top of the upper frames.

(23)

Fig. 31 Ova1 shaped house in North Nias, Hilina'a, Kecamatan Alasa. (Photograph Viaro, 1986.)

In the centre the ridgepole is supported by two median posts resting on the floor directly below the roof structure.

ln the north it rests on two posts placed in the median axis, which lean on the floor, as in the centre of the island, inside the square borded by the silalo )awa.

One cornes to the conclusion that the architecture of Nias is strongly frameworked according to a wide range of assembly possibilities. In the south the close cohesion and the multifunctionality of the gables could lead these to be considered as bearing walls on a static point of view. We are faced here with an extreme type of frameworked construction. In the centre the framework is more clearly apparent, with the peculiarity of having the loads of the roof frame distributed over the whole infrastructure which, with the floor, constitutes quite a base. In the north the roof frame resting mainly on the silalo jawa, we can say that we have a frameworked construction where the loads are pinpointed.

The decor

The three distinct types of construction described above are reinforced by the differences in the decor of the bouses. Generally speaking the decoration is

Fig. 32 Detail of a bracket in the front of the tawo!o, chiers house, omo sebua, Bawi:imataluo, South Nias.

only to be found on those sections exposed to view: the façade and the communal public room.

In the south the bouses of the commoners are only decorated to a small extent and yet it could be supposed that this is a fairly recent phenomenon.

Elements of the façade are sometimes painted in bright colours in a range of motifs from traditional rosettes to cars or even the logo of the

International Postal Union. The long lateral beams, the sikholi, in which the posts and the walls are embedded greatly protrude in front of the façade and are sometimes decorated with ferns, heads of deer or snakes. On the other band, the bouses of the chiefs are the most beautiful creation in

lndonesian architecture according to Heine Geldern (1935), an opinion to which we largely subscribe!

The elements of the façade are finely carved with floral motifs and rosettes, of which the relief bas softened with the passage of time. Three lasara heads¹¹^,essential attributes of a chiers bouse, mark the rhythm of the façade. Inside the hou se the numerous books are carved in the shape of birds, monkeys, and even fruits. Large panels in the side walls are decorated with reliefs representing pieces of jewellery and traditional ornaments.¹²Other motifs are used such as a monkey climbing a tree and even, in the bouse of the chief of

Bawi:imataluo, a representation of a Dutch warship surrounded by fish. At the front of the communal room one, sometimes two, pillars, display a rich decoration of rosettes and triangles on severa!

superimposed dises. These extremely traditional motifs symbolize the Niha hierarchy as the basic tenets of the customary law.¹³Unlike the other regions of the island, the posts of the infrastructure are not decorated at ali.

(24)

In the centre the difference between the categories of bouses is not greatly marked. Ali of them carry fairly abundant decoration, especially on the posts of the infrastructure. These often represent arms extended in a gesture of offering a betel bowl.¹⁴ Sometimes little human effigies are carved at the intersection of the posts and the elements of the façade. These are frequently embellished with lizards and crocodiles and, on the most recent bouses, with weapons, knights, petroleum lamps, in short an ornamental register which has been largely influenced from the West. Inside the chiefs bouse at the front of the communal room is an

anthropomorphic pillar with an arm extended towards the interior of the bouse. This is sometimes surmounted by a dise with an animal head. This pillar supports a transverse plank of the roof frame, often decorated with lizards.¹⁵

Embedded perpendicularly on this plank, thus in the direction of the length of the bouse, is the mean axial beam¹⁶supporting the centre of the roof framing. On its front it is carved with a human figure or a mythical bird (andwo). Moreover this room housed numerous wooden ancestor statues, the adu, bound either to the window or to the front post, or otherwise set out on the altar located on the right wall.

In the north the infrastructure is often decorated.

The posts are fluted and also exhibit the band offering a bowl of betel. The sloping frames of the façade are eut in a curved outline evoking the lasara image. Just as in the centre the bouse of the chief sheltered an abundance of wooden ancestor images. Here also we find the front post

surmounted by an animal or human figure in the public room. These brief descriptions bear witness to the richness and diversity of the architecture on a particularly small island.

WHICH FUTURE FOR TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE?

Traditional bouses are still built in the south and the centre, but no more in the north. In the south they are built as much as the Malay bouses.

Differences between villages are very pronounced:

sorne of them will show a marked tendency towards traditional construction and others not. ¹⁷ In the centre, due to its isolation, the building of traditional bouses predominates over that of modern bouses. Nevertheless, it seems that, if communications improve rapidly, the observations just made about the south will soon be equally valid for this region. In the north the situation is totally different seeing that traditional bouses have no longer been built there since the last days of 68 ALAIN VIARO

Fig. 33 Front pillar chalo chalo, ornamented with breasts, necklace, hooks and the arm of the chief raised with open hand to welcome the visitor. ln front of the pillar a figure of a !izard on top of the chiers head, Central Nias, Orahili Gomo. (Photograph Viaro, 1982.)

colonial rule. The traditional oval buildings which survive are seen here more as 'bouses of former times' than as still valid expression of the culture.

Anyone asking about the traditional bouses will be answered that these are the bouses of the south.

It is thus a deniai of the traditional ho use with the underlying idea of the quasi-partition of the island into 'modern' (us in town in the north) and 'archaic' (them in the villages in the centre and the south). Obviously this assertion is strongest in Gunung Sitoli, the capital of the island and those areas most under its influence.

One might be tempted to think that the Indonesian mode! is sufficiently strong and widely accepted that no place at ali might be left for local models, despite the importance of traditional architecture as an expression of power. The reality is not as simple as this because, strangely enough, it is in the north, and in Gunung Sitoli in particular, where an official architecture has emerged which subsumes the formai themes drawn from the traditional architecture of the south. These new constructions, paradoxical at first sight, follow in fact a perfectly coherent double logic, for internai and external

(25)

Fig. 34 Part of a facade, North Nias, Simeasi.

use. Gunung Sitoli being today the centre of power in the island it is coherent that it is here where an architecture recognizable to the Niha is being produced. Through this architecture the power finds, in sorne ways, a legitimy. Vis à vis as much other lndonesian groups as the foreigners, it is also logical that authority expresses itself through buildings which materialize the most spectacular and most known aspect of Nias: the architecture of the south, in particular that of the big houses. This architecture which incontestably personifies the island has become the symbol of it. Expressing the Niha identity as much on the island itself as outside it, the new official architecture meets the challenge of being multisignificant.

Notes

1. For the south of the island see Ziegler 'De la mesure en toutes choses: l'ordre du spatial et l'ordre du social à Nias', forthcoming in Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale, 1990.

2. Th us in 1984 the village of Hilisimaetano had sorne 5. 700 inhabitants.

3. See Viaro, Ziegler 'L'Ile de Nias', Coll. Architectures traditionnelles, Ed. Parenthèses, Marseille,

forthcoming.

4. By 'Malay bouses' are understood light shelters or simple bouses, built with no reference to any tradition, such as are to be found throughout the whole of South-East Asia. The groundfloor in cement is often wet; the bases of the walls are made of parpens; the walls are built of light planks; the simplified roof framing is covered with corrugated iron.

5. An anonymous text from 1880 evokes the impression produced by this type of building: 'One must imagine a building resembling a temple, resting on a forest of columns of wood, two feet or more in diameter. Each of these columns, which are aligned in five

symmetrical rows, was covered from top to bottom with high-relief sculptures. In arder that the roof framing, in other words the upper part of the house, which rested on these columns should be firm, these columns were bound by an original perpendicular system joined to the columns by slanting stays, which provoked the admiration of the professionals, among whom were soldiers. No Dutch carpenter would have been able to copy it. The construction was so perfectly adapted to its purpose that, in one of the large halls which make up this building together with numerous other rooms, 150 men could have marched in step, without this causing visible vibrations in the building. This is a test that few similar buildings in Europe would be able to endure.

The two wide frontons which opened above the main entrance were decorated with marvellous figures carved in the wood, representing in luminous colours a range of symbols placed in su ch an arder that they sustained an absolutely perfect illusion and one could truly imagine oneself in front of the arms of a castle'. (in: 'Die Insel Nias', Das Ausland, Stuttgart 1880, pp. 748-751).

6. It is interesting to note that this construction appears on the emblem of the North Nias government. Today only a reproduction in very bad conditions is in the courtyard of the Military Museum in Medan, Sumatra.

7. And notably among the Toraja of Celebes and the Dayaks of Borneo, Kalimantan.

8. Which represents a width of about 4,5 metres. The average length varies between 10 to 12 metres.

9. The height of a seven-storey building, with a floor area corresponding to a European bouse of 12 to 15 rooms.

10. De Boer (1920) and Feldman (1977) give an excellent description of the Bawéimataluo chiers bouse.

11. The /asara is a mythical figure. In the south it takes the form of a grotesque head with the tusks of a wild bear, the mou th of a snake or crocodile, surmounted by a calao helmet and the antlers of a deer.

12. The custom required that the gold ornaments fashioned on the occasion of the 'feasts of merit' would be represented on the walls of the communal room.

13. There is no doubt that disciples of Mircéa Eliade would see in this the axis mundi described by this author for Central Asian constructions.

(26)

14. Betel is the central element in the ceremony to welcome guests, as throughout most of the

archipelago. A betel quid is made up of an areca nut garnished with tobacco and lime, wrapped up in a betel leaf. Its making devolves upon the women. This type of decoration aims at expressing that this is a hospitable house.

15. In the centre the !izard symbolizes the wisdom of the chief. As a matter of fact the !izard has a forked tangue, thus he can speak bath good and evil. And so must a chief.

16. The term designating this, hutu, in its main sense, means 'vertebral column'

17 The availability of timber for construction in the area of the village is an important factor in the chai ce, given the high cast and the poor quality of the sawn wood imported from Sumatra.

Fig. 35 An orahua taking place on the assembly square in front of the chiers house in Bawomataluo, South Nias.

(Photograph Viaro, 1981.) 70 ALAIN YIARO

(27)

SAMENVA TTING

TRADITIONELE BOUWSTIJLEN VAN NIAS

ALAIN VIARO

De grote bekendheid, die de indrukwekkende bouwstijl van ZU!d-Nias heeft gekregen, zou de indruk kunnen wekken, dat zij voor bee! Nias geldt.

Dit is geenszins het geval. Zowel Centraal-Nias, ais het noorden hebben ieder hun eigen karakteristieke bouwstijlen, die in vele opzichten van die van Zuid-Nias verschillen. Veranderingen in dorps- organisatie en machtspositie van de traditionele dorpshoofden, die in de koloniale tijd zijn ingezet, zijn onder het centralistische gezag van de

Indonesische staat in versneld tempo doorgegaan.

Met als gevolg, dat dorpen moesten verhuizen en vele oude gebouwen voorgoed zijn verdwenen.

Desondanks beheerst het begrip banua, dat zowel dorp, als dorpsgemeenschap, maar ook de wereld of de hemel aanduidt, nog steeds het Niasse wereld- beeld, waarin het mythologische dorp Teteholi ana'a uit de oertijd, als hemelse woonplaats voor de god Sirao nog steeds als het prototype voor alle aardse dorpen geldt.

De grote dorpen in het zuiden, gebouwd op heuveltoppen, vormen goed versterkte, onafhankelijke 'republiekjes' onder het erfelijk gezag van het dorpshoofd en een dorpsraad.

Hetzelfde geldt in mindere mate ook voor Centraal-Nias. De kleine dorpen in het noorden, die overal verspreid, dicht bij elkaar liggen, zijn onderling in groepsverband verenigd. Hier vormen een aantal dorpen, gesticht door clanleden van het hoofdengeslacht uit het moederdorp, sarnen een hechte territoriale eenheid.

In het zuiden bestaat het dorpsplein uit een lang rechthoekig plein, doorsneden door een lange, geplaveide hoofdstraat ewali, soms uitgebreid tot een L- of T-vorm of een kruis, waarlangs een honderdtal huizen aan weerskanten volgens een strakke bouworde twee aan twee in een rij staan opgesteld met hun front naar de straat gekeerd. Via een steile, grote stenen trap van enkele honderden treden bereikt men van buitenaf de versterkte dorpspoort, die toegang geeft tot het dorpsplein.

Vanaf de hoofdstraat leiden zijstraten, geflankeerd

door opstaande stenen, naar de afzonderlijke huizen. Deze rijen van megalieten geven de sociale rang van de bewoners aan: bij ieder feest ter verkrijging van een hogere rang, werd een megaliet opgericht. Het grootste en fraaiste huis met zijn karakteristieke, hoogoplopende zadeldak, dat strategisch temidden van de andere huizen staat, wordt door het dorpshoofd bewoond. Voor dit huis, omo sebua, bevindt zich de gorahua newali, de vergaderplaats met stenen zetels en bewerkte megalieten ais symbool van de erfelijke macht van het dorpshoofd, tevens middelpunt van

ceremoniële feesten. Hier ook staat de grote springsteen, de batu hombo, een steile, afgeknotte pyramide van opgestapelde steenblokken, voor de oefening in het springen over de verdedigings- palissades. Buiten het dorp beneden bij de rivier of bij een bron bevinden zich de badplaatsen, en daaromheen de landbouwvelden.

De oudste dorpen van het eiland zijn gelegen in Centraal-Nias in het Gomo-district, vanwaar de oorspronkelijke bevolking zich over het eiland heeft verspreid. Gebouwd op heuveltoppen en daardoor klein van afmeting, vertonen zij een grondplan, dat een vereenvoudigde variant vormt van dat van de dorpen in Zuid-Nias. Het middelpunt van het dorpsplein wordt gevormd door de osali, een stenen terras omringd door talloze megalieten, die getuigen van de vele rangfeesten uit het verleden.

De eenvoudige huizen vertonen in bun grote variatie nauwelijks een eenheid in bouwstijl. Ook hier valt het huis van het dorpshoofd op door zijn grootte en zijn uitbundige versiering. Een uit-

zondering vormen de dorpen van de Mado Zai-

clan, aan de bovenloop van de rivieren Gawo en Mola in het Holi-district, die op ommuurde stenen terrassen boven de rivierbeddingen zijn gebouwd, welke door stenen trappen met elkaar in verbinding staan. In plaats van gebeeldhouwde megalieten trof men hier vroeger rijen ruwbekapte houten

voorouderbeelden aan.

In het noorden vertonen de dorpen een open grondplan. De huizen liggen groepsgewijs bij

The traditional architecture of Nias

Book Chapter

Reference