Enhanced Treatment of Reeds as Natural Materials for Use in Traditional Housing at Wae Rebo Village in Flores

Traditional Indonesian housing has always made use of material from surrounding forests throughout the ageing process, and natural materials are deliberately planted and maintained to sustain the life cycle of existing traditional houses. However, along with modern development, forests and gardens are turned into agricultural land or roads, reducing the availability of replacement material. As a consequence, when housing materials start to decay and need to be replaced, prices are higher because there is insufficient raw material. For this reason, the availability of materials to maintain traditional houses has become an important issue in many areas of Indonesia. Beginning from research on traditional settlement building and the threat of extinction due to the loss of green surroundings and people’s behavior, this study also investigates the life cycle of buildings and its environmental function. Field studies were conducted to collect primary data on the condition of the natural environment, material distance, local climate data, and material characteristics. Wae Rebo was selected as a case study because the indigenous society living in that village use natural resouces (reeds) for their traditional houses, which are known as Mbaru Niang. The study concludes that maintaining a traditional building can improve the comfort of the occupants and impacts positively on the environment by increasing soil quality for land cover wider areas.

Natural materials; Reeds; Traditional housing; Wae Rebo

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