Analysis of Environmental Features on Traditional Housing based on its Indigenous Technology and Sustainable Practice

Abstract

Memarong house is the traditional dwelling of the Lom tribe of Bangka Island in Indonesia. There has been found very little academic writings regarding the Memarong house as a traditional architecture. Acknowledging the need for indigenous knowledge discussion in regards to sustainable modern architecture practice, this paper aims to find the environmentally sustainable feature in Memarong’s architectural aspects and to understand how traditional structures support sustainable indigenous living practice. Methods employed are field observation and interview with the tribe’s chieftain specifically in Air Abik Village, where the previously extinct Memarong has been reconstructed, which then qualitative-descriptively analyzed. The result shows that Memarong in Air Abik Village was built using locally-sourced material from the district and architectural design that optimizes passive ventilating features hence supporting sustainable practice in traditional architecture construction. This research contributed to the enrichment of architecture and sustainability discussion regarding the indigenous heritage of Bangka Belitung Islands Province.