Colonial-Vernacular Houses of Java, Malaya, and Singapore in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

• Main Author: Imran bin Tajudeen
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art 2017-10-01
• Series: ABE Journal
• Subjects: colonial architecture; vernacular architecture; cultural transfer
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/abe/11008

This study reviews the spatial and formal translations across indigenous vernacular and European colonial architecture in the formation and development of two nineteenth-century colonial-era house forms: first, the Compound House as it was called in building drawings, and the equivalent single story, raised-floor form, the Rumah Limas, in British Malaya (today’s Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore); and second, the Indies-style town residence (Indische woonhuis), which is related to, but distinguishable from, the larger, eighteenth-century country house (Indische landhuis) in Java. The discussion moves beyond the typical focus on climatic adaptation and style to consider a number of striking parallels in the interior layout and formal composition of these colonial-vernacular house forms with Malay, Sundanese (West Java) and Javanese customary house traditions, including Javanese urban dwellings. In addition, two key spatial-formal translations and their related architectural nomenclature are reviewed: the neo-Palladian portico as Malay anjung/surong, and the Javanese pringgitan or transition terrace as voorgalerij. Through these considerations, different narratives emerge that supplement or problematize the focus on Europeans in the colonies in existing studies.