West Sulawesi Wooden Houses

Boyang House is a traditional house from West Sulawesi Province. Rumah Boyang has a unique architectural style, in the form of a house on stilts composed of wood and supported by supporting poles. This house is the residence of the Mandar Tribe, which is an indigenous tribe from West Sulawesi.

Boyang houses consist of two types, namely "boyang adaq" and "boyang beasa". Boyang adaq is a residence for aristocrats, while boyang beasa is a residence for ordinary people. Boyang adaq is given an ornament that symbolizes a certain identity that supports the social status of the occupants. Among them have a screen tumbaq (ridge cover) which has three to seven stacks, the more arrays the higher the degree of nobility. In addition, Boyang adaq has two steps, the first arrangement consists of three steps, while the second arrangement consists of nine or eleven steps. The two steps are in between by a pararang. The characteristics of the boyang beasa are not as grand as the boyang adaq, because they only have one stack of ridge covers and one stack of stairs.

The boyang house has a stilt house structure that uses wood material and is supported by several large poles made of two meters high. These pillars function to support the floor and roof of the house, these poles are not embedded in the ground but are only superimposed on a flat rock to prevent the wood from rotting. The boyang house has two stairs located at the front and back of the house. The stairs must have an odd number, generally between 7 and 13 and equipped with a handrail on the right and left of the stairs. While the walls and floors of the house use board material. The walls of the house usually use boards that have been carved according to the typical motifs of the Mandar tribe. The walls are equipped with windows that serve as a medium for air circulation

The boyang house has a roof in the shape of a prism and extends from the front to the back of the house. In general, the roof is made of zinc. Some of them use thatch and shingle. In ancient times, the houses of both boyang adaq and boyang beasa used thatched roofs. This is because these materials are widely available and easy to obtain. On the front of the roof, there is a tumbaq screen (ridge cover) which identifies the occupants' social status. On the cover of the ridge, jasmine flower carvings are often attached. At the lower end of the roof, both the right and the left are often decorated with carvings of birds or roosters. At the top of the ridge cover, both in front and at the back, an upright ornament is attached. The ornament is called "teppang".

To support its use and function, the boyang house is divided into several parts of the room called the loft. There are three main lotangs, namely samboyang, tangnga boyang and bui boyang. Meanwhile, there are four additional lotangs, namely tapang, paceko, lego-lego and naong boyang.

Samboyang is a room located at the very front of the house and has a fairly wide size. This room functions as a place to receive guests, as a guest room for sleeping if someone is staying overnight, a place or center for the implementation of activities if there is a celebration held in the house and a place for laying down a corpse before being taken to the grave. Based on these functions, the room becomes the home owner's attention point to always maintain cleanliness, beauty and tidiness in the room. Therefore, family activities related to interactions between family members are not widely carried out in this room.

Tangnga boyang is located in the middle of the house. This room is next to the samboyang room, but has a wider size than the samboyang room. This space functions as a family room, where family activities and social relationships between household members often take place in this room. Tangnga boyang is used as a gathering place and doing various activities for homeowners

Bui Boyang is a room located at the very back. Bui Boyang consists of several rooms (songi) which are used for sleeping for the occupants of the house. There are rooms for the head of the household, single children, girls, grandparents with different sizes in each room. [4] The placement of rooms for girls places more emphasis on security and protection functions to maintain family dignity. The back room is compared to the living room and the front room, the place is safer and protected from various things that will damage the image of the family.

Tapang is a room located in the attic of the house. Tapang is used as a warehouse that functions to store goods. In addition, in ancient times, tapang was also used as a room for future brides. This is due to its hidden location which symbolizes that a bride and groom must really maintain her chastity.

Paceko or in Indonesian it is called the kitchen, which is a room that is built across the main building with an area almost the same as the other rooms. Inside the paceko there is a room called pattetemeangang or bathroom. Paceko is used as a place for cooking and a place to store food supplies.

The legos are located at the front of the house and have a roof, but no walls. This building is usually narrower than the additional back building. However, the building looks more beautiful, decorated with various ornaments, both in the form of carvings and in the form of vertical and horizontal lines. Lego-lego functions as a house terrace and is usually used by home owners as a place to relax, where guests sit before entering the house, and as a place to watch when an event is held on the front page of the house.

Naong boyang or also called under the house. In the past, under the house only a dirt floor. In that place, rambang is often made as a stable for livestock, such as chickens, ducks, and horses or to store agricultural or fishing tools. Sometimes it is a place for manette (weaving) sarongs for women. Under the house can also function socially, namely as a shelter for passers-by when it rains. This person can take shelter without having to ask permission from the home owner. Under the house often functioned as a place for ceremonies. Currently, many houses have been modified by providing permanent walls and floors to naong boyang.

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