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Introduction Tongkonan is the traditional ancestral house, or rumah adat of the Torajan people, in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Tongkonan have a distinguishing boat-shaped and oversized saddleback roof. Like most of Indonesia’s Austronesian-based traditional architecture tongkonan are built on piles. The construction of tongkonan is laborious work and it is usually built with the help of all family members or friends. In the original Toraja society, only nobles had the right to build tongkonan. Commoners live in smaller and less decorated homes called banua. Background Sulawesi (formerly known as The Celebes) is a large island, extraordinarily contorted in shape, lying between Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and the Maluku Island group (also known as The Molluccas). It is an island abundant in natural resources with a rich and varied array of cultures including some of the most distinctive and anthropologically significant in Indonesia. The dominant groups of the island are the seafaring and once piratical Muslim Bugis and Makassarese in the island’s south-west, and the strongly Christian Minahasa of the northern peninsula. The Toraja, of South Sulawesi are, however, arguably one of the most distinctive of ethnic groups in all Indonesia. The name Toraja is of Bugis origin and is given to the people of rugged northern part of the south peninsula. The Toraja are a proto-Malay people whose origins lie in mainland South East Asia, possibly Cambodia. Like many Indonesian ethnic groups, the Toraja were head-hunters and participants in inter-village raids; villages were thus located strategically on hill tops and were heavily fortified. The Dutch colonialists pacified the Toraja and led them to build their villages in valleys and changed their agriculture from a slash and burn variety to wet-rice cultivation, and pig and buffalo raising. The native religion is megalithic and animist. Many of these native practices remain including animal sacrifices, ostentatious funeral rites and huge communal feasts. Their native faith only began to change when Protestant missionaries first arrived in 1909 with Dutch colonists. Today, the Toraja are 60 per cent Protestant Christians and 10 per cent Muslim. The beliefs of the rest are centered on the native religions. The Toraja’s are largely Christian and animist. Toraja are divided into different geographic groups, the most important being Mamasa, centred on the isolated Kalumpang valley and the Sa’dan of the southern Toraja lands. Known as 'Tana Toraja', Sa'dan has the market towns of Makale and Rantepao. There have never been any strong lasting political grouping within the Toraja. Good roads now reach Tana Toraja from Makassar, the largest city in Sulawesi. This brings in a seasonal influx of foreign tourists who whilst injecting their money into the local economy have not yet had much lasting impact on local people’s lives. Etymology and History The word 'Tongkonan' is derived from the Toraja word tongkon (‘to sit’) and literally means the place where family members meet. According to the Torajan myth, the first tongkonan house was built in heaven by Puang Matua, the Creator. It was built on four poles and the roof was made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the heavenly house and held a big ceremony. An alternative legend, describes the Toraja arriving from the north by boats, but caught in a fierce storm, their boats were so badly damaged that they used them as roofs for their new houses. There are three types of tongkonan. Tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority and it is used as the center of government. The second type is tongkonan pekamberan, which belongs to the family group members, who have some authorities in local traditions (known as adat). The last one is tongkonan batu, which belongs to the ordinary family members. Aerial view one of tongkonan in Toraja village Construction Tongkonan are customarily built facing north-south. Dominating the entire structure is the saddleback roof with gables that are dramatically upswept. The internal space is small in comparison with the overwhelming roof structure that covers it. Interiors are typically cramped and dark with few windows, however, most of daily life is lived outside the homes, with interiors simply intended for sleeping, storage, meetings and occasionally protection. A large tongkonan can take a crew of ten about three months to build and another month to carve and paint the outside walls. Bamboo scaffold is erected for the duration of the construction phase. Traditionally tongue and groove joinery has been used without the need for nails. A number of components are pre-fabricated with final assembly in-situ. Although built on a log cabin-style sub-structure, tongkonan are set on large vertical wooden piles with mortises cut into their ends to grasp the horizontal tie beams. The tops of the piles are notched for the longitudinal and transverse beams that support the upper structure. The remainder of the sub-structure is assembled in-situ. The transverse beams are fitted into the notched piles, and then notched to fit the longitudinal beams. Side panels, which are often decorated, are then formed on these main horizontal beams. The distinctive curved roof shape is obtained through a series of vertical hanging spars supporting upwardly angled beams. A vertical free-standing pole supports that portion of the ridge pole extending beyond the ridge purlin. Bamboo staves bound with rattan are assembled transversely in layers and tied longitudinally to the rafters forming the roof. The under roofing is of bamboo culm. Wooden boards laid over thick hardwood joists form the floors. Nowadays, zinc roofing sheets and nails are increasingly used. View Tongkonan in the Toraja Village Morning view in Toraja Village Contemporary tongkonan Although still commanding great prestige in a ritual sense, the tongkonan, like many traditional Indonesian housing styles, has a small, dark and smoky interior, and consequently is losing favour amongst contemporary Torajans. Instead, many Torajan villagers are choosing to live in a single storey 'Pan-Indonesia' style residence. The more spacious, brighter and more ventilated bugis-type dwelling is also increasingly being adopted. An approach more in line with tradition is to add an extra storey and a saddleback roof which fulfils contemporary expectations of space and brightness, while maintaining the prestige of a tongkonan. Tongkonan are a viable part of the market for managed tourism, their seminal value drawing enough people to make Tana Toraja one of Indonesia’s most significant destinations for international tourists; a region particularly popular with European visitors. Today, because tourism has displayed the richly carved tongkonan as a symbol of the Toraja ethnic group, tongkonans carved with geometric designs are often seen as symbols of Toraja ethnic identity and not just as symbols of elite identity. 3D Model Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongkonan https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/2c7dc46056c787e4c43ae36519ccaa4/Rumah-Adat-Toraja-TMII?hl=en
