Living on the Floating Houses for Sustainable Livelihoods at Lake Tempe, South Sulawesi

Abstract

Living both inland and in floating houses are two aspects or life for the ethnic Buginese who dwell on the coast of Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi. Their primary occupations include fishing and farming, which resulted in the community’s decision to build their traditional houses in the form of stilted houses inland and floating houses over water. The unique characteristics of Lake Tempe which has both flood tide and ebb tide every year, enable them to live in floating houses and work as fishermen during the flood tide and live inland, working as farmers during the ebb tide. The aim of this study was to determine how the ethnic Buginese use both their stilted houses and the floating houses as a means of adaptation in order to sustain their livelihoods. The study employed qualitative methods through the Ethno-Architecture approach, which was then analyzed using the Spradley Model. The study found that the upper spaces in the houses over the lake that are used for fishing serve an economic function to the fisherman in helping to improve their livelihoods. In addition to being a comfortable dwelling, the floating house is also used to store and process the fresh fish into dried fish. The use of the upper space is not only regulated by the local government’s regulations, but also by customary law in order to maintain the harmony and sustainability of the relationship between humans and their environment. When the lake water recedes during dry season, the community settles inland and farms there around the lake, planting such crops as corns, beans and vegetables. Thus, living in the stilted houses inland and floating houses over the lake forms the community’s process of adapting to the environmental condition present on the coast of Lake Tempe and a means by which to improve livelihoods.

Floating House Tectonics on Lake Tempe: Between Tradition and Resilience

“…The space at the core of the house is made without space barriers. This room is usually used as a place for all activities such as serving guests, sleeping, and chatting with family or commonly referred to as a multi-function room because the function of the room changes based on the activities carried out (Naing et al, 2011). The lack of space formed in the house floats because it is related to the security of living.…”

“…Based on the local community knowledge system, this is intended so that the overall load of the house can be lighter, not easy to sink and can be moved around. This is based on the characteristics of the lake water that experiences ups and downs, so this raft house will be moved from one place to another above the water, based on the condition of the lake water level (Naing et al, 2011). Floating house tectonics will be analysed starting from raft construction tectonics, wall construction tectonics and roof construction tectonics, as below.…”

“…This is different with other houses on the water that is in some places in Indonesia, or in some other country. The house floats in Kalimantan and Sumatra who use the structure of the wooden raft, in Vietnam using plastic drum, in Cambodia using drums of zinc, in San Francisco boat at the bottom of the house and also the Bajo (Naing et al, 2011).…”

“…Floating houses on Lake Tempe are inhabited by Bugis fishing communities who come from the mainland around the lake (Naing, Santosa, & Soemarno, 2011). This fisherman chooses to live on the water because of his dependence on water as a place to earn a living.…”

Vernacular Architecture of Buginese:

“…Several studies have been conducted by both local and foreign researchers on the traditional architecture of the Bugis house in relation to spatial planning, specifically, construction according to the understanding of vertical cosmology, structure, and other aspects (Abidah, 2016;Adams, 1984;Arifuddin, 2016;Ismail, 2012;Naing & Iskandar, 2015;Naing, Santosa, & Soemarno, 2011). However, only limited research has been conducted on the dimensions of the shape and size of these buildings based on the horizontal anatomy of the human body.…”