History - Bali and Lombok - page 17

Architecture

THE VILLA BLIGHT
Like ducks in rice paddies after a rain, villas have appeared everywhere in Bali, especially in the
south and along the coast stretching west to Pura Tanah Lot. But unlike ducks, the villas are far
from beneficial to the landscape and although aimed at the affluent, they are really about as
welcome as effluent.
True, many are creative works of architecture and some find innovative ways to celebrate
Balinese design and art. But many more are generic boxes aimed at the Wallpaper* magazine
set: copy-cat fashion statements drawn from whim and catering to base instincts.
Made Wijaya, the renowned landscape architect, designer and author has watched the
spread of villas with alarm. 'They are just trendoid and paranoid. The fortresslike gates are built
bang on the road with intercom buzzers and flanking pots of horsehair grass - the lavender of
metrosexuals.'
Wijaya, who is originally from Australia, has a deep understanding of Balinese culture. His
look, which he describes as 'Bali baroque' - lots of traditional ornamentation and design cues -
has been used to great effect on some of Bali's most sensitive and honoured projects such as
the Oberoi in Seminyak and the Four Seasons in Jimbaran.
He decries the ethos behind the villas as 'aimed at people who'd go to Ibiza but come here
for the cheap help.
'There's a small box for the maid and the driver doesn't even get a glass of water. Balinese
design is about community and openness, but these things have a plunge pool surrounded by
walls and a bland 'zen' design of black, white, brown and timber slats.
'They are treeless, birdless, loveless, godless environments with no shrines, no offerings…
These things could be anywhere, whatever happened to local colour?'

There is a spiritual and religious significance of Balinese architecture that
is much more important than the physical materials, the construction or
the decoration.
A village, a temple, a family compound, an individual structure - and even
a single part of the structure - must all conform to the Balinese concept of
cosmic order. It consists of three parts that represent the three worlds of the
cosmos - swah (the world of gods) , bhwah (the world of humans) and bhur
(the world of demons). The concept also represents a three-part division
of a person: utama (the head) , madia (the body) and nista (the legs). The
units of measurement used in traditional buildings are directly based on the
anatomical dimensions of the head of the household, ensuring harmony
between the dwelling and those that live in it. Traditionally, the designer of
the building is a combination architect-priest called an undagi .
The basic element of Balinese architecture is the bale, a rectangular, open-
sided pavilion with a steeply pitched roof of thatch. Both a family compound
and a temple will comprise of a number of separate bale for specific func-
tions, all surrounded by a high wall. The size and proportions of the bale, the
number of columns, and the position within the compound, are all deter-
mined according to tradition and the owner's caste status.
The focus of a community is a large pavilion, called the bale banjar, used
for meetings, debates and gamelan (traditional Balinese orchestra) practice,
among many other activities. You'll find that large, modern buildings such
as restaurants and the lobby areas of resorts are often modelled on the larger
bale, and they can be airy, spacious and very handsomely proportioned.
During the building process, if pavilions get beyond a certain size, tra-
ditional materials cannot be used. In these cases concrete is substituted for
timber, and sometimes the roof is tiled rather than thatched. The fancier
modern buildings - banks and hotels - might also feature decorative carvings
derived from traditional temple design. As a result of this, some regard the
use of traditional features in modern buildings as pure kitsch, while others
see it as a natural and appropriate development of modern Balinese style.
Buildings with these features are sometimes described as Baliesque, Bali
baroque, or Bali rococo if the decoration has become too excessive.
Visitors may be disappointed by Balinese puri (palaces) , which prove to
be neither large nor imposing. The puri are the traditional residences of the
Balinese aristocracy, although now they may be used as top-end hotels or as
regular family compounds. They prove unimposing, as a Balinese palace can

Architecture of Bali
by Made Wijaya is a
lavish book detailing the
personal observations
and conclusions of the
Australian-born Bali
landscape designer.
The vintage photos and
illustrations are worth
the price alone.

Bali Style by Rio Helmi
and Barbara Walker is
the coffee-table book
that spawned enough
imitations to pave Kuta
Beach. First published in
1995, the topic details
the sort of clean and
open-plan Bali design
ethos that would become
a cliché if it weren't simply
so adaptable.

never be built more than one storey high. This is because a Balinese noble
could not possibly use a ground-floor room if the feet of people on an upper
floor were walking above.
THE FAMILY COMPOUND
The Balinese house looks inward - the outside is simply a high wall. Inside
there is a garden and a separate small building or bale for each activity -
one for cooking, one for washing and the toilet, and separate buildings for
each 'bedroom'. In Bali's mild tropical climate people live outside, so the
'living room' and 'dining room' will be open veranda areas, looking out
into the garden. The whole complex is oriented on the kaja (towards the
mountains)- kelod (toward the sea) axis.
Many modern Balinese houses, particularly in Denpasar and the larger
towns, are arranged much like houses in the West, but there are still a great
number of traditional family compounds. For example, in Ubud, nearly
every house will follow the same traditional walled design.
Analogous to the human body, there's a head (the family temple with
its ancestral shrine), arms (the sleeping and living areas), legs and feet (the
kitchen and rice storage building), and even an anus (the garbage pit). There
may be an area outside the house compound where fruit trees are grown or
a pig may be kept. Usually the house is entered through a gateway backed
by a small wall known as the aling aling . It serves a practical and a spiritual
purpose, both preventing passers-by from seeing in and stopping evil spirits
from entering. Evil spirits cannot easily turn corners so the aling aling stops
them from simply scooting straight in through the gate!

The gate to a traditional
Balinese house is where
the family gives cues as
to its wealth. They range
from the humble - grass
thatch atop a gate of
simple stones or clay -
to the relatively grand:
bricks heavily ornamented
with ornately carved
stone and a tile roof.

LOMBOK ARCHITECTURE
Lombok's architecture is governed by traditional laws and practices. Construction must begin
on a propitious day, always with an odd-numbered date, and the building's frame must be
completed on that day. It would be bad luck to leave any of the important structural work to
the following day.
In a traditional Sasak village there are three types of buildings - beruga (the communal meet-
ing hall) , bale tani (family houses) and lumbung (rice barns). The beruga and the bale tani are