The existence of individual translation to design codes, yielding hibridity as identity representation, is shown by the translation of Chinese court-yard house
Arte-Polis 3 International Conference - Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place 560
July HIDAYAT specifications can be mentioned. They are the sameness characters of many, even most traditional Chinese house, either nobles or common people. One of main characteristic among the Chinese traditional design is the existence of open space surrounded by building masses. It is translated freely as (inner) ‘court-yard’. The archaeological evidence indicates that 'courtyard ' was an important element in Chinese house and has existed since 3000 years ago (Knapp, 2005:17-20).
The first case is a court-yard type of peranakan Chinese house in Dasun, Lasem.
The complex has had two building masses as previously it occupied by the big family. The major building mass is located in the front, occupied by the owner family, whereas the rear one was for relatives. Between two masses, there is a court-yard. The front building is taken more important as showed by its richer ornamentation and its role as the location of family praying room, until now. This plan is different from the traditional pattern which placing the main building at the rear location of house complex.
The plans of two building masses are typical. Each building has its own main room for praying to the ancestor in the middle, flanked by two bed rooms in its left and right. This composition shows a strong symmetrical structure as a representation of basic idea in Chinese philosophy, that is balance, and balance is a symbol of perfection. Each building is equipped by wide terraces in the front and back of the house, as the anticipation of the tropical climate. The communal space is accommodated in the inner court and front terrace of the front building. The earlier structure, which has inward orientation as all the building masses are faced the inner court-yard in the middle, has changed. The structure become more vertical and the focus is split up to the front as the front verandah is used for hosting guest and entertaining, influenced by the communal life style of the Javanese.
At the second case, the similarity with Chinese traditional syntax are: (1) the main room for praying is located in the middle, flanked by bed rooms, (2) main building mass and service are is separated by open communal space. The difference which came from subjective family needs and objectives physical condition are: (1) the
Figure 1. Plan of Case I Source: July Hidayat 2008
Figure 2. Sample of traditional Chinese house plan in Shanxi
Source: Knapp 2005 Main building
Inner-
Inner-
existence of front and back terraces, (2) the transformation of open inner court- yard into the semi-open place of kitchen extension and is used to used for cooking activities during feast and prayer area (different from prayer activities to the ancestor), (3) the location of service group areas is in the rear and the structure become more vertical and more similar to the structure of the Javanese traditional house which puts the public – semi-public – service zone in chronological line from front to back.
The wide front terrace is analogous with the function of pendopo in traditional Javanese house remains Java, as a public place of gathering, community meeting, entertaining, ceremonial events and hosting guest in general. This function is absent in the Chinese traditional patterns. The dwellers activities are used to be kept private as expressed by the solid door and high surrounding walls, whereas in Lasem, from the informal ‘windy gate’ (short door panels with holes formed by wood grids for ventilation), the dwellers can see the passing neighbors from their verandah and change greetings. There is a shifting of privacy, influenced by the degree of communality of the Javanese. The layout represents hibridity, as the syntax of main building mass still follows the traditional patterns, whereas the syntax of general plan is more similar with traditional Javanese one, including its tropical characteristic of wide terrace.
The third case show more similarity to the traditional Chinese pattern of courtyard type, dealing with the existence of inner court-yard as an inner garden, surrounding by building masses. Outside the main building, there are group of service areas and job activity of making craft ‘batik’ as it was belonged to the batik merchant. The main space (prayer room) is located in the main building, positioned relatively in the middle of building complex. The syntax is similar with the syntax of court-yard house in Langzhong, Si Chuan. Although the space composition or zoning/blocking/grouping is different, the syntax character of Chinese house in China and Lasem still has some similarities as follows:
1. The form structure is simple and functional
2. The space organization has kind of hierarchy or degrees of privacy: (more) public – (more) private – service zone
Figure 3. Plan of Case II Source: July Hidayat 2008
Figure 4. Sample of traditional Chinese house plan in Sichuan
Source: Knapp 2005 Kelompok ruang servis Inner- courtyard Massa bangunan utama
Arte-Polis 3 International Conference - Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place 562
July HIDAYAT The space composition is consisted of building masses encircles the void area which functioned as the communal space. In that case, the exterior area becomes a part of interior sequence that functioned as transitional space.
In the house of Chinese Peranakan in Cirebon, the existence of translation of traditional residential pattern of Chinese courtyard house is also found. The spatial identity is formed when the dweller combined the translation of Chinese traditional style with the translation of Neo-classical style, and also the usage of stained glass which is common at that time following the trend of art nouveau and art deco styles. The translation of traditional Chinese pattern showed by the existence of the courtyard encircled by closed dwelling space is formed through the combination use of stained glasses with Chinese ornamentation that has been given colors according to dweller’s preference. The translation also happened, when influenced by the owner needs, spaces encircling the inner courtyard in the first floor have been utilized for commercial and garage. The translation to the neo-classical style also happened when dweller implemented the neo-classical design codes in his own way, as seen at the columns, railing ornaments and room's doors. The collaboration between the owner and the group of skilled pupil which has been imported from China at that time, had resulted in personal design as showed by the coloration at door’s ornamentation (different from the classical reference) and bearing Chinese ornamentation along the horizontal beams.