INDONESIAN HERITAGE: NEW VERSION OF TRADITIONAL MINANGKABAU HOME, RUMAH GADANG

Istana Pagaruyung

Rumah gadang (Minangkabau: "big house") or rumah bagonjong (Minangkabau: "spired roof house") are the traditional homes (Indonesian: "rumah adat") of the Minangkabau. The architecture, construction, internal and external decoration, and the functions of the house reflect the culture and values of the Minangkabau. A rumah gadang serves as a residence, a hall for family meetings, and for ceremonial activities. With the Minangkabau society being matrilineal, the rumah gadang is owned by the women of the family who live there - ownership is passed from mother to daughter.
The houses have dramatic curved roof structure with multi-tiered, upswept gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. The term rumah gadang usually refers to the larger communal homes, however, smaller single residences share many of its architectural elements.

There is another Indonesian traditional home of the Toraja in Sulawesi called Tongkonan that has similarity roof design.

Tongkonan 

Tongkonan is the traditional ancestral house, or rumah adat of the Torajan people, in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Tongkonan have a distinguishing boat-shaped and oversized saddle back 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. In the original Toraja society, only nobles had the right to build tongkonan. Commoners live in smaller and less decorated homes called banua.

Linda Garland, an Irish-born interior and landscape designer and environmentalist who has lived on Bali for 35 years, had long been fascinated by the Minangkabau buildings of western Sumatra and proposed to Rob Cohen, director of action-adventure movies (The Fast and the Furious, Dragonheart),  that they revive the architecture on his seven acres. The residence would consist of three traditional Minang rumah gadang (big houses), with dramatically curved thatch roofs and multitiered upswept gables, and one lumbung (a rice house) to serve as one of the guest pavilions. Garland consulted with scholars of Minangkabau architecture and conducted a monthlong survey of the Minangkabau region of Sumatra to arrive at the selection of buildings.

Linda Garland created this oceanfront retreat for film director Rob Cohen of The Fast and the Furious fame. Dominating the Pantai Jasi coast, and set amid a coconut plantation right at the water’s edge, the property is modeled on the royal residences of the Minang people of Sumatra, and built entirely from recycled timber.

courtesy of decorreport 

Happy Birthday Aries

Aries, you are the most volatile and passionate of the Fire signs, eager and playful. You are the ‘cardinal’
Fire sign. The Fire element means you are an Intuitive Type, driven by enthusiasms, excitable, spontaneous.

courtesy of astrologycom

‘Cardinal’ means you are a mover and shaker, action oriented, expansive and like to take charge. It means you are one of the ‘pushers’ of the zodiac, first to leap in and have your say. Your spontaneity sometimes gets you into trouble, if for instance you lead with your mouth via a tactless statement. Or you might leap into a project only to butt your head on all of the boring details you did not consider. You are most happy when you discover your truly authentic self and share your enthusiasms with others, using your competitive energy constructively. You are the ‘child’ of the zodiac, the first sign, your key phrase: “I Am”.

 This glyph is the symbol of the sun (the circle) with an arrow that aptly describes how a person ruled by Mars defends and asserts themselves or their egos, it also represents our survival factor and even the Arian sexuality.   The glyph for Mars is typically male in nature and represents the energy of Mars bursting forth from the constraints of life with desire to do, to be, and to conquer.  This planet is associated with Ares, the God of War.   In the beginning Ares was the God of agriculture, giving the crops the life from the sun and the arrow to the farmer for strength to persevere and defend his crops from all predators.   This association was changed by the roman solders to represent the ability and the willingness of the warrior to attack all his enemies and defend his life with it's arrow; this arrow gave it another association with war in the mind of the Romans.

This glyph is the symbol of the sun (the circle) with an arrow that aptly describes how a person ruled by Mars defends and asserts themselves or their egos, it also represents our survival factor and even the Arian sexuality.   The glyph for Mars is typically male in nature and represents the energy of Mars bursting forth from the constraints of life with desire to do, to be, and to conquer.  This planet is associated with Ares, the God of War.   In the beginning Ares was the God of agriculture, giving the crops the life from the sun and the arrow to the farmer for strength to persevere and defend his crops from all predators.   This association was changed by the roman solders to represent the ability and the willingness of the warrior to attack all his enemies and defend his life with Mars is concerned with the masculine side of your nature, strongly sexual, it makes one aggressive as well as decisive; Hasty and rude as well as positive and energetic.   Mars gives an individual facet to the personality, bringing to the surface the instinctive desires and impulses.  It is too often associated with anger and violence by those not having the benefit of the energies it gives to the typical Arian.  It denotes the warrior, not the warlike, and gives the subject the courage to face self, (the baser self), the one enemy we all have in common and the one enemy we must all learn to control.it's arrow; this arrow gave it another association with war in the mind of the Romans.

Moodboard based on Aries personality signs

Metal: Iron, ruled by Mars.
Colours: Red, magenta, pinks.
Herbs for Health: Rosemary, in cooking and as a tea. Put it in your bath for aches and pains. Sweet marjoram, tarragon, garlic, ginger and horseradish.
Foods for Health: Onions, tomatoes, red chilli, beetroot and spinach, persimmon and red pawpaw.
Flowers: All small red and pink flowers.
Scents: Red carnation and red rose.

First Sign of the Zodiac: The sign of the Ram
Birthstone of Aries: Diamond

Celebrating your love ones birthday in Aries sign,
 feel free to order Birthday Klappertaart
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LAST PROJECT: ALEX'S WARDROBE

This is probably my last work in interior and furniture. Since I had decided to do more in blogging interior etc than working on it's field. Alexander Thian is an old friend of mine. He is one of twittebrity in Indonesia, which currently known also has one of the biggest influence amongst Indonesian tweeps. It's just my luck that I knew him long before he gets into twitter stardom. So in his small apartment he asked me to do his wardrobe. I was like more than happy since the idea of open wardrobe is not common for Indonesian. So this is some kind of breakthrough for me to do this simple, economic design. For Alex it is a taking risk. So let's see how it looks. Hope you like it.