Indigenous Architecture in Borneo (Borneo Research Council Proceedings Series)

Indigenous Architecture in Borneo: Traditional Patterns and New Developments. Proceedings Series Volume No. Five

This volume is concerned with the domestic or vernacular architecture of the indigenous or Dayak peoples of Borneo, and especially with the modern development and transformations that are now occurring. Along with headhunting, Dayaks are perhaps best known for their longhouses, and there is now an abundant if uneven literature on these and other architectural forms. From the middle of the nineteenth centery onward may observers have described Dayak buildings, their artistic embellishments, and their social uses. In earlier detailed accounts of native architecture in Sarawak (e.g., Beccari 1904; Furness 1902; Hose and MacDougal 1912; Low 1848; Roth 1896; St. John 1862; Wallace 1869), Sabah (e.g., Evans 1922; Rutter 1929), and Kalimantan (e.g., Bock 1881; Lumholtz 1920; Molengraaff 1902; Nieuwenhuis 1907). Most of these accounts are descriptive and treat architecture in relation to exotic ways of life; some of them (such as Nieuwenhuis 1907) also contain extensive informatio! n on building materials, designs, and practices.