Space and Cultural Behaviour : Deconstruction of Stage ideas in Batak Tribal Traditional Houses

Abstract

In Batak tribal community the idea of dwelling permanently is influenced by labour, social, culture and religion. Territorial behaviour can be seen clearly patterned from the Batak community dwelling, each settlement unit, calls it Huta, attended by clan. Previous researchers believed that the presence of a stage in some traditional houses was more due to symbolic meanings or cosmological ideas. A traditional Batak Toba house represents cosmological ideas of their inhabitants. The space for animals in the substructure symbolizes the underworld. The living area that is raised on stilts is the people's place that represents the middle world. (Hanan, et all 2015). The behaviour of the Batak culture seems to be the main reason for the presence of the stage in traditional Batak house. Research with an ethnographic approach shows that phenomena to meet socio-cultural needs must be adopted in the spatial arrangement of dwellings. In traditional Batak House, the stage in the house is a strategy to fulfil socio-cultural behaviour in community life. In the Batak culture, a clan is representative of a power, self-esteem is important. The presence of a stage where the buffalo is placed is provided in every house design. The idea of stage in the traditional Batak traditional house is a production space.