Individual Practice and Cultural Context in the Transformation of Batak Toba House

Abstract

Batak Toba people today are facing the dilemma of maintaining their tradition and keeping up to the modern way of living. This has resulted in cultural transformation of traditional houses, where modern utensils and new spaces are added with no reference to the original one. The traditional settlement of Huta Siallagan in Samosir Island North Sumatra begin to aspire urban standards of living, and traditional building practices are dying out because domestic life systems are changing. Traditional houses are undergoing transformation as they are more and more influenced by the modernizing effect of capital economy.