Identifying Islamic Values in The Embodiment of Makassar Traditional Houses in Barombong Coastal

Abstract

Indonesia is a country with majority Muslim population. However, in the architectural design, people was not significantly using the Islamic values and tend to be affected by western modern architecture on their house embodiment. Therefore, this research explores a house architecture based on Islamic values, by taking the case of traditional houses on the coast. The coastal areas chosen because it still has traditional houses condensed with local cultural community. Using observational techniques, interviews with selected informants and questionnaires, and supported by literature review, this research was analyzed by qualitative method. This paper aims to identify Islamic values in the embodiment of Makassar traditional houses in the Barombong coastal area, and enrich the concept of Islamic-valued on house architecture. The research findings are the embodiment of Makassar traditional houses in Barombong coastal area which are generally shaped the house terrace called as bale-bale and paladang, which are deemed to have Islamic values, like: (1) In Islam, the way to visit a house is coming from the front, instead of behind. Evidently, this way existed in traditional house,  (2) Role of the bale-bale as an extension of the main room which can be used to interact with neighbors and the community (hablunminannas) and paladang can serve as a transition zone to screen guests before welcoming them inside the house (privacy) and guests to greet before the residents of the house is ready to receive, (3) In the tradition of building houses, already recognized the concept of space-oriented four wind directions (sulapa’ appaka), which significantly according to the concept of Islam which require orientation to the qibla oriented home. The study concluded that with the local wisdom possessed by the Makassar traditional house on Barombong coastal area discovered the Islamic values in its realization.