Boussoles à la page Constructions du peuple Toraja, Sulawesi du Sud. Toraja buildings, South Sulawesi. Ci-contre, double-toit typique des Karo, Sumatra du Nord. Right: typical two-tiered roof of the Karo people, North Sumatra. À droite, toits de chaume village de Ratengaro, île de Sumba. Far right: thatched roofs in Ratengaro village, Sumba Island. Raising the roof Indonesia, a country of more than 17,000 islands, is a living library of wooden architecture, spanning a dazzling range of styles. Despite the distances and the Wallace tion process is best suited to withstand- spray of the breakers that draw intrepid Line, an imaginary boundary separating ing violent monsoons. These elevated surfers. Equally fascinating are the the country into the Indomalayan homes are protected from sudden rises longhouses in east Borneo; the houses ecozone to the west and the Austral- in water levels. Naturally ventilated, with colorful, openwork screens in asian ecozone to the east, posts, beams, they shelter the inhabitants as well as Aceh province; the traditional Siwaluh gables and lintels are elements of a com- their food stores from dampness and Jabu homes with triangular roofs of the mon vocabulary uniting the various predators of all sizes. Rainwater runs off Karo people; the pointed roofs of those communities. With a few exceptions, the beautiful sloping roofs, while the on the island of Nias; the houses of Indonesia’s ethnic groups all share a cul- large overhangs form protected areas West Papua in the shape of rudimentary ture that can be traced to the island of where people can gather. igloos, but made from wood and straw; Taiwan. Their traditional homes, known It’s impossible to visit Sumba Island, and the houses of the Toraja, with over- as rumah adat, are all made using the 45 km from the island of Flores, with- sized saddleback roofs, reminiscent of same building techniques: posts and out being enchanted by the traditional buffalo horns. Well known for their beams for the load-bearing structure villages. The homes in the village of ability to withstand earthquakes, these and a thatched roof and partitions made Ratengaro, with their thatched roofs magnificent traditional homes, which from coconut leaves, sugar palm leaves, like witches’ hats, offer a spectacular form a rich heritage, are on the decline. alang alang grass or rice straw. Pilings sight standing out against the comple- The library is slowly losing its books. are nearly always used. This construc- mentary blues of the sea and sky, in the It’s time to save them. 100 RF.SIMEH / xueS eluaP - RF.SIMEH / otohP kcotS ymalA / nerkcoC samohT ,itnomagiR otreblA ©