Cultural and Philosophical Meaning of Javanese Traditional Houses: A Case Study in Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the cultural and philosophical significance of buildings and spaces in traditional Javanese houses. This study was conducted by gathering as much information as possible from the Yogyakarta and Surakarta communities. People's comprehension and knowledge served as the starting point for revealing the cultural and philosophical significance of traditional Javanese homes and their role. This is a qualitative descriptive study. The data is collected from informants, manuscripts, other relevant documents, and the research site itself. The data consisted of verbal information, texts from manuscripts and documents, and special events at the site of research. Using an interactive model, observations, data collection, data reduction, and data verification are performed to analyze data. The results indicated that (1) the cultural significance of traditional Javanese houses has diminished because people's knowledge of traditional houses is diminishing due to internal and external factors, and (2) the philosophical significance of traditional Javanese houses is becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend because the concept of evaluating and focusing on the subject of traditional Javanese houses has changed significantly.