Gotong-Royong: An Autonomous Floating Settlement in Brunei

Diploma 14 Architectural Association Kampong Ayer

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Gotong-Royong: An autonomous floating settlement in Brunei Hafizah Nor

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Table of contents Gotong-Royong Settling on Lake, Marshland and River Analagous Map Proposal of Floating Settlement Instructions Manual Images

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Gotong-royong is a Malay word describing an essential social custom in Malay culture.

Gotong: carrying a burden using one’s shoulder Royong: together Gotong-royong: cooperation by members of a community to achieve a common goal The closest English translation is the conception of reciprocity or mutual aid.

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1 2 GanviĂŠ, Benin

3 Mesopotamian Marshlands, Iraq

Kampung Ayer, Brunei

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Res Omnium

Settling on Lake, Marshland and River

“We are 'land-dwellers', we are naturally home on dry land and we consequently use the term earth as the designation to our planet, even though in with respect to the extent of its surfaces, it is known to be almost three quarters water and only a quarter lives and pursue their livelihood on the waters.” 1

1. Schmitt, Carl. 2015. Land and sea: a world-historical meditation. Candor: Telos Press. p. 12 2. Scott, James C. 2017.

Against the grain: a deep history of the first civilizations. New Haven (Connecticut): Yale University Press. p. 44

Contrary to the standard civilizational narrative, the earliest large fixed settlements sprang up in the wetlands and relied on wetland resources. Permanent proto-urban settlements emerged in the wetlands of the southern alluvium near the Persian Gulf around 6500 BCE.2 These urban agglomerations situated at the mouth of the historic Euphrates river would go on to be the very first “statelets” in the world. This refutes the historical myopia that the domestication of grain was the basic prerequisite of permanent sedentary life, cities and civilization. In actuality, sedentism long predates the domestication of grains. It also rebuts the standard narrative that “making the desert bloom” by irrigated agriculture was the foundation of the first sedentary communities. Southern Mesopotamia during the seventh and sixth millenia BCE was a wetland paradise and not at all arid with much of their diet relying on fish, birds and turtles which teemed in the wetlands: the most common route for many migrations is via the wetlands, river valleys and major waterways. Interestingly, the earliest fixed villages in the southern alluvium were not just in a productive wetland area; they were also located on the borders between different ecological zones between coast and estuary.

The logic was that communities could remain stationary whilst taking advantage of the sustenance from both environment.

Another pivotal aspect of wetlands was its role in transportation. The development of great kingdoms depended on advantageous location for wa-

Opposite page: 1. Locations of the three case studies of different ecologies analysed in the essay

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9 terborne trade as water allowed less friction and thus transport became exponentially more efficient. In terms of its organization, these settlements were environmentally impervious to centralization as they were based on “common property resources” which could not be monopolised; plants, aquatic animals to which the whole community had access to.3 Since nothing could be authoritatively controlled, nothing could be taxed - rendering any central accounting system futile. Therefore, it is compelling to note there was hardly any hierarchy in these communities. In 1854, pre-historic lake dwellings on piles were discovered on the Lake of Zurich, hidden for several thousands of years. This stimulated questions on why living above water was preferred.

Many speculate that they were built for protection against flooding, insects and ants, religious belief and security against enemy attacks. Most importantly, living above water allowed easy subsistence.

The essay will go through three water settlements in different ecologies: Ganvié in the African country of Benin, the Mesopotamian Marshlands in Iraq and lastly Kampong Ayer in the South-east Asian nation of Brunei.

Ganvié is explored as the settlement of defence and stands as a testament of resistance to the transatlantic slave trade. The Mesopotamian marshlands will show how the state manipulated a common resource to completely dispossess a community of their livelihood. Kampong Ayer, known as the world’s largest stilt settlement, stands as monument of a culture that has resisted Western conformity. The common denominator in these case studies will be revealed by showing the resistive, ecological and cultural qualities of settling on water. With their roots as squatter settlements, these water settlements challenge the conventional principles of property. I will underline the paradox between water and property since water is inherently a dynamic fluid resource whereas property has a legal staticity.

3. Ibid. p. 57 4. Vogt, Adolf Max. 2000. Le Corbusier, the noble savage: toward an archaeology of modernism. Cambridge, Mass: MIT. p. 18

The philosophical and territorial realm when discussing land and water should not be ignored. Land became appropriated when it was divided, distributed and occupied. When the circumnavigation of the earth and the great discoveries of the ocean occurred in the 15th and 16th century, there was a need for a new nomos or order of the earth. Lines were traced to divide and distribute the whole earth, but the freedom of the sea was a problem of spatial ordering as it was free of any type of state spatial sovereignty.

Opposite page: 2. Illustration of pre-historic Lake dwellings discovered in Lake Zurich in 1854

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11 The sea represented an expansiveness, instability and lack of confinement – qualities which liberated it from moral and legal ties. This allowed it to be resistant to enclosure and formal subdivision: this is a crucial feature of water settlements that will be emphasized in this essay. In the 17th century, attempts were made to understand this new phenomenon juridically by using traditional roman laws of res nullius (things belonging to nobody) and res omnium (things belonging to everybody).5 This paper adapts these questions as a framework for looking at how water settlements emerged and asks whether they are res nullius or res omnium. Answering this question can offer a paradigm in dealing with property which offers the possibility of a more equitable society.

1. Ganvié, Benin: System of defence against slavers

“The Adriatic has its Venice and its gondolas, The Atlantic has its Ganvié, so much envied.

I will praise you everywhere, Ganvié, Venice of my country, you will soon be The center of the world, and men from all horizons Will be dying to come and dream on your waters, Around your magic and haughty huts, Amid your slender and light canoes.” 6

5. Schmitt, Carl, and Ulmen, G. L. 2006. The nomos of the earth in the international law of the Jus Publicum Europaeum.

New York: Telos Press. p. 175 6. Diouf, Sylviane A. 2006.

Fighting the slave trade: West African strategies. Athens: Ohio University Press. p. 13 7. “lake.” In Cambridge Dictionary.org. Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https:// dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lake

In this famous poem, Ganvié is glorified as the Venice of Africa by Eustache Prudencio, Benin’s admired poet. However, it is not for its scenic beauty that attracted villagers to settle here, rather it was due to a darker impetus. The village was created by fleeing populations, in seek of security during a period of geopolitical turbulence and violence. This section explores the water settlement as a form of resistance provided by the nature of the environment, and in this specific case study, through the ecology of the lake. A lake is defined as an area of water surrounded by land which is not connected to the sea except by rivers or streams.7 During the era of the transatlantic slave trade, Dahomey, the West Afri-

Opposite page: 3. Aerial photo: Houses on stilts in a shallow lagoon, Ganvie, Photograph by John Scofield, National Geographic.

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13 can kingdom located in present-day Benin played a vital role in the supply of captive for enslavement in the Americas. In the late 17th century, Lake Nokoué and the swamplands surrounding it became a refuge for the homogenous ethnic group, the Tofinu tribe. They were being pursued by the slavers of the Fon tribe who had religious beliefs that prevented them from fighting on the sacred lake. Thus, the lake became a haven for the Tofinu – as long as they never returned to dry land. The village was built as a system of defence and Ganvié translates to “safe at last” in the Fon language.8

The lake ecology acted as a natural barrier against the slaver armies, who were unaccustomed to such an environment. The soldiers were unfamiliar with canoes and were poor swimmers. When a canoe of soldiers was sent to take captives, the refugees who were skilled at naval warfare overturned them using their inexperience against them. The cohesive nature of the water villagers also strengthened their defensive strategy against the slavers. There was a “conscious mixing” of various ethnic groups which had a positive reaction to the prevalent effect of the slave trade.9 Some newcomers who came to the lake included captives and possibly already enslaved humans but once in Ganvié, they became free: no one was permitted to come in and take them away for the purposes of selling or enslaving them.

The refugees continued to live in isolation from the outside world until the opening of the channel of Cotonou in 1885, which serves as an outlet for Lake Nokoué to the sea. This development made the lake waters salty, preventing it to be drinkable. There was also growing interest in the area by the French colonial administration who collected taxes using armed agents further instilling fear in the villagers.

8. Diouf, 2006, p. 6 9. Ibid. p. 9 10. Spedini G, M Fuciarelli, and O Rickards. 1980. “Blood polymorphism frequencies in the Tofinu, the “Water Men” of Southern Benin”. Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Bericht Uber Die Biologisch-Anthropologische Literatur. 38 (2): 121-30. p.

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Today, hundreds of years later with a population of 25,000, they still rarely leave their villages so much so that their neighbouring populations refer to them as the “water men”.10 The only time villagers will go ashore is to sell their fish at the market several miles away whilst the capital is a four-hour journey. Ganvié has around three thousand buildings which includes a post office, bank, mosque, church and a hospital making it into a self-sustainable village.

Opposite page: 4. Diagram of Tofinu's hierarchical dwelling during wet season (left) and dry season (right)

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15 In terms of houses, the Tofinu have designed an original habitat. They take the form of bamboo huts built on stilts, some with thatched roof which are planned in a way to uniquely accommodate both human beings and animals. The dwelling has three floors; the bottom stilt level, the middle and the top. During a flood, the animals are moved from the bottom level to the top while the middle remains strictly for humans. Their only means of transportation is the dugout canoes which they row from house to house in the village.

There is an interesting symbiosis between the ecology and subsistence in Ganvié. During wet season which last four months, fishing becomes their only viable economic activity.11 However, during the rest of the year when some islets emerge from the waters, the availability of dry land makes it possible to develop agricultural activities. The Tofinu have developed a technique to farm fish using akadjas; fish pens consisting of branches forced into the bed of the lake and then intertwined with palm fronts to form an enclosure. These fishing grounds, similar to land, became valuable properties over which contentions could escalate into violent clashes.12

11. UNESCO. “Lake Ganvié Site”. UNESCO World Heritage Centre Official Website.

Retrieved 15 November 2019, from http://whc.unesco.org/ en/tentativelists/869 12. Diouf, 2006, p. 5 13. Government of Republic of Benin. “Revitalise the Lacustrian Town of Ganvie”.

Retrieved 15 November 2019, from http://revealingbenin. com/en/projects/ganvie/

Ganvié became a world heritage site in 1996 on the basis that the lake settlement have kept its distinctive features dating back to the end of the 17th century where building materials harmonize with the natural environment.

Currently, there is a large-scale investment programme to revitalize the lacustrine town and develop its touristic potential costing 30 million euros, 60% of which is funded by the public sector and 40% by the private.13 The government is also working to improve living conditions for Ganvié. Despite this, public opinion is unaware of the settlement’s historic background against the slave trade, overshadowed by its touristic shine and its people still feel neglected.

This case study reveals the defensive qualities of water settlements, where the ecology lends itself as natural barrier against enemies both physically and spiritually. For the refugees, the act of building on water represented freedom in its literal sense. It developed into an autonomous community which led to the emergence of a coherent and homogenous society, a striking consequence of the natural environment and the fear of external antagonism.

Opposite page: 5. Inhabitants on their dugout canoes, Photograph by Laurence Thurion.

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17 Ganvié stands as a testament of defence and resistance to the transatlantic slave trade.

2. Mesopotamian Marshlands, Iraq: Dispossession by the manipulation of water

“As I came out into the dawn, I saw, far away across the great sheet of water, the silhouette of a distant land, black against the sunrise.

For a moment I had a vision of Hufaidh,14 the legendary island, which no man may look on and keep his senses; then I realized that I was looking at great reedbeds. A slim, black, high-prowed craft 14. A mythical island in the marshes. The island is believed to have palaces, palm trees, gardens and buried treasure. It is bewitched – guarded by jins who have the power to make the island invisible.

15. Thesiger, Wilfred. 2007.

The Marsh Arabs. London: Penguin. p. 23 16. United Nations Environment Programme. 2001.

Oartow, H. The Mesopotamian marshlands: Demise of an ecosystem. Nairobi: UNEP. p. 1 17. Kubba, Sam. 2011.

The Iraqi Marshlands and the Marsh Arabs: the Ma’dan, Their Culture and the Environment.

Reading: Ithaca Press. p. 7 18. Al-Tameemi, Rasha.

2016. ‘Reading the Cultural Specificities of the Iraqi Marsh Arabs from their Landscape’, Landscape Research Record No.5. Retrieved 11 November 2009, from https://thecela. org/wp-content/uploads/Landscape-Research-Record-No.-5. pdf. p. 42 19. Kubba, 2011, p. 6 20. UNEP, 2001, p. 17

lay beached at my feet – the sheikh’s war canoe, waiting to take me into the Marshes.” 15

The Mesopotamian Marshlands, considered as the cradle of civilization, have been home to ancient communities for more than 5,000 years.16 Located on the confluence of the great Tigris and Euphrates rivers, it is believed by many historians to be the site of the biblical Garden of Eden in the Bible and the Qur’an, the Great Flood and the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham.17 Hence, the marshlands is an area of historic significance in the three monotheistic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. This section investigates how the ecology of the marshland was exploited as a military strategy to oppress the villagers. The term marsh is defined as a type of low-lying land that receives frequent or continuous flooding.18 The inhabitants of the Mesopotamian Marshlands are called Marsh Arabs or Ma’dan, considered by many to be heirs of the Sumerians and Babylonians and serve as a continuous connection to the populace of ancient Mesopotamia.19 They have a distinctive subsistence lifestyle firmly rooted in their aquatic abode which comprises of fishing, waterfowl hunting and rice cultivation. Their main income comes from the weaving of mat reeds which is exported throughout Iraq. They use long canoes called mash-hoof as their transport, another relic of ancient Sumer.20

Opposite page: 6. 5,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting the ancient reed houses.

7. Elevation of a mudhif or guesthouse 8. Aerial view of a village in the Mesopotamian Marshlands

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1. mudhif 2. parent’s bedroom 3. annexe to parents’ bedroom 4. children’s bedroom 5 cattle shelter 6 clay oven 7 haystack

19 Most of the marsh dwellers are semi-nomadic but some have settled on irregular clusters of artificial floating islands constructed by alternating reed mats and layers of mud that are dredged from the marsh bottom.21 Generally, a village would consist of a group of separate islands, with each one serving an individual household. First, an area of water large enough for a house and a yard is enclosed using a fence of reeds around twenty feet height; after, this fence is packed with reeds and rushes. When this rush platform rises above water, the reeds of the containing fence is fractured and laid across. More rushes are piled and trampled on until they are satisfied with its foundation.

To give it more permanence, the Ma’dan covered the foundations with mud extracted from the water. If this artificial island called the dibin is left unoccupied for more than a year, possession is relinquished and anyone could use it.22 Finally, it is ready for house construction.

21. Al-Tameemi, 2016, p.17 22. Thesiger, 2007, p. 75 23. UNEP, 2001, p. 16 24. Ochsenschlager, Edward L. 2004. Iraq’s Marsh Arabs in the Garden of Eden. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania. p. 152 25. Al-Tameemi, 2016, p.48

There are innumerable parallels between the modern and ancient marsh dwellers with their characteristic arched reed buildings, represented in archaeological record consisting of 5,000-year-old Sumerian tablets.23 Considerable design and construction techniques of ancient Mesopotamia are inherited today. The ancient Sumerian system of linear measurement, known as the cubit, is still currently used in the marshes to build their reed houses.24

At the pinnacle of the Marsh Arab’s socio-cultural system is the traditional guesthouse or mudhif. A direct cultural legacy of ancient Sumer, these arched and elaborately decorated reed halls is a place to hold meetings and receive guests. Each village usually has one or more mudhif from which the clan’s affairs are run. It belongs to the tribe’s leader known as the sheikh and the whole village is involved in the construction process. The difference between the mudhif and other dwellings is that they are built higher with more architectural detail and creativity. The mudhif can be compared to a Romanesque or Gothic Cathedral due to its dramatic ribbed roof and stark illumination through its traceried windows. Its door always faces Mecca and is always open – a symbol of hospitality and spirituality that reflects the cultural specificity of the marsh dwellers.25 All of the mudhifs are built with an odd number of arches that is traditionally established for each tribe. A coffee hearth is located a third into the structure which serves as the centre of the social life of the village: the sound of rhythmic striking of coffee beans

Opposite page: 9.

Plan of a small island settlement in the Mesopotamian Marshalnds, with open water to the north, and reed beds to south from Oliver, P. 1997. Encyclopedia of vernacular architecture of the world: Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10. Aerial view of Marsh Arab village in Southern Iraq in 1978, Photograph by Nik Wheeler.

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Marsh Open water National boundary Extent of marshland before desiccation

21 in mortar was an invitation for any man to enter and enjoy a cup of coffee.26 During the Abbasid era (750-1258 AD) and onwards, the Marsh Arabs we're independent of the central government control due to its thick reed beds, waterways, wildlife and autonomous nature of the people. The Ottoman empire also failed to absorb them and it was the local sheikhs that ruled the marsh area who completely ignored the Ottoman governor.27 Gradually, as the influence of the central government extended to remote parts of the country and through increased trade, greater contact was made with the larger Iraqi society. In theory, all land in the marshland area belongs to the State, which is then leased to sheikhs. However, they would pay their taxes and regarded the land as their own: no one questioned their title as long as they were powerful. Sheikhs whose lands bordered the Marshes had acquired a right over the villages inside, regardless if these were inhabited by other tribes. They had the authority for fining or flogging the villagers and imposing tolls on goods passing through.28 They became landlords, whilst their tribesmen were reduced to labourers in return for a share of the crop and without certainty of tenure. Although the sheikhs did not have judicial powers, when cases of tribesmen appeared in the Government courts, the sheikh was preferred to be the arbitrator rather than officials. Generally, the Government was content to leave authority to the sheikhs in the marshes.28

26. Thesiger, 2007, p. 27 27. Kubba, 2011, p. 11 28. Ibid. p. 28 29. Ibid. p. 32 30. Al-Tameemi, 2016, p.40 31. Kubba, 2011, p. 15

The Marsh Arabs continued to be isolated from the outside world until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Prior to the early 1990s, the Marsh Arabs’ population was estimated at 500,000.29 During the 1991 Iraqi uprising under Saddam Hussein’s regime, following the second Gulf War, the Ma’dan were persecuted for being opposed to the Ba’ath Government.

He ordered the wetlands to be drained turning it into a man-made dessert: hundreds of thousands were displaced as their ecological life-support system collapsed. According to a UN report, the Iraqi military attacked the Marsh Arab killing hundreds including birds and buffaloes.30 Reports mentioned the use of napalm and chemical agents along with the poisoning of the waters with herbicide.31 Reedbeds were burned and people were transported to army camps where mass executions took place. By 1994, 90% of the Marshes had been destroyed and only 1600 marsh arabs remain today.

Opposite page: 11. Construction of houses using bundles of reeds 12. Ribbed interior of the reed houses during construction 13.

Map showing the dessication of the Mesopotamian Marshlands

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23 This military strategy of drainage has had a colossal impact on world ecology. Their global significance stems primarily from their impact in the intercontinental migrations of birds, for sustaining rare flora and fauna biodiversity and being a valuable habitat for wildlife. The destructive policies, wars and mismanagement of the National Water led to the extinction of several endemic and botanical species. This was not just a humanitarian tragedy but of cultural and environmental catastrophe. The desiccation of the Mesopotamian marshlands is considered one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters where ecocide was used to promote genocide.

After Saddam’s downfall in 2003, the restoration of the marshlands became an official policy and priority of the Ministry of Water Resources. 75% of the area was flooded and restored at the end of 2007 but its fate is still uncertain as some of the effects are irreversible.32 Scientists are divided on the question of how much of the original Marshlands could be revived with some asserting 80% and others have claimed only a third. The Mesopotamian marshlands is an incredible case study where the state reengineered the landscape by turning ungovernable wetlands into taxable grain fields.

It shows at its extremity how a powerful state controlled and manipulated water, a common resource, to consequently dispossess a community of their homes and livelihood. Thus, it is evident how man and water are inextricably bound together.

3. Kampong Ayer, Brunei: Resistance to Western conformity

“That city is entirely built in saltwater, except the house of the King and certain chiefs. It contains twenty-five thousand hearths. The houses are all constructed of wood and build up from the ground on tall pillars. When the tide is high, women go in boats through 32. Ibid. p. 1 33. Pigafetta, Antonio, and T. J. Cachey. 1995. The first voyage around the world (15191522): an account of Magellan’s exploration. New York: Marsilio Publishers. p. 71

the settlement selling articles necessary to maintain life.” 33 Opposite page:

In 1521, Italian navigator, Antonio Pigafetta painted a picture of Kampong Ayer in his travel diary, giving the world the first glimpse of the water-based city. This was during the first circumnavigation of the globe which

14. Photograph of the padian, or the female floating market vendors in the 20th century, from Haji Ibrahim. 2012.

Kampong Ayer: Living memory.

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South China Sea

Brunei Bay

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25 coincided with the zenith of the Bruneian Empire encompassing Borneo and the southern part of Philippines.34 Pigafetta wrote about Brunei’s greatness as a developed, powerful and prosperous trading centre. In 1851, Peter Blunder, an Englishmen notably described Kampong Ayer as the ‘Venice of The East’.35 Today, Kampong Ayer has connotations of slums, poverty and poor environmental issues in the Islamic Malay Sultanate. This section examines the water settlement as a monument of culture that has rejected Western formalism, through the ecology of the river. A river is defined as natural wide flow of fresh water across the land into the sea, lake or another river.36

34. Haji Ibrahim, Abdul Latif. 2012. Kampong Ayer: living memory. Brunei: Pentagram Design. p. 11 35. Blundell, Peter. 1923. The city of many waters. London: J.W. Arrowsmith. p. 68 36. “river.” In Cambridge Dictionary.org. Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https:// dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/river 37. Horton, A. V. M. 1986.

“British Administration in Brunei 1906-1959”. Modern Asian Studies. 20 (2): 353-374. p. 353 38. Brown, Donald E. 1970.

Brunei: the structure and history of a Bornean Malay sultanate.

Brunei: Brunei Museum. p. 39 39. Haji Ibrahim, 2012, p.

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The history of Kampong Ayer is the history of Brunei itself. The country of Brunei originated from a water settlement, which later on moved onto land. Before 1910, the term ‘Kampong Ayer’ and the Brunei capital did not exist. Kampong Ayer was coined to distinguish between the land and water-based settlements. The water settlement and nation were inextricably linked; hence, the term Kampong Ayer and Brunei will be used interchangeably in this section.

Brunei is known to exist stretching back to the 7th century A.D, long before the foundation of the Brunei Muslim Sultanate in the 15th century.37 If one was to assume the founding of Kampong Ayer coincided with the founding of the Sultanate of Brunei, then the water village is at least 600 years old. Albeit, it is only in the 16th century that we have certain descriptions of Kampong Ayer, contributed mainly from the European accounts.38 The city was developed along the trade routes of the South China Sea. Trade was the lifeblood of the Bruneian Empire from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century and water, especially the Brunei River, was its artery.

The most phenomenal aspect of Kampong Ayer is that it moved. Since the sixteenth century and possibly much earlier, the location of Kampong Ayer shifted at different points along the Brunei River due to defensive strategies relating to the river landscape and bends, avoiding strong winds and in accordance to the King’s orders. Collating all the information from the historical documents, we can assume that Kampong Ayer has moved from Garang to Kota Batu, then to Chermin Island, to Tumasik and lastly to its present location.39 Hence, the city is known to have moved at least five

Opposite page: 15. Map showing the different locations of Kampong Ayer over 600 years

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27 times in the past 600 years. The modesty of its vernacular architecture in terms of its construction and material, allows a swift decamp and relocation elsewhere. This was evident in another European account in 1600, which mentioned how the nobilities’ palaces were built on such light piles that when there was a storm or some other untoward event, these houses could be removed from one side of the river to the other.

40. Horton, 1986, p. 354 41. It is important to note that before the British administration was introduced, there was no government in Brunei – only ownership. The country previously was divided into three types of tenure; crown, ministerial and private lands.41 Each carried with it taxation and administration rights for the owners where landlords owned not just the land, but the people living on it as well.

The Residency system consequently took all land into state ownership in which the Sultan and the senior nobles accepted annual pensions in compensation for their loss of land rights.

For private land, the owner was issued with a title to his land.

Thus, a land administration begun along with a newly established public treasury.

In the 19th century, Sultan Hashim of Brunei feared the extinction of the ancient sultanate line. He requested British assistance in the internal administration of his country. This resulted in the Anglo-Brunei Treaty of 1905-1906 in which Brunei was to receive a British ‘Resident’, whose job was to give advice to be “taken and acted upon on all questions in Brunei other than those affection religion.”40 Brunei welcoming the British Resident System thus started the efforts to improve the living conditions of the water village, by relocating the inhabitants to dry land.41 The first Resident, Malcolm McArthur proposed these plans and stated: “I wish for a clean and dry village, with housing areas near the city. I would also like to discourage the building of houses on the water.”42

The early residents argued that living on water was unhealthy as villagers lacked exercise being confined in houses and made them more susceptible to diseases. Resettlement started in 1909, however, it was not accepted with open arms. Residents enjoyed living in Kampong Ayer as they view it as a well-respected and unique city on water. A health officer from the Straits Settlement who visited Brunei in 1921 refuted McArthur’s decision, writing that building on water does not just make the city picturesque but also has practical reasons: the river is tidal and dejects are speedily washed away. He argues: “...the Malay is by nature a riverine dweller and is usually healthy and happy when living over water. Apart from the space which

42. Haji Ibrahim, 2012, p. 14

the people would require on land, I am against moving them.” 43

43. Leake, David. 1989. Brunei: the modern Southeast-Asian Islamic sultanate. Jefferson: N.C. p. 42

Architecturally, Kampong Ayer houses were influenced by Islamic thought. There was a belief that houses should be built rectangular to mimic

Opposite page: 16. Etching of Kampong Ayer, 1888

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44. Brunei Ministry of Home Affairs. 2010. Bandar Seri Begawan Development Master Plan, vol. 1. Bandar Seri Begawan. p.

104 45. The Malay culture is steeped in superstitions and ritualistic practices that are not derived from Islam but passed down from generation to generation. A similar offering ritual is also practiced in Malaysia and Thailand.

46. Haji Ibrahim, 2012, p. 41 47. Kaloko, Franklyn. 1996.

‘The Evolution and Development of Kampong Ayer Water Settlement in Brunei Darussalam’, in Kampong Ayer: warisan, cabaran, dan masa depan.

Bandar Seri Begawan: Akademi Pengajian Brunei, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, pp. 369386. p. 372

the form of the Ka’bah in Mecca. The social principles that Islam preaches also affect the architecture such as the prohibition of free interaction between men and women who are not married. To this respect, guests were to be separated by gender when visiting a neighbour’s house. The men would be placed in the porch whilst the women would sit in the central room of the house.

The houses are typically 1500-2000 square foot large with rectangular floor plates and have entrances in the form of verandas.44 They act as porches and livings spaces, which are open to neighbourly access.

Before constructing the house, the site area is surveyed and chosen by experienced elders depending on high tide. After it is decided, a wooden post known as pancang is used to show to the public that land is now unavailable. The house owner will then make house preparations such as the posts and the pengarusan, a superstition.45 It involves the preparation of 4 small packages consisting of a mixture of rice, salt, sugar, assam and silver. These ingredients are put into a black cloth rag and put inside the postholes before the posts are fixed into the ground. The first post is erected with reference to the Muslim calendar of the Hijrah year and should be in certain months: Safah, Jamadil Awal, Syaaban, Ramadhan, Dzulkaedah and Dzulhijah. The days that are usually used are either on Thursdays or Sundays whereas the time that is most suitable is during the subuh time, around 5.30am. After its construction, the selawat, (a short prayer) is read 3 times, followed by a doa selamat (prayer to ask for God’s blessing) for the welfare and harmony of the house. In the olden times, construction work was done by mutual cooperation with the villagers nearby. The end of construction culminates in a feast served for those involved.

An account in 1848 by Hugh Low, the British Resident of Perak, described the houses of Kampong Ayer as more organized than other Malay town.46 They were segmented by water ways perpendicular to the main road, dividing the whole town into several squares of clusters of houses, each connected one of the city’s roads. Kampong Ayer consists of several kampongs or wards with each historically forming distinctive constituents. Residents have never regarded Kampong Ayer as a single settlement but rather a series of distinct wards delineated by specialized occupational status and trade.47 For example, there was a ward for all metal workers, another for fishermen, another

Opposite page: 17. Architectural drawings of the traditional houses on Kampong Ayer

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31 for brass craftworks and so on. This residential segregation has disappeared today where the wards are no longer homogenous, and occupations are more interspersed as some activities went into decline. Despite this, some names of the distinct crafts are still reflected in the ward names in the preseent time.

Today, there is a strong spatial and political relationship with the state as some houses abuts to the waterfront section of the capital. There is an important notion of access to the city for water villagers with the state creation of carparks by the water front and wooden walkways from the houses directly onto the national mosque walkway. The rejuvenation of Kampong Ayer is one of the government's priorities, frequently mentioned in the national development plans with numerous public housing schemes introduced.

To conclude, what looks like a squatter settlement today with the preconception of no formal logic, Kampong Ayer has an advanced logic of planning and design. The construction of the houses on Kampong Ayer is a culture in itself with specific rules following a certain ritual. Their unique way of living is reflected in how the buildings are organized, spatially imbued with religious and cultural beliefs. However, this is not to say that Kampong Ayer’s physical and socio-economic conditions have remain unaffected. Indeed, there has been a loss of traditional architectural styles, building techniques and form by the introduction of standardized, internationalised styles of building. Nevertheless, I argue that despite the efforts of the British to move villagers inland, they were not completely successful today, as still 30,000 Bruneians live on water, 6% of the current population. Their strong kinship ties, accessibility to the capital and low living costs strongly outweighs the drive to conform to more conventional ways of living as encouraged by the British. Hence, Kampong Ayer stands as an exemplification of a culture that has blatantly resisted Western formalism due its historic relationship with the river.

Opposite page: 18. Pilot housing scheme introduced in 2009 showing double storey concrete houses 19. Some houses on Kampong Ayer abuts to the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque with linking wooden walkways

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Conclusion: Water As Res Omnium

“What it means to be a human being is essentially having a base of operations. A massive number of people around the world have been denied that right. So they have seized land and built for themselves. With makeshift materials, they are building a future in a society that has viewed them as people without a future. They are asserting their own being.”48

One significant feature common between these three case studies is that they are all a form of squatter settlement – at least in its formation. A squatter is defined as a person who occupies property or land to which he or she has no legal title.49 They live according to a more ancient notion: that every person has a natural right, purely by virtue of having a home and place in the world. They have created an unofficial system of squatter landlords and tenants, merchants and consumers, builders and labourers. Their logic lies within the fact that if society will not build for the people, they have a right to build for themselves. Robert Neuwirth, an investigative reporter who has lived in the shantytowns of four continents, revealed that when asked whether squatters wanted title deeds, they would decline.50 Their justification is that people will start fighting and upset their amity, and that titles deeds actually jeopardize their sense of security in the homes by bringing in speculators, planners and bureaucracy.

48. Neuwirth, Robert. 2006.

Shadow cities: A billion squatters, a new urban world. New York: Routledge. p. 21 49. “squatter.” In Collins Dictionary.com. Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https:// www.collinsdictionary.com/ dictionary/english/squatter 50. Neuwirth, 2006, p. 281 51. Wilson, Peter J. 1991.

The domestication of the human species. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 30

The discourse on the relationship between people and territory needs to be considered. Ethnographically, accounts note a strong interdependence between people and territory, specifically in its landscape if we look into the historic hunter-gatherers. They were concerned not with the surface of land but rather the features of the landscape: paths, tracks, water holes, sacred sites and so on. They acted as markers to indicate the relative positioning of people in a landscape which is different from the way in which boundaries now serve as barriers to keep others out. The landscape feature served as a magnet of identification, attracting individuals as a place where they belong to rather than a place that belongs to them.51 The relationship between terri-

Opposite page: 20.’The sea atlas or water world’, 1663, Pieter Goos.

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GanviĂŠ

Mesopotamian Marshlands

Kampong Ayer

35 tory, landscape and objects thus results in a position of “identity” rather than of “ownership” or “tenure”.

Boundary lines give a visual reality to an invisible reality; an abstract process of subdivision that imposes a geometry on the earth, to establish control and rights. Contrastingly, the forms of these water settlements are fundamentally fractal, possessing no Euclidean boundaries. It has geometry but one that is not easily measurable and quantifiable. The shore provides us an analogy that embodies this immeasurable element: it is a transitional zone with an elusive definition and becomes a space of negotiation.52 Thus, water settlements undermine property and subdivision, offering an alternative way of living that is based on the ecological landscape as its territorial loci.

There is a perceived notion that the case studies are ‘informal’ in the sense they have no methodical logic. This essay contends the complete opposite: these squatter settlements do indeed have a formalized rationale that is merely nonconformist to the conventions of subdivision. In the case of Ganvié, we can see the structure of the house is designed in such a way to accommodate both humans and animals in a hybrid sectional structure. They are also planned to take advantage of the islets that emerge from the waters for a varied subsistence – this interestingly goes back to the logic of the early Mesopotamian villages at the start of the essay, which described locating themselves in borders of different ecological zones. There is undoubtedly an immense logic and order in the Mesopotamian marshlands, from its ancient system of measurement to the precise architecture and construction of its reed houses and mudhifs which have withstood the test of time. For the case of Kampong Ayer, the proof of its formal and advanced structure was already mentioned in European accounts as far as back as the 1840s. The design and orientation of this Malay water village is heavily influenced by religious and cultural beliefs, arranged in smaller subdivided villages according to their profession or craftwork, treating water ways exactly like roads with the organization of their walkways.

52. The shore was the realm of intellectual enquiry and became the baseline that enabled scientists to draw other lines.

If we compare the morphologies of the three water settlements, a compelling pattern emerges of increasing communality. In Ganvié, each house is isolated, separated by water: one would have to use a canoe to go from one

Opposite page: 21. Diagrams showing the morphology of the three water settlements

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37 house to another. In the Mesopotamian Marshlands, a few houses or rooms are compounded on one artificial island: one would need to use a canoe from one island to another. Lastly, in Kampong Ayer, one village is completely linked by a network of wooden walkways i.e. one could walk from one house to another without the need of a boat. The walkways connect the open verandas which fronts each house, which become a sort of communal outdoor space. Families and friends socialize on these outdoor spaces with close proximity to the neighbours, fostering a collective society on water. It is critical to note the disparities between water settlements and how their spatial arrangements have ramifications on their logic and resultant way of communal life.

53. Schmitt, 2006, p. 175 54. Ibid. p. 177 55. In Thomas More’s Utopia, he describes a perfect society living on an island. As conceived, the island has a basic shape of a crescent moon with its ends forming a strait that is eleven miles across. Resultantly, the interior forms a large harbour, providing easy commerce with one another. There are fifty-four city-states on the island and are identical in languages, customs, and laws and similar in size, layout and appearance. For More, there is no private ownership in Utopia.

Completely terrestrial in their thinking, traditional roman laws believed that the ocean had neither law, freedom or property.53 Historians debated whether the sea was res nullius (belonging to nobody) or res omnium (belonging to everybody). The argument against res omnium is that no organized community of states could sustain such a joint condominium in the sea.

The original principle to view the sea as res omnium was because the entire surface of the world’s oceans remains free and open to any warring power as a theatre of war.54 Applying these old formulas, this paper argues water as res omnium i.e. things belonging to everybody and matters of common use.

Through these case studies, water was as seen as a no man’s land, in which it was free for all and consequently free to be occupied. There was also an ubiquitous notion that these settlements were receptive to new villagers as they were sites of mixed communities a horizontal settlement for common use. They challenge the foundational legal tenets of territorial sovereignty.

This paper can be encapsulated into two arguments: a political and spatial one. Politically, water settlements are res omnium; autonomous communities where the ideology of property disintegrates and becomes challenged, belonging to everyone for common use.55 Spatially, water settlements do have a formal logic which is alternative to subdivision which allows possession rather than property to be at play. Possession in the sense that it guarantees use, whereas for property, it is the opposite: use is not guaranteed but detrimentally encourages exploitation. Individual possession is within right and the condition of social life.

Opposite page: 22. Map of the island of Utopia, woodcut by Ambrosius Holbein, 1518, form the 1518 edition of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia

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7 3

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1. Settlement of Ganvié 2. Settlement of Mesopotamian Marshlands 3. Settlement of Kampung Ayer 4. Draining of Mesopotamian Marshlands 5. Saddam Hussein 6. Enslavement of Tofinu people 7. Soldiers taking captives in canoes 8. City of Cotonou, Benin 9. City of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei 10. City of Baghdad, Iraq 11. Plan of Ganvié 12. Plan of Kampung Ayer 13. Plan of Mesopotamian Marshlands

17

14. Lake Nokoué 15. Intersection of Tigris and Euphrates River 16. Signing of 1959 Independence Treaty between Brunei and the UK 17. Residence of the British Resident 18. Brunei flag 19. UK flag 20. Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque 21. Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet 22. Proposal of floating settlement 23. Detail of porposed self-build house 24. Geometric subdivision of land 25. Water as loci and resistant to enclosure

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Kampong Ayer

nv Ga

iĂŠ

ds

Me sop ota mi an M ars hla n

Analogous map showing thesis case studies and proposal

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China

Myanmar

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Laos

Philippines

Thailand

Cambodia Vietnam

Malaysia

Kampung Ayer, Brunei Singapore

Indonesia

BORNEO

Site in context with the South-east Asia region

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100m

Project is located at the site of a fire incident

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Proximity to capital

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44

Threshold conditions

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46

Verandah inhabition

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48

Relationship between interior and exterior

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50

Electricity Public Works Department

Materials Funding Ministry of Finance, YAYASAN Foundation

Water Public Works Department

State

Consult & Manage Architect

Consult Workshop Technicians

PROPOSAL

Kampung Ayer community Construction

Administration

Maintenance

Craft trades Events

Role of stakeholders

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10m

10m

1. Infrastructure, services, workshop sheds and temporary residence 2. Self-build houses 3. Workshop sheds turn into civic nodes 4. Commoning back verandahs

10m

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1

Site area chosen based on location with advice from experienced elders.

2 Site marked with stakes, a sign that the

3

4 Superstitious offering - mix of rice, salt,

5

First post erected in certain times and months of the Muslim calendar.

6 Building done by groupwork of villagers

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8

9

sugar is placed inside postholes.

Roofing, flooring and the walls are constructed by the house owner.

‘land’ is now owned.

A prayer to ask for God’s blessing is for the welfare of the house.

Application to village chief with agreement of future neighbours.

nearby.

A feast served for those involved as an expression of gratefulness.

Traditional self-building process in Kampung Ayer

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500m

125m

Previous government proposals in Kampung Ayer

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Settlement organization: 1. Spine 2. Nodes 3. Frame 4. Nodal Frame

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0

3

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12

13

0

3

6

9

12

13

0

3

6

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0

3

6

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Phases of construction

months after start of construction

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Proposed scenario of water settlement

20m 5m

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Proposed scenario of civic module 5m

5m 5m

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1

2

3

4

Civic Nodes: 1. Market 2. School 3. Community Hall 4. Mosque

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1a

2a

mosque market

et

ool

1b

2b

school mosque

Changing Functions of Nodes

Changing Fun

1:1000

3a

mosque market

3b

community market hall

4a

mosque school

1:

4b

mosque

comm schoo

Changing functions of nodes: a.Workshop and temporary residence with services cores b. Civic Node function Changing Functions of NodesChanging Fun Changing Functions of Nodes 1:1000

1:1000

1:1

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Site oblique showing how the floating proposal (r

right) merges with the existing morphology (left)

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agonal bracing are fixed on each face.

d top frame is fixed on the upper e.

arrels inserted d top are frame is fixedwith on the the horizontal upper mbers of the top frame perfectly me. ned on the centre of each row of els. This is to withstand the upward yant forces exerted by the barrels n submerged in water.

Res Omnium | Hafizah Nor barrels are inserted with the horizontal

Flotation module assembly

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111

Tools needed needed include include aaa mallet, mallet, hand hand drill drill and and Tools Tools needed include mallet, hand drill and band saw saw provided provided in in the the workshop. workshop. aaa band band saw provided in the workshop.

333

Assemble floating floating module module and and bolt bolt together. together.

Assemble Assemble floating module and bolt together.

555

Bring modules modules to to site site during during low low tide tide when when Bring Bring modules to site during low tide when river bed bed is exposed. Link Link modules. modules. river river bed isis exposed. exposed.

Link modules.

222

Cut wood wood battens battens in in their their respective respective Cut Cut wood battens in their respective dimensions. dimensions. dimensions.

444

Turn module module upside upside down down to to fill fill in in 25 25 barrels. barrels.

Turn Turn module upside down to fill in 25 barrels.

666

Moor the the house house to to the the wooden wooden posts posts using using Moor Moor the house to the wooden posts using nylon ropes. ropes. nylon nylon ropes.

GUIDELINES: GUIDELINES: GUIDELINES:

instructions manual 1. Each Each house house should should have haveFlotation their first first house house walkway module module be aaa litter litter bin bin module. module.

1. their walkway be 1.

Each house should have their first house walkway module be litter bin module.

2. The The number number of of floating floating module module depends depends on on how how big big the the future future inhabitants' inhabitants' need need to to be. be.

2.

2.

The number of floating module depends on how big the future inhabitants' need to be.

3. The The flotation flotation house house platform platform needs needs to to have have aaa perimeter perimeter gap gap of of atleast atleast 3m 3m away away from from 3.

3.

The flotation house platform needs to have perimeter gap of atleast 3m away from

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Make 222 floating floating modules modules as as support support base base to to Make Make floating modules as support base to build roof roof on on each each side. side.Anchor Anchor with with concrete concrete build build roof on each side.

Anchor with concrete block. block. block.

333

Fix tie tie beam beam between between column column members. members.

Fix Fix tie beam between column members.

Requires 2-3 2-3 people people and and 222 ladders. ladders.

Requires Requires 2-3 people and ladders.

555

Coat each each roof roof panel panel with with the the specific specific white white Coat Coat each roof panel with the specific white cool roof roof coating coating before before installing installing on on roof. roof. cool cool roof coating before installing on roof.

222

Sand Sand Sand bolt bolt. bolt.

444

Con Cont Cont supp supp supp

666

Fix ccc Fix Fix

GUIDELINES GUIDELINES: GUIDELINES:

1. All All buildings buildings materials materials and and tools tools will will be be funded funded bbb 1.

1.

All buildings materials and tools will be funded 2. The The roof roof should should overhang overhang atleast atleast 1m 1m past past the the colu col 2.

2.

The roof should overhang atleast 1m past the col overheating. overheating. overheating.

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Roof assembly

l and

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2

Cut wood battens in their respective dimensions.

4

ether.

Turn module upside down to fill in 25 barrels.

hen

Moor the house to the wooden posts using nylon ropes.

6

GUIDELINES:

ouse walkway module be a litter bin module. ends on how big the future inhabitants' need to be. to have a perimeter gap of atleast 3m away from

1

Make 2 floating modules as support base to build roof on each side. Anchor with concrete block.

3

Fix tie beam between column members.

Requires 2-3 people and 2 ladders.

5

Coat each roof panel with the specific white cool roof coating before installing on roof.

2

Sandwich posts with column members and bolt. Requires 2-3 people and ladder.

4

Continue to fix truss members and supporting purlins ready for roof cover.

6

Fix coated metal roof on the structure.

GUIDELINES:

Roof instructions manual

1. All buildings materials and tools will be funded by the state and stored in the workshop.

2. The roof should overhang atleast 1m past the column for shading and reduce overheating.

1

2

Send CAD drawing files to CNC printer provided in the workshop shed.

Pres inte

3

Bring boxes to sheltered site. Link together with fenestration panels in desired layout.

5

Fix walls and ceiling to roof structure on its columns, floors and tie beam with bolts.

4

Insu insu

6

Clad flota viny

GUIDELINES

1. There will be an in-house technician in the works elements and help with building assistance.

2. After the support flotation base is no longer need

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House Construction Detail

ite f.

L | KAM ANUA M N

IO

SES • INST R U CT

e to crete

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2

Sandwich posts with column members and bolt. Requires 2-3 people and ladder.

4

Continue to fix truss members and supporting purlins ready for roof cover.

6

Fix coated metal roof on the structure.

GUIDELINES:

be funded by the state and stored in the workshop. m past the column for shading and reduce

1

2

Send CAD drawing files to CNC printer provided in the workshop shed.

Press fit assembly of panels via their interlocking notches and screw together.

3

Bring boxes to sheltered site. Link together with fenestration panels in desired layout.

5

Fix walls and ceiling to roof structure on its columns, floors and tie beam with bolts.

4

Insulate the roof/ceiling boxes with rockwool insulation.

6

Clad with material desired using the support flotation module. Externally fix ceiling with vinyl membrane sheets.

GUIDELINES:

House instructions manual

1. There will be an in-house technician in the workshop to help draw and print timber elements and help with building assistance.

2. After the support flotation base is no longer needed, it can be used to construct the back

68

Flotation module acts as litter trap using an electrical pump at the bottom filtering the river water of waste.

69

They are located at walkways to connect to the electrical supply point on the state walkway.

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The floating proposal merges with the morphology of the existing stilted structures.

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Different hierarchies of commoning permeates into daily life in this scenario.

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An architecture of care that is easily modified by the inhabitants.

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