Rumah Bubungan Tinggi or Rumah Banjar or Rumah Ba-anjung is an iconic type of house in South Kalimantan

South Kalimantan

South Kalimantan/South Borneo is one of the thirty-three Provinces of Indonesia and one of four Indonesian provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo. The provincial capital is Banjarmasin...

. Its name Bubungan Tinggi refers to the steep roof (45 degrees). In the old kingdom time, this house was the core building within a palace complex, where the King and his family resided. Since 1850, there were various buildings added around it with their own respective functions. Later this type of house became so popular, that people which were not part of the royalty also took interest in building it.

Today, there are houses of this type of architecture all over South Kalimantan, and even crossing the borders of Central Kalimantan

Central Kalimantan

Central Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia, one of four in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangka Raya.The province has a population of just over 2.2 million at the 2010 Census...

 and East Kalimantan

East Kalimantan

East Kalimantan is the second largest Indonesian province, located on the Kalimantan region on the east of Borneo island. The resource-rich province has two major cities, Samarinda and Balikpapan...

. As it is more expensive than a usual house, it is only affordable for the more wealthy people.

Construction Elements

The main construction elements of the Rumah Bubungan Tinggi are:

• The main building part in the middle.
• Anjung, the constructions on the right (Anjung Kanan) and the left side (Anjung Kiwa) of the central part.
• The central part of the roof that is very steep, the Bubungan Tinggi.
• Front roof is Sindang Langit, rear roof is called Hambin Awan.

Rooms

• Palatar, the front room which is the first room someone would encounter after climbing the stairs
• Panampik Kacil, a small room after someone enters Lawang Hadapan (front door). The floor is higher than Palatar. This floor border is called Watun Sambutan.
• Panampik Tangah, a bigger room than Panampik Kacil, with a higher floor. The floor border is called Watun Jajakan.
• Panampik Basar or Ambin Sayup, the in oppose of the Tawing Halat (middle wall), with an even higher floor. The floor border is called the same thing with the Panampik Tangah, Watun Jajakan.
• Palidangan or Ambin Dalam, the inner part of the house which borders the Panampik Basar. The floor is the same height with Panampik Basar (but in some houses, the floor of Panampik Basar is lower than Palidangan’s). The border is called Watun Langkahan. In this room is the large pillars that hold the Bubungan Tinggi (there are 8 of them). These pillars are called Tihang Pitugur or Tihang Guru.
• Panampik Dalam or Panampik Bawah is a quite large room with floor lower than Palidangan’s and has the same height with Panampik Tangah. The border of this floor is called Watun Jajakan.
• Padapuran or Padu, the last room in the rear. The floor is lower than Panampik Bawah. The floor border is called Watun Juntaian. This part of the house is used for kitchening. Atangan part is the part for cooking, Salaian part is for drying the woods use for cooking, Pajijiban and Pagaduran are the parts for dishwashing and laundrying.

Ornaments

Carvings decorate fundamental parts such as the pillars, the stair railings, etc. Banjarese-style decoration are strongly influenced by Islam which forbids the depiction of human or animal. So the common motives are floral. There are motives that incorporates features of naga and other mystical animals, but they are stylized in a way of floral form.

Contemporary Use

Nowadays most Banjar people

Banjar people

The Banjar are a coastal, native ethnic group that settled in Tanah Laut and Banjarmasin in the south and in Hulu Sungai in the north of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the second largest city on the island of Borneo. Several centuries ago, some of them had travelled to many places in the Malay...

 have little interest in building Bubungan Tinggi. Beside the fact that it is expensive to build, people prefer the "modern" type of house.
Its cultural values, however, are still appreciated. It is the main figure in both South Kalimantan

South Kalimantan

South Kalimantan/South Borneo is one of the thirty-three Provinces of Indonesia and one of four Indonesian provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo. The provincial capital is Banjarmasin...

 and Banjarmasin

Banjarmasin

Banjarmasin is the capital of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. As a result, Banjarmasin is sometimes called the "River City"...

's coat of arms. Many of the modern governmental buildings are built with its traits.

See also

• Indonesian architecture
  Indonesian architecture
  The Architecture of Indonesia reflects the diversity of cultural, historical and geographic influences that have shaped Indonesia as a whole. Invaders, colonisers, missionaries, merchants and traders brought cultural changes that had a profound effect on building styles and techniques....