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Abstract

This research proposes tectonic ecology as the framework for understanding the impermanence of architecture, challenging the views of permanence in architecture and positioning impermanence as an ecological building practice. This study explores the idea of impermanence in vernacular architecture as a living spatial practice, acknowledging the growth, decay, and regeneration taking place in such a context. The research focuses on the Sumbanese traditional house in Weelewo Village, Southwest Sumba, as a case study. The Sumbanese house is constructed with natural materials and utilises joinery without using nails. The study collected data on the local construction practice through fieldwork, which included open-ended interviews, model-making demonstrations, observations, and documentations. The study reveals how local building practice understood the concept of impermanence through three interrelated principles that define the traditional house’s tectonic ecology: layered, disassembly, and regeneration. The findings demonstrate that disassembly is the mechanism of tectonic ecology, enabling the temporal transformation of materials and sustaining buildings' capacity for regeneration. The exploration of tectonic ecology contributes by offering a framework of materiality and building practices that value impermanence. In doing so, such architectural practices emphasise the rhythm of the environment, as rooted within the wider ecosystem.

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Last Page

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Author Biography

Yenny Gunawan
Yenny Gunawan is an Indonesian researcher, architect, and lecturer. She is based at Parahyangan Catholic University, where she leads research at the Center for Adaptation and Resilience Environmental Design. She is the co-founder of Nenun Ruang, together with David Hutama and Lim Masulin, an open education platform dedicated to enhancing progressive architecture and craftsmanship design education in Indonesia. Holding a Master's in International Studies on Vernacular Architecture from Oxford Brookes University, she pursues community-based projects that emphasise resilience, craftsmanship, and cultural depth in architecture. In the academic platform, she is the co-author of Vocabulary of Architecture: Design and contributes to Sandra Piesik's Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate.

Justin Coupertino Umbu
Justin Coupertino Umbu is an Indonesian photographer, researcher, and architect whose work focuses on vernacular architecture in East Indonesia, particularly Sumba, Flores, and Timor Island. He studied architecture at Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung and is a member of Construye Identidad, based in Peru. He is the co-author of Vocabulary of Architecture: Design. He collaborates on projects that bridge traditional knowledge and contemporary design and his works span from catholic churches, schools, and community spaces. Deeply interested in vernacular architecture and the sacred spaces of Y. B. Mangunwijaya, his practice emphasises harmony between human life, nature, and the sacred, creating spaces that nurture both the community and the environment.

Marianne Trauten
Marianne Trauten is a Peruvian architect, trauma expert, and educator who co-founded the organisation Construye Identidad in 2011. Her expertise bridges architecture, therapeutic modalities, embodied education, and trauma-informed approaches within the field of social and environmental development. Through Construye Identidad, she led field research in tropical forest regions, working alongside rural and Indigenous communities to recover traditional building knowledge. Her work also included a design-build school project in collaboration with the University of Stuttgart. While her early career centred on the advocacy of architecture as a bridge between ancestor wisdom and contemporary design, focusing on sustainable and human-centred development, her current work focuses on providing trauma-informed education and supporting 1:1 and group healing processes on individual, transgenerational, and collective trauma. She blends a systemic, somatic, and relational lens in her work, with which she now seeks to get more involved in the field of peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

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