Sustainable Incremental House with Modular Construction

Dwelling is an essential needs of human being; unfortunately, housing development is the main contributor to
the problem of climate change and environmental degradation. Thus, it is important to build a more sustainable
house.
One of the sustainable models of dwelling, which has been proven over time, is the traditional architecture. Most
traditional houses in Indonesia are constructed with the local wisdom of traditional people in responding to the
local climate, using the local materials and influenced by their culture. Some have a flexible lay-out with easily
adaptable space, others are incremental houses which expand bigger over time.
This paper proposes the new concept of sustainable house. From a study of three traditional houses with space
adaptability, an incremental house is designed to accommodate the owner’s changing phase of life (from single,
married, up to having some children). The house uses a knock-down system and modular construction, and
incorporated with many sustainable features to make it not only comfortable, but also sustainable and
adaptable.