Form and Meaning of Batak Toba House

The Batak tribe is a large tribe of Tapanuli region
in North Sumatera. This tribe consists of six secondary tribes, the
largest one being the Batak Toba tribe. The traditional
architecture of their past dwellings were called Rumah Batak
Toba. They vary in form and can be differentiated from one
another by their functional use and building elements such as
walls, stairs, entrance doors and ornamentation. Behind every
different form, there was always a value or meaning. Hence the
form and meaning of the Batak Toba house could be interesting
objects of research. This research used random samples of Batak
Toba houses in the regions of Samosir and Tobasa of the North
Sumatera province, in which their inhabitants are mainly from
the Batak Toba tribe. The research adopted Erwin Panofsky�s
method of iconography that was conducted through two stages:
pre-iconography and iconography. This method was used to
describe the form and analyze the hidden meaning behind the
architectural and interior forms of the Batak Toba house. Based
on the analysis of data, it was found that the meanings behind
the architectural and interior forms of the Batak Toba house
cannot be separated from the beliefs of the Batak Toba tribe
regarding the harmony between the human life and the universe
(macrocosm and microcosm). A house was the embodiment of
the process of human life from birth to death. It represented the
ideas and views of family values, togetherness and social life as
well as a representation of the values of physical protection and
safety. Moreover, it was a spiritual symbol of life views, norms,
beliefs, philosophical values, and local wisdom of the Batak Toba
people.