Research Catalog

Title

The architecture of life and death in Borneo / Robert L. Winzeler.

Author

Winzeler, Robert L.

Publication

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, ©2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 208 pages : illustrations, maps; 25 cm

Summary

"Resent-day travelers visiting Borneo to see the marvelous buildings pictured in books are liable to wonder if they somehow ended up in the wrong place. Much of the architecture of Borneo and other areas of the humid tropics was never intended to last and, built as it is of wood and other organic materials, last it has not. Among Borneo's spectacular indigenous buildings, the longhouses, mortuary monuments, and other architectural forms of the interior are some of the most outstanding, and much of the renewed interest in indigenous architecture has focused on the rapidly vanishing or now extinct traditional forms or a small number of surviving examples or re-creations." "Drawing on the author's extensive research and travel in Borneo, this impressive and original study offers a more comprehensive account of this architecture than any previous work. Organized into two sections, the book first documents and explains traditional built forms in terms of tools and materials, the environmental context, village organization, and social arrangements. This section includes a full discussion of architecture designs and symbolism especially those dealing with life and death. The author next looks at the destruction or transformation of traditional architecture based on a number of interrelated developments, including religious conversion, Western influence, internal migration, and logging, as well as governmental attitudes and efforts. The differences between Malaysian Borneo longhouses, which remain a common form of dwelling and those of Indonesian Kalimantan, which have largely disappeared, are striking." "Illustrated with more than 150 photographs and line drawings, The Architecture of Life and Death in Borneo will appeal to those with an interest in Southeast Asian art, architecture, and religion and in past and present cultural developments involving native peoples."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Borneo
• Geschichte
• Architektur
• Gebäude
• Ethnic architecture > Borneo
• Vernacular architecture > Borneo
• Architecture > Borneo

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-198) and index.

Contents

Pt. 1. Traditional Forms -- Ch. 1. The Built Environment of the Interior: An Overview -- Ch. 2. The Longhouse -- Ch. 3. The Architectural Symbolism of Life and Death -- Pt. 2. Modern Transformations -- Ch. 4. The Development of Bidayuh Architecture -- Ch. 5. Two Patterns of Change -- Ch. 6. Modern Uses and the Future of Indigenous Architecture.

ISBN

• 0824826329
• 9780824826321

LCCN

2003019694

OCLC

• ocm53006807
• 53006807
• SCSB-9048780

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library