Dayaks Through the Looking Screen
Abstract
Illegal logging have significantly altered the landscape of Indonesian Borneo, destroying an estimated 10 million ha of forests. The mistreatment of natural resources leaves a deep wound on the majestic forests inhabited by the Dayak tribes, where both critically endangered species and indigenous ways of life are at risk of disappearing along with their old abode.
The thesis investigates the land rights and ownership of the large tropical rainforest in Indonesian Borneo. Mixing native mystic signs and patterns as well as contemporary practices, this thesis creates infrastructure that fortifies and marks the boundary of land in a bid to liberate the Dayaks from illegal loggers’ exploitation. The architecture comprises the Dayaks’ longhouse, Jungle Warfare Training Camp and REDD+ Office. They are strategically divided and positioned alongside the existing road way, blocking the illegal loggers’ means of access way. Screens and totem poles are utilised as marks of identity and enforcement of their rights and ownership of their territory in the forest.
The architecture proposal protects the forest ecology through surveillance and enforcement. By envisioning a tale of ecological resilience and pacifism, the thesis also speculates that the Dayaks’ skills in jungle tracking and survival has not gone unnoticed.
Keyword: Land Rights, Illegal Logging, Screens, Jungle Warfare, Totem Poles
Supervisor Comments
The project is about rights and ownership to a large tract of tropical rain forest in Kalimantan, Indonesia. It concerns a community of Dayaks known as the Sungei Utik Iban tribe. The attempt, at once situate them marking and fortifying territory, maintaining and sustaining their difference through their way of life. Fortification is further enhanced through the programmatic use of a jungle warfare training school and the Dayaks signing unto REDD (Reduction Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation – a UN agency). This provides the basis for camouflaging the settlement with Dayak motifs and listening devices installed across the territory. And lastly, to prevent illegal entry, settlements are proposed along the only two mud roads into and out of the area.
- Adj. Assoc. Prof. Bobby Wong Chong Thai
Grace Lim Qian Ying
Grace Lim Qian Ying