Acehnese traditional house (Acehnese Rumoh Aceh, "Aceh house") refers to the traditional vernacular architecture found in the Aceh Province. It is also known as the krong bade, which may actually refer to the rice granary (krōng, "storage" + padé, "rice")^[1] and not the house. It is basically a wooden pile dwelling. The Acehnese traditional house reflects the culture of the Acehnese people. These houses can still be found in the periphery of Banda Aceh although in the verge of extinction.^[2]

The Acehnese traditional house is basically a pile dwelling erected over posts which rest on flat stones or concrete plinth.^[3] It is largely constructed of timbers, topped with a gabled roof which is covered with either thatched palm leaves or corrugated metal.^[4] The Acehnese traditional houses is usually found scattered in a traditional kampung with no specific pattern, however they are always aligned with its gables positioned toward the east and west.^[4] The exterior can be ornamented with woodcarvings of floral or geometric pattern, usually decorating the triangular gables, the windows and the boards. The triangular gable decoration consists of a ornamented triangular wooden screen which slant outwards and perforated to allow cross ventilation.^[3] Entrances to the house, which leads to a roofed front terrace (Acehnese seulasa, "gallery")^[5] is located in the non-gable sides, either on the north or the south side of the house.^[4] The space below the house is used either for storing goods such as timber for construction, firewood, a bicycle; or for performing mundane tasks.

The house area is marked by a perimeter hedges or fences. Occasional trees provide shade into the house's courtyard.^[3] The rice granary (Acehnese krōng padé, "rice storage") is basically a small store houses under or beside the house.^[6] Unlike the rice granary of Java which keeps sheaves of rice, the rice granary of Aceh keeps unhusked rice.^[6] A wealthier Acehnese may build a wooden gateway entrance (Acehnese keupaleh) at the entrance of the house area.^[5]

The Acehnese traditional house is always oriented with its gables side facing toward the east-west direction. The east-west direction may originally have a life-death - sacred-profane symbolism found anywhere in Indonesia, after Islamization of Aceh, the west direction is sometimes associated with the direction of Mecca. The interior can be divided into three: the front section (located either on the whole northern or southern breadth of the house, where an entrance stairs is located), the middle section (located on the entire middle breadth of the house), and the back section (the opposite of the front section). Different sections of the house are separated by wooden partition.^[3]

The front section (Acehnese seuramou keu, "front terrace")^[5] is a spacious long and empty gallery. A steep entrance stairs connects the front section of the house with the outdoor. The Acehnese name of this section, the "front terrace" or "front veranda", refers to former times when this section used to be completely open. Nowadays, the section is completely enclosed with some windows. The front section is used to receive guests. It is the "male" realm of the house, a symbolism found throughout Indonesian archipelago to refer the section of a house where public-related activities are held.^[3]

The back section (Acehnese seuramoe likoot, "back terrace")^[5] is basically similar with the front section which is a spacious long gallery, but with no main entrance. It is the most private part of the house where women of the house do their cooking activities. The back section is identified with the "female" realm associated with private family matter.^[3] The back section may be expanded to add another space for the cooking area (Acehnese rumoh dapu, "kitchen house").^[5]

The middle section (Acehnese rumah inong, "parental house")^[5] consists of a corridor connecting the front section and the back section through the center of the house. Bedrooms are located on both side of the corridor, to the east and west, toward the gables. Entrance to these bedrooms is located on the back section. The entire middle section is built about half a meter higher than the front section and back section, the difference in elevation is clearly visible from the outside of the house. One of the bedroom functioned as the ceremonial nuptial chamber, where daughters and their husbands will reside during the first years of their marriage.^[3]

Traditional Acehnese house was made entirely of wood, with no nails. Traditionally the floor was made of planks of feather palm, the walls of thin woven bamboo, and the roof of a thatch of sagu-palm leaves. The entire construction were erected over pile construction which stands on stones. The ground under the house has been compacted and made a bit higher than the area around the house, the soil is prevented from seeping away by edgings which in colonial times were made of bottles planted into the ground bottom-up.^[7]

When a daughter was about seven years old, her father would begin to collect building materials to construct the house in which she would live with her future husband. The girl had to live with her husband in the house of her mother until the first child was born, afterwards she would have to moved to their own house within the compound of the bride's mother. When the parents died, the daughter will be granted the rice fields and the old house.^[7]

House construction began with erecting eight posts for the tallest middle section of the house, followed by the shorter posts for the front and back section.^[7] The last to be build are the roof plates which was lashed to the beams using ropes, in a way that in case of fire, the roof can be quickly detached. Two of the house posts were named "king post" and "queen post", both are located each in the middle of the second row of posts from the front, the "king post" on the right side, the "queen post" on the left.^[8] A small piece of gold was inserted into the "queen post" at the top or on one of the floor binders when mortised through the "queen post" and fixed by the wooden tenon. These posts were set as if they were still part of a living tree with the trunk base below and the crown tip above. Woodcarving decorations were not part of the construction phase as it was added later.^[9]

Determining the starting time of the construction is a crucial matter in Acehnese culture. The house owner would engage a traditional carpenter in the particular month thought the most auspicious to begin construction. Several customary rituals are carried out during the construction process: first when the carpenter began the work on the posts and beams, second when the erection of the house began, third at the end of the construction. The first ceremony is sprinkling raw materials such as uncooked rice and water at the site, completed with a small meal. The second ceremony is a ceremonial meal for the assistants of the carpenter, usually numbered fifteen. The third and last ceremony is a big ceremonial meal served for as many people as the owner wanted to invite.^[9]

Traditional Acehnese basic units used for house construction were the jaroe (finger), paleut (width of the back of the hand), and hah (cubit). Secondary units were the jeungkai (distance between the spread-out thumb and middle finger), lhuek (length of the whole arm), and deupa (fathom).^[9] These basic units were heavily influenced with the ancient Hindu Javanese unit of measurement still used in the construction of Balinese traditional houses.

Unlike the Balinese traditional houses, Acehnese traditional houses are mostly in the verge of extinction due to lack of supply of the required timber for its construction and its impracticality for modern lifestyle.^[2] Perhaps the most valid argument is simply an interest in change; people living in traditional houses tend to be associated with poverty, as compared to the seemingly higher status of modern people living in a modern house.

Several Acehnese architects had attempted to modernize the traditional architecture of Aceh. One attempt is replicating the roof canopy of the Cakra Donya bell into the auditorium of the State Museum of Aceh. These Cakra Donya roof reinterpretation, first innovated by Wim Sutrisno, has become popular in Aceh and has be found decorating the gates to hotels or for bus shelter's roofs.^[10] The gable roof has also been reinterpreted in many buildings, often with double gable screens and Cakra Donya roof.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Houses in Aceh.

• Rumah adat
• Aceh Museum