The Resilience of local architecture in the Northern Coastal Area of East Java to the onslaught of immigrant architecture: Case studies of architecture of village dwelings as encountered in Tlogobendung-Gresik, Sendangharjo-Tuban, and Sumber Girang-Lasem

Abstract

Many people hold the view that the architectural form commonly found in the Northern coastal area of East Java has been greatly influenced by the architecture typical of the immigrant cultures. This impression is reinforced by the historical dealing with the influx of Arabic, Colonial and Chinese cultures from the thirteenth until the nineteenth century AD. This research study intends to reveal the existence of coastal architecture that has shown marked resilience in facing the onslaught of the architecture and culture from the immigrant cultures mentioned above. Even so, the latter has indeed retained the essence of local architectural forms and values, both in terms of form and shape of internal structures. This study presents case studies of dwellings found in three peripheral villages in the Northern coastal area of East Java, namely the kampongs of Tlogobendung – Gresik, Sendangharjo – Tuban and Sumber Girang - Lasem. The method employed consists of Structuralism, Typology, and Semiotics that can be applied to shed light on the phenomenon of local architectural form still surviving. The outcome of this study indicates that coastal architecture has been remarkably resilient to the onslaught of immigrant culture, clinging to solid local values and concrete entities that happen to survive to this day. This study will hopefully be beneficial as a reference for similar cases studies in several other areas and contribute to the body of theoretical knowledge concerning architecture in sustainable ways.