Architectural Structural Survey of Groups of Traditional Timber Houses in South Nias, Indonesia

In Indonesia, a number of race people have theiroriginal architectural culture of traditional timber houses. Most of them havesurvived against large earthquakes in such seismic areas. As they have beenmaintained by the traditional ways so far, it is worth preserving them from ahistorical point of view. The purpose of the present research is to evaluatethe structural characteristics specific to the traditional wooden houses in SouthNias, located to the west of Sumatra. Furthermore, structural restoration usingthe traditional techniques was discussed to propose appropriate methods for thestructural conservation. The traditional timber houses in South Nias that havesurvived against large earthquakes are characterized by an elevated-floorstructure with large diameter columns and braces under the floor. In thepresent international collaborative study, we performed micro-tremormeasurements to evaluate their fundamental dynamic characteristics. As well as,we conducted architectural structural survey to study the structuralcharacteristics and to detect the material’s deterioration. Furthermore, weconducted monitoring of temperature and humidity in the roof structures to knoweffect of the climate conditions on the wooden materials. Material mechanical testsof timbers which used for structure were also conducted to examine thestrength.