Joglo Traditional House

Commonly, joglo is made of high quality of teak woodsince this kind of wood is rather expensive, only wealthy or noble people have or can build it. At times part of it like the front door or called gebyog is made in luxurious handcraft with particular theme and has a specific meaning or philosophy. Therefore, a grand Javanese wooden house is highly priced.

Joglo has a specific home plan, which each part of it has a particular purport. The home plan of joglo may be devided into several parts, such as senthong and omah jero as a primary territory, jogan and gandhok as secondary territory, the pendapa as public territory.

Each territory has its own purpose and rules. Primary territory means only the owner has permanently and complete control ; senthong that means a room with partition used as a private room for the dwellers, the omah jero that has a similiar function to senthong. Next is secondary territory-a wide coverage area, which is periodically controlled. This room is not exclusively being used by the dwellers or certain people. Jogan and Gandhok including in this area are set as semi private rooms ; gandhok is usually set as a dining room or living room while jogan is used to receive informal guests or relatives. This part is different from pendapa that is a public territory to receive formal guests. In this public territory everyone is allowed as long as that person complies with certain condition in this area.

However, the home plan of Javanese wooden house can be developed in accordance to the needs. One of the reasons is this type of wooden house requires a spacious area that is difficult to find now. The cost is big as well that people will think twice to build it. There are also changes in its functions as meeting rooms, restaurants or hotels.