In October of 2024, while studying abroad in Indonesia, I had the chance to check something off my bucket list. This was visiting Kalimantan. I hoped to see orang hutan and other wonders of the natural world, but I soon became very interested with the people and culture of the island, which is very different than the rest of Indonesia.
If you travel through much of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, one of the first things you notice is that many houses do not sit on the ground. Instead, they rise up on tall wooden poles, sometimes two or three meters above the earth or the river below. These pole houses are not just an artistic expression. They are a direct response to the environment and history of the people who have lived on the island for centuries.
Borneo is hot, humid, and extremely wet. Rivers regularly overflow during the rainy season, and low-lying land can turn into swamp almost overnight. Building a house on poles protects families from flooding and keeps the living space dry even when water levels rise. The height also allows air to circulate underneath the floor, which helps to cool down the house, so it is more bearable during the summer months.
There are practical reasons beyond the climate that led people to build them like this. Raising the house helps keep insects, snakes, and other animals farther away from where people sleep and store food. In the rainforests of Borneo, many of these animals could be poisonous. They also use the area below, sometimes to keep pigs and chickens, for storage, or as a place to sit during the hottest part of the day.
The materials used for these houses usually come from the surrounding forest. Hardwood posts are driven deep into the ground, while walls and floors are made from planks, bamboo, or woven materials. Roofs were traditionally made from palm leaves, though many homes that I saw now use metal sheets. Even with modern materials, the basic form of the pole house has stayed the same, showing how well it fits local conditions.
Pole houses also reflect social and cultural norms. Among Dayak communities, the tribe that lives there, longhouses built on poles could stretch for dozens of meters and house multiple families under one roof. Each family had its own space in the house, but daily life was shared. Cooking, ceremonies, and storytelling often took place in communal areas, reinforcing the family as the center of social life. The raised structure created a sense of separation from the outside world, marking the house as a protected and meaningful space.
This seperation was sometimes a life-or-death necesity. Even in the last decades, civil wars and tribal conflicts have erupted in Borneo. The elevated nature of the house makes it like a natural fortress against enemies who might otherwise be able to slip in during the night. Because of the wet weather it was also almost impossible to burn the houses down, so families could hide in them for long periods of time even during the most violent of conflicts.
For all these reasons, pole houses remain common across Kalimantan, even as cities grow, new people immigrate, and modern architecture gets imported to the island.
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