INWARD-ORIENTED URBAN HOUSING: TYPOLOGIES OF PRIVACY AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION IN CONTEMPORARY INDONESIAN CITIES
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Abstract
Urban residential architecture in Indonesia has increasingly shifted toward inward-oriented spatial configurations, characterized by enclosed façades, controlled openings, and internalized domestic environments. This study investigates how inwardness is articulated in contemporary architect-designed urban houses and how it responds to the combined pressures of urban density, cultural expectations of privacy, and tropical climatic conditions. Adopting a qualitative multiple-case study approach, six houses were selected from an initial survey of 88 projects and analyzed through spatial mapping, comparative analysis, and semi-structured interviews with architects. The study identifies three typological strategies of inwardness: courtyard-centered inwardness, layered-threshold inwardness, and façade-filtered inwardness. These typologies show how spatial organization, façade articulation, and threshold sequencing regulate visibility, environmental performance, and domestic autonomy. The findings reconceptualize inward-oriented housing not as a residual traditional form, but as a contemporary architectural response to dense urban conditions in tropical contexts. By linking spatial configuration with socio-cultural and environmental factors, the study contributes a typological framework for understanding inwardness as an adaptive strategy in Indonesian urban housing.
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References
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