Balinese Homes: A Balance of Nature and Spirit (Video)
Balinese Feng Shui, Brilliant Bamboo, and Making a Reed Roof.
The houses in Bali have long beguiled me. I'm someone who loves to live connected to the outside, and the way the Balinese create their homes is to incorporate plenty of nature and spirit into them. The larger family unit live in beautiful multi-generational complexes replete with gorgeous gardens and plants, water features, shrines, and temples.
By some stroke of fortune I managed to glean an insider view of a traditional Balinese home, and watch a gorgeous coconut leaf and bamboo roof being built. In the video at the bottom of the page (for paid subscribers and Mud patrons), Ketut shows us around his family's place and explains the function of the various structures.
MUD PATRONS CAN VIEW THE VIDEO ON PATREON HERE.
The seven principles for a harmonious and prosperous home:
Balinese architecture is based on seven philosophical principles (it’s a little like a Feng Shui system) that are also founding elements of the culture. I can attest first hand that it creates a very different vibe in the home space. Rather than being castles or isolated boxes, these homes are natural havens and communities.
1. Balance and harmony between humans, nature, the divine, the community and the environment.
2. Spatial organisation: Inner (most sacred), middle (human) and outer.
3. Directional layout: The layout of each house is organised a little like Feng Shui in accordance with 9 cardinal directions.
4. Balance in the cosmos between human life (microcosm) and the wider world (macrocosm).
5. The home as a human body—the feet are the strong foundation, the head is the ceiling and the bones strengthen the foundations.
6. Eight architectural guidelines for special structural features: Incorporating shrines, stages, measurement units, shapes of symbols, size, as well as decorations. This is what Ketut talks about in the video.
7. The arrangement of Balinese architecture in line with the wind. For the Balinese there is a sacred axis between mountain and sea, making the choice of direction and location of a building extremely important.
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