Bayan Timur Traditional House: Traditional Architecture Documentation Strategy with Conventional Approach and Digital Technology

Abstract

This study develops a hybrid protocol to document the Bayan Timur traditional house compound in North Lombok, a living customary settlement where access to buildings is governed by adat. Conventional techniques (semi-structured interviews with customary leaders, freehand sketching, and manual measurement) were combined with digital techniques (high-resolution photography, smartphone-based LiDAR scanning, and 3D modelling) and were verified against a comparative survey of the adjacent Karangsalah compound. Three findings are reported. First, a coverage matrix shows which technique records which data category – dimensional, material, terminological, and philosophical – and where each technique fails. Second, the limits of digital documentation here are cultural as much as technical: sacred interiors and roof structures could not be scanned, and these gaps had to be closed through sketching, interviews, and comparison. Third, the study formulates a five-stage hybrid protocol – customary permission and community involvement, conventional recording, digital capture, cross-source verification, and hybrid dissemination – that is transferable to other customary settlements. The study positions architectural documentation not as a purely technical exercise but as a negotiated practice in which the custodian community determines what may be recorded and shared.