I am now in the process of designing a simple tourist house for Kwau village. This current tourist house is far from the main road making it very difficult for elderly travelers to reach it. As a solution, I and the villagers in the village are now trying to build another guesthouse for tourists which is closer to the road.
As a naval architect, I am more familiar with Delftship. When I was asked by Samuel Mandacan and Hans Mandacan, two leaders of Kwau village, to help them design the guesthouse, I had to start learning Google Sketchup. As a matter of fact there is another BIM software that I was familiar with. It was Archicad.
Although
Archicad is more suitable for home design, I choose Google
Sketchup because it is lighter. I am now trying to master it. The following is the unfinished 3D presentation of the tourist house. It will be constructed with wood and concrete materials. This timber frame house will be constructed at a slope of Kwau village area. The lower part will be made of concrete whereas the upper part - the wooden planks and blocks. In Indonesia, this type of construction is called
rumah semi permanen (semi permanent house). It is not fully a wooden house or concrete house.
I am thinking of designing several other types with different floor plans. However because of budget constraints, I cannot dream a tourist house that looks like a luxurious resort in the mountains. In this design, the kitchen and toilet will be separated from the main building. So, the right term for this house should be a garden house.
Tourists will stay for 3 to 14 days in this simple guesthouse. I have been promoting Kwau village for 2 years now. It is a nice area for travelers who are interested in learning Papuan traditional medicines and herbs, hiking and birdwatching. by Charles Roring
