Field Trip: Desa Wisata Rumah Domes 2019 ProSPER.Net Young Researchers' School 7 March 2019

1. History of the Earthquake
On Saturday morning 27 May 2006,
Indonesian citizen were mourning because
a 6,7 SR earthquake shook Special Region
of Yogyakarta. The earthquake that
happened at 05:59 WIB had caused a great
causality. Many resident houses were
destroyed; many people lost their
properties, government buildings were no
exception. Schools and other public
facilities were also destroyed, even
thousands of people died because hit by the
rubbles of the their houses, many had lost
their family members; their parents and
children. This disaster had caused an
unbearable sadness.
In a region of East Yogyakarta,
Prambanan district; to be exact Sengir sub-
village, Sumberharjo village; there was a
small village in the slopes of a hill called
Nglepen village that was also no exception
to the disaster. The causality is even greater
that the village could no longer be resided
because of the earthquake. Because the land
has collapsed because of landslide, the
villagers immediately evacuated to safer
places. The result of the disaster is not only
that they lost their houses, but also the land
was unable to be resided again. It was
tragic.
After four months long the villagers
lived in emergency tents, there was
delightful news from the government; the
villagers would be relocated to a better
place. Finally, on September 2006, the
villagers got an aid from Non-
Governmental Organization (NGO) from
United States of America (USA), which is
unique-shaped houses, Rumah Domes or
igloo houses or commonly known as
Rumah Teletubbies because it was shaped
like the house of Teletubbies in a children’s
show called Teletubbies.
Also on September 2006, the house
construction started. This Rumah Domes
for Nglepen villagers were built on the land
of Sumberharjo village. The construction of
Rumah Domes finished on April 2007 and
became official on 29 April 2007 by
Minister for People’s Welfare, Prof. Dr.
Alwi Shihab. After became official and
given to the villagers, Rumah Domes could
be resided by Nglepen villagers. Then on
the behalf of NGO, this village was named
NEW NGLEPEN. Because of its circular
shaped roof, it was later known as Domes
New Nglepen or Domes Teletubbies.
History of Rumah Domes in General
Rumah Domes is originated from
United States of America, which is mean
cupola or circle. That is why the shape of
the house is circle. The houses made of
concrete and have no roof. It was found by
David South who is American. The finding
of unique house was inspired by a house of
potato sheds which is the shape is round. At
a time, when tremendous earthquake

2. happened and destroyed all the resident’s
houses and other buildings. It turns out that
in the Eskimo Region the houses of round-
shaped residents are not damaged and do
not collapse. Then, by David South
researched and developed to become a
unique but earthquake-resistant, windproof,
and fire-resistant Rumah Domes.
Later on, Rumah Domes was
developed by WANGO to help the victims
of natural disasters in the world. WANGO
means World Association of Non
Govermental Organisations is Non
Governmental Organization in USA. This
organization provides special assistance in
the form of Rumah Domes in the world and
then named Domes For the World which
means “ Rumah untuk dunia”. WANGO
has built Rumah Domes in some countries
in the world, among others in India,
Canada, Indonesia, etc.
Rumah Domes in Indonesia was
built in the Special Region of Yogyakarta,
precisely in Sub-village Sengir,
Sumberharjo Village, District of
Prambanan, Sleman Regency. Rumah
Domes is the first in Asia. Built on an area
of 2.8 ha, consists of 71 residential homes,
6 public MKC building, 1 Mosque building,
1 kindergarten building, and 1 House of
Health building.
The construction process began in
September 2006 completed in April 2007
and inaugurated on April 29, 2007.
Inaugurated by the Minister of Settlement
at that time. April 30, 2007 began to be
occupied by residents.
Domes housing is then named
DOMES NEW NGLEPEN by WANGO,
because the inhabitants come from the
NGLEPEN village.
CONSTRUCTION PROCESS OF
RUMAH DOMES
Domes New Nglepen village started
to build on September 2006, conducted by
Mr. ich Crandall as the architecture in
Indonesia.
1. Levelling the land
Before building the house, the land
must be levelled first for easier
construction.
2. Building the foundation
There are several steps in building
the foundation
 Creating a circle foundation
with 7 m diameter for
resident houses and MCK, 9
diameter for musola (a small
building or room set for
performing Islamic religious
duty) and kindergarten.
 After it is finished, the
foundation is plaited with 12
mm length iron with spacing
on each 20 mm in overall.

3.  The next step is pouring
concrete with material
mixture of sand and
concrete with ratio 1:2. This
mixture does not use stone at
all.
 After let it aside until it
hardens and dry, then starts
building the walls.
3. Building the walls
There are several steps building the
walls
 Building the house structure
Rumah Domes is built by using
balloon mould. The balloon is
pumped using compressor until it
was stiff. There is also round-
shaped balloon made of strong
rubber that one mould can be used
for 100 houses. This balloon is
imported from USA because the
balloon was not yet created in
Indonesia.
 Make a building bone
Bones of this Domes house
building using iron measuring 10
mm, with 40 cm webbing distance.
The irons are plaiting in the matrix.
Along with the mounting iron most
of the house was installed also
kosen-kosen (window or door
frame) that made of wood.
 The next step is casting house
After iron and kosen finished,
then proceed with the casting of the
house wall, by plastered manually.
The mix used is the same as the one
used to make the floor.
 Make room
After the wall of the house is
dry, the new balloon is taken in a
way of blow out, then issued
through the door. After that just
make the room-barriers for the
bedroom and so forth. This room is
made of brick walls, which is given
by iron bars.
 Make the second floor (Ceiling)
The second floor in Domes New
Nglepen was made of the wooden
board.
 Finishing
The last step is finishing. It is
included: Wall painting, mounting
tiles, and painting.
To make a Domes house
takes about 3 Weeks, it spend 200
iron bars, 200 sacks of cement and
4 trucks of sand. Total charges a
Domes home about $ 4000. Domes
house height 4.6m, wall thickness
10cm. One house is divided into 4
rooms. They are one living room,
two bedrooms, and one kitchen

4. space. While the bathroom and WC
apart from residential homes. MCK
stands alone in the middle of the
block, one building is divided into 8
rooms for 12 houses.