Preserving Minangkabau Traditional Building in West Sumatera, Indonesia: Integration of Information Technology

Minangkabau traditional house is part of Indonesia's rich cultural assets with historical and normative values. The heritage material of Minangkabau is a very important part of social identity. Beside as custom homes, Minangkabau traditional building also serves as residence for common people. Today, the sustainability of traditional house is threatened, and it is gradually diminishing. The purpose of this study is to collect relevant data of preservation of the Minangkabau traditional building as part of cultural heritage in West Sumatera, Indonesia. The data collection included demography of ownership, physical characteristics and the function of the building, location and picture. This research also developed a database involving the integration of information technology to set up sustainable evaluation of traditional building for past and present. Records of fieldwork data input were inserted into the database to provide a very comprehensive documentation of the cultural heritage of Minangkabau traditional building. The database is vital in the preservation, maintenance and conservation efforts and as a promotion to the related locations of heritage and culture. Implications of the study on the urban sustainable development are discussed.