Young families’ space adaptation in subsidized housing case study: Mataram city, West Nusa Tenggara Indonesia

Indonesia’s 2020 census shows that 25.87% of the population comprises productive working-age millennials in the family-forming phase and demand affordable housing. To aid the low-income class in accessing the housing market, the government provides the Rumah Inti Tumbuh (RIT) or “growing core house” programme. This study examines the young families’ adaptation to utilize the available rooms, using mixed methods of observations, interviews, and architectural records. Study analyses employ the six layers’ theory of [Brand, Stewart. 1994. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They are Built. New York, NY: Viking] to trace back the incremental process from the early home-making, motivation development, and adaptation strategy of the spatial usages in the post-reconstruction. The study concludes that young families needed to incrementally outmode the forms of provision even in the early occupation. The adaptive solutions gradually blurred the initial design idea provided by the developer. The home-making practices also accommodate daily activities connected with Islamic cultural, social, and intimate spheres.