*2.1.1. The brick masonry*

A livable house should be safe, healthy, comfortable, and adequately equipped, as prescribed in the Act of Building Construction Number 28/2002 and the Regulation of the Ministry of Public Works Number 25/PRT/M/2007 dated on August 9, 2007 concerning "Pedoman Sertifikasi Laik Fungsi Bangunan Gedung" (Guideline for Functionally Comfortable Building Construction) [2]. It is highly possible for the natural disasters such as the earthquake and wind to take place in Bali as an island which is densely populated enough [4, 20]. It is recorded that the earthquake referred to as "Gejer Bali" which took place in 1815 cost 1500 lives; the earthquake referred to as "Gempa Buleleng" which took place in 1862; the Negara earthquake took place in 1890, the Gejer Bali earthquake occurred again in 1917 and cost 1500 lives, the Seririt earthquake occurred in 1976 and cost 560 lives, the Karangasem earthquake took place in 1979 and cost 24 lives. Several other earthquakes that were responsible for the material loss have also been recorded. The bamboo has a high strain force and available almost everywhere in Indonesia, especially in Bali. Therefore, it is necessary to construct simple livable houses with bamboo reinforced concrete structure, which are resistant to the earthquake and wind. The reason is that they can be con‐ structed using the cheap local building materials [5]. In addition, such houses are functionally fea‐ sible. However, it was necessary to test them to identify how reliable and comfortable they were and to what extent they could satisfy the dwellers. The test was done by building two types of simple houses; one is the simple traditional Bali age house and the simple modern Balinese house. The six criteria of the appropriate technology (technical, economic, ergonomic, socio cultural, energy saving, and environmentally friendly) with the systemic, holistic, interdisciplinary and participatory (SHIP) approach are relevantly applied starting from when a house is planned, constructed, and maintained. The design of a house should develop and grow based on what is needed by people; it should not be designed by other parties with particular objectives [1]. The designer should pay attention to the human dimensions (the human ability and limitedness) [25]. A house should be designed based on the user; it should be constructed in such a way that it can reduce the possible negative impact and improve the user's comfort. If it is designed based on what is needed and expected by the user, it can improve the quality of his/her life [6].

As times go by, an idea has appeared recently that the local wisdom should be applied to overcoming the human problem and environment. The reason is that it is easily accepted by the local people. Exemplifies [18] the concept *Tri Hita Karana* especially the relationship between the user of a house with his/her ancestors and the relationship between him/her with his/her environment, the concept *Tri Mandala* which suggests that a compound should be divided into three zones: they are the highest "hulu" zone, the middle "tengah" zone, and the lowest "teben" zone; the concept *Tri Angga*; the house should be physically divided into three

The test was done by building two types of simple houses: they are the simple traditional Bali age house and the simple modern one. The study was conducted in Bali Province, Indonesia,

parts: they are the roof, the body (wall), and the foot (foundation).

**2. Material and method**

68 Bamboo - Current and Future Prospects

**2.1. Material and research location**

The brick masonry tested was made at Keramas village, Gianyar regency (one of the villages close to Pengotan village). The mortar space was made of Portland cement and sand with the proportion one to four. The testing process is described in **Figure 1** [23].
