Patterns representing human culture

The Balinese Home

THK is called “three sources of well-being” because it teaches about harmonious relationships. Humans should have harmony with nature, harmony with their spiritual relationships, and harmony with other humans. You can find similar ideas in all religions, as well as non-believers. Everybody thinks we should all do our best to get along!

Even in Bali’s geometric patterns from human culture, you will see ideas about how to have good relationships with the other categories. For example, the traditional Balinese home compound makes use of rectangles, a shape you rarely see in nature. But the layout is made to keep human balance with the spiritual, and the materials come from nature, harvested in ways that keep balance with the ecosystem.

Can you find the geometric shapes in this traditional Balinese architecture? Look for rectangles, squares, and triangles. Extra credit: trapezoids!

The traditional family compound has sacred areas at the end pointing towards the mountains. That end has the family temple and holy shrine. It has human areas toward the middle: the buildings for sleeping and living. And it has natural areas at the end pointing towards the sea: pigs, rice storage and kitchen.

Bali is made up of volcanoes. The crater lakes at top are considered closer to the spirit world; the sea at bottom closer to the natural world. So the architecture uses the human geometry of rectangles on a grid, but in ways that represent harmony with other humans, with nature, and with spiritual realms: THK!

Patterns Representing Human Culture in Design

Just like the grid of architecture, traditional Balinese weaving also uses a grid of human geometry--rectangles, triangles, hexagons, and more--to express ideas about humans, nature, and spiritual realms.

Human design patterns

Bamboo weaving is often done as what mathematics calls the Cartesian coordinate system. You can simulate your own virtual bamboo weaving here.

Nature’s design patterns

Palm leaf weaving can create the scaling curves of nature. You can simulate your own virtual palm leaf weaving here.

Spiritual design patterns

This is a temple in Bali. The multi-tiered roof is a meru tower. It represents the home of the gods, mt. Meru, in the Hindu religion. These kinds of sacred structures combine the geometric shapes of humans with the scaling patterns of nature. You can simulate your own virtual temple design here.