The Transformation of the Traditional Balinese House in Tourist Villages: Maintaining the Culture and Obtaining Economic Benefit. I Dewa Gede Agung Diasana Putra 1,a , Mirjana Lozanovska 2,b , Robert Fuller 2,c 1 School of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Architecture and Technology, Deakin University, Victoria Australia and Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Udayana Univeristy Denpasar Bali 2 School of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Architecture and Technology, Deakin University, Victoria Australia a didewage@deakin.edu.au and idgadp@yahoo.com, b mlozanov@deakin.edu.au, c rjfull@deakin.edu.au Keywords: traditional house transformation, socio-culture, tourist facility Abstract. Bali is well known as a tourist destination in Indonesia. Balinese culture, inspired by the Hindu Balinese religion and expressed by performing religious activities in the village and the traditional Balinese house, has become attractive to tourists. The increase in the number of tourists has caused an increase in the number of tourist facilities constructed in traditional Balinese houses. New pavilions have been built either adjacent to existing pavilions, in the front and around the courtyard by demolishing the wall or old pavilions, or in the backyard. These constructions have changed the setting, form, and spaces of the house where Balinese, based on tri hita karana philosophy, perform socio-cultural activities to maintain a harmonious relationship with God, other human beings and the environment. This new construction gives rise to the question about the continuity of the religious activities in the new settings of the houses. Does the new transformation cause adjustments of these activities? From visual examinations and interviews, this paper examines how rituals continue within the context of house transformation that has come about by the construction of tourist facilities. Introduction Culture that consists of artifacts, performances, and other products or services of ethnic groups is a capital of tourism development in many tourist destinations including Bali [1, 2, 3, 4]. The Balinese people utilize their culture as an asset to attract tourists by performing the socio-cultural activities in the village and the traditional Balinese house. As a vernacular house, the house can be seen as the intersection of the inheritance of property and the heritage of tradition [5] where the Balinese inherit properties including the house as well as traditions including socio-cultural activities. The house is a walled enclosure compound accommodates domestic and religious activities of the Balinese such as rituals, the preparations of offerings, and domestic activities (Fig. 1). The domestic activities are related to the basic demand of people [6] while the social-cultural activities are related to the harmonious relationship between occupants and God, the community and the environment represented in ceremonial activities that are regularly performed in the traditional house. Such activities are cultural attractions that motivate tourists to visit Bali [7]. The number of tourists almost doubled in a decade from 1,4 millions in 2000 to 2,6 millions in 2010 [8] and has stimulated people to gain economic benefit from tourist activities. Many new structures have appeared near and by demolished the existing pavilions. Based on the visual examination of 749 traditional houses, the people have built new pavilions in their traditional house where 69 % traditional house in Kuta, 61% in Ubud, 38% in Sanur and 13% in Kamasan have been transformed for tourist facilities [9]. The new construction and the additional function give rise to the question Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 747 (2015) pp 68-71 Submitted: 2014-09-24 © (2015) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Revised: 2014-10-24 doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.747.68 Accepted: 2014-10-24 Online: 2015-03-30 All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans Tech Publications, www.ttp.net. (ID: 180.252.78.23-02/12/15,16:25:58)