Wooden House for Sale in Manokwari Regency

The wooden house which you see at this blog post belongs to a Dutch family who lives near the Asai beach in Manokwari regency of West Papua. This house was designed and constructed by the owner himself, Mr. (Solke) Munneke, an engineer who used to be a teacher in Engineering school in the Netherlands. Its living room is located on the second floor. Facing the Pacific Ocean.

In my previous posts, I discussed about wooden house from tropical village of Senopi and wooden house from Arfak Mountains. Both of them are totally different from this one. Mr. Munneke accurately cut and assembled the panels, beams and blocks. High quality varnished was applied to the surface of the wood to provide protection against wet climate and termites of the tropical region of West Papua. In addition, the wood which was used in Mr. Munneke's house is the high quality one with high density and strength. After the big earthquake hit Manokwari in 2007, high rise buildings that are being or will be built in this city use steel frames. Steel building is considered stronger than ordinary concrete one. The use of wooden frames for to reinforce the structural arrangement of ordinary concrete houses is also encouraged both by the agency of public works and by the architects who design houses. This is learned from the old buildings and houses that had been left by the Dutch in 1962. Their steel and wooden frames have been very effective in preventing the buildings from collapsing during the earthquake. 

Different from the ground floor of the the wooden house which I had seen in Senopi village, which is used as pigpen, Mr. Munneke's house also has ground floor but that space is used for storage and bed room. Small space is also provided for motorcycle parking lot. The Asai beach that is located not far from and just below the slope is very beautiful and often becomes a favorite destination for town dwellers especially on Sundays. In general, the design of this wooden house is not a conventional one. It is not a rectangular at all. It looks like a hexagon but with slight modification at the back and front sides. Corrugated metal roofs cover the first and the smaller second floors to protect the occupants from extreme weather.

Personally, I am very impressed by brilliant idea of Mr. Munneke who fully applied the natural cooling system in his house. We all know that the air temperature in the tropical region is quite hot during the days (around 31-33 degrees Celcius). He built a small fish pond at the back of the house and made the living room as an open space to allow air from the sea and the hill behind the house to flow freely. Additional natural cooling for the house is enhanced by various plants that he and his wife grow around the house. Mr. (Solke) Munneke told me that he wants to sell the house because he wants to live closer to Manokwari city so that his children can have access to good school. If you are interested in buying this house you can contact him via this email: sajmunneke@hotmail.com
Also read: House for sale in Manokwari