Understanding Aceh’s contemporary architecture: Neuheun Mandiri Housing, in the hills of Aceh Besar coastal village

This paper attempts to examine the uniqueness of architectural culture to show that through regionalism, Acehnese architecture can still be built by saving and adapting regional conceptions of culture and nature. In the design and construction of housing in Aceh today, the territorial approach is rarely considered due to the dominance of universal architectural trends that spread through globalization. The process of building the Neuheun Mandiri housing includes an astute attitude in dealing with the currents of modernity by reinterpreting the architecture of the past to be updated, and making modifications to suit the current environmental conditions. This paper aims to interpret the vernacular aspects of Aceh in the modernity of the housing development of Neuheun Mandiri in the hills of a coastal village, Aceh Besar, where the locality aspect is shown through the building mass pattern, traditional material approaches, and construction techniques.