Volume 9 Issue 4 ( December 2022 )

This article discusses the important role of the kitchen which can provide more value to living space through its adaptation. In this context, we are going to see from the perspective of a traditional kitchen at the rumah gadang of the Minangkabau society in West Sumatera. The spatial configuration of the rumah gadang follows the needs of women who have an essential role in their social structure and the kitchen appears to be the heart of women's activities. This paper argues that there are factors that need to continue to be applied so that in their development, traditional houses can adapt to a continuously progressing society. Based on the qualitative method, we observe the kitchen adaptation by comparing the condition before and after the house construction in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra. The result of the study indicates that the continuity of the socio-cultural values in the rumah gadang traditional houses can be preserved through the kitchen.

Keywords: rumah gadang, kitchen, gender, adaptation, cultural-spatial system