Domestic space is a primary site for cultural reproduction. When the inhabitants intensively interact with domestic space, the house receives its cultural significance. This thesis aims to understand how, through practices, meanings are embodied in the spatial formation of the Javanese house, and how these meanings in return affect the spatiality of certain practices. The subject of these observations are four houses of considerably different scales and forms, which range from a simple single-structure house to the elaborate Sultan's palace. The domestic activities observed encompass three types of activities: daily life, ritual celebrations, and theatrical performances. My study is based on direct observation and involvement in such activities, personal interviews, and the published works of other scholars. The central arguments of the thesis are that the two-part division of the house is legible in all these examples and that this front-rear division has a dynamic relationship with established cultural practices.

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