"Ruang," Indonesian Spatial Conception(s)

There has been a sort of agreement--at least since the 19th Century--that architecture deals with space. Space is the subject of our discussion herewith.

When, say, Le Corbusier used the term "l'espace," he actually implied a spatial conception, or perception, that differs from what would be termed by, say, Mies van der Rohe as "raum."

True, we tend to apply and translate the terms "l'espace" and "raum" as if they shared the same perception or conception. In Indonesia, we always translate "space," "l'espace" and "raum" as "ruang."

However, via Foucault, we know that knowledge is not one. The idea, conception or perception of space is not one either. "Raum" and "space/l'espace" denote rather different ideas, perceptions or conceptions.

What we are lacking of in Indonesia is an understanding of our own idea(s), conception(s) or perception(s) of "ruang." At architecture schools throughout the archipelago we always teach space (should I type "space"?) in Western term(s).

This discussion is not intended to discredit the West, or to discard anything Western. The discussion is intended to find, discover, or perhaps define the spatial conception of "ruang," as well as other spatial conceptions as found or discovered in Nusantara. For instance, what would be the spatial conception of the Javanese or Batak? Or, what would be the spatial conceptions or perceptions of "ruang," perhaps before and after the Poedjangga Baroe era (yes, it is still a far-fetched probability. But who knows?)?

Please share your thoughts. Thank you (moderator, Mohammad Nanda Widyarta)