The enactment of the Ethical Policy in 1901 changed the nature of the relationship between the Netherlands and the Netherlands Indies, now Indonesia. One of the most significant shifts was the growing demand for technology and technical skill across the archipelago. The proliferation of plantations and other industries increased the need for technicians able to comply with Dutch regulations and standards. Consequently, this new gap in the workforce initiated an unprecedented migration of skills and practices to the Dutch East Indies.This doctoral dissertation investigates the scope of the interventions realised by the Dutch colonial agenda in relation to existing Javanese building practices. Two principal lines of enquiry underpin the research. The first examines the methods through which Dutch technical knowledge and skill were disseminated across the archipelago. The second scrutinises the effects of this dissemination on the formation of architectural knowledge and practice within the colony. I define these acts of disseminating building knowledge as an epistemic imposition, an instrument of Dutch colonial power.The dissertation comprises four chapters, excluding the introduction and conclusion. The first chapter establishes the grounds of the thesis by elaborating a particular condition in both the Netherlands and Java that acted as an agency for the dissemination of Dutch architectural knowledge and practice. The subsequent three chapters focus on the educational institutions established, the role of architects in shaping architectural discourse in the colony and Dutch attempts to construct a sense of home in the Dutch East Indies.Throughout the thesis, I argue that this epistemic imposition, enacted through the dissemination of technical knowledge and skill, was not entirely successful. A limited understanding of local building culture and the climatic conditions of the archipelago produced forms of cross-appropriation between both parties.

David Hutama studied at Universitas Katolik Parahyangan in Indonesia and Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan. He is the author, co-author or editor of several publications, and has written for Kompas, Indonesia’s largest newspaper. He co-curated the Indonesia Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014 and 2018. He founded the architectural pedagogy platform Critical Context in 2016 and later completed his PhD at the Architectural Association. He was also a fellow researcher at KITLV Leiden.