Stage House, A Strategy for Coping with Tidal Flooding in Semarang

Rising sea levels and land subsidence in Semarang has caused some areas in Semarang, especially the areas close to the sea, has experienced tidal flood. The tidal flood become worse when it rains because the volume of water is raising. One of the area which experience tidal flood is RW IV, in Kemijen, East of Semarang The solution which can be done by the community is lifting the ground and raising the level of the house’s floor. This effort need a lot of money, and it has to be done every 5 (five years) to anticipate the tidal flood. Some residents with low economic ability have difficultyto raise the floor because of the financial factor. As a result, the low income family have to face the environmental problem and they have to stay with the water when the tidal flood come. One of the solutionis to build a “stage house”. With stage house, water cannot reach the floor and does not disturb the activities of the family member. The proposed stage house model is 1.5 meters above ground level / road surface. This research is a follow-up research (2nd year research) where the design of stage house as the result of the first research, is applied. The application of the design is done in RW IV. In the development of this adaptif house for tidal flood, the community approach has been used as a major approach. Community participation can be seen from the initial process of identifying problems to the final step which is building the stage house. With the model of this stage house is expected to give a solution for tidal flood in Semarang. Keywords- Semarang, Stage house, Tidal flood