Damage of natural disasters and man-made environment has been happening everywhere. As a
result, human settlements declined in quality, so not hospitable and not conducive to the preservation
of culture, architecture and nature. Over the last few decades, the planning and design of settlements
in the Indonesian archipelago tend to ignore local wisdom. This paper discusses the architecture of
settlement in the village of Dawan tribe at Kaenbaun (Purbadi, 2010) to learn about design principles
and paradigms of Dawan people, in designing a comfortable and friendly neighborhood environment.
The method used in this paper is to use single-exposure case is analyzed by the method of
contextual understanding. The results of study are the principles of local way of thinking and design
direction, which is believed to be still relevant to preserved for environmental design of new
settlements in the present.
This paper would raise Kaenbaun typical way of thinking as a paradigm, which can be used to
design a contemporary settlement. Kaenbaun mindset strength lies in the uniqueness of the human
relationship with nature, human each other and to the ancestors and God, who is believed to be an
important element for the preservation of culture, architecture and nature. That is the local wisdom of
Kaenbaun and could use to lead to a sustainable life.