Re-contextualizing effort is begun by formulating basic character then developing of architectural design. The purpose of this paper is to explore and re-contextualize the basic character of traditional Javanese house. This study used visual culture method as a thorough of the architectural form and substance behind it by including inter-disciplinary scientific approach. The first step is tracing equivalence thought expression among traditional Javanese House and other traditional houses in through Indonesian archipelago, such as Aceh, Toraja, and Dayak, by doing trans-cultural readings. Step two, is finding a relationship between traditional Javanese house with non-architectural folklore, for instance the story of Dewa Ruci and serat Jatimurti, by doing trans-structural readings. In the process of study, it is seen that traditional Javanese house is consist of universal characters and Javanese local characters. The structural space on the traditional Javanese house is relevance to the concept of Islamic journey that negating god other than Allah, and travelling towards Allah. The discovery of the thought expression which is the basic character of this traditional Javanese house, at least, can be a starting point in developing an architecture which is suitable for the space context (of Java) and time  context (present).Key words: recontextualise, Archipelago, basic character, journey