เรือนไทยในวิถีไทย = the prototype thai houses

7/30/2019 = The Prototype Thai Houses

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A binder house at Ban Pho Hak,

Amphoe Bang Phae, Ratchaburi.

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A binder house.

Materials and structural

designs of a binder house.

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A traditional Thai house called

Ruean Saeng Arun

at Siam Society in Bangkok.

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155

()

(

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The scripture hall of

Wat Rakang Kositaram

was the former residence

of King Rama I.


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(De La Loube`re)

. . (.. -)

The Red Hall in the NationalMuseum, Bangkok, was formerly

located in the Grand Palace.

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The paneling wall and wind

of a central Thai-style hous

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A central Thai-style house.


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A joint house in

Ban Makhamlom, Suphan Buri.

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House construction in

the central plains.


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( ) ( )

()

...

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Wall panels come in

various designs.

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Houses along the Bangkok Noi

Canal, Bangkok.


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Raft houses in Kanchanaburi


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A northern Thai-style house.


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(Assymetrical Balance) (Dynamic Balance)

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Hamyon is a decorative

piece of wood in intricate foliage

designs fitted atop the door,

serving to ventilate and to

protect the house from

evil spirits.

A spirit-house usually located

inside a little beyond the fence.

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Kalae-a unique piece

of northern-style house.


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( )

A water-jar house, where d

water is kept, is an importa

part of a northern househo

usually located on the fron

porch away from the sun,

with a long-handled dippe

made from a small dry

coconut shell.

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() -

left - right

A northeastern Thai-style h

in Amphoe Na Dun,

Maha Sarakham.

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Ruean Keiy

(House with a roofed balco

Ruean Faed (Twin houses)

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Ruean Khong (Big houses)

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A southern Thai-style house.

The lower part of house posts

in a southern Thai-style house.

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The structure of a southern

Thai-style house.

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Muslim Houses in the South

Li-mah house built on posts

with a hipped roof.

Bla-nor house with Manila gables.

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A high window from the flo

called pi-tu-na-tae,in a southern Thai-style ho

Mae-lae house with high g

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-

- (Sino-Portuguese)

Sino-Portuguese building

in Phuket.

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Chapter Three

The Prototype ofThai Houses

Thai Wisdom: Thai Ways of Life

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Local architecture is the unique identity

of each locality. It is a societal heritagederived from group wisdom, initiated,

created, and developed through experiences,

knowledge, and skills to solve local

problems. It has been passed down from

generation to generation until it has become

a pattern, a tradition, or a convention for

living in harmony with the environment.

In Thailand, there were initially two housing

styles, which reflected local wisdom in

architecture: the binder house and the joint

house. The first style, the binder house, was

often for temporary shelter and could be built

in one day with no need for skilled labor.

Construction materials were the locally available

bamboo bound together with binding materials

such as ropes or finely thin bamboo strips,

and roofed with atap palm leaves. Labor was

voluntary hands from neighbors. There was no

need for expert constructors. Construction

could be done with ordinary household tools.

It later developed into the more sophisticated

housing style: the joint house.

Thai Houses

in Thai Communities

Binder houses could actually providesufficient shelter. But when a family was more

stabilized and extended with more members,

people usually needed to build a more secure

house, a joint house. Joint houses are made

from hard wood. All parts of the house were

made to connect and fit together with different

kinds of joints. They differ from region to region.

In the North, for example, it is called ruean

kalae, after the specific style commonly

utilized in the northern region.

179 The Prototype of Thai Houses

A traditional Thai house ca

Ruean Saeng Arunat Siam Society in Bangko


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Typical Thai Housesin the Central Region

Typical Thai houses, however, are the

housing style of the Central Region, with a high

and steeply pointed windbreak atop the gable.

It is much acclaimed for its artistic beauty and

its functional suitability to the Central Plainswith frequent rain and flooding. This housing

style is not only for commoners, but also for

families of high social status. Thai royalty in the

House of Chakri once lived in such a house.

Rama V once had a house built in this

traditional-style in a Bangkok palace to

receive his visiting friends from the country.

Rama VI built a typical Thai-style house in

one of his favorite palaces in Nakhon Pathom

called Thap Khwan, which is a beautiful

traditional Thai-style house.

A typical Thai house was normally a single

structure. If t he owner was wealthy, however,a few houses were built next to each other with

a patio to connect them into one compound

structure. The patio served as the activity

space for the family. Constructors normally

pre-constructed all part of the house, from the

wall panels, to the windows, and roofing

structures. House owners often consulted an

astrologer for an auspicious time to begin the

construction. The best time of the year for

housing construction was the second month on

the lunar calendar (January). When the t ime

came, all the parts were put together to mak

a house, which usually took only a day or tw

Such a rapid affair had puzzled foreign visito

such as M. de La Loube`re from the Court of

Louis XIV during his 1687 visit to the capital

city of Ayutthaya.

A typical Thai house is usually built on hiposts to avoid frequent flooding and poisono

animals. The space under the house is used

store farm tools, to keep animals, or even to

laze around in the hot weather.

The steep windbreak along the gable serves

to drain the rainwater and to allow for

ventilation on hot days. The main sleeping a

is normally separated from the kitchen area.

A big branching tree is often planted in the

middle of the patio to provide shade. By the

ladder is a big water jug to wash ones feet

before ascending the stairs. Kitchen herbs

are normally planted around this area to drinup the wash water.

In the old days, Thai people did not need

many pieces of furniture. The house seemed

comparatively bare, especially if compared t

current houses with all modern appliances.

In addition to houses built on land, many

houses were built on rafts in water bodies w

there were still many canals and rivers, for w

Bangkok was labeled Venice of the Orient

A traditional Thai house

in the Central Region

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TypicalNorthern-Style Houses

The signature house of the North is ruean

kalae. It is usually two square houses built

next to each other with a rainwater drainpipe

running along the eaves between the houses.

All composite parts of the house are well

designed for the most utilization.

The staircase of a northern-style house is

usually roofed and located outside by the left

corner of the house. A pole is usually planted

to support the roof, often the place to tie the

guard dog. Above the staircase is the balcony,

which leads to the open hall where all activities

take place. A water jar for drinking is often put

there. After the hall is the sleeping chamber.

In this room, people keep their ancestors relics

on a high shelf on the north wall. They always

inform the ancestors and present offerings

to them on important occasions.

Northern-style houses usually have two

pieces of intricately carved boards called kalae

to top the windbreaks. By the staircase landing

is also a patch of kitchen herbs planted to

benefit from the wash water, like houses in theCentral Plains.

Presently, northern-style kalae houses

are hard to find. It is a unique piece of our

cultural heritage, which should be preserved

for posterity.

Typical northern-style hous

181 The Prototype of Thai Houses


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TypicalNortheastern-StyleHouses

Typical northeastern houses are madeon high wooden posts like those in other

regions. The balcony is roofed but often has

no panel. The kitchen is a small house with

well-ventilated walls. A water pot is normally

placed at one end of the balcony, and roofed

to prevent direct sun from heating the water.

Houses are in three sizes: small, medium,

and large.

Most local people in the Northeast are

farmers. So they often build a grain silo near

the house. They are also as artistic as peopl

in other regions. Normally, they spend their f

time from the rice fields to make handicrafts

such as hand-woven fabric, and handmade

pottery. These are often done in the

basement, the space under the house.

A commoners house

in the Northeast.

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TypicalSouthern-Style Houses

Southern-style houses can be categorized

into two: those in the upper region (from

Chumphon to Songkhla), and the Muslim

houses in the lower part of the region.

The upper-southern housing style is

much similar to that in the Central Plains.

The differences are in a few architectural

features. The posts are usually not very high,

to minimize the wind forces in the monsoon

season. Relative humidity is higher in this region

because it has eight months of rain and only

four months of the sun. People do not plant the

posts directly in the ground, but use a more

solid material, such as coral or stone, to support

them. Southerners like to sand off the house

posts, and some even carve the top of the post

with intricate designs. They often have a water

jar by the ladder landing to wash ones feet

before taking the stairs as well.

Though the upper-southern housing style

with a high windbreaker roof is much similar to

that of the Central Region, local architects have

adapted it to meet regional preference and

lifestyle. In certain areas, outside influences

have impacted locals to build houses with

Yala, Satun, Pattani, and Narathiwas. People in

these cities are mostly Muslim. They keep fruit

orchard, grow rice, run rubber plantation, keep

fish farms, and trade. Their houses need to

serve their occupational purposes. Most of them

are rectangular with high windbreaker roofs orhipped roofs, built on posts. The heights of

these posts, and thus the house, vary.

The most important feature of a lower-

southern house is the roofing structure. It can

signify the owners financial status. The gable of

a Muslim house is often decorated with a

wooden shining-sun design, a floral design on

plain wooden background, or a woodcarving of

Arabic inscription pasted to the gable.

In the compound are usually a rice silo and

a roofed water-well in the yard. A small bathing

house is located further away from the well.

A birdhouse or a tall bird post is common ina Muslim household.

Houses with foreign influences also exist in

certain areas, for example, the Sino-Portuguese

row houses in Phuket.

Housing styles in the four regions reflect

A traditional southern-style

เรือนไทยในวิถีไทย = the prototype thai houses

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