Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Traditional Residential Architecture
Traditional Thai homes were adapted to the weather, the family and artistic sensibil-
ities. These antique specimens were humble dwellings consisting of a single-room
wooden house raised on stilts. More elaborate homes, for the village chief or minor
royalty for instance, might link a series of single rooms by elevated walkways. Since
many Thai villages were built near rivers, the elevation provided protection from
flooding during the annual monsoon. During the dry season the space beneath the
house was used as a hideaway from the heat of the day, an outdoor kitchen or as a
barn for farm animals. Later this all-purpose space would shelter bicycles and mo-
torcycles. Once plentiful in Thai forests, teak was always the material of choice for
wooden structures and its use typically indicates that a house is at least 50 years
old.
Rooflines in central, northern and southern Thailand are steeply pitched and of-
ten decorated at the corners or along the gables with motifs related to the
naga,
a
mythical water serpent long believed to be a spiritual protector of Tai cultures
throughout Asia.
In Thailand's southern provinces it's not unusual to come upon houses of Malay
design, using high masonry pediments or foundations rather than wooden stilts.
Residents of the south also sometimes use bamboo and palm thatch, which are
more plentiful than wood. In the north, the homes of community leaders were often
decorated with an ornate horn-shaped motif called
galare,
a decorative element that
has become shorthand for old Lanna architecture. Roofs of tile or thatch tend to be
less steeply pitched, and rounded gables - (a feature inherited from Myanmar
(Burma) - can also be found further north.
Temple Architecture
The most striking examples of Thailand's ar-
chitectural heritage are the Buddhist temples
(wát), which dazzle in the tropical sun with
wild colours and soaring rooflines. Thai
temples are compounds of different buildings
serving specific religious functions. The most
important structures include the
uposatha
(
bòht
in central Thai,
sĭm
in northern and
northeastern Thai), which is a consecrated chapel where monastic ordinations are
held, and the
wí·hăhn,
where important Buddha images are housed.
