recent decades of Thai economic boom have resulted in the number of traditional Thai houses dwindling; rapid modernization, diminishing timber resources and a hunger for western forms are the main reasons for its demise. Modern Thais are eager to shake off their past as an agricultural society and embrace cement houses and high-rise living as epitomized by the West.
Thai communities were traditionally located along water-ways, thus many houses were either built on stilts or actually floating in the water. The floating houses generally consisted of twin houses that served as both a home and a shop. The living quarters were located in the back, while the open-fronted unit in the front was used as a shop where goods were displayed and sold. These floating houses lined the rivers wherever settlements existed, and could be moved around if needed. These days floating houses have vanished from Bangkok's riverbanks, but can still be found deep in the countryside. Similarly, there are still examples of traditional houses used as residences in the provinces, and some in Bangkok, though the latter are usually preserved as museums and palaces. Less common are Thai-style contemporary residences in Bangkok; the ones that do exist are usually constructed from a number of single-room houses-transported from another province and reassembled in the city to form a large cluster house.
Houses built in this manner embody the key characteristic of a traditional Thai house-namely transportability. Built entirely of wood, the walls, doors, windows and gables consist of separate wood panels which are fitted together using wooden joints held in place by wooden pegs. No nails are used, thus the entire structure can be taken apart and easily reassembled. The word traditionally used in Thai for house building is prung, meaning 'assemble'. Thus the house can be quickly assembled or dismantled and moved from site to site.
The severe, yet elegant lines of this house exemplify the geometric precision that governs the rules of proportion in Thai houses. When well-crafted, the result is a perfection of symmetry and form as seen in this stunning example, a reconstructed house located in Ayutthaya and open to the public.
In contrast to the magnificent scale of the red palace that was built to commemorate King Rama II's birthplace (see opposite), his actual home, shown here, seems modest in comparison. This house was his residence before he ascended the throne, and was later donated to Wat Rakang in Thonburi, for use as a library. In the 1980s it underwent a restoration, with the aid of noted painter Fua Horapitak.
Thai houses differ in the north and south, but the style considered to be the classic one is that of the central plains, where Thailand's kingdoms of Ayutthaya, Sukhothai and Bangkok are located and therefore where the Thais reached the height of their culture and power. There are five basic elements of a traditional Thai house: stilts, inward sloping walls, high gables sloping downward into long projecting eaves, a large raised verandah connecting the separate rooms, and extendable rooms. The open space beneath the house serves a number of practical functions, such as providing structural resistance to inclement weather, respite from seasonal flooding, protection from wild animals, ventilation and a shady space to work and store farm tools and the Thai country cart or kwien. During the flood season, the space becomes a place to moor boats. In the southern coastal settlements the houses are built on tall stilts, but the stilts become progressively shorter as one travels northwards and into the mountains.
The distinctive inward sloping walls serve a structural function and are a result of the local environment. In order to cope with seasonal floods, the dwellings had to either float or stand on stilts. Exposure to heavy flooding and strong winds meant that the stilts had to be high and braced, hence the triangulated structure. In the central plains, where there is mildinl and flooding, the stilts and structural frames slope inwards, giving the house the stability and structural reinforcement it needs. The high gable extends the height of the room for heat convection, while the long projecting eaves protect the house from heavy monsoon rains. The partially-covered chan-ban verandah is a huge platform on stilts. It connects the bedroom units and provides a communal living area for the inhabitants. The covered parts are used for day-to-day social activities, and the uncovered space is used for ceremonies, feasts, drying food and growing plants. The house breathes through the spaces in its floors, wall panels and gables and, since the bedrooms are separate units, it can obtain ventilation from any direction.
The Rama II Memorial House was built as a museum to commemorate the birthplace of King Rama II, an accomplished poet, artist, and patron of Thai classical dance. The most striking aspect of this house is its enormous scale, befitting its status as a memorial to a king. Built as a museum rather than a dwelling, the main building is a cluster house consisting of three large units comprising an antiques gallery, a bedroom gallery, and a sitting room gallery displaying antique Thai decorative objects and furnishings.
Once crowding the waterways of Bangkok, floating houses are now rare, glimpsed only occasionally in the deep countryside. This one is a typical floating shop house, consisting of two rooms with the shop located in front and the living quarters in the rear.
Almost every Thai house has a spirit house on its property, to house the spirit of the land that protects the home and its occupants. Daily offerings are made in the form of food and flowers.
There are many variations of this classic house style, ranging in size from a single-family house to a cluster house. The smaller house consists only of a bedroom and a kitchen, while the cluster house may have up to five or six bedrooms arranged around the chan-ban verandah. In the traditional extended family system in old Siam, additional bedrooms were added as the family size increased; the verandah platform is extendable and some houses became longer as more living units were added on. Traditionally, the groom left his family home to join the bride's family, so often he would remove his room from his parents' house and take it with him to add to his new bride's home.
Due to the complex social system of heirarchy based on age and seniority, rooms are sometimes placed at different heights or levels on the verandah platform. The owner's room is always located in the most important place and usually at the highest level. The levels may vary only slightly, but the distinction represents the social hierarchy of space so characteristic of Thai architecture. From a structural perspective as well, this arrangement also allows breezes to pass underneath the house and through the spaces in the floor levels. The entrance staircase to a Thai house traditionally faces the canal or river, though today with the disappearance of waterway thoroughfares, entrances now usually face the driveway, or may overlook a pond for dramatic effect. Typically the entrance consists of stairways leading up to one or two platform levels, a purely functional feature created to accommodate both low and high floods. These are usually roofed to form a small pavilion, so they can be used for receptions or social gatherings. In poorer homes this entrance is limited to a simple flight of stairs. The orientation of the house is usually lengthwise, in an east-west direction, to avoid the direct rays of the sun and to benefit from the prevailing southerly winds.
As in other South east Asian cultures, the Thais traditionally rested, sat and ate on the floor, which was kept meticulously clean, accounting for the custom of removing the shoes when entering a Thai home. Thai houses traditionally contained very little furniture. Instead, the inhabitants used numerous reed mats on the floor for sleeping or sitting. In richer families, the furnishings consisted of low beds and tables with curved Chinese-style legs (tang), or a low dressing table. The bedroom sometimes contained a cupboard or chest to store clothes. The typical kitchen contained a charcoal stove and a screened cupboard for storing food and utensils.
