ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF THE WORLD

PAUL OLIVER

“Mainland Southeast Asia forms a peninsula lying south of the tropic of Cancer. It is bounded by China on the north, Burma on the west, Malaysia and the Gulf of Thailand on the south, and the South China Sea on the east. It stretches between latitudes 5 °N and 23 °N and longitudes 98 °E and IIo°E. The cultural area that it covers has been influenced by both the main neighbouring Asian cultures (Indian and Chinese) since remote times, as denoted by the old colonial term 'Indo-China'. With the exception of Thailand, the other three countries were French colonies from the second half of the 19th century until the era of World War II. The term 'Southeast Asia' emerged during that war.

A warm and wet climate, rugged topography and extensive forests gave rise to a light architecture employing plant materials and, with the exception of the Vietnamese and a few minority groups, to houses with raised floors. A humid tropical monsoon climate prevails in Southeast Asia. The annual average temperature is 27 °C (80.6 °F), 25 °C (77 °F) in the northern areas. A wet season from May to October brings most of the rains, along with southwestern winds. The annual average rainfall ranges between 120 cm (47 in) and 200 Cm (78 in). The dry season occurs from November to May. In northern Vietnam rain falls mainly between September and December. This climate offers good growth conditions for the tropical forest, which still covers half the land area of Thailand, 6o per cent of that of Laos and 75 per cent of that of Cambodia. Forests produce teak, rosewood and other hardwoods, as well as bamboo and rattan. Mangrove forests can be found in coastal areas. The region is rugged with mountains and hill ranges in the north, and in the south of Cambodia; in the west they form the border between Burma and Thailand, and in the east the Annamite Chain delimits Laos and Vietnam. Three major rivers flow roughly north-south. The longest one, the Mekong, is 4200 km (2600 mi) long, and originates in the mountains of Tibet. Its large delta is a very fertile region with alluvial soil. The Chao Phraya in Thailand flows in a rich rice-growing plain, and the delta of the (Hong) Red river in Vietnam has one of the highest rural population densities in the world.”

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“Settlements and housetypes

Southeast Asian countries are predominantly rural. Around 20 per cent of the population live in towns in Thailand and Viet-nam, and a lesser percentage in Laos and Cambodia. Most people live in villages, on the top or on the slopes of the hills for the highland groups, along a stream, a road or a canal for the lowland majority groups. Villages are hidden behind clumps of trees; only the roofs rise out of the vegetation. Some villages have an orderly layout, if the dwellers follow rules of orienta-tion. Villages on the hills have a more irregular layout. Among a few groups, such as the Brou in Cambodia, the plans of villages are circular, houses arranged as spokes around a community house.

Although Southeast Asian towns have known rapid development since the 1g6os, examples of the traditional urban layout can still be found in some areas of Hanoi, for instance. Chieng-Mai, Vientiane and Luang Prabang have many districts with trees and buildings made with plant materials. The 'green' towns, where only the pagodas and chedi were built of masonry, rising above the vegetation, were rapidly taken over by Chinese shophouses, which standardized towns of different cultures.

An initial classification of housetypes depends on two major cultural areas. The pile dwelling belongs to a vast Southeast Asian area, being found also in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. This housetype is widespread in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and among the highland minority groups of Viet-nam. The oldest representations of houses on piles are engraved on bronze drums of the Dong Son culture (Vietnam, бoо Bc to the ist century AD). The second type, the house built on the ground, is present in a few minority groups of Vietnam, but chiefly among populations which have been influenced by Chinese culture: Vietnamese, Hmong and Yao. A third type of lesser importance can be noted - the floating dwelling. This type of dwelling can be found on canals near Bangkok, in Vietnamese fishermen's villages, or among the Moken of the Mer-gui Archipelago.”