Redefine Thai House

Abstract

When most Thais think of “Thai house” or BanThai, the image of Thai traditional houses in the Central plain that is acclaimed as “national symbol” immediately occurs to their imagination. This is something like a stereotype because they “receive” one-sided of distorted information, which only focused on the physical appearance of Thai houses.

Due to the incomprehension of the real meaning of Thai house, Thais have seen Ban Thai as an “old aesthetic” that caused limitation and misleading to the development of Thai houses which can only be done by “adapting” some modern materials and construction technology into the Thai traditional form of architecture. Then adopted “alien architecture” as “new aesthetic”, which is incompatible with Thailand’s environment, and as a consequence, it has impacted us in the various forms of unavoidable natural disasters.

The forgotten of “Thai architectural wisdom” which is the core ideology of Thai house that has been improved through time until it becomes the “architecture for living”, conforming to a place and time among the diversity of Thai cultural landscape. Even though, Thai architectural wisdom is a timeless dynamic equilibrium that composed out of nature, human, and architecture, it needs to be up dated.

In order to “Redefine Thai house”, the research methodology was framed in accordance with Phenomenology theory in order to investigate throughout the research objectives, which are Thai traditional house and also Thai vernacular house empirically. The research methods was chronologically divided in 3 phases which commenced with collecting datas and site visiting, collected datas analysis and formed up conceptual design frame work, and then design experiments and implementation.

In conclusion, the researcher founds that the essences of Thai house can be found, not in the tangible superficial decorative elements such as “Ngao" (hornlike finial) or “Pan-lom” (windbreak on the gable),  or streamline gable roof, but rather in the profound intangible element which is the sense of living equilibrium in between the interrelationship of nature human and architecture such as the ability of sufficiency and sustainability of architecture for living among the diversity and change of both natural and man-made environment in the country of Thailand.