13-06-2014, 04:15 PM
Traditional Khmer wooden houses
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Traditional timber houses remain one of the most valuable assets of some countries. Representing the man-made intellectual thinking of ancient times, such traditional houses stand today as proof of great carpentry and they are being used and passed on to the younger generations one after another. Within south-east Asia, where timber was one of the preferred building materials for constructing houses in the past, most traditional houses are scattered in the peri-urban areas of the cities and in rural areas throughout the country. Some are fairly new, having been constructed in the last few decades, while a number were built more than a century ago. As these houses are growing old and ‘antique’ with time, it is becoming necessary to evaluate their maintenance to determine whether repair and replacement are required. This must be done to keep the houses functioning as well as to provide safety for the occupants. In addition, these traditional houses also have significant potential to be regarded as part of national heritage. We must try to realize this potential
Any interesting point relate to the design and spatial organization
The ground floor of the house which is the open plan is the most important area during daytime, whereas the upper floor is use for night time. The upper floor consists of one large area. The main part of this area is where the visitors are received, is defined by six central pillars; in this space there are a figure of Buddha, a television, and a battery-operated electric light in the centre attached to the pillars. The parents’ sleeping space is situated to the left of the entrance; textiles are hung to separate this area from the rest of the room. To the back of the upper floor, on the left, is a space for the girls, whilst the boys have a space reserved for them on the right. But the area, with a figure of Buddha, television and battery-operated light, always remains the most important area.
Compare some point of view to the urban housing (Flat house)
Flat house and Khmer wooden house got their own advantages and disadvantages. First of all, the advantage of flat house you don’t have to worry about a flat when you leave because you have many neighbors who will always look after it. Also, blocks of flats are always situated in the centre of the town so you have everything near the place you live, for example, the chemist’s, the greengrocers, the supermarket, etc. but for khmer wooden house, the structure for the house is not safe when u leave the house and it's usually not in the centre of the town due to the economic, so it's a bit problem to access to crowd area.
However, living in a flat has also some disadvantages. For one thing, it is annoying when you here, your neighbors making noise behind the wall. Have many spaces to clean, using a lot of artificial light and ventilation. But for Khmer wooden house their house usually a bit far from each other so the noise has been cut down, small space easy for clean and mostly the use a lot of natural light and ventilation