VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR IN THE SOUTH-EAST ASIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

This paper explores the vernacular architecture of the Shan ethnic group in Myanmar within the context of South-east Asian architecture. The purpose is to understand the relationship between the settlement system, village and houses that together form the cultural landscape and architecture of the river valleys of mainland South-east Asia. The fieldwork is comprised of an architectural enquiry through geographic surveys of settlements and measurements of houses, and a social enquiry, including observations and interviews about the social dimensions of architecture. The detailed spatial analysis embraces three tiers, namely settlements, villages and houses, together identifying the characteristics and underlying concepts of Shan architecture, meanwhile deepening the understanding of the holistic relationships between people, ethnicity, geography, social system and the production of dwellings and cultural geographies of South-east Asia.

Full text

VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR IN THE
SOUTH-EAST ASIAN CONTEXT
Rawiwan Oranratmanee
This paper explores the vernacular architecture of the Shan ethnic group in Myanmar within the context of South-
east Asian architecture. The purpose is to understand the relationship between the settlement system, village and
houses that together form the cultural landscape and architecture of the river valleys of mainland South-east Asia.
The fieldwork is comprised of an architectural enquiry through geographic surveys of settlements and
measurements of houses, and a social enquiry, including observations and interviews about the social dimensions
of architecture. The detailed spatial analysis embraces three tiers, namely settlements, villages and houses,
together identifying the characteristics and underlying concepts of Shan architecture, meanwhile deepening the
understanding of the holistic relationships between people, ethnicity, geography, social system and the production
of dwellings and cultural geographies of South-east Asia.
KEYWORDS:Vernacular architecture, cultural
landscape, house, Shan, Myanmar, Southeast Asia
SOUTH-EAST ASIAN VERNACULAR
ARCHITECTURE
Vernacular architecture is defined as architectures that
are built by ordinary people to meet their specific
needs, accommodate their values, and respond to the
economies and ways of life of the cultures that pro-
duce them.
1
Cultural landscape, on the other hand, is
part of our collective identity; it exhibits close ties
between humans and the built environments in specific
geographic areas.
2
The study of the interrelationships
between vernacular architecture and the cultural land-
scapes of diverse global societies has been accumu-
lated and comparative worldviews of building
traditions continue to unfold the diversity and com-
plexity of human habitats around the world.
3
Ongoing
academic studies not only contribute to the global
knowledge on architectures, but also remind us about
the risk, vulnerability and loss of cultural heritage as a
result of rapid change.
South-east Asia is a vast and complex region, com-
prising hundreds of languages and cultures. It is not
only a geographical area, but also a product of social
discourses and political histories.
4
It has long been one
of the prominent sites for exploring vernacular archi-
tecture, especially architecture of ethnic groups in the
tropical climate zone. The geographic relationship
between South-east Asia and neighbouring regions,
together with its diversified ethnic cultures, has made
South-east Asia an intriguing site for cross-cultural
case studies. These include, for example, the study of
stilt houses in the area between South-east Asia and
southern China as the representative case studies of the
oldest surviving examples of house forms evolved
from ancient tree-house dwellings,
5
the knowledge
from which is used to explain the archetype of houses
built on the ground, which have been one of the prom-
inent Chinese prototypes of vernacular dwellings.
6
Worldwide, South-east Asian housing typologies and
timber building technologies were often used as the
prominent case studies of pile dwellings of the tropics
and timber building technology.
7
EXISTING STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOUTH-
EAST ASIAN ARCHITECTURE
There have been scholarly attempts in recent decades
to bring together the comprehensive knowledge on
South-east Asian architecture. These include, for
instance, the works of Fox,
8
Waterson,
9
Schefold,
10
Oranratmanee
11
and Seo.
12
These regional analyses
outline some predominant features relating to the spa-
tial and social aspects of architecture. Further contribu-
tions to the understanding of South-east Asian
vernacular architecture studies have been made, includ-
ing the identification of characteristics of South-east
Asian houses by Schefold based on Waterson’s
authoritative book on South-east Asian houses, which
outlines seven principle characteristics of houses,
including: 1) the tripartite house, 2) multi-levelled
floors, 3) outward-slanting gables, 4) outward-slanting
walls, 5) gable finials, 6) saddle-backed roofs and 7)
treatment of roots and tips in the use of timber as floor
panels (see Fig. 1).
13
Field studies have also developed a clearer picture
of the diffusion pattern of architecture in the region,
including, for example, the cultural map of house
forms, which shows the similarities and differences of
South-east Asian dwellings (Fig. 2).
15
In addition,
#The Vernacular Architecture Group 2019 DOI: 10.1080/03055477.2018.1524217
Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 49 (2018), 99–120

cross-cultural studies between South-east Asia, East
Asia and Asia have been undertaken, including the
works of Izikowitz and Sorensen,
16
Funo,
17
Ara and
Rashid,
18
and Kubota, Rijal and Takaguchi,
19
contribu-
ting to the shared understanding of human habitats
between South-east Asia and Asia.
Although the body of knowledge about South-east
Asian architecture has continually progressed over
time, there are still some gaps in the recent debates on
South-east Asian regional studies. Most pre-existing
works by architects on South-east Asian vernacular
architecture tend to pay a lot of attention to the spatial
qualities of design, but less attention to the relative
concepts between cultural landscape and vernacular
architecture, especially the interrelationship between
social and spatial aspects of built forms.
20
Another gap
lies in the investigation of more recent changes in ver-
nacular architecture, particularly in the last decade,
Figure 1. Characteristics of South-east Asian houses (after Schefold
14
)
Figure 2. Cultural map of South-east Asian house forms (credit: the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE100

which can deepen our understanding about the resili-
ence of vernacular architecture in the present-
day context.
21
CASE STUDY OF SHAN IN MYANMAR
This paper aims to explore the spatial and social
aspects of South-east Asian vernacular architecture
through the detailed investigation of the Shan in
Myanmar.
22
A review of previous studies about Shan
reveals the current state of knowledge about the sub-
ject. Scholarly works include the social studies of
Leach,
23
Hallet,
24
Milne,
25
Poolsuwan
26
and Sai Aung
Tun.
27
These social studies, which are in the early
stages of academic exploration in Shan State, provide
valuable information about Shan in broad terms, yet
they lack a detailed investigation on the spatial dimen-
sion of cultural landscape and architecture. Some
Figure 3. Map of study area, Shan and Tai settlements in upper South-east Asia (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 101

architectural explorations include those by Lubeigt,
28
Clement-Charpentier
29
and Panin,
30
which explore
Shan architecture in the bordering areas between
Myanmar and Thailand, yet little has been done in
Shan settlements in other geographic areas. Recent
work by Oranratmanee involves fieldwork investiga-
tion of the Shan cultural landscape and architecture in
India,
31
Myanmar
32
and China,
33
which has amassed
more data which complements Shan architec-
ture studies.
Shan is a sub-group of the Tai ethnic group living
in a vast area in upper mainland South-east Asia. The
largest Shan settlements are in Shan State, Myanmar,
while smaller settlements are found in North-east
India, southern China and northern Thailand (see a
map showing Shan together with Tai settlements in
Fig. 3). Historical studies, especially the Shan
Chronicles,
34
have recorded that the area of today’s
Shan State bears some historical significance as being
a part of an ancient trade route, namely the southern
Silk Road, linking China, India and the Middle East.
35
Moreover, it is the capital of the Shan feudal states
during the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, before being
defeated by the Chinese Empire. During the period of
Shan rule, the Shan expanded their territory to south-
ern China, north-eastern India and northern Thailand,
which led to cultural assimilation into mainstream
Chinese, Indian, Thai and Burmese cultures.
36
Due to
political turmoil between ethnic minorities and the
Myanmar military government, Shan State has been a
relatively closed area to external contact. Even so,
most traditional environments in Shan State are well
preserved due to the strong social ties and conservation
concerns by the Shan themselves. As a result, Shan
State has been a crucial source of information on
Shan studies.
In terms of culture, Shan and their Tai ethnic group,
who are one of the largest South-east Asian rice culti-
vators, have been practising a traditional method of
wet-rice cultivation deeply rooted in South-east Asia.
The dwelling culture of Shan is a result of their
livelihood as rice farmers who live in the lowland
geographies in the tropical monsoonal climate zone.
The Shan social system bears some common character-
istics of Tai, including the common language belong-
ing to the Tai-Kadai language family, the belief system
comprising a combination of animism and Buddhism,
the kinship system with an extended family structure
with patrilineal descent and patrilocal residence, and
the subsistent farmer way of life.
37
IDEOLOGIES ABOUT SHAN SETTLEMENTS
Existing studies on Shan have revealed some basic
aspects of their cultural landscape and architecture and
its morphology. The ideology of Shan settlement
adopts the integrative concept of the interrelationship
between village and township used commonly among
the Tai ethnic group,
38
namely baan-muang in Tai lan-
guage (Fig. 4).
The baan-muang system, as shown in Figure 4,
consists of several rings of social relationships: indi-
viduals living together in a family system, several
families with social ties grouped together to form a
village or baan,manybaans over a wide area
grouped together to become a town or a city or
muang and several muangs with a shared governing
system then forming a state and, ultimately, a
nation.
40
According to Tambiah,
41
the Tai’sbaan-
muang system is a concept of ‘galactic polity’in a
politico-territorial sense, which means a kingdom or
a principality in terms of its centre-oriented space
and its satellite domains. Tambiah also noted that
the baan-muang system is an open and interdepend-
ent way of life linked by the social and economic
relationships of the lowland groups of the South-east
Asian peninsula.
MORPHOLOGY OF SHAN LANDSCAPE AND
ARCHITECTURE
A Shan proverb states that ‘wherever there is water,
the Shan live’. The ideal site for settlement was
regarded as a seasonal floodplain with a network of
waterways surrounded by hill slopes and forest resour-
ces, thus a settlement in a river valley usually follows
the spatial land form. According to the literature by
Sai Aung Tun,
42
a Shan settlement is comprised of a
small number of kinfolk wandering together to search
of a place to settle. Once the ideal site is found, they
perform rituals to ask for permission from the spirits
of the land and test the condition of the soil for rice
plantation. Once favourable, the process of settlement
begins through a ritual of ancestral spirit worship by
inviting them to reside in a wooden pillar or a spirit
house that signifies the heart of the settlement. This
wooden pillar or spirit house becomes the centre of
each settlement and is assigned as a sacred node for
communal ritual practices. Once the settlement is
Figure 4. Ideology of Baan-muang system of Tai ethnic
group (after Sai Aung Tun
39
)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE102

defined, the kinfolk agree on village sites and bounda-
ries, allocate land use for rice fields, organise the water
supply and irrigation systems and define the rules for
forest use and conservation.
Nartsupa
43
noted that Shan villages were socially
and economically constructed based on the concept
of a self-sufficient economy rooted in South-east
Asian agricultural society: individual villages were
small, compact and self-reliant, while each village
consisted of dwelling compounds with some shared
communal functions, including a Buddhist temple,
an open space and sometimes a small, local market.
Zhu Liangwen
44
explained the morphology of houses
from the Tai mythical concept of human evolution,
known since ancient times (see Fig. 5). According to
the myth, the supreme spirit created the first human on
earth, who later gave birth to several men and women
to be a cradle of mankind. At first, people relied on the
hunter-gatherer way of life and lived together in small
numbers in natural cave dwellings. As time went by,
people learned to grow crops and live in a larger social
group. The cave dwellings became too small to accom-
modate an increasing number of people, and, as a
result, the people wandered into the wider world to
find more and better places to live. The supreme spirit
noticed the form of a tree shade and used it to create
the first form of a house, being a four-post shed with a
flat roof. However, the temporary structure could not
stand the heavy rain. He later adapted the shape of a
sitting dog to form a stilt house with a lean-to roof.
However, a lean-to roof was inferior because it permit-
ted rain from some directions into the house, so the
supreme spirit had to seek a new form. He then
adapted the form of a phoenix’s wings and extended
the roof overhangs in four directions, which became
the persistent form of Tai houses until the present day.
Milne
46
noted that a typical Shan house was custom-
arily built in a compound, which usually consisted of a
main house and some outbuildings, including grana-
ries, storage spaces and animal pens. Customarily, a
main house is covered by a roof with rounded ends,
thereby called hern long toob mon, meaning a large
house with a round-ended roof (see Fig. 6). Lubeigt
47
and Clement-Charpentier
48
similarly noted that the
main house simply contained necessary functions of an
extended family living together, comprised mainly of a
common hall signified by the hearth for family cook-
ing, a gathering space and some sleeping corners for
family members. A rice granary is usually built inside
or next to the main house; the size of the rice granary
reflects the wealth of its owner.
According to rules regarding orientation, the front
part of a Shan house usually faces south, while bed-
rooms face north.
50
Panin
51
explained further that
spaces in everyday life are given significance in differ-
ent ways, including, for example, the spaces assigned
according to the role in the family and the existence of
several sacred nodes in a house, such as a Buddhist
shrine, the spiritual post, the fire spirit at the hearth
and the guarding spirit at doorways and accesses.
Panin likewise observes that these spatial marks find
widespread parallels in other South-east Asian cultures
where similar patterns of dwelling can be found.
ANALYSIS OF SHAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
AND ARCHITECTURE
This section provides a detailed description of the Shan
landscape and architecture based on a one-year field
study, including physical surveys in 25 Shan villages and
measurements of 111 houses. The data collection
included social enquiries about the sociocultural system
and physical enquiries about the patterns of settlements,
villages and houses. The key informants were mainly vil-
lagers, village leaders and craftsmen. The analysis is
focused on three areas: the settlement system based on
the concept of baan-muang relationship, the spatial con-
figuration of villages and the detailed analysis of houses.
SETTLEMENT SYSTEM
The fieldwork began with in-depth interviews with vil-
lage leaders and villagers about the concepts of Shan
settlements in relation to the geographies of lowland
river valleys. The data from interviews not only
Figure 5. The myth about house forms (after Zhu Liangwen
45
)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 103

confirms the ideal pattern, as described in the litera-
tures, but also visualises the spatial pattern according
to the ideal concepts. As explained, a river basin in
Shan State is usually made up of narrow river valleys,
each forming a network of the main river and its tribu-
taries, similar to a tree trunk and branches. A river
basin has four directions: neu,tai,wanok and wantok,
meaning upper river, lower river, east and west
respectively. A muang covers the whole settlement in
a river basin. The largest and most levelled flat land
with a large river running nearby is ideal for a pro-
tected town centre, called vieng or keng or chiang,
meaning the protected and fortified inner core. Inside
the vieng are some important nodes, including a sacred
pillar and/or a shrine of the muang spirit, a grand
house for the leader and royal families, a grand temple,
a central market and public open spaces. On the other
hand, baans or villages are situated around the periph-
eries of the vieng, or the town centre, and expand fur-
ther in a linear pattern along the smaller river
tributaries. For transportation, small local roadways are
built to connect the town centre and villages, mean-
while large roadways are built for inter-township trans-
portation between one muang and another muang in
adjacent river basins. As settlements can be quite
extensive, some shared economic facilities, especially
marketplaces, are established along the intersections of
roadways to serve the demand for economic exchange.
These marketplaces, called kad ha wan, meaning a
five-day market,
52
are in five locations around the
township. They operate every day on a rotational basis
from one location to another.
The analysis of Shan settlements has identified
evidence that conforms to the ideologies of Shan’s
baan-muang system. To provide a clearer picture, one
settlement, namely Muang Yaung (or Yawng in
Burmese spelling) in eastern Shan State is used as an
example (see Figs 7 and 8).
Muang Yaung is a township in the eastern Shan
State with an area of 162 square kilometres. It is situ-
ated in the Yuang River Basin, which is a tributary of
the Mekong River, the largest river basin of South-east
Asia. From surveys, it was found that settlements in
the Yaung River Basin include a town centre, namely
Vieng Yaung (Yaung fortified centre), with 94 vil-
lages, or baans. There is one main roadway connecting
the northern and southern parts of the river basin,
which continues as an inter-township linkage between
the Muang Yaung and other townships nearby. Other
small roadways are used as a local transportation net-
work to connect the town centre and villages located
in the river tributaries, while the five-day marketplaces
are located at the intersections of the road network.
According to interviews and complementary geo-
graphic survey data, the Yuang river basin has three
important natural nodes: 1) Doi, or mountain ranges
acting as boundaries between the lowland and highland
settlements, as well as being the forest and the head of
water; 2) Nam, or rivers; and 3) Thung, or fields used
for wet-rice cultivation, mixed crop plantations and a
collective civic ground in times of war. Inside Vieng
Yaung are important central nodes, including a muang
spirit, a grand temple, a central market and public
open space.
Figure 9 shows a panoramic view of the village sys-
tem of a settlement in the same tributary called baan
nam dew kan, literally meaning villages in the same
river. An interview with village leaders clarified the
idea that villages located in the same river basin usu-
ally form a collective settlement of villages bound by
Figure 6. Traditional Shan house with a round-ended roof (after Milne
49
)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE104

connections to the same river, socially by kinship rela-
tions and economically by shared labour for rice plan-
tations and associative communal activities. These
villages usually pool their resources to fulfil social
tasks such as the maintenance of a common irrigation
system, the construction of public facilities, the har-
vesting tasks and the ritual practices in village life.
SPATIAL CONFIGURATION OF VILLAGES
This part of the analysis explains the conceptual ideas
and spatial composition of Shan villages. As is
expressed in the interviews, Shan regard the village as
an animated being, which begins life through the ritual
of worshipping the land and ancestral spirits, followed
by the establishment of a village spirit house to signify
the place of the village’s origin.
Spatially, the average size of a Shan village, accord-
ing to the survey data, was 60 houses with a popula-
tion of 300. The social elements of villages include a
village temple, a village spirit house, a public open
space and a graveyard. Some villages may lack some
of these elements as they are relatively small; in such
cases, they share social facilities with a bigger village
nearby. An example of a village, namely Baan Yang
How, comprised of 72 houses with 400 people, illus-
trates the spatial composition of a village (see Fig. 10).
Figure 7. A map showing an example of Muang Yaung, the Shan township in eastern Shan State (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 105

From Figure 10, the spatial composition of the vil-
lage constitutes three main parts relative to the river,
including the hua (head), kaang (middle) and haang
(end/tail). The hua is the upper part of the village in
relation to the head of the river, usually providing
access to the social areas of the village; the kaang is
the village centre where the spirit house and common
areas are located; and the haang is the end point and
provides access to the cemetery and forest. As the
river in this village runs from south to north, the head
of the village and the location of the temple is on the
south side, while the end or tail of the village is
located in the north. A collective number of house
compounds in the figure exhibits an average size of a
Shan village in Shan State. House compounds are
located along both sides of the river. All houses
Figure 8. Photographs of Muang Yaung (credit: the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE106

orientate the roof ridges in a parallel direction to the
river flow. A house compound is loosely enclosed by
bamboo fencing, with a few openings for access to a
network of green pathways that runs throughout the
village. The boundaries of villages are comprised of a
continuous row of bamboo and palm trees, which mark
the village territory, meanwhile providing a wind buf-
fer and sun screen. Bamboo and palm trees also pro-
vide food as well as building and craft materials for
the villagers. Beyond the village compound are agri-
cultural farmlands comprised mainly of rice fields and
orchards. The extent of agricultural farmland per
household is two to four acres on average, which is
suitable for the labour provided by, and daily con-
sumption of, a household with five to ten people.
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF HOUSES
The analysis of houses can be divided into four main
parts: 1) house compounds, 2) developments of house
forms, 3) characteristics of the main house and 4)
building structures, rituals and construction.
(1) House compounds
The study of house compounds aims to explore the
composition of the structures within it to reveal the
spatial organisation of domestic functions. As the lit-
erature outlines, an ideal Shan house compound is
comprised of the main house, or hern long, and some
subordinate structures. To confirm this ideal, and to
explore further the underlying meaning of spatial com-
position, an isometric projection and a photograph of
the house compound is provided in Figure 11. This
shows a house compound comprised of the basic ele-
ments, including the main house, a rice barn and sev-
eral storage areas. These domestic functions are
grouped together in cleared ground surrounded by
green landscape. In terms of spatial relation and direc-
tional references, the main house, facing southward, is
at the centre of the land plot. A well-cleared ground
can be found in front of the main house, providing the
neat foreground while also functioning as the welcome
space between visitors and the owner before entering
the compound. The rice barn is near the main house
on the east side, while other storages, such as firewood
and animal pens, as well as toilets and garden, are in
the west back side.
(2) Developments of house forms
The following derives from interviews with craftsmen
and local experts about the chronological developments
of the Shan house from the past to present times.
Based on interviews, the ideal Shan house is a house
with a round-ended roof, referred to as hern long toob
mon (Fig. 12, first row), which is similar to those iden-
tified in the literature; however, this form of house is
rarely seen today. A reference to this type of house
could be found from some old photographs taken dur-
ing the nineteenth century by Western scholars. An
Figure 9. Panoramic view of villages in the same tributary (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 107

early phase of development shown in the second row
of the same figure is identified as a two-roof compos-
ition, or hern song song, having a main house with a
round-ended roof and a smaller house next to it. This
type evolved due to the demand for the separation of
the kitchen and need for additional sleeping places for
sub-families of the sons who, by Shan custom, reside
in the same house after marriage. The two-roof
Figure 10. An aerial map and photographs of a village, namely Baan Yang How, exemplify the village settings (credit:
the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE108

composition was widespread during the period of Shan
commercial trading and colonialisation during the nine-
teenth century onward, which brought in the ideas
about the segregation of space between cooking and
living areas for a healthy living environment and the
demand for privacy. Later, in the third row, more
diverse forms of additions of smaller physical struc-
tures into the main house were made, which resulted
in a main house with several small roofs connecting to
it, called hern ngok hern nga. From an interview, it
was noted that the words ngok and nga are generally
used to mean the blooming of small branches from a
Figure 11. An isometric projection and a photograph showing the characteristics of a house compound (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 109

tree, so hern ngok hern nga is also a metaphor for the
growth of a house like the growth of a tree branch,
which signifies animated analogies of the house. This
form emerged when newer roofing materials, espe-
cially clay tiles and zinc roofs, were introduced into
Shan villages from the twentieth century onward. The
development of the house forms in recent decades
(Fig. 12, fourth row) includes the covering of verandas
for shaded living spaces and additional decorative
details such as the construction of a small house for
the Buddha shrine at the front to express the strong
Buddhist belief. These varied forms of spatial and
elemental additions exhibit the diverse self-expression
of values.
The survey data of Shan houses from the fieldwork
have found mostly houses with two-roof composition,
because they are a good size for the average contem-
porary Shan family. Although the single-roof house
was found in some remote villages, they were not cov-
ered with round-ended thatched roof. The interviewers
said that the rounded-end roof is not common now-
adays due to the demand for more sunlight and natural
ventilation in a warmer climate. Meanwhile, the
thatched materials are harder to find than new materi-
als, such as clay tiles and zinc materials, which are
available in the local market. Most houses are still
made of timber structures using communal labour,
while some newer houses are made of brick and mor-
tar by outside contractors.
(3) Characteristics of the main house
This section explores the deeper layer of the main
house, or hern long, which is considered as the most
sacred domestic structure within a Shan house com-
pound. An architectural survey of Shan houses based
on measurements and sketches of floor plans, sections,
isometric projections and photographs of the exterior
and interior of houses has found that, although today’s
Shan houses appear varied in their forms, as explained
in the previous section, there is a uniform pattern to
the main house in the case studies.
As explained by the villagers, the main house, or
hern long, is built to accommodate spaces for daily
life activities and consists of spaces for eating (kin),
residing (yoo), resting and sleeping (lub/norn). The
rule concerning the spatial division of a hern long is
called hern sam hong, which literally translates as a
three-room house (Fig. 13). This rule determines the
spatial arrangement of a house lengthwise in three
parts, including na hern, which means the front part;
kaang hern, which means the middle part; and nai
hern, which means the inner part. The na hern is an
Figure 12. Development of house forms and plans (credit: the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE110

open or semi-open veranda for receiving guests; kaang
hern is the main hall for family gatherings; and nai
hern is the private space where the family sleeps. The
sequence of na–kaang–nai embraces the ideas of
three-part division and the transition of spaces from
outside to inside, from public to private and from pro-
fane to sacred.
Based on interviews, a hern long is considered a
sacred place; therefore, it is signified with several spir-
itual elements (Fig. 14). These include 1) sao kwan,
which means a spirit post, and is commonly located on
the east side or in the north-east corner, 2) keng phra,
or Buddha shrine, located in the middle hall facing an
easterly direction, 3) phi phai, which means a hearth,
and is located in the middle hall in a westerly direc-
tion, and 4) mai jai hern, which means the heart of the
house, comprised of some three to nine wooden sticks
located above head-height along the length of the
house.
53
These sticks are made of small hardwood
sticks that are placed on top of the cross-beam of
roof structure.
The spatial relations of the sacred elements have
specific meanings in the Shan belief system. Sao kwan
is the first post placed into the ground and is consid-
ered as a reference for the origin of the house. Sao
kwan,
54
or spirit post, also known as sao phi,
55
which
literally means the ancestral post, holds beliefs about
the togetherness of living between ancestors and their
descendants. Keng phra, or Buddha shrine, signifies
the belief in the Buddhist faith. The eastern direction
of keng phra is associated with the direction of
Buddha’s enlightenment, while the western side is
reserved for human activities signified by a phi phai or
hearth. The position of mai jai hern lengthwise in the
middle position above the head signifies the livelihood
of the house.
There are specific rules for the house orientation,
which exhibit careful consideration of the relationship
between the dwelling and geographies (Fig. 15).
Interviews with ritual leaders revealed that the Shan
determine the house orientation in relation to the geo-
graphic elements such as the flow of the river, and
sunrise and sunset. The four directional references are
comprised of hong, meaning the room, which refers to
the north; chan, meaning the veranda, which refers to
the south; wan ok meaning sunrise, which refers to the
east; and wan tok, meaning sunset, which refers to the
west. According to the rules regarding orientation, the
front of a house with a veranda, or chan, usually faces
south, and the head of a house where the room, or
Figure 13. The rule of hern sam hong (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 111

hong, is located usually faces north. The Buddha
shrine and sacred post are usually located on the east-
ern side, while the kitchen and other associated func-
tions are on the western side. Following these rules,
the house axis has associative binary opposition.
North–south is associated with lower–upper, outer–in-
ner, veranda–room and public–private, while east–west
is associated with sunrise–sunset, sacred–profane, spi-
rit–man and male–female.
The orientation of the house not only ties the dwelling
to geographies but also governs the rules of internal
space arrangement. The sleeping position is usually
aligned in east and west directions to respond to the posi-
tions of the Buddha shrine and the spirit post. The eldest
member usually sleeps in the innermost corner of the
room and nearest to the spirit post with the head always
pointing to the east and the feet to the west. The Shan
believe that north and west are not good directions for
sleeping, as north is associated with the direction in
which Buddha pointed his head as he died, and west is
the direction of sunset and the direction in which a dead
body is laid during a funeral. Some other minor rules
prohibit the pointing of feet in the direction of the stairs,
as this is the direction in which a dead body is carried
away from home to the cemetery. If the house is situated
near a river, the sleeping position should never be paral-
lel to the water flow, as this resembles a dead body that
always floats downstream. There is also a rule about
how to treat the root and the tip of timber while laying
floor panels. This is called kinngaononplai,which
means ‘eat at the root and sleep at the tip’.
The size and scale of the house owner are used as
the standards for measurements and construction of the
house. Figure 16 shows the systems of human-scaled
measurement, which include kuep,sok and wah, which
relate to the hand width, hand-to-elbow length and
Figure 14. Analysis of the sacred elements (credit: the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE112

two-arm length respectively (Fig. 16a). The form of a
house is designed following a careful consideration of
household spatial requirements and social beliefs
(Figure 16b). First, the members of the house deter-
mine the spatial requirements and the composition of
form as either a simple hern long or a combination of
ahern long and some extended structures. The size of
the hern long is defined by the number of hongs or
spans in length by the number of hongs or spans in
width. The length of a hong or a span relates to the
activities and the number of users in the space.
Generally, a hong is approximately 4–5sok or hand-
to-elbows lengthwise, while in terms of width it is
slightly longer at approximately 5–6sok. Vertically,
size is divided into three sections, namely tai hern,ner
hern and jom hern or the lower, upper and top parts of
a house. These have heights of 4–5sok,4–5sok and
3–5sok respectively. Altogether, the typical size of a
hern long is approximately 12–15 sok in length by
10–12 sok in width by 11–15 sok in height. The exten-
sion parts of a hern long normally include a kitchen
and sleeping units for sub-families. These must always
be of a smaller size, with smaller access points than
that of the main house.
(4) Building structures, rituals and construction
The structure of a Shan house is based on the post-
and-beam timber system (Fig. 17).
As the house is built using trees from natural for-
ests, there is a process of material collection over time,
especially with regard to the acquisition of mai kao
kong, which means the nine piles of wood used as the
major structural components. These include sao
(posts), hun or khan (beams), tong (joists), kue (cross
beams), pae (purlins), klon (rafters), mai pan (wooden
floors) and pha (wooden walls). To prevent decay to
wooden materials, the collection of mai kao kong as
well as the preparation of the wooden floors and wall
panels usually occurs during the summer months.
Analysis of the village annual calendar in a year
reveals that the best months for housing construction
are between December and March. During this period,
the weather is cool and dry, the rice has been har-
vested and religious activities are minimal. The con-
struction of the house is carried out using a communal
labour support system called ao mue ao wan, which
literally means a system of shared labour. As house
construction is a communal activity, this usually takes
place when most villagers are free from daily routines
and annual activities.
The construction of a house is called pok hern,
which means planting the house into the ground, as an
analogy of a house as an animate object that can be
born, grown and then lived in by the family. The start-
ing date for construction is decided by a ritual leader
based on the date and time of birth of the head of the
household. Interviews with house owners and builders
determined that house construction involves some rit-
ual practices (Fig. 18).
The construction ceremony begins early in the
morning with a commencement ritual that asks for per-
mission from the spirit of the land to construct a
house. The ritual of planting the sacred post, or sao
kwan, then commences by digging a hole around 1–2
elbows deep, putting auspicious objects including
coins, gold and small pieces of jewellery inside, laying
the bedrock and pounding the post into the ground.
Once the sacred post is upright, it is wrapped in ancestral
clothes and worshipped by offering food for the ances-
tors. The sacred post is then sprinkled with clean water,
symbolising crystallised rain that gives life to the post
and, likewise, to the house. Installation of the remaining
posts is followed by placing one against another in an
east-to-west direction or as pairs from one side to the
other. Once all the posts are in place they are fixed by
Figure 15. Analysis of directional reference (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 113

joining the major structural components consisting of
beams, joists, purlins and rafters before placing the
floors, wall panels and roof shingles. The construction of
a house usually takes a few days to complete.
Construction of associated functions, including the rice
granary and storages, is made after completion of
the house.
A rice granary, on the other hand, is a smaller
wooden structure made of six to ten wooden posts.
The construction of a rice granary is made by placing
the stone foundation on the ground, erecting posts on
top, placing the floor beams and roof structure, laying
wooden flooring and putting up wall panels behind the
posts to bear the load of rice inside. There are no
permanent stairs for the rice granary; only movable,
lightweight stairs are used for access when needed.
A Shan house usually survives several generations,
and the life of the house continues with the life of the
family. Maintenance, repairs and additions are carried
out according to family needs. According to the rules
about Shan family and patrilocal residence, the sons
stay inside their house after marriage, thus a Shan
house tends to have some sub-families, including the
families of the parents and the married sons, as well
as the grandparents. Through the lifetime of a house
and inhabitants, a Shan house tends to be enlarged
according to the increasing number of inhabitants,
except in the case when a new family build a new
Figure 16. Size and scale of the house (credit: the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE114

house of their own, which is becoming a norm in
these days due to the change in privacy needs.
Reduction in space, however, is not common, except
when the house has become rundown through neglect.
In such cases, some parts may be removed for safety
reasons. A house may be demolished entirely only
when its owner wishes to build a new one or when its
owner dies, and the house is left abandoned, which is
rarely the case.
ANALYSIS
This investigation has revealed several main character-
istics of Shan cultural landscape and architecture,
which are summarised in Figure 19. An analysis of the
settlement reveals the strong relation between the spa-
tiality of the settlement, geographies and social sys-
tems. The metaphorical concept of the human body
determines the spatial arrangement of a settlement
within a defined geographic boundary. An analysis of
Figure 17. Building structure system (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 115

Shan villages emphasised the settlement system bound
by kinship. Similar to settlements, most villages are
aligned along a river and use the river as the reference
for orientation. The village is comprised of three parts,
resembling the metaphoric concept of the human body.
Several village elements signify spatial relationships
Figure 18. Building rituals and the construction process (credit: the author)
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE116

and, at the same time, perform social functions that
convey sacred meanings about Shan belief systems. A
detailed study of the house revealed identical charac-
teristics of Shan domestic architecture. A house and
several domestic units comprise a compound in
accordance with peasant life. The basic house form
consists of a large wooden structure built on stilts,
while the variations in forms emerged due to the
Figure 19. Summary of the main characteristics of the Shan case (credit: the author)
VERNACULAR HOUSES OF THE SHAN IN MYANMAR 117

spatial needs and as a reflection of the owner’s social
and economic status. Again, the space is divided into
three parts, following the embedded concept of the
human body. The space is laid out based on daily life
activities, demarcated in relation to sacred elements
and associated with uses according to genders, social
roles and ages. The size of a house is determined by
the social organisation of the family and the proportion
and measurement systems are based on the human
scale of its owner, while the construction process
embraces ritual practices for the well-being and pros-
perity of the house and its occupants.
CONCLUSION
This paper explores the interrelationships between set-
tlements, villages and houses. Based on detailed spa-
tial analyses, it identifies the ways in which social
concepts and ideologies can be interpreted in each of
these settings. Drawn from the paper are several key
concepts noted in preceding social and spatial studies,
including the complex social concepts of animistic and
Buddhism beliefs, cosmological relation, social system
of rice cultivators, life and meaning of home and
dwellings; and the underlying spatial concepts of low-
land and water-based geographies, duality and tripar-
tite relations and timber culture that are rooted in the
architecture in the tropical climate. By integrating the
social and spatial dimensions of landscape and archi-
tecture, the findings reveal how intangible worldviews,
ideologies and meanings exist in the tangible built
forms of domestic dwellings. As this paper exhibits,
the house, its compound, the surrounding village and
surrounding natural landscapes develop into a home
not only for an extended family household along their
life cycle but also for the existence of ethnic identity.
The architecture and cultural landscape thus grows
organically out of needs, requirements, lifeways and
norms of individuals and groups. Vernacular architec-
tures and landscapes of this sort are impressive due to
their organic quality, appropriateness, sustainability
and functions as sites of rituals, and of integration of
ideas about the sacred and the wider cosmos, which
make them very rich in meaning.
The knowledge from this Shan case study can be
used as a comparative case study for settlements in
South-east Asia and the bordering regions. The know-
ledge of settlement may explain the morphology of
South-east Asian cultural landscapes, which often ori-
ginate from rural agricultural-based townships and later
grow into urban cities, while in the knowledge of vil-
lages and houses lie some design implications, particu-
larly of communities of subsistence farmers as well as
vernacular-based design and construction of houses.
Beyond architecture of the Shan, the knowledge from
this paper can be extended further when looking at the
wider historical relationships between Shan and other
South-east Asian and Asian ethnic groups. This paper
confirms the ideologies rooted in various South-east
Asian ethnic groups, such as Mon, Khmer, Lawa and
the Burmese in the mainland, as well as the Malay and
other ethnic groups in the archipelagos. Nevertheless,
as has occurred in other regions in the world, South-
east Asia has experienced rapid changes as part of the
local and global dynamic of change, thus the search
for alternative means to tackle the changing conditions.
The lessons learned from case studies of Shan in the
South-east Asian context can become valuable sources
of knowledge, which may provide hints and thoughts
not only for vernacular architecture studies but also for
other related fields which seek the tacit knowledge
generated from vernacular architecture studies both
within and beyond South-east Asia.
As a point of departure, this paper suggests the need
for further study about the wider comparative links
based on the strong parallels of social and spatial char-
acteristics that can be seen across the cultural borders.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author expresses the sincere gratitude to the editor and
anonymous reviewers of this journal, whose valuable contributions
in providing comments and suggestions have helped to improve the
paper considerably. Thanks to the National Research Council of
Thailand for the research funding, to my students who assisted in
data collection and some illustrations and, specifically, to the
villagers and local experts in Shan State and Thailand for their kind
assistance on site access and interviews during the field studies.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
NOTES
1. Oliver, Encyclopedia Vernacular Architecture, ii.
2. Taylor, “Cultural Landscape and Asia,”537.
3. Oliver, Built to Meet Needs.
4. Thompson, “In Defence of Southeast Asia.”
5. This idea is recorded in the local myths of several ethnic groups in
southern China. Archaeological evidences regarding ancient house
forms found in southern China are similar to the tree-house type
referred in the mythical stories.
6. Gao, “Dai Vernacular House South China.”
7. Lewis, “Building on Piles.”
8. Fox, “Comparative Perspectives on Austronesian Houses.”
9. Waterson, The Living House; Waterson, “Visual Anthropology.”
10. Schefold, “The Southeast Asian House.”
11. Oranratmanee, Houses of Ethnic Groups in Southeast Asia.
12. Seo, Southeast Asian Houses.
13. Further reading can be found in Domenig, “Timber Orientation in
Traditional Architecture.”
14. Schefold, “The Southeast Asian House,”23.
15. Oranratmanee, Houses of Ethnic Groups in Southeast Asia,24.
16. Izikowitz and Sorensen, The House in East and Southeast Asia.
RAWIWAN ORANRATMANEE118

17. Funo, Houses in South-East Asia.
18. Ara and Rashid, “Ethnic House Form.”
19. Kubota, Rijal and Takaguchi, Sustainable Houses and Living.
20. Oranratmanee, “Addressing Southeast Asian Vernacular,”756.
21. Asquith and Vellinga, Vernacular Architecture Twenty-First
Century,1–20.
22. Oranratmanee, Settlements, Villages and Houses in Shan State.
23. Leach, Political Systems of Highland Burma.
24. Hallet, A Thousand Miles on Elephant in Shan State.
25. Milne, Home of an Eastern Clan; Milne, Shans at Home.
26. Poolsuwan, Shan State.
27. Sai Aung Tun, History of Shan State.
28. Lubeigt, “Shan (Burma, E.),”1059.
29. Clement-Charpentier, “Shan (Thailand, NW.),”1059–60.
30. Panin, Tai Architecture.
31. Oranratmanee, Patterns of Tai Houses in India.
32. Oranratmanee, Settlements, Villages and Houses in Shan State.
33. Oranratmanee, Dynamic of Vernacular Architecture in Dehong.
34. Witthayasakphan, History of the Great Tai.
35. Dodd, The Tai Race.
36. Santasombat, Lak Chang.
37. Sai Aung Tun, History of Shan State, 26.
38. Turton, “Architectural and Political Space.”
39. Sai Aung Tun, History of Shan State, 26.
40. State in this sense means the feudal states that dated back to the
thirteenth to fifteenth centuries.
41. Tambiah, “Classification of Animals in Thailand,”127–8.
42. Sai Aung Tun, History of Shan State.
43. Nartsupha, The Thai Village Economy.
44. Zhu Liangwen, The Dai, or the Tai and their Architecture,78–9.
45. Ibid., 77–9.
46. Milne, Shans at Home, 275.
47. Lubeigt, “Shan (Burma, E.),”1059.
48. Clement-Charpentier, “Shan (Thailand, NW),”1059–60.
49. Milne, Shans at Home, 276.
50. Wichasin, “Directional References Tai Language,”116–26.
51. Panin, Tai Architecture, 121, 128.
52. Further reading in Leach, Political Systems of Highland Burma.
53. According to interviews with inhabitants, when an owner of a
house dies, one wood stick must be taken out as a symbol of
loss. When all sticks are taken out then a house loses its soul and
must be demolished. This belief, as it seems, is used as a
reminder of the spiritual connection between the inhabitants and
their house.
54. Kwan literally means soul, and is related to an animistic belief.
55. When guests or new family members stay overnight inside a house,
the occupants must pay respect to and inform the ancestral spirits
about their coming.
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Rawiwan Oranratmanee, Faculty of Architecture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
rawiwan.o@cmu.ac.th
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