The beauty of Thai stilt house windows

• March 18, 2008 15:22

The windows are rectangular in structure, and can be made entirely of wood or bamboo mixed with wood. The vertical frames on both sides are called "to po" (bi bar). The horizontal frames above and below are called "to me" (mother bar). Place a horizontal bar, connect the two vertical frames, at a height to rest your arms, make eyelets for beauty, connect the horizontal bar to the horizontal frame below (mother bar) - these eyelets are called "to luc" (child bar). Thus, the window is a symbol of the family - with a complete "father, mother, and children". From the horizontal bar up, leave a space, above is made a horizontal bar and eyelets like below - to balance with the bottom for beauty, for the outside window (tú tong); the remaining windows can not be made because of the narrow area. The house is solid, made of wood, the windows can be carved, decorated elaborately.

The windows of a Thai stilt house, a part of the house, seem very normal, sometimes we do not pay attention. The problem worth mentioning is its philosophy of life. A peaceful home, how can it lack one of the elements: "father, mother, child". This is the wish, dream, and desire for happiness of people.

What inspired the Thai people to make windows with all the elements of "father, mother, child" like that? According to author Phan Ngoc Khue, it was the banana tree that inspired the ancient Thai people. The ancient Thai people lived in the mountains and forests, ate banana stems and banana fruits, and used banana leaves to roof huts and houses. They considered the banana tree their "soul" tree in Muong Then... Later, when society developed and life became better, when building houses, people designed all the elements of "father, mother, child" in the windows (*).

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(*) Reference and notes: Phan Ngoc Khue - From banana tree to window frame - Architecture Journal, No. 2/1984. pp.28,30.

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