Factors affecting the similarity-difference of houses In the forest concession period in Lampang and Phrae

Abstract

This article aims to study the architectural formats of Thai residential houses built during the forest concession period (1855 - 1960), and the factors of their similarity and difference. The research is based on field studies, using the communities within Wiang Nuea subdistrict, Mueang district, Lampang, and Nai Wiang subdistrict, Mueang district, Phrae as the study area. The houses are selected with purposed sampling method, using specific characters as the criteria, which results in 21 houses Lampang, and 21 houses in Phrae.

The result shows that Thai residential houses could be divided into 2 groups namely: traditional architecture, which is the house with an inherited functional planning format from the past, and modern/applied architecture, which is the house with exterior features that are related to or reflect Western influence and has greater variety of planning formats than the traditional architecture group. The group can be categorized into 3 subgroups namely: 1) House owned by foreigners, has apparent Western influence, 2) House owned by local royals/ government officials, has Western influence with an applied planning format and 3) House with Western influence but still remains traditional planning format.

The factors leading to houses’ similarity are geological characteristics, local culture, local beliefs and attitudes to wood utilization, relationship between house orientation and city axis, Siamese government reformation, and usage of modern construction material and techniques. In contrast, the factors that lead to the houses’ difference are Siamese government’s forest concession operation after reformation, and entry of both foreigners and people outside the communities.