COMMERCIALS & TOURISM DISRUPTING THE CULTURAL BELIEFS IN TRADITONAL FLOOR PLAN DESIGN AT SISAVANGVONG
ROAD, LUANG PRABANG.
NUR ALYAA ADNAN & IQBAL NOR ASMADI ABSTRACTAs one of the fastest growing and most profitable industries in the world, tourism can provide limitless opportunities for economic development for countries like Lao P.D.R. It can generate income and employment effectively through the development of natural resources and cultural values. Luang Prabang is rich with cultural and heritage values. Through tourism, local communities have the opportunity to express pride in their own culture, traditions and beliefs, thus giving the motivation to revive threatened cultural practices. Situated where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet, while surrounded by lush mountains, Luang Prabang is becoming more popular among travellers for its unique riverside heritage town with abundant of street side commercial areas and markets.
But then again while heritage tourism in Luang Prabang is a relatively benign form of socio-economic change, it does share with many other developmental strategies a potential for cultural dislocation, which is not to say that it is inherently bad or exploitative [12]. Although it is agreeable that the tourism industry provides new economic opportunities for the locals, however, it concurrently results to the upsurge of new accommodations, additional services, and commercial areas to be built. This involves continuous constructions, renovations and improv on the existing traditional architecture.
Keywords: floor plan, heritage, traditional. commercial, tourism
1 INTRODUCTION
The tourism in Luang Prabang sets a platform of opportunity for the locals. Accurately, local produce markets and small businesses emerge to accommodate the visitors. Locals sets up tents, while some creates extensions of their private residence to start their own businesses. Subsequently, these led to immense change on the Luang Prabang housing tradition and its originally close-knit community [7]. And similar to many Southeast Asian traditional settlements, residential design in Luang Prabang were originally based on the traditional orientation system that were based on its rich heritage and cultural beliefs that considers environmental and site context. However, due to this upsurge of tourism activities in Luang Prabang, the district gradually deviates from instead of being a place devoted for worshiping and home to its people, to becoming a place of entertainment and commercially to cater tourists’ needs and habits.
Therefore, this discussion paper intended to support the arising question of does the market and small local businesses affect vernacular architecture floor plan? And does it cause a disruption on its traditional and cultural beliefs in their way of living?
This research employs case study approach of the selected site. The selected site is an alleyway located within the locals’ residential areas that connects to the main network, Sisavangvong Road in which is considered as one of the main tourism hotspots in Luang Prabang. For primary data collection, an observation on site was conducted with the support
ofphotographs and sketches. Whilst secondarydata were obtained throughprecedent studies, published articles, research papers and trusted internet references.
1.1Theoretical Framework of Study
1.2 Floor Plan Layout & Space Function According to The Laotian Traditions Way of Living & Cultural Beliefs.
The plan of the traditional Lao house or known as ‘Heuan’ obeys strict rules of space organization and construction [1]. Regardless of the type of house examined, one always discovers there a statute that governs its designdevelopment. The beliefs and rules of Laotian way of living have directed the architectural implications that allow to explain the configuration of the dwelling’s layout.
1.2.1 Lao Vernacular Architecture Vocabulary
Before preciselydefining a traditional model, it is essential to dwell a little on the vocabulary of the Lao house. The vocabulary of a its vernacular architecture enables to not only grasp the general organization of spaces provided inside but also their beliefs and philosophies on the Laotian way of living. And according to the work of Pierre Clément and Sophie ClémentCharpentier, their study offers a good synthesis of the Luang Prabang’s vernacular architecture and simplifies the characteristic [9].
Hong
This word defines a span used in the construction of traditional Lao dwellings. The word defines a distance between two poles. It is generally used to describe the span of the longitudinal façade of the house. It serves as a unit of measurement for houses. The size of a house is measured according to the number of Hong (spans) that can be found on the longitudinal facades. According to Lao philosophies, the main part of the house must have an odd number of spans.
Swam – This word is used to refer to the room as a whole, or sometimes just the place of the layers.
Haan
The word ‘Haan’ and space are only found in the Luang Prabang region and their housing architecture. It is an extension of space that precedes the private area of the house. Haan is located directly behind the ‘front gable’ façade or known as the front elevation of the house, where it consists of two windows (according to traditional construction philosophy). The space is commonly accessible to visitors and serves as a welcoming area or a guest reception room and subsequently directs access to the private part of the house from which it is separated by a threshold, transversely.
Sye – Usually found on traditional houses in Vientiane, it designates the veranda which runs along the large facade, the side of the entrance the part reserved for the room. This veranda is covered by a lean-to extending one of the sides of the main roof.
Labyeng or Rabyeng – This term refers to a different type of veranda or an open circulation area placed in front of the European-style houses in Luang Prabang.
Huuan Fai orThe Kitchen– In LuangPrabang, the kitchenis located either detached or offset of the main house since 1920.
Saan – A Saan is an open terrace commonly known as the ‘water terrace’, located at the back of the house. Occasionally, it is partially protected by an awning, side walls or fabrics that are spread out. This outdoor terrace is located adjacent to the kitchen, or in between the kitchen and the main body of the house. It is considered as an extension or a complement to the service area of the house. This is where the water is stored in jars. The presence of water
and sunlight define the many functions of the space: preparation of meals, dishes, laundry, drying, and toilet. The position of the Saan depends in any case that of the kitchen: it can combine with the kitchen to occupy with it the width of the main building (it can serve as a passage between the veranda and the kitchen or on the contrary be rejected beyond the kitchen) or be added to the volume of the kitchen.
A Luang Prabang traditional house consists of a linear floor plan built around two opposites; the closed or private part of the house and the open or public part. The private space serves as the place for the family members this part of the house is where the private rites take place, namely, birth, marriage, and death.
These are the significant characteristics of architectural element of the housing floor plan of the Luang Prabang region in which the three main spaces of the house are placed adjacent to each other linearly; the lodging and service area (private space) and the welcoming area, Haan (public area). The two main spaces were divided transversely (across) according to its zoning. From the Haan, only one door leads to the private area of the house, whilst the back door leads from the bedroom to the kitchen and the water terrace, Saan
1.2.2 Luang Prabang Traditional Residence Floor Plan Layout
Figure 1: Luang Prabang traditional house ‘Heuan’ floor plan [1]
Both types have the same characteristic pattern on the front gable facade: A low window near the entrance and a high window on the other side. The kitchen can in each case complement the main body in various ways depending on its position and its roofing. The kitchen is thus place either internal or external, contiguous or detached from the main body of the house. The kitchen and the Saan can be covered under the same roof together with the main house or detached under a different single or two-slope roof.
Taking into consideration on what will happen at the ground level of the settlement in Luang Prabang that was established beside a river. The process of the Lao traditional was deeply connected to local beliefs and subsequently associated with the traditional ceremony ritual [13]. Therefore, Lao people ago would go and consulted the design layout of the house with an astrologer especially on how to prevent the disturbance of the ‘Naga’ guardians where they believed live in the land and rivers. By respecting the law of nature and Naga as their spirit guardian, Lao traditional houses were planned and positioned parallel to the river, dividing the interior of the house into upper and lower part [13].
Figure 2: A model of the Luang Prabang traditional house zoning & general spaces
(Public Zone)
Lod (Private zone)
The integration of local beliefs into the plan of the Lao traditional house what transpired in various circumstances, where Lao people strongly believed about the life after the dead. Takingintoconsiderationthat there weredifferententrances forthelivingandthedead, when a person died, they were moved from the upper part of the house where the family slept to the lower part where the body was placed parallel to the horizontal beam with its feet facing the front elevation of the gable [13]. Because spirits were believed to move in a straight line, the body had to be transported out of the house, accordingly. A special ladder was built and positioned at the lower openingto carrythe bodyoutside and subsequentlyremoved to ensure that the spirit could not return [13]
Naga – The word naga in Lao has the same meaning as ngenuak or luang: a magical, big snake in Lao folktales that has a red crest and the ability to change form. Many Lao folktales depict naga as King Naga from the Mekong River, who fell in love with a human woman. They got married, lived by the river and had nine children, who believed to be the ancestors ofLao. ‘Nine’inLao is Kao. Therefore, the Mekong River is called Kao Loang or Kao Luang in Chinese, meaning nine nagas [5]
The Traditional Lao houses are made of wood or bamboo and are built on stilts above the ground. People live on the first floor of houses raised on the timber stilts [12]. Due to the respect to the nature and precaution and safety fromthe wild animal, the house was built high on hardwood posts and have a space beneath the raised floor (ground level) was for security reason and also for the storage place. Under the house, the Lao people usually keep animals, craft equipment such as a loom and simple food processing machines like large wooden, mortars and pestles. In the grounds around the house were often a rice granary, family livestock and poultry, vehicles, fruit trees, a kitchen garden and maybe a kitchen shack [13]
TheLao Traditionalhouses usuallybuiltonthe woodenpiles withthe floorfrom1to2meters above the ground. Intentionally built to keep the living area above the mud of the rainy season, provides a shady area under the house to work or rest during the day and allows the house to catch breezes for natural cooling [13]
Figure 3 (a): Naga motives.1.2.3 General Law of Lao Traditional Floor Plan Layout
1.2.3.1 The Orientation of the Living
An absolute rule in the traditional Lao dwelling architecture, is the sleeping arrangements. The occupants or the family members of the house must sleep with their bodies configured perpendicular to the longitudinal line of the roof ridges. The roof ridge lines itself must substantially be parallel to the course of the Mekong river.
Figure 3(b): A model of the Luang Prabang traditional house ground level’s functions.
Figure 4: Luang Prabang traditional house levels
(a) Flood (b) Food storage or gardening area
(c) Safety from wild animals (d) Natural cooling
Figure
Orientation is vital in the Lao traditional architecture philosophy; therefore, the direction of the occupants’ body must also be well respected and precise. During sleep, the head of the occupant must be placed against a wall and opposite to the circulation area of the house. It is because, the feet cannot be, even momentarily, over the head of someone who sleeps [9]
Same rules were also imposed regarding the orderly layout of the urban settlements [7]. The layout and the orientation of the neighbouring houses were correspondingly arranged according to the sleeping arrangements, neighbours placed their feet opposite to their neighbours resulting in the back of one house facing the back of another house.
5: Direction and orientation of sleeping arrangements in Lao traditional house
The place where the family members sleeps determines the intimate or the private part of the house, as opposed to the reception and circulation areas and the places of service in which to be considered as the public area.
All this rule however must also be associated to the obligation to orient the beamof the house parallel to the current of the river. The tradition also considers the direction of the members’ heads should face the East, towards the sun. While the West is considered as the direction of the shadow, meaning the end of life.
1.2.3.2 The Orientation of the Dead
In Lao tradition, the direction to be given to the dead is equally important as to the living. This integration of local beliefs into the floor plan of a traditional wooden house is imperative. When constructing the house, circumstances such as deaths were taken into consideration.Ifthereisdeathamongafamilymember,thedeceased bodyisorientedparallel to the ridges of the roof, consequently parallel to the river’s current and perpendicular to that of the living during their sleep [8]
In some region, the deceased will be placed at an area that normally serves as "room" to the family, in which located at the private part of the house.
In Luang Prabang, the feet of the deceased are placed directed towards the Haan (welcoming area of the house) or the front elevation of the gable. It is believed that the body of the dead must be "feet out front" and by the façade and placed in front of the door or the threshold that communicates the room and the Haan, this is because spirits were believed to move in a straight line [5]
Figure 6: Sleeping orientation between adjacent housesThere were also different entrances for the living and the dead, thus the body had to be transported out of the house, accordingly. A special ladder was built and positioned at the lower opening to carry the body outside and subsequently removed to ensure that the spirit could not return. The deceased is transported constantly longitudinally without taking the transversal position that is that of the living.
1.2.3.3 The Occupants’ Movements & Circulation
In Lao philosophy, whenever there is a change of place, or crossing a boundary between two spaces, supposedlythere is a change ofdirectionat a right angle. Generally, Lao people avoid straight line journeys; resulting the unique floor plan.
This principle also applies in housing configurations. If there are two houses placed side by side or facing each other along the same street, both houses cannot have their front door and therefore their welcoming staircase, arrange in the same axis. These architectural elements will have to be slightly offset between the neighbours.
Figure 7: The placement of the deceased family member and its orientation
These rules seem to be justified by a need for protection, keeping the occupants’ privacy and discretion. Having to turn at right angles every time you enter a new place implies the one who cannot go further to not look inwards. In addition to their beliefs, the Lao evoke the need to protect themselves from undesirable spirits or super naturals that is believed to move in a straight line: thus, by turning at the right angle with each movement is the way to create obstacles to the spirits’ journey. Also, the ‘open’ part of the house of the main circulation area betweenhouses should face each other or onthe contrary, the ‘closed’part. For example, one’s house front gable façade should not directly face his neighbour’s kitchen or the Saan, because it is considered as dirty. Thus, it is proper for the front façade to opposed each other in order to respect each other’s privacy [1].
Figure 8: Pictorial clarifications on the placement of the openings and kitchen location
General laws Ridges
Direction
• according or parallel to the course of river
• at the curve of the sun
Direction of The Living & The Dead
• Living: perpendi cular to the ridge
• Dead: parallel to the ridge
Luang Prabang
Orientation of the head vs. foot of the sleeper.
• Internal organizat ion
• Housing arrangem ents
Division of space between inhabitants vs. visitors
• private space
• open space
Divided into
3 main area:
• Receptio n
• Lodging
• Services
Binary disassociati on of each zone
• Serving space
• Service space
Spirits vs. Living Spirit: Move in straight line
Living: Move in at right angles
Divided transversely / across
2 SELECTED SITE STUDY
2.1 Sisavangvong Road, Luang Prabang.
Linear distribution
Haan –Bedroom –Services
Sisavangvong Road was located at the central of Luang Prabang, the road was the original location of the Haw Kham, the Lao royal family palace, built during the French colonial era for King Sisavangvong and the royal family members. Numbers of temple were also located along the road including one of the entrances to hike up the Phousi Hill. In Luang Prabang, the Phousi Hill dominates the small city. The hill, whose shape is similar to that of a pile of rice, is one of the elements that determined the central location of the city. The locals reside surrounding the holy hill, tracing the roads and planting the houses in parallel series along the streams of Mekong, on the flat banks, leaving the hill "entirely devoted to worship" [4]
Other than being a very significant historical and religious site, Sisavangvong Road is most famous for its night market and very lively street side cafes, bars and restaurants.
2.2 The Alleyway Market or ‘Buffet Street’
Linked to the main street of Sisavangvong, were small networks of alleys that houses some of the local’s private residences and guesthouses. The selected site is located in between the famous Indigo Café and the Tourist Information Centre. Being connected to obvious landmarks and the busiest street in Luang Prabang, the locals fairly took the opportunity to set up their own businesses along the alley.
Figure 9: Details on activities and site context surrounding the selected site (highlighted in red)
Among locals and visitors, the alleyis also renowned for its cheap dinner buffet stalls, hence, the name ‘Buffet Street’. Towards the end of the alleythere were pop-up tents and extensions of either temporary or permanent structures of street foods, local produce markets, and other basic groceries stalls.
Figure 10: The frontage view of the selected site. Viewed from Sisavanvong road.
Figure 11: The frontage entrance into the alleyway market or ‘Buffet Street’
Figure 13: A model of common single-storey house with additional temporary commercial space Depending on the business opportunity and strategy, some building has their commercial space set up at the front gable façade of the house. This action also has omitted the function of the space serves as the Haan (welcoming space for guest and occupants) in Luang Prabang’s traditional architecture.
Figure 14: Some of the houses along the alley (highlighted in red) had their roof ridges oriented perpendicular to the direction of the course of the river.
Figure 15: A single-storey compartmented housing with the commercial area is combined with the tenant's private home.
Figure 16: The commercial area is place directly in front of a private residence. The house compound and its’ entrances are highly vulnerable to many threats and insecurities.
