Timber and Thatch

Architecture

By Peter Dunckelmann

WHEN visiting the South-Seas, one perceives similar impressions as those depicted in holiday catalogues sun drenched villages perched on the rim of the Pacific; white sand beaches fringed with pandanus trees and coconut palms.

These villages reveal inspiring examples of traditional skills and knowledge com bined with a sense of practical simplicity.

Materials, designs and implement

ations vary from bush, to highlands and to man-made islands in Malaita’s remote Lau Lagoon in the Solomon Islands, which have been constructed on sand bars or exposed stretches of reef with coral boulders taken from the reef.

The construction of homes, as well as of working and store huts, is a matter for ‘ he families concerned. The head of the Tamily would erect an additional house for hls adolescent, still unmarried sons and would be hel P ed m the task b Y them and c^ose relatives.

At first sight the dwelling and sleeping houses look flimsy; drafty huts rattled by t h e wind. Their ground surface is relatively small, measuring, for example, approximately smx7m or smaller. They consist of a roof, resting on four or six posts, and a suspended floor, about three to four metres above sea level. Some houses have walls made from timber planks. Others are fitted with mats made from the mid-ribs of coconut fronds, or

from pandanus leaves, which are woven into special pieces for this purpose.

The posts and beams are commonly made from pandanus trunks from which the cork-like outer layer has been removed. The main posts frequently rest on rocks or coral limestone which are buried in the ground. The roof thatch is produced from pandanus leaves, that gives the house a surprisingly cool ambiance.

All parts of the framework of houses were usually bound together with lash ings of coconut fibre cord. It’s still applied in most villages and nails are used only by those who are able to afford them.

On the mainland, on the larger islands, a few houses in the bush settlements beyond the ordinary villages are reminiscent of the old type of dwelling and sleeping house. The roofs of these houses extend down almost to ground level. Yet the present day dwelling and sleeping houses are a recent development and evocative of bungalows built by the more affluent households.

Since the beginning of European influence with the onset of the new religion, Christianity, traditional decor ations of houses have become almost obsolete.

The twentieth century is keeping pace in the South Seas and with increasing financial prosperity people embrace ma terials like fibre board, concrete, bricks and corrugated iron to build spacious, modern dwellings. To reinstate the old skills of building and decorating, samples of traditional houses were constructed in the compound of the Solomon Islands National Museum in the capital Honi ara. The rustic beauty of these timber and thatch houses co-exists in stark contrast to a modern age skyscraper across the road.

Rustic beauty: of timber and thatch