Thatched roof in Thailand: an overview of current situation and issues
タイにおける茅葺の現状と課題

Jermphiphat Natnitcha
ジャムピパット ナニチャー
１． Introduction
Thatched roof reflects indigenous roofing material andtraditional building knowledge across the world, includingthat of Thailand. It is a living heritage that integrates waysof living, social context, resource management,environmental aspect. However, Thatched roof usage andexistence are facing the challenge against social
movement and technology which resulted in its significant
diminishment. Progressive modernity and urbanization
have changed lifestyles and consequently changed thecharacteristic of these local houses (Horayangkura, 2001).
Thatched roof in Thailand, like many other traditional
technologies, was replaced by a longer lasting, ready touse roofing materials.
Modern thatched roofs are now used in hospitality andagriculture. But thatched roof houses are rarely to findhowever, they are found within indigenous communities.
Therefore, this research divided thatched roof into two
categories, domestic thatched roof, and commercial
thatched roof.
With the objective of understanding the current situation
and usage of thatched roof in Thailand, this research aims
to survey the process of producing thatched panels, study
indigenous culture and relation to natural conservation
form documents, collect online data of hotels, and analysis
those data for findings.
２． Thatch material and thatching process
There are 4 types of natural thatching materials (‘Grassthatch’, ‘Palm thatch’, ‘Fan palm thatch’, and ‘Leafthatch’). Grass thatch are the most common due to thenature distribution of material that can be found acrossevery region of Thailand. Grass thatched panels and Palm
thatched panels have been commercial products for a very
long time (HuangLao, 2019). On the contrary, Fan palm
grow naturally on high peak of the mountain (Knowledge
for Sustainable Highland Development, n.d.) which makeit a restricted material to certain area. Therefore, fan palm
thatched panel production is quite limited. Leaf thatch
material is also grown at 100-600 meter above sea level.
So, leaf thatch is mostly found in Northern Thailand.
学位論文梗概集 2021

３． Domestic Thatched roof
Domestic thatched roof refers to when thatched panels
are self-produced for personal use which represent asituation where thatch knowledge is being pass on to thenext generation of Thai people.
Karen indigenous as a case study, there are hotels thatreferences to Karen culture which are ‘Karen Eco Lodge’and ‘Karen Hill Tribe Lodge’ in Chiangmai. In
comparison to that, there is Karen communities in Kaeng
Krachan Forest Complex (KKFC) or Kaeng Krachan
National Park in the west of Thailand. Traditional Karenhouses usually have stilt structure, use partition to divide
space, and have about 3-meter span (Udnoonsombat,2018). Comparing both hotels to the characteristics oftraditional Karen house, hotels buildings have different
form and structure to that of the traditional. But both places
use thatched roof.

Figure 1 characteristic of traditional Karen house

Form and structure of houses in KKFC is similar totraditional Karen house. However, many houses hadchanged to modern roofing material due to economic
problem and nature conservation laws people in thecommunities cannot use material within the National Parkand cannot afford to buy thatched panels. The decreasingin traditional style housing combines with the campaign ofpromoting tourism in KKFC, they decided to build a‘cultural house’ by the cooperation of the government andChulalongkorn University. It was built to serve as an
information center and showcase the wisdom and lifestyleof the villagers.
４． Commercial Thatched roof
Commercial thatch refers to thatch that has been
produced and used for commercial objective. The data ofhotels are collected based on the registration of hotelbusinesses in Thailand then expand into the google map.
Pictures of hotels are checked via hotel reservation
websites (expedia.com, booking.com agoda.com) andofficial hotel website. Pictures of hotels are checked andused to analyze whether there is a usage of thatched roof
or not. Then the data are used for usages analysis as well.
The overall percentage is 3.21%, thatch usage in
Chiangmai is twice the number at 8.62%. Phuket’s isslightly higher than the standard at 3.71%. And there are
only 2 hotels out of over 2,500 hotels that use thatch inBangkok.
Divided the data by provinces, thatch material in
Chiangmai has the most variety of 4 types. There are only
2 hotels that use thatched roof in Bangkok, but both arepalm thatch. Phuket found a usage of synthetic thatch andpalm is dominant which contrast to the overall number.

to the context environment. Low-rise buildings, one story,
and stilt structures are common. Open spaces arecommonly used in correlation to functions like pavilion,
restaurant, and bar. While enclosed space is common to
guestroom function.
However, domestic thatch is on the different issue.
Since domestic thatch is related to rural areas andindigenous communities, though slower are gravitating
toward urbanization as well. More than that, indigenous
communities are oppressed by nature conservation laws
and regulations. Many cases, result in driving indigenous
communities away from their culture that is close to nature.
For instance, the case of Kaeng Krachan National Park
where Karen communities had been violating and forced
to move and live at other area than a place, they call home.
Hotels that use indigenous identity as a unique characterand resource to drawn tourists and local indigenous
settlement turned in to tourist attraction. Viewing from
thatched roof and architectural perspective, they are very
different. The latter results in strengthen traditional
lifestyle. But the former lacks the connection to thetraditional culture.
References

Figure 2 Thatched material usage and combination by
province

The most prominent roof shape is gable at 36.68%,
follow by hip roof at 18.69%, then cone roof at 11.42%,
and half hip roof at 10.73%. Other roof shape found in thisresearch are pyramid roof, shed roof, polygonal roof, flatroof, shed roof, lean to roof, dome roof, arched roof, barrelroof, and flying gable roof. Cone roof is ranked as high as
3rd place without the relation to the traditional Thai style.
５． Summary
Modern thatch exists in agriculture, rural area, within
the indigenous communities, and also in commercial
buildings. The commercial usage of thatch itself is also
related to nature aspect as can be seen from hotels data inpristine nature. It also shows in the design aspect that themost common way of thatch usage is with the connection

Knowledge for Sustainable Highland Development. (n.d.).
Retrievedfromhttps://hkm1.hrdi.or.th/knowledge/detail/161(accessed July 2021)
Horayangkura, V. (2001). Transforming traditions: architecture in
the ASEAN countries: Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. ASEAN Committee
on Culture and Information (COCI), 223-263.
HuangLao. (2019, August 2). Teakdoor. Retrieved fromhttps://teakdoor.com/famous-threads/39970-siamthailand-bangkok-old-photo-thread-272.html
Udnoonsombat, P. (2018). Construction method of the traditional
Pga K’NYAU’s house. A case study of cultural house
Bannpongluek-Bangkloy village, Kaeng Krachan
District,

Phetchaburi

Province.

ChulalongkornUniversity.

Abstract: Thatched roof reflects indigenous roofing material and traditional building knowledge across the world,
including that of Thailand. Due to changes in social fabric, way of lives, construction technology and manufactured
produce building materials, thatched roof usage and existence are facing the challenge against social movement andtechnology which resulted in its significant diminishment. Modern thatched roofs are used wildly in hospitality andagriculture. While the use of thatched roof for housing can be found within the indigenous communities. This researchaims to exploring current situation of thatched roof usage and craftsmanship in Thailand and analyze the usage ofthatched roof.

Summaries of Academic Theses 2021