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Over time, concrete slabs have been added to support the wood and extend the pillars foundation into the ground, making buildings more stable in the case of flooding .

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This is a graph showing the ultimate tensile and compressive strengths of materials used in stilt housing. Concrete, mild steel (construction), bamboo and hardwood are evaluated.

- This diagram is my own work

- File Type: png

- License: Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 license

- Category: Construction materials

- Description: Ultimate tensile and cimpressive strength of materials used in stilt housing construction, including mild steel, concrete, hardwood and bamboo. Uses a logarithmic scale as the compressive strength of concrete is 1.8MPa.

Strengths of Stilt Building Materials - Concrete, Bamboo, Hardwood, Mild Steel

Stilts Architecture Planning

A Dayak Rumah Baluk with 5-meter-tall stilts, West Kalimantan pavilion TMII.

Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a structure or building to stand at a distance above the ground or water. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, waves or shifting soil or sand. As these issues were commonly faced by many societies around the world, stilts have become synonymous with various places and cultures, particularly in South East Asia and Venice.

Stilt house

Main article: Stilt house

Stilts are common architectural element in tropical architecture, especially in Southeast Asia and South America. The length of stilts may vary widely; stilts of traditional houses can be measured half meter to 5 or 6 meters.

Advantages of Stilts in Architecture and Housing

Many regions that utilise stilts in housing and architecture globally often face similar challenges to each other. Communities in tropical regions, wetlands, or other environments prone to high levels of moisture often utilise stilts to solve a particular issue facing an area.

One of the largest reasons stilts are used in vernacular architecture is to provide thermal comfort for inhabitants. For example, a study surveying the traditional stilt housing utilised by the Dong minority in Southern China, discovered that the airflow from elevating a house significantly cooled the house down. Furthermore, the majority of people surveyed were satisfied with the natural cooling of their stilt homes in the hot, humid summer months as compared to people living in modern housing. Stilt housing also provides a large area to store commodities during non-flooding events, with many people using the bottom area to store livestock or items, or as entertainment areas.

Stilts are often used in buildings where there is a regular risk of flooding. Tropical regions can experience large quantities of rainfall in a small amount of time, often causing long and devastating floods for local people. The force of floodwaters often destroys buildings, meaning many people in flood communities build their houses on stilts such that they are well protected from high flood levels. Modelling of floodwaters acting on stilts and pillars in traditional and modern Thai stilts show that by using suitable simple construction methods, stilt houses can withstand large flooding events, protecting people and their possessions from being destroyed.

Disadvantages of Stilts in Architecture and Housing

Whilst the short term durability of stilt housing prevents consistent destruction, the materials often used to make stilts can be damaged. This is due to materials becoming overstressed by flash flooding, where a large enough load is applied to the stilt that is large enough to cause deformation or damage, potentially causing structural failure or other serious damage to the building. Stilt homes which have been built using wooden pillars can rot due to general humidity or after being wet by flooding, compromising structural integrity.

Despite providing cooling due to elevating, stilts can adversely affect the thermal efficiency of building, making it more expensive to heat/cool using technologies such as air-conditioning. A study on stilt houses in Chile found that traditional construction methods resulted in an average of 30.25% of heat losses in stilt houses came from the open floor, increasing the energy consumption of each home.

A large social disadvantage of stilt housing is the difficulties faced by people with mobility issues. The stairs leading up to the main floor may often be inaccessible to people with disabilities such as people who are in a wheelchair. While an elevator may be added, this is often an expensive investment and cannot be afforded by people in remote communities, or feasible with local issues such as regular flooding.

Construction Materials and Methods used in Stilt Architecture

Strengths of Stilt Building Materials - Concrete, Bamboo, Hardwood, Mild Steel

In traditional stilt houses, wood is a prevalent structural material used to manufacture the stilts. This is usually from a local lumber source, with many traditional stilt houses in Asia using bamboo for structural support. In modern homes, concrete and steel are often used as construction material for the structural stilts in houses.

In the Avieiras stilt houses along the Tagus River in Portugal, canes growing by the riverbank and trunks of large trees were used as stilts to support the homes of local fisherman. Over time, concrete slabs have been added to support the wood and extend the pillars foundation into the ground, making buildings more stable in the case of flooding.

Over the years many cultures have modified aspects of their construction method to improve the stability and strength of buildings on stilts. In Sumatra, severe damage from flooding and other natural disasters has modernised many aspects of stilt house construction, with concrete being added to foundations of some buildings more prone to such events such as flooding, earthquakes, and large storms. By using concrete slabs in construction as well as by using concrete pillars, the stilts supporting the main building on top have been less damaged by recent events as compared to previous years. The improvement of technologies such as the durability of nails and screws has also made the connections between the pillar and various beams stronger.

In Indonesia, there are a variety of construction methods used in stilt houses. Foundations used for stilts include concrete pedestals or piles, with joints being fixed using screws/nails or being detachable interlocking wooden joints. A mix of continued pillars, where two pillars are connected directly vertically, or discontinued pillars, where a plate is placed in between the two pillars are used depending on local constraints. This durable building style has allowed some silt dwellings to surpass 100 years in age.

Whilst fleeing the barbarians pillaging the Italian Peninsula in the 6th Century, Roman farmers built elevated huts on wooden stilts on and surrounding the islands in the Venetian Lagoon. Over time as Venetian power and the local population grew, the city expanded, and the foundations of the city were required to be stronger and more durable. As such, the Venetians utilised approximately 18 metre long (60 feet) wooden poles manufactured from oak, larch or pine from local forests driven to use as the foundations of the city. These stilts were driven deep into the ground through the unstable silt and dirt and into the hard clay beneath, allowing for a strong and stable structure. While wood is susceptible to rot and decay, the lack of dissolved oxygen in the mud protects the wood from significant rot, with some wooden Venetian foundations being over 500 years old. The disadvantage of using this system is that industrial action in the city often causes the city to sink at an increased rate . For example, artisan wells constructed in the 1960s were originally drilled to get the city a reliable supply of fresh drinking water, as the water in the lagoon is entirely salt water. However, as water was pumped from the wells, Venice began to sink faster, leading to a ban on wells in the city due to the sensitivity of the foundations.

Cultural Aspects of Stilts in Architecture

Architecture and housing play an integral role in a culture, allowing for artistic expression in day to day life.

Dong Culture

The Dong minority in the Guangxi province of China decorate all aspects of their homes, including the pillars that support the house. With modern construction using concrete instead of wood, many locals create a façade to ensure the style of housing remains consistent with the traditional style that defines the local culture. The area between the first floor and ground is often used to store livestock.

Thai Culture

Stilts have been embedded into Thai architectural culture, with stilt housing making up a significant proportion of the country’s housing in agricultural regions such as the Uttaradit and Phetchabun region. Many buildings, even away from areas prone to flooding often incorporate stilts into their design, such as temples. Due to the prominence of such buildings in Thailand, the architecture there is often associated with stilts<refname ="New Possibilities for Stilt Building "></ref>.

Indonesian Culture

In Indonesia, the construction of the house symbolizes the division of the macrocosm into three regions: the upper world; the seat of deities and ancestors, the middle world; the realm of human, and lower world; the realm of demon and malevolent spirit. The typical way of buildings in Southeast Asia is to build on stilts, an architectural form usually combined with a saddle roof.

The usage of stilts in homes in Indonesia has been dated back hundreds of years. Many styles of vernacular buildings have been developed depending on the needs of the people and dynamics of the environment. Recent disasters such as tsunamis and flooding in the Teunom region of Sumatra have forced the modernisation of building materials and methods, with concrete replacing the wooden foundations of many houses. The area at the bottom of the building, referred to as the stage area, is often used aesthetically with fruits and flowers being commonplace in the space.

Stilts can be found in Indonesian vernacular architecture such as Dayak long houses, Torajan Tongkonan, Minangkabau Rumah Gadang, and Malay houses. The construction is known locally as Rumah Panggung (lit: "stage house") houses built on stilts. This was to avoid wild animals and floods, to deter thieves, and for added ventilation. In Sumatra, traditionally stilted houses are designed in order to avoid dangerous wild animals, such as snakes and tigers. While in areas located close to big rivers of Sumatra and Borneo, the stilts help to elevated house above flood surface.

Portuguese Culture

The development of the Avieira architecture along the Tagus River in Portugal occurred from seasonal migration. Cold winters meant fishermen would fish in rivers instead of the ocean, developing communities along the shoreline. Painting the exterior, including the stilts, usually green, red, blue, or orange gave individual expression to the fisherman who usually made the houses themselves.

See also

• Piloti

References

Category:Architectural elements Category:Structural system Category:Earthquake engineering