🎥 Eastern Architecture: Pre-historic Asia Part 2
Symbolism, Community, and Evolution in Early Asian Dwellings
In his illuminating lecture on Eastern Architecture, Professor Ronald Lewcock delves into the fascinating world of prehistoric Asian architecture, exploring how early dwellings reflected not just practical needs but deep symbolic meanings and social structures. This second part of his series examines the evolution of communal living spaces across Asia, revealing how architecture served as a language that communicated cultural values, protective needs, and social organization.
The Symbolic Language of Architecture
Before examining specific architectural forms, Professor Lewcock establishes a crucial theoretical framework: architecture, like language, consists of concepts that are symbolic. Drawing from the work of linguist Umberto Eco, who expanded his studies into sociology and anthropology, we understand that early architecture developed symbolic meanings much like words did in language. This perspective is shared by many thinkers across disciplines, from psychologist Carl Jung, who emphasized the role of symbolism in human understanding, to anthropologists and philosophers who have studied how architecture "talks" to us and conveys meaning.
This symbolic approach to understanding architecture is essential, as Professor Lewcock notes, because scholarship involves interpretation rather than the linear fact-based progression of scientific research. When examining architecture from different cultures, we must recognize our own biases and presuppositions that affect how we interpret these structures.
Communal Dwellings: The Circular Hakka Houses
One of the most striking examples discussed in the lecture is the circular communal dwellings of the Hakka people in China.
These remarkable structures, built approximately 600 years ago, served multiple functions:
- Social Cohesion: The circular form brought communities together, with some housing hundreds of people.
- Mutual Protection: The Hakka were migrants in eastern China, having traveled possibly thousands of miles from their homeland. As outsiders, they needed protection both physically and spiritually.
- Divine Symbolism: The circular shape was believed to offer divine protection, reflecting how architectural forms carried symbolic significance beyond their practical function.
These Hakka dwellings typically featured:
- A central courtyard where communal activities took place
- Separate dwelling units arranged around the perimeter
- Limited entrances (usually one or two)
- Multiple stories (sometimes three or four levels high)
- A hall of ancestors for clan worship
Professor Lewcock notes that while Chinese historians often emphasize the defensive nature of these buildings, their primary significance may have been more spiritual than military. The circular form represented protection against all forces, not just human aggression.
Interestingly, the Hakka people began building rectangular structures in the last 200 years, possibly assimilating into the broader Chinese culture where rectangular forms represented human order (as opposed to natural circular forms). Even as they adopted this new shape, they maintained many of the same organizational principles in their community design.
Longhouses: Southeast Asian Communal Living
Moving beyond China, Professor Lewcock explores the sophisticated longhouses of Southeast Asia, particularly in Borneo and Vietnam. These structures demonstrate remarkable adaptation to local conditions while maintaining communal living principles.
Key features of Southeast Asian longhouses include:
- Elevated Construction: Raised 10-15 feet above ground to protect against dampness in tropical climates. The space underneath was used for animals and storage.
- Linear Organization: Housing units lined one side of an internal "street," with the opposite side serving as open-air space for drying clothes, manufacturing, and other activities.
- Hierarchical Arrangement: The most important members of the community lived in the central, most protected sections, while junior members occupied the more vulnerable ends.
- Adaptable Design: These structures could be extended as needed, with new rooms added to accommodate growing populations.
The Vietnamese longhouses showed particular innovation in their roofing. Professor Lewcock explains how they transitioned from thatch to fired terracotta tiles, not for thermal insulation or rain protection (thatch excels at these), but for earthquake resistance. In seismically active regions, the heavy roof helped prevent the building from disintegrating during earth movements by creating inertia that kept the structure more stable.
Evolution of Social Structure in Architecture
The lecture traces how architectural forms evolved alongside social organization, from large communal structures to smaller family dwellings:
- Clan Longhouses: Housing entire clans (200-2,000 people) with shared facilities.
- Extended Family Houses: Smaller structures housing 10-100 people (typically 20-30), still raised but reduced in scale.
- Nuclear Family Houses: Even smaller dwellings, though still housing what we would consider extended families by modern standards (15-20 people).
This evolution reflected broader social changes across Asia, though Professor Lewcock emphasizes that similar patterns could be found worldwide, from prehistoric Europe (8,000-10,000 BCE) to North and South America.
The Architecture of Social Boundaries
A fascinating aspect of these prehistoric Asian dwellings is how they managed social boundaries through space. Many houses featured distinct reception areas for different categories of visitors:
- Insiders: Members of the same clan or tribe could be received in inner spaces.
- Outsiders: Strangers were received in outer areas, sometimes on separate decks or platforms.
This spatial distinction reinforced social boundaries while allowing for interaction with outsiders. In more elaborate structures, like the royal building in Bangkok, these distinctions became more pronounced, with royalty occupying raised platforms while visitors remained at lower levels.
Symbolic Elements in Domestic Architecture
Professor Lewcock highlights how even seemingly practical architectural elements carried symbolic meaning. In some Southeast Asian houses, two special columns flanked the master bed, serving as the "foundation columns" of the entire house. These columns provided symbolic protection for the master, his wife, and their children, demonstrating how architecture could embody cultural beliefs about family, protection, and social order.
Conclusion: The Living Legacy of Prehistoric Architecture
As Professor Lewcock concludes, these prehistoric architectural forms —dating back as early as 15,000-20,000 BCE— continue to influence Asian architecture today. The longhouses of Southeast Asia were still being built until the Second World War, and similar communal structures remain in use in parts of South America.
Understanding these prehistoric forms is essential for grasping the evolution of Asian architecture. They reveal how early builders responded to environmental challenges, social needs, and cultural beliefs through their dwellings. Perhaps most importantly, they demonstrate that architecture has always been more than mere shelter but a symbolic language that expresses how communities understand themselves and their place in the world.
As we study these ancient structures, we must remain mindful of Professor Lewcock's warning about interpretation. Our understanding of these buildings is filtered through our own cultural presuppositions and unconscious biases. Yet by approaching them with both analytical rigor and cultural humility, we can begin to appreciate the remarkable achievements of prehistoric Asian architects and the enduring legacy of their innovations.
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