Housing

Polynesian Lashed Housing

By:Lucas E. Shubert

Polynesia refers to a vast area throughout the Pacific Ocean that stretches from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. The spread of population of these islands dates back as far as 1500 B.C.E. Somehow, one ethnic group managed to settle this enormous area through the use of modified canoes and the most basic astral and wave navigation techniques. The earliest form of shelter employed the native inhabitants on these islands was the use of caves and lava tubes at the base of volcanos.

Over time, shelter transformed into a type of structure now called lashed housing (especially in Hawaii). The form of this building typology typically consists of short walls on two, three, or four sides and a large, steep roof atop them. Historian P. H. Buck detailed four different types of lashed housing. The first is type is a house with a thatched roof and no walls. The second is type has walls made of piled up stone and a thatched roof. The third type is a building with both thatched walls and a large gabled roof. The fourth type is similar to the third, but the roof is hipped on the ends, rather than gabled.

The construction process for these buildings is usually a skill-based technique performed by at least two experienced builders working in unison. They lash together bamboo structural members into pre-fabricated wall sections with pili grass. They then lash these wall sections to one another and to corner posts which hold up the roof. The image shows modern lashing techniques, in which pili grass has been replaced by a more durable material.

Reference

Crouch, Dora P., and June G. Johnson. 2001. Traditions in Architecture: Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania. New York: Oxford.

Picture Reference

Hannabuild.org