Ground and structure
Stilt structure
housing muelle rural school warehouse
It is a building raised on posts or piles driven into the water, on the shore or on ground that floods.
What it solves
It separates daily life from floods, ground moisture and animals. It lets air pass under the floor, something very valuable in hot and humid climates.
Today
Protect the base of the piles from water and insects with durable timber or concrete piles. Brace the posts so they resist earthquakes and wind.
Common mistake
Enclosing the space under the floor with walls, which then loses its ventilation and blocks the flow of floodwater.
Tomorrow
With more frequent floods on coasts and plains, the raised house is once again an answer for the Caribbean and the Pacific. Under the floor there is a shaded space that water crosses without causing damage.
Where it comes from
- 1Prehistoric pile dwellings of the Alps six Alpine countries of Europe, 5000 to 500 BC
UNESCO protects 111 lakeside village sites of Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers. - 2Villages of Lake Maracaibo Venezuela, seen by Europeans in 1499
Their houses on the water reminded travelers of Venice, and that is where the country’s name comes from. - 3Austronesian peoples Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific, since the Late Neolithic
The raised rectangular house is a feature of their culture, with discs on the posts to stop rodents. - 4Palafitos of Chiloé Chile, late 19th century
The houses of Castro rest on timber piles along the seashore.
Masters
- Marina Tabassum Khudi Bari, Bangladesh
She raises a small bamboo house on posts so the family can move to the upper floor when the river rises. It can be dismantled and taken to safer ground.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Ground and structure
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.