Changes of LaHu Vernacular House for Homestay Tourism in Amphur Muang and Mae Fah Luang, Chiang Rai

Abstract

This article aims to explore the impact of homestay tourism on Lahu ethnic group’s vernacular houses. Field surveys were conducted in three areas in Mae Fah Luang district and Mueang district of  Chiang Rai province. Those surveys highlighted the impact on space management inside a house, relationship between space within a house and interactions between a host and tourists. All of these would lead to a guideline for developing vernacular architecture of Lahu ethnic group appropriate to homestay tourism. Findings revealed three categories of Lahu ethnic group’s homestay houses according to their size and the number of tourists that they can accommodate: 1.) Small homestay 2.) Medium homestay 3.) Large homestay. Homestay houses’ style and sizes reflect local people’s way of life and their ability to manage tourism. Small homestay and the majority of medium homestay had a housing style similar to nearby houses. This reflects ethnic group’s wisdom, ways of life and culture though style, utility space and building material of those houses. However, some medium sized homestay houses as well as most of the large ones had a different housing style from nearby houses as industrial materials play a role in construction, shape, size and home of the house have been changed and the house is enlarged to accommodate a number of tourists. This undermines the ethnic identities inherited through architecture along with homestay tourism development. So it is necessary to change the development to align with preservation by blending traditional vernacular houses which mainly use natural materials with industrial materials, which help construction but do not affect to the architectural value, such as, and nails, metal sheets and knots. In addition, space utilization in the house should be prioritized based on space access from the innermost part of the house to the outermost proportionally as follows: the host’s bedroom, bedroom of the host’s children, kitchen, storage area, living area, balcony and tourists’ bedroom.