ROTI TRADITIONAL HOUSE

Roti, Traditional Houses http://www.pbase.com/asianodyssey/rote

Houses on Roti are classified according to the number of their main posts (di). Thus there are — or were — ‘four-, six- and, in rare instances, eight-post houses’ (uma di-hak, di-nek and di-faluk). These posts are the critical support structures of the house and they must preserve the same order as the trees from which they were cut with their bases (huk) planted in the ground. Similarly, house beams, and especially the ridge-pole, must be oriented with their bases at the tail of the house and their tips toward the head. This order is a fundamental requirement of auspicious construction practice.