Architecture of Madagascar

Throughout Madagascar, the Kalimantan region of Borneo and Oceania, most traditional houses follow a rectangular rather than round form, and feature a steeply sloped, peaked roof supported by a central pillar.

Wood construction, once common across the island, declined as a growing human population destroyed greater swaths of virgin rainforest for slash and burn agriculture and zebu cattle pasture.

The Zafimaniry communities of the central highland montane forests are the only Malagasy ethnic group who have preserved the island's original wooden architectural traditions; their craft was added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003.

The use of stone as a building material was traditionally limited to the construction of tombs, a significant feature of the cultural landscape in Madagascar due to the prominent position occupied by ancestors in Malagasy cosmology.

Modernization over the past several decades has increasingly led to the abandonment of certain traditional norms related to the external orientation and internal layout of houses and the use of certain customary building materials, particularly in the Highlands.

Among those with means, foreign construction materials and techniques – namely imported concrete, glass and wrought iron features – have gained in popularity, to the detriment of traditional practices.

[5] For much of the length of the eastern coast of Madagascar bordering the Indian Ocean, architecture is highly uniform: nearly all traditional homes in this region are built on low stilts and are roofed with thatch made of the fronds of the traveler's palm (ravinala madagascariensis).

Their floor is covered in a woven mat with stones heaped in one corner where wood fires can be burnt to cook food; the smoke that accumulates blackens the ceiling and interior walls over time.

[8] The doorways of these homes were traditionally left open or could be shut by a woven screen held closed with a leather strap;[8] today the entryway is frequently hung with a fabric curtain.

[5] Among the Merina of the central Highlands, the Temanambondro (Antaisaka) people of the southeastern Manambondro region, and several other ethnic groups, deforestation rendered wood a valuable construction material only to be used by aristocrats.

[11] This tradition historically existed among a number of ethnic groups in Madagascar, particularly along the eastern coast where the preservation of rainforests continues to facilitate access to wood for construction.

[5] Other architectural norms such as the north-south orientation, central pillar and interior layout of homes were abandoned, and the presence of finials on roof peaks is no longer indicative of a particular social class.

[5] Many of the same standards found in the aristocratic architectural traditions of Imerina are present in the Zafimaniry structures, including the central wooden pillar supporting the roof beam, exclusive use of a tongue and groove joining technique and the orientation of building features such as windows, doors and the interior layout.

Their homes are traditionally square (not rectangular), raised on low stilts, topped with a peaked roof and constructed of vertically-hung planks of wood affixed to a wooden frame.

[17] The first of these, the ancient Imerina capital of Alasora, was fortified by 16th-century king Andriamanelo, who surrounded the town with thick cob walls (tamboho, made from the mud and dry rice stalks gathered from nearby paddies) and deep trenches (hadivory) to protect the dwellings inside.

[18] The entryway through the town wall was protected by an enormous stone disk (vavahady) – five feet in diameter or more – shaded by fig trees (aviavy) symbolic of royalty.

Jean Laborde designed the Queen's Palace in the Rova (built 1839–1841) using this same model on an even grander scale by enlarging the building and adding a third-story veranda.

[12] The new wooden buildings constructed by Gros and Laborde transformed the tandrotrano of traditional aristocratic Merina homes into the a decoratively carved post affixed at each end of the gable peak.

[5] This model exploded in popularity throughout Antananarivo and surrounding areas as an architectural style for the aristocracy, who had to that point continued to inhabit simple homes similar to the wooden palace of Andrianampoinimerina at Ambohimanga.

[23] The simplest form of earthen house is one or more stories tall, rectangular, and features a thatched roof with slightly overhanging eaves to direct rain away from the foundation and thereby prevent its erosion.

[3] On the eastern side of Madagascar, there is virtually no zone of transition between the earthen houses of the Highlands and the dwellings made of plant materials common to the coastal regions.

In the vast and sparsely populated expanses between the Highlands and the western coastal areas, however, inhabitants utilize locally available materials to construct dwellings that bear features of both regions.

But unlike coastal homes where this stick skeleton would serve as a base for affixing plant material to form walls, earthen cob may be packed into the framework instead.

Among the Bara people of the southern arid plains, for instance, tombs may be built into natural features such as rock outcroppings or hillsides by placing the bodies within and partially or entirely sealing the space with stacked stones or zebu skulls.

Alternately, among the Tanala, the deceased may be placed in coffins made from hollowed-out logs and left in caves or a sacred grove of trees, sometimes covered over by wooden planks held down by small piles of stones.

[16] Where tombs were built, minor variation in form and placement from one ethnic group to the next is overshadowed by common features: the structure is partially or fully subterranean, typically rectangular in design and made of stone that is either stacked loosely or cemented with masonry.

[26] Similar models emerged later among western (i.e. Sakalava, Mahafaly) and highlands (i.e. Merina, Betsileo) peoples, first using unhewn stones and heaped or packed earth before transitioning toward masonry.

The significant expense associated with tomb construction, funerals and reburial ceremonies honors the ancestors even as it counters the emergence of unequal wealth distribution in traditional communities.

[31] The roof of the tomb may be stacked with the horns of zebu sacrificed in the ancestor's honor at their funeral, and numerous aloalo—wooden funerary posts carved with symbolic patterns or images representing events in the life of the deceased—may be planted on top.

These hybrids resemble traditional brick Highlands houses from the exterior, but use modern materials and construction techniques to efficiently incorporate electricity, plumbing, air conditioning and current kitchen features in a fully contemporary interior.