SOUTH-EAST ASIAN

ARCHITECTURE
BURMA, CAMBODIA, THAILAND,
INDONESIA & PHILIPPINES
SOUTH –EAST ASIAN ARCHITECTURE

Myanmar (Burma), Thailand,

Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Singapore,
Indonesia, and the
Philippines.
Most South-east
Asian temples are
built around 13th
century
BURMA
SHWE DAGON Pagoda,
Rangoon Burma
113 meters high (370 ft)
Basic Stupa later called
pagoda, walls decorated
with frescoes or
sculptured bas-reliefs.
The central core rose in
a series of receding
storeys and was
crowned with a tapering
sikhara-type finial of
Orissan-indian character.
Sikhara- A tall, often beehive-shaped superstructure set
above the inner sanctum of a Hindu temple in northern
Indian temple design.

Orissan-Indian bas-reliefs
CAMBODIA
• Timber was the principal building material in
the delta area, together with laterite, sand-
stone and a terra-cotta brick in the hinterland.

The earliest record capital was Uyadhapura on

the lower reaches of the Mekong river.
Khmer Period
The beginning of the era of the Khmer
Empire is conventionally dated to 802
CE. In this year, King Jayavarman II had
himself declared chakravartin ("king of
the world", or "king of kings") on Phnom
Kulen. The empire ended with the fall of
Angkor in the 15th century.
Important Events under Khmer Period
A. Javanese influence in the emphasis upon the
temple mountain and the concept of the god-
king; and the raising of the temple cella to the
summer of the stepped pyramid.
B. The building of another capital on the hill and
round the temple-mountain of Phron Bakeng,
C. Construction at Roluous, angkor of the
Archetypal Khmer urban irrigation system. An
immense artificial lake, “Baray” Lolei, about 3 km
long and 800 meter wide was formed by earthen
dykes to store water from the stung roluous river
flowing into a network of moats and waterways.
Khmer Urban Irrigation System
 Transitional Classical Khmer Period
(10th-11th C)
Evolution of the Temple-Mountain was continued
in Baksei Chamkrong, Angkor, the first to be
built-up in stone (laterite) in pyramidal terraces
from flat ground, and Kohker North east of
Angkor, constructed on an artificial lake by
damming a stream a further stage in the
evolutionary process came in the Takeo in which
the classical Five Terraces and Five colossal
towers were introduced
 Artificial lake at Koh ker Pyramid
• Built by staking
wooden piles
and overlaid by
mud and
straws.
 Koh ker Pyramid
Length is 66 meters (216.54 ft.) Its height is 40
meters (131.23 ft.)
Koh Ker, Cambodia, was the temporary capital
city of the Khmer Empire between 928 to 944
AD under king Jayavarman IV (928-941 AD)
and king Harshavarman II (941-944 AD). The
Koh Ker site is dominated by the Prang, the
state temple of Jayavarman IV.
Koh ker Pyramid
 Classical Khmer Period
(12th- 13th C)
Two Majestic Architectural achievements
a. Creation of Angkor Wat, the Temple City of
Suryavarman II
b. Angkor thom the remodelled capital of
Jayavarman VII .
Temple of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Largest religious monument in the world
162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres).
• It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of
god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually
transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the
end of the 12th century.
• Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer
temple architecture: the temple-mountain and
the later galleried temple. It is designed to
represent Mount Meru, home of the devas
(heavenly beings) in Hindu mythology: within
a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi)
long are three rectangular galleries, each raised
above the next.
THAILAND
• Architecture in Thailand reflects the influences of
the Buddhist countries.
a. Dvararati Period- Central Thaland 6th-10th c,
characterized by Burman Buddhist froms.
b. Mon-Khmer Period, Central and Eastern
Thailand (10th-13th c) Provincial manifestation of
the Khmer- angkor style of architecture.
c. Thai period (13th-17th C) In all phases of Siamese
building, the part played by sculpture
 Three Subdivisions of Style
1. Sukhothai Style- Harmoniously eclectic,
employing Indian Mon dravidian, Mon-pagan,
sinhalese and khmer motifs. Buddhist temple
couples normally erected on a terrace. These
had central sanctuary, which sheltered a
colossal Buddha statue screened by a high
wall.
2. Ayudhya Style- the stupa was generally
circular in plan, ring-based and bell-
shaped.
3. Chiengmai manner of the North, the
custom of copying venerated
monuments from abroad as reminders of
the need for religious observance was
the origin of some of the purest
architecture.
d. Bangkok Style (18th -19th century) the
New capital was designed to emulate the
destroyed city of Ayudhya. Surfaces were
often finished with porcelain tiles.
Sometimes the walls are white stuccoed
brick which contrasts with the brightly-
coloured glazed tiles of the multi-levelled
overlapping Timber roofs.
Throne Room, Royal Palace Bangkok
Thailand
 Wat Phra Sri Sarapet
Ayudhya Thailand

• Chedi, also known as

a stupa it is mostly
seen in the form of a
bell-shaped tower.
• Wat- means temple
Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald
Buddha (officially known as Wat Phra Sri Rattana
Satsadaram) is regarded as the most important
Buddhist temple in Thailand.
INDONESIA
• In Middle Java, an architecture of solid stone
walls, corbelled arches and with no load
bearing columns, which reached its
consummation with the stupa of Borobodur
Stupa of Borobudur, Yogyakarta Indonesia
 Great Sealed
Ring of 72 Stupas 3 Terraces Stupa

Square lower
terraces
 This extraordinary building
symbolizes the world mountain
“Meru” of Indian Cosmology
and the Mahayana Buddhist
cosmic system through the nine
stages there are nine storeys or
terraces- which lead to Nirvana.
Philippines
 The first inhabitants of the Philippines
were immigrants of Malayan origin. They were
a primitive people, with no knowledge of
agriculture, who lived by hunting and fruit-
gathering. From c. 3,000 BC onwards, the
Malays were joined by a more advanced race
from Indonesia. Gradually the two peoples
merged, building up in tribal system known as
the Barangays.
In the 13th Century AD the Filipino’s were
converted to Islam, which reached them
though missionaries who travelled to the
islands from the Muslim empires of Indonesia.
Islamic influence continued unchallenged for
300 years, until the arrival of the first
Europeans-Spanish explorers- in the 16th
century.
 EARLY PERIOD OR PRE-SPANISH ERA
8TH-15TH CENTURY
Architecture in the pre-Spanish era was
expressed in the bahay-kubo style of
dwellings, which was cool and cozy and
well adapted to tropical climate. Even
before the Spanish colonial period, the
Filipino lived in permanent homes and
wore clothes and ornamental
handicrafts.
 North, Cordillera Mountains- Torogan

In the lowlands, Ilocos, Central Luzon & Southern Luzon-

Malay Nipa House “Bahay Kubo”
Mindanao house in the south- Prowlike roof,
polychrome, extravagant wooden carvings derived
from the Malay Mythical Bird, the sari-manok and
the Silken Muslim canopies in the interiors
In the lowlands, Ilocos, Central Luzon & Southern Luzon-
Malay Nipa House “Bahay Kubo”
 ANTILLAN HOUSE
Is the Filipino version of Spanish
colonial architecture developed in
Manila and other Philippine cities
and towns over several centuries.
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