Hut

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Drawings of petroglyphs from the Tagar Culture, 1st millennium BC in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Petroglpyhs Tagar Culture.jpg
Drawings of petroglyphs from the Tagar Culture, 1st millennium BC in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.
Huts and a larger building in the form of burial urns at the Museo Nazionale Romano in the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, Italy. Image: Sailko Terme di diocleziano, tombe a capanna, 01.JPG
Huts and a larger building in the form of burial urns at the Museo Nazionale Romano in the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, Italy. Image: Sailko
A mountain hut in Enontekio, Finland. Kuonjarjoen autiotupa.JPG
A mountain hut in Enontekiö, Finland.
Chozo in Extremadura, Spain. Chozos de ganaderos, El Torno, Caceres.jpg
Chozo in Extremadura, Spain.

A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, clay, hides, fabric, or mud using techniques passed down through the generations.

Contents

The construction of a hut is generally less complex than that of a house (durable, well-built dwelling) but more so than that of a shelter (place of refuge or safety) such as a tent and is used as temporary or seasonal shelter or as a permanent dwelling in some indigenous societies. [1]

Huts exist in practically all nomadic cultures. Some huts are transportable and can stand most conditions of weather.

Word

The term is often employed by people who consider non-western style homes in tropical and sub-tropical areas to be crude or primitive, but often the designs are based on traditions of local craftsmanship using sophisticated architectural techniques. The designs in tropical and sub-tropical areas favour high airflow configurations built from non-conducting materials, which allow heat dissipation. The term house or home is considered by some to be more appropriate.

In the Western world the word hut is often used for a wooden shed.

The term has also been adopted by climbers and backpackers to refer to a more solid and permanent structure offering refuge. These vary from simple bothies – which are little more than very basic shelters – to mountain huts that are far more luxurious and can even include facilities such as restaurants.

The word comes from the 1650s, from French hutte "cottage" (16c.), from Middle High German hütte "cottage, hut," probably from Proto-Germanic *hudjon-, related to the root of Old English hydan "to hide," from PIE *keudh-, from root (s)keu- (see hide (n.1)). Apparently first in English as a military word. Old Saxon hutta, Danish hytte, Swedish hytta, West Frisian and Middle Dutch hutte, Dutch hut are from High German. Ukrainian khata seems to be known from even earlier ages. Avestan or ancient Iranian origins presumably." [2] related to hide, a covering.

Modern use

Hut in a village of Tebat Karai District Rumah Sederhana.jpg
Hut in a village of Tebat Karai District
Hut in farm outside Indian village Hut in Maharashtra.jpg
Hut in farm outside Indian village
Hut in Kambalakonda eco park Visakhapatnam Resting hut kambalakonda eco park Visakhapatnam.jpg
Hut in Kambalakonda eco park Visakhapatnam
A hut in Tharparkar, Sindh Sindhi desert Home.JPG
A hut in Tharparkar, Sindh
An old hunting hut in Utajarvi, Finland Lamminvaara hut.JPG
An old hunting hut in Utajärvi, Finland

Huts are used by shepherds when moving livestock between seasonal grazing areas such as mountainous and lowland pastures (transhumance).

They are also commonly used by backpackers and other travelers in rural areas.

Some displaced populations of people use huts throughout the world during a diaspora. For example, temporary collectors in the wilderness agricultural workers at plantations in the Amazon jungle.

Huts have been built for purposes other than as a dwelling such as storage, workshops, and teaching.

Types

Traditional

Modern

Construction

Remains of a mud hut, with interior layers exposed. This hut was destroyed during a major earthquake. Remains of Edicas' mud hut, Karonga, north Malawi (4992504027).jpg
Remains of a mud hut, with interior layers exposed. This hut was destroyed during a major earthquake.

Many huts are designed to be relatively quick and inexpensive to build. Construction often does not require specialized tools or knowledge. [4]

Marketing usage

The term Hut is also used to name many commercial stores, companies, and concepts. The name implies a small, casual venue, often with a fun and friendly atmosphere. Examples include Pizza Hut and Sunglass Hut. Kiosks may be constructed to look like huts and are often found at parks, malls, beaches, or other public places, selling a variety of inexpensive food or goods. Luxury hotels in tropical areas where guests are assigned to occupy their own freestanding structure sometimes call the structure a "hut", though such huts typically bear little more than superficial resemblance to the traditional concept of a hut.

See also

A Sami family in front of goahti. Photo was taken around 1900 in northern Scandinavia. Saami Family 1900.jpg
A Sami family in front of goahti. Photo was taken around 1900 in northern Scandinavia.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igloo</span> Type of shelter built of snow

An igloo, also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of suitable snow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tipi</span> Type of Native American tent

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nissen hut</span> Prefabricated steel hut

A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British engineer and inventor Major Peter Norman Nissen. It was used also extensively during the Second World War and was adapted as the similar Quonset hut in the United States.

Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernacular architecture</span> Architecture based on local needs, materials, traditions

Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style, but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, both historical and extant and classical and modern. Vernacular architecture constitutes 95% of the world's built environment, as estimated in 1995 by Amos Rapoport, as measured against the small percentage of new buildings every year designed by architects and built by engineers.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dugout (shelter)</span> Hole or depression used as shelter

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quonset hut</span> Lightweight prefabricated structure

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigwam</span> Type of tent or dwelling used by Indigenous North Americans

A wigwam, wickiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term wickiup is generally used to refer to these kinds of dwellings in the Southwestern United States and Western United States and Northwest Alberta, Canada, while wigwam is usually applied to these structures in the Northeastern United States as well as Ontario and Quebec in central Canada. The names can refer to many distinct types of Indigenous structures regardless of location or cultural group. The wigwam is not to be confused with the Native Plains tipi, which has a different construction, structure, and use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer house</span> Building used for relaxation in warm weather

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain hut</span> Building in the mountains with food and shelter

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bothy</span> Permanent basic shelter for temporary use

A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Scotland, Northern England, Ulster and Wales. They are particularly common in the Scottish Highlands, but related buildings can be found around the world. A bothy was also a semi-legal drinking den on the Isle of Lewis. These, such as Bothan Eòrapaidh, were used until recent years as gathering points for local men and were often situated in an old hut or caravan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sod house</span> Turf house used in early colonial North America

The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, if the prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant, free, and could be used for house construction. Prairie grass has a much thicker, tougher root structure than a modern lawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilderness hut</span> Simple shelter or hut for temporary accommodation

A wilderness hut, bothy, backcountry hut, or backcountry shelter is a free, primitive mountain hut for temporary accommodation, usually located in wilderness areas, national parks and along backpacking and hiking routes. They are found in many parts of the world, such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, northern Russia, the Alps, the Pyrenees, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Huts are basic and unmanned, without running water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Vernacular</span> Style of architecture

Scottish Vernacular architecture is a form of vernacular architecture that uses local materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shieling</span> Dwelling on a pasture high in the hills

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slab hut</span> Kind of dwelling or shed made from slabs of split or sawn timber

A slab hut is a kind of dwelling or shed made from slabs of split or sawn timber. It was a common form of construction used by settlers in Australia and New Zealand during their nations' colonial periods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous architecture</span> Field of architecture

The field of Indigenous architecture refers to the study and practice of architecture of, for and by Indigenous people. It is a field of study and practice in the United States, Australia, Aotearoa, Canada, Arctic area of Sápmi and many other countries where Indigenous people have a built tradition or aspire translate or to have their cultures translated in the built environment. This has been extended to landscape architecture, urban design, planning, public art, placemaking and other ways of contributing to the design of built environments. The term usually designates any culture-specific architecture: it covers both the vernacular architecture and contemporary architecture inspired by the enculture, even when the latter includes features brought from outside.

References

  1. 1 2 Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
  2. "Online Etymology Dictionary". etymonline.com. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  3. "Warwickshire County Council Museum: Laing hut" . Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  4. Using Natural Terrain to your Advantage