Experiences of Well-being

Over the past fifty years, the push towards modernity and urbanization has accelerated changes in various aspects of socio-cultural conditions, and has brought about new standards for domestic well-being in everywhere. This has caused the disappearance of vernacular houses in various localities. Various studies have been made of vernacular houses. However, there has been little research on the relationship between the residents? sense of well-being and their houses. Most of them are fragmentary, often with an emphasis on health, aesthetics and comfort measurement. This book denotes the relationship between changes of the residents? experiences of well-being, and the physical and socio-cultural evolution of their vernacular houses. It is concerned with the evolution of vernacular houses in Tambon Pakkran of Ayutthaya in central Thailand. The analysis articulates value system developed from the literature on Buddhist and Eastern worldviews. This book should offer some clues for cultural sustainability in vernacular houses, and should be useful to Architecture and other research fields concerning vernacular values and the interrelationship between people and their built environments.