Architecture of Madagascar

The architecture of Madagascar is unique in Africa, bearing strong resemblance to the construction norms and methods of Southern Borneo from which the earliest inhabitants of Madagascar are believed to have emigrated. Throughout Madagascar and the Kalimantan region of Borneo, most traditional houses follow a rectangular rather than round form, and feature a steeply sloped, peaked roof supported by a central pillar. In South Kalimantan, traditional houses are generally raised on piles and feature "house horns" formed by the crossing of roof support beams at each gable end. Traditional Malagasy houses are likewise often built on piles, and the tradition of house horns can be seen in some southeastern communities and in the wooden architectural traditions of the andriana noble classes of the Merina people of the central highlands.

Differences in the predominant traditional construction materials used serve as the basis for much of the diversity in Malagasy architecture. Locally available plant materials were the earliest materials used and remain the most common among traditional communities. In intermediary zones between the central highlands and humid coastal areas, hybrid variations have developed that use cob and sticks. 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. As wood became scarce over time, wooden houses became the privilege of the noble class in certain communities, as exemplified by the homes of the Merina nobility in the 19th century Kingdom of Madagascar. 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. The island has produced several distinct traditions in tomb architecture: among the Mahafaly of the southwest coast, the top of tombs may be stacked with the skulls of sacrificed zebu and spiked with aloalo, decoratively carved tomb posts, while among the Merina, aristocrats historically constructed a small wooden house on top of the tomb to symbolize their andriana status and provide an earthly space to house their ancestors' spirits.

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