Hut

Drawings of petroglpyhs from the Tagar Culture, 1st millennium BC in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

Huts and a larger building in the form of burial urns at the museum at the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, Italy. Image: Sailko

Chozo in Extremadura, Spain.

A hut is a primitive 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, hides, fabric, and/or mud using techniques passed down through the generations.

A hut is a shape of a lower quality than a house (durable, well built dwelling) but higher quality than a shelter (place of refuge or safety) such as a tent and is used as temporary or seasonal shelter or in primitive societies as a permanent dwelling.^[1]

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

Pine cone hut in the Yatsugatake Mountains, Japan

Word

The term is often misappropriated by people who imagine non-western style homes in (sub)tropical areas as crude or primitive, when in fact the designs are based on local craftsmanship, often using sophisticated architectural techniques. The designs in (sub)tropical areas favor high airflow configurations built from non-conducting materials, which allow heat dissipation. In this case, the term house or home is 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, Frisian and Middle Dutch hutte, Dutch hut are from High German."^[2] related to hide, a covering.

Modern use

Hut in farm outside Indian village

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

• Barabara – An earth sheltered winter home of the Aleut people
• Barracks – an old term for a temporary hut,^[1] now more used as a term for military housing and a unique hay storage structure called a hay barrack.
• Bothy – Originally a one room hut for men farm workers in the United Kingdom, now a mountain hut for overnight hikers.
• Burdei or bordei – a dugout or pit-house with a sod roof in Ukraine, Canada
• Cabana – an open shelter
• Chozo also spelled chozo – Spanish for hut, term also used in Mexico.
• Clochán – A dry stone hut in Ireland
• Earth lodge – Native American dwelling
• Hytte – A cabin or hut in Norway
• Igloo – A hut made of pieces of hard snow or ice
• Kolba – Afghanistan
• Laing hut - prefabricated lightweight timber wall sections bolted together, externally clad with plasterboard and felt. Designed 1940 for barrack accommodation^[3]
• Lodge is a general term for a hut or cabin such as a log cabin or cottage. Lodge is used to refer to a tipi, sweat lodge, and hunting, fishing, skiing, and safari lodge.
• Mitato – A small, dry stone hut in Greece
• Orri – A French dry stone and sod hut
• Rondavel – Central and South Africa
• Sheiling – Originally a temporary shelter or hut for shepherds, now may be a stone building. Common in Scotland.
• Sod house – A pioneer house type on the American Plains where wood was scarce.
• Tipi – Central North America tent
• Tule hut – Coastal North America, West Coast, Northern California
• Quinzhee – A shelter made in a pile of snow
• Yurt – Central and North Asia

Construction

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.

Marketing usage

Hut is used to name 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Huts.

• Architecture of Africa
• Backcountry hut – huts that serve overnight hiking and trekking needs
• Bothy – simple shelter
• French dry stone huts
• Lean-to – a type of shelter
• Log cabin – small house built from logs
• Nissen hut – a prefabricated steel structure made from a semicircle of corrugated steel invented 1st quarter 20th century.
  • Jamesway hut – a variation of a Nissen hut
  • Romney hut – a variation of a Nissen hut
  • Quonset hut – a type of Nissen hut of lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated steel having a semicircular cross section
• Palloza – Spanish type of roundhouse
• Primitive hut – Concept
• Roundhouse (dwelling) – a circular hut or house typically with a conical roof
• Vernacular architecture – traditional architecture in a particular area
• Wilderness hut – rent-free, open dwelling place for temporary accommodation
• Yurt

References

Look up hut in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Hut dwelling designs and semi-permanent human shelters Traditional immobile Barabara Beehive house Bothy Burdei Bure Cleit Clochán Dugout Earth lodge Goahti Hogan Humpy Icelandic turf house Igloo Jacal Log cabin Mitato Musgum mud huts Nipa hut Orri Palloza Pit-house Qargi Qarmaq Quiggly hole Quinzhee Rondavel Roundhouse Ruka Shieling Sukkah Tongkonan Trullo Wigwam, wickiup and wetu Zemlyanka Traditional mobile Chum Nomadic tents Shepherd's hut Tipi Yaranga Yurt and ger Ger district Open-air Beach fale Cabana Chickee Gazebo Palapa Pergola Ramada Modern Beach hut Hopper hut Iris hut Nissen hut Quonset hut Jamesway hut Romney hut Rondavel Slab hut Wilderness hut Alpine club hut Mountain hut Winter room Named huts Bill Putnam hut Charit Creek Lodge Cootapatamba Hut Daveys Hut Granite Park Chalet Geehi Hut High Huts of the White Mountains High Sierra Camps Horse Camp Keebles Hut LeConte Lodge Len Foote Hike Inn Narcissus Hut New Pelion Hut Phantom Ranch Old Pelion Hut Seaman's Hut Sperry Chalet Related topics Cabanes du Breuil Circular linhay Earth sheltering Shack Shed Skellig Michael Stilt house Tent Thatching Transhumance Tree house Vernacular architecture Village des Bories Category Commons Portal