huts

A hut is a simple, often small, dwelling used for shelter. Huts typically have a lightweight frame and walls made from local materials such as wood, bamboo, mud, thatch, or woven vegetation. Roofs are usually thatched or shingled and pitched to shed rain, and floors are often earth or a raised platform. The design varies with climate, culture, and resources.

Construction methods emphasize availability and ease of assembly. Many huts are built with readily assembled frames and locally sourced coverings, sometimes joined by wattle and daub, lashings, or interwoven mats. In tropical and subtropical regions, circular plans and conical or domed roofs help regulate heat and rain. In flood-prone areas, huts may be raised on stilts to prevent water damage.

Regional examples include rondavels in Southern Africa, which are circular, thatched huts; tukuls or similar round mud-walled houses with conical roofs in parts of Africa; and bamboo or reed huts in parts of Asia and the Pacific. In Europe and North America, the term hut has historically referred to simple cottages or temporary shelters rather than permanent houses.

Today huts appear in diverse contexts: traditional dwellings within communities, temporary shelters in relief efforts, and parts of ecotourism or cultural heritage projects. They illustrate vernacular architecture adapted to local materials, climate, and social organization, and continue to influence contemporary low-cost housing movements.