Zulu Beehive Hut

The traditional Zulu dwelling of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is a hemispherical, or "beehive", house in which roof and wall are one continuous surface of grass thatch over a frame of bent saplings. The general isiZulu word for a dwelling is indlu, and the homestead that groups several dwellings is the umuzi. The architectural historian Franco Frescura recorded the parts of the house in detail, and his glossary is the principal source for the terms below.

Frame

The frame is a lattice of arches made from saplings (izintingo):

• The first arch is built over the front door (ikotamo).
• Two arches (imiqolo) spring back from either side of the door arch.
• The highest arch (inqo) runs parallel to the door arch; together with the imiqolo it sets the height and direction of the dome.

On plan, the house has a front point (omnyango), a back point (ofundo) and two side points (isintini). Inside, timber posts beside the hearth (izinsika) carry a trellis (imishayo) that supports the thatcher's weight while the dome is built.

Thatch

Grass is applied in two layers: an inner insulating layer (umfuguzelo) and an outer layer (umxhebulo). Ropes hold the thatch down and are gathered at the apex into a top-knot (isiqongo), for which a fine thatching grass (inca ebomvana) is used. Inside, a large woven grass mat (isihlandla) forms the main ceiling at the apex, with further mats (umyagazo) beside it, which are also wound around the lower wall as a protective skirt. Hard reeds (umhlanga, Phragmites) are used in construction, and a reed windbreak (iguma) may stand in front of the door.

The usual word for grass is inca; utshani is avoided in respectful speech because it is also the name of an ancestral chief.

Interior

The hearth (iziko) lies on the axis between the door and the back of the house, where a raised shelf (umsamo) is used for storing food and for ancestral observance by the head of the household.

Comparison

The hemispherical form contrasts with the cone-on-cylinder rondavel of the interior plateau, where a separate conical roof sits on a vertical wall. In the beehive house there is no separate wall: the whole envelope is thatch over the sapling frame, with an inner insulating layer beneath the outer coat.