Cement san jaothi
Urban designs of saan jaothii are typically made in cement to correspond to the main buildings. Rather than a house, the cement architecture is usually in the form of an ubosot, or ordination hall of a Buddhist temple where young boys take their vows to become monks. After much research, my theory is that the ubosot is used as the symbolic structure for the san jaothi because in a Thai Wat (Buddhist temple) this hall has 9 bai sema stones surrounding it. These foundation stones represent the Buddhist temple’s integration of earlier animistic beliefs to honor the land guardians and mother earth. It is a great example of where the lines between early animist and Buddhist traditions blur.