The Dorze, a tribe of master-weavers build their houses like giant, inverted baskets made of bamboo bark and banana leaves. The houses are built up to 12m tall and are home to a family and its animals (cows, goats, chicken).
Every year the Dorze house will shrink by about an inch as termites do their work. After about 120 years, the Dorze house has become a common basket – and can almost be used to go to market ! As the houses shrink, the door is regularly adjusted to maintain a constant height. When houses shrink to a height of about 2m, they are abandoned and repurposed into granaries or the like and the household builds a new 12m tall house.
