the storage and drying of harvested rice. They are prevalent in many Southeast Asian nations, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia among them. In North America rice barns were especially common in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Design Rice barn design varies greatly from region to region and, especially, nation to nation. South Carolinian rice barns were often clad in cypress shingles. In Asia a common barn design is a four pole, open-walled building; a structure that does not resemble the classical image of a barn in any way. Significance United States Barn design, overall, bears architectural, cultural and historical significance, as well as some anthropological and sociological significance. Barn design speaks to two distinct parameters in agricultural history, one being climate and the other being occupation. Different types of barns tell much about what inhabitants of the past cultivated and in what type of climate they did it in. In the United States climate allows regional barn variation to easily be divided along a north/south axis. Design divided along these lines speaks to how farmers responded to the severity of the winter. In the north, where cold, harsh winters are common, buildings were more extensive and spacious, to house animals, crops and vehicles. South and west, in the U.S., where the weather tends to be more mild, barn design focused on smaller more specialized structures such as tobacco barns. It is regional differences in North American climate that produced the major differences in northern and southern American barns. After climatology the biggest factor in barn design is function. All over the United States barn designs, such as those discussed above, were developed based upon the individual needs of specific crops or livestock. See also Oast house External links Pole Barn Plans - What are they? References Barns