Two unique architectural highlights of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak are longhouses and water villages. Homes to interior riverine tribes, longhouses are traditional community homes. These elongated and stilted structures, often built of axe-hewn timber, tied with creeper fiber and roofed with woven a tap or thatched leaves, can house between 20 to 100 families.
Rustic water villages built on stilts are also commonly found along riverbanks and seafronts. Houses are linked by plank walkways with boats anchored on the sides. Transport around the village is usually by sampan or canoe.