THE PROCESSES OF COLONIZATION AND MODERNIZATION HAVE CHANGED THE FORMS OF TRADI tional settlements in much of South and Southeast Asia. Fortunately, a few places remain where patterns of living and physical forms of settlement have remained relatively untouched by the forces of change. Places like these provide the opportunity to study architectural environments that are determined by factors other than functionalism and profit. These are environments where the physical forms of dwellings and settlements are entwined with religious, cultural, and social systems. The rich meanings of these environments may not always be obvious to the casual observer. But to the initiated townsman, villager, or priest, the environments have a profound influence on religious, social, mental, and even physical well-being. Environments like these still exist in Nepal and Bali. This paper is a comparative study of traditional dwellings and settlements in these two places.