Description
Humans perch homes in trees and float them in lakes; they build them to last for centuries and make them portable enough to carry on their backs; they look for design inspiration in the landscape, in the human body, and in flora and fauna. A Home in the World offers a new and deep perspective on home design by revealing how different cultures have handled the essential task of building houses that reflect their ideals and values. In a time when home improvement is all the rage, this book sheds light on other, more global meanings
of the word home.
Authors Martine and Caroline Laffon lead us on a fascinating journey to distant lands to discover the enormous variety of vernacular and ethnographic domestic architecture. We explore a tree house high in a forest, boat- houses in Thailand, a mud-and-wood fortress in Togo, a hut in Siberia, and an intricate latticework structure in India. We are shown that in every culture, people have imagined and invented in order to contain the world within the limits of their own homes. The way anonymous architects and builders in every culture design homes reflects the nature of their roots and personality, whether precarious, eccentric, ephemeral, nomadic, or stable. In some cultures, it is believed that animals, people, and gods live side by side, occupying the house with both animal and spiritual presences. Illustrated with one hundred and fifty images of houses around the world, this extraordinary volume will have great appeal for those interested in architecture and design as well as cultural anthropology and travel.
