A Home in the World: Houses and Cultures [Hardcover]

Martine Laffon (Author), Caroline Laffon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2004

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 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 treehouse high atop a forest, boathouses in Thailand, a mud-and-wood fortress in Togo, a hut in Siberia, and an intricate latticework structure in India. Illustrated with 150 images of houses around the world, this extraordinary volume will have great appeal for those interested in architecture, design, cultural anthropology, and travel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Tibet, when a house is founded, its owner must nail colored cloth to the top of the doorframe, sprinkle barley in the lower corners of the frame and spread yak butter on the frame, symbolic rites that nourish and protect the future home. This and many other ceremonies are recounted in this book, which showcases the homes of indigenous peoples, predominantly from rural places in Asia and Africa. The first section concentrates on the elements people consider when building a house, such as shape, material and location. Next, the authors look at the design and building process, investigating the beliefs that underlie structural conventions and practices (i.e., in southern India, the kitchen must be located in the southeast part of the house, in the direction of the "god of fire"), and they discuss the role of the house as protection and retreat. Throughout, they meditate on the relationship between people and their homes, including the taboos that arise regarding certain aspects of the home, the desire to decorate and issues of privacy. The photographs are brilliant, offering intimate glimpses of houses and their inhabitants in the most far-flung corners of the world. One photo captures Pygmy women in the Congo gathering leaves for their roofs; a few pages later, an Inuit man fashions the top of his igloo. The text, which was translated from the French, sometimes has an overly academic tone, but it’s generally easy to follow. Though many of the customs documented here may seem incomprehensible to Westerners, this book succeeds in showing some of the universal impulses that drive homebuilders the world over. 150 color photos.
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About the Author

Martine Laffon is editorial director at the French publishing house Le Seuil and the author of several books, both for adults and children. She was trained as a philosopher. Caroline Laffon writes documentary films and is the coauthor with her mother, Martine, of several publications on communities and traditions around the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; English-language Ed edition (November 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810956071
• ISBN-13: 978-0810956070
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,139,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)