House Form and Culture (Paperback)

~ Amos Rapoport (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Foundations Text.

From the Publisher

Foundations Text.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; Facsimile edition (February 25, 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0133956733
• ISBN-13: 978-0133956733
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #302,912 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic- well worth reading, September 22, 2001

By	Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book ties together many ideas from the fields of anthropology and architecture. Rapoport methodically builds an argument for his hypothesis that "The different forms taken by dwellings are a complex phenomenon for which no single explanation will suffice." He supports his arguments with hundreds of examples drawn from the literature, as in the style of a review article. I was struck by parallelism between Rapoport's evidence that houses can vary tremendously, even given similar environmental or cultural factors, and the old structural linguistics adage that languages can vary in innumerable ways. Some of Rapoport's terminology is now outdated (e.g. "primitive societies,"), but these terms were standard at the time when the book was written so he shouldn't be singled out for using them. The ideas presented in the book are well worth studying and the book includes numerous reference citations for further investigation.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reflecting the Culture on the House Form, August 11, 2001

By A Customer

The book -House Form and Culture - is a precious source of information on the cross cultural aspects of the house form. It is an exploration into the virtually unknown in the field of housing. The author was extremely successful (nothing new considering Amos Rapoport) in editing the availabe scattered sources to weave them into one extensive work that is priceless. The anthropologist, environmental behavior researcher, and the architect are only some of the ones who will appreciate this book. Especially interesting is the effect of the deteriminant of the house on shaping the house form. Rapoports own interpretation of the determinants of house form just brings it all together. The book is well written and very interesting even to the novice as it sheds light on the cultural diversities of the most insignificant tribe and the city dwellers.