A Look at Traditional Homes Around the World
By Chris Petry
There is a lot of variety in the housing market. I’m not just talking about Western, Pennsylvania. Let’s take a look at some of the extremely interesting and culturally-important home styles you might see in different locales around the globe.
The Adobe House- American Southwest
Some home styles take their name from the material used to produce them. Adobe refers to the type of brick. Adobe bricks are composed of wet sand, clay and grass and baked in the sun until hard, at which point they are layered and stacked. The process itself was first formulated by the indigenous Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest, particularly in the area now known as New Mexico.
Today, Adobe homes continue to be built, though the process and materials have changed slightly as a result of modern advances in construction and technology.
Dugout Homes- Coober Pedy, Australia
Coober Petty, about 526 miles north of South Australia’s capital city, Adelaide, is an old opal mining town, known today for its underground shops, places of worship and residential homes. That’s because summer day temperatures are brutally hot, regularly exceeding 104 degrees. So, to stay cool, a large percentage of the population lives a subterranean life in dugout-style homes cut into and below the hills. You’ll notice the homes look similar to most modern single-family dwellings but with an added charm of Earthen walls.
Today, the town of Coober Pedy is a well-travelled tourist destination and the setting for a number of well-known films and TV shows. So, even if you don’t intend to live in a dugout in the Australian interior, you can still test it out short-term by lodging in one of the spectacular underground hotels available in the area.
English Cottage Home- The United Kingdom of Great Britain
While the British Isles are probably best known for their imposing Gothic castles, structures of regality and influence that peppered the land in antiquity, there’s something to be said for the quaint English country cottage. Cottages originated in the Middle Ages as humble abodes for farmers and their families, most often with thatched rooves that increase their weather resilience and better regulate internal temperatures. Walls are often constructed of stone.
Should the pressures of the modern world, its conveniences aside, ever get the best of me, you might find me retreating to an old moss-covered stone cottage in the New Forest. If you like what you see, perhaps we’ll be neighbors! Not too close, though.
Minka Homes- Japan
Minka homes are recognizable for their “stacked” appearance, often elevated above the ground ever-so-slightly, with beautifully-thatched rooves, preventing an accumulation of rainfall or snow. Inside, you’ll likely find sliding doors and a centralized hearth or irori. Bedrooms can be built around the central meeting place or common area of the home.
The Japanese government has taken great steps to preserve existing, authentic Minka homes and many today have been repurposed as hotels and restaurants.
Yurts- Kyrgyzstan and Surrounding Nations
Yurts are the original mobile homes. They are round, tent-like structures with wooden rounded frames, insulated with animal skins and straw. History shows the yurt arose sometime after 600 B.C. and became a popular style with the nomadic peoples who inhabit the steppes and cold mountain areas of inner-Asia. Yurts are used in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and in Mongolia where they’re better known as a “ger.”
While its genesis is in central Asia, the popularity of the Yurt has propelled its footprint well beyond its original borders. Today, one can even find Yurts for rent on Airbnb.
Turf- Iceland
There’s something so simple, practical and stunningly beautiful about the turf homes that dot the Icelandic coast. They look as if they were, not built, but grown from the green hills. Built with stone foundations and birchwood frames and featuring rooves composed of layers of Earth and grass, the homes may very well be the inspiration for Hobbit lore in the pages of Tolkien.
Turf homes have been a staple of Icelandic architecture since the first Norwegians arrived on the Volcanic Island in, roughly, 874 AD. Should you visit Iceland, don’t spend all your time in Reykjavik or lounging the Blue Lagoon. Hop in a Jeep and drive around the small island's scenic countryside, where you'll get a better view of these lovely grass-covered turf homes.
Rumah Adat- Indonesia
Rumah Adat are the traditional homes found in the Malay Archipelago of Indonesia. Indonesia is home over 1,300 distinct ethnic groups whose varied languages, religious and cultural traditions result in perhaps the most diverse array of architectural styles of any nation on Earth.
Rumah Adat refers more to a construction type than any particular aesthetic or quality, though there are some overlaps. Most are erected over horizontal beams that center the weight of the structure on the ground and finished with bamboo walls. Forgoing nails or screws, the structure is anchored by wooden pegs as well as mortise and tenon joints. The final product is something to behold and uniquely Australasian.
Rondavel- South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana
The Rondavel is the instantly-recognizable roundhouse style that once dominated the villages of Southern Africa. In centuries past, the rooves were straw-based structures sews onto wooden poles, anchored by heavy stones. Modern constructions feature concrete foundations and metal roofing.
The rooves of the original Rondavel homes were something to behold. The grass and straw were sewn into the support poles one section at a time to ensure a complete weather seal and could take a skilled builder over a year to complete. One cannot rush perfection, it seems.
We hope you enjoyed this look at some of the rather unique home styles you might find around the world. Who knows, your future home might incorporate some of the styles and craftsmanship you’ve learned about in this article.
