Build a shelter from what is around you.

How it works

Three steps

1. Tell it what you have

   Pick where you are (snow, forest, desert, marsh, coast) and tick the materials around you: a tarp, rope, branches, snow, a shovel.

2. Build it step by step

   The app ranks what you can actually build, fastest first. Then a guided mode walks you through it: what to gather, then one numbered step per screen with a diagram, read-aloud if you want it, and a citation on every step.

3. Trust it

   Every recommendation is cited. Tap a citation to read the source in a sheet without losing your place. The sources are bundled for offline reading.

What is inside

11 survival shelters, free

With 11 step diagrams and a knots and lashings guide.

• Tarp lean-toFastest shelter: one waterproof sheet, a line and two supports.
• Tarp tentLow and sheltered on two sides. Needs two supports and the sheet.
• Debris hutThe warmest natural-material shelter. No tools or sheet required.
• Tree-pit snow shelterDig down beside a bushy evergreen trunk in deep snow.
• Fallen-tree snow shelterDig out the snow under a fallen trunk.
• Snow caveThe strongest cold-weather insulation: a cave in a deep snow drift.
• Snow trench shelterGet below the wind: a trench in compacted snow, roofed with snow blocks or a sheet.
• Swamp bedSleep above standing water or wet ground on a pole platform.
• Beach shade shelterShade, wind and rain cover from a sand trench and driftwood.
• Pole and brush lean-toNo sheet needed: poles, vines and brush make a roof from the forest itself.
• Desert shade shelterShade first: material over a trench or against a rock or dune.
• Which knot for whatSeven knots cover almost every shelter job.
• Lashings for framesTie poles together for tripods, shelters and racks.

Shelters of the world

298 ways people build, in every climate

Shelters from around the world and how they are built: earth, timber, bamboo and thatch, stone, snow, tents and emergency shelters. Filter by climate, material, kind and region. Every method is cited to a public source; traditional methods are described as they were recorded, so check local conditions and rules before you build anything permanent. 89 of them are free.

• Climate: Cold, Temperate, Hot and humid, Hot and dry, Highland, Wet or flood-prone
• Material: Earth, Timber, Bamboo, reed, thatch, Stone and masonry, Snow and ice, Fabric and hide, Sheeting and tarp, Brick and concrete
• Kind: Emergency, Camp, Home, Nomadic, Safe room
• Region: Worldwide, Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, Oceania, Middle East, Arctic

• Swahili coral-stone and mud houses (Lamu, Kilwa, Gedi)How the Swahili coast built with coral rag, coral blocks, lime mortar and mangrove beams, and how poorer houses used mud, wattle and palm-leaf thatch.
• Maasai (Masai) huts: poles, grass, dung and mudA low pole-and-wattle hut plastered with cow-dung and mud, built by the women at each new grazing site and grouped inside a thorn-fenced kraal.
• Sanaa tower houses (Yemen)A 1915 description of the tall stone tower houses of Sanaa, with their doors, stairs and loopholes, beside the low sun-dried-brick and mud-dressed houses of other quarters.
• Moroccan kasbah: formwork earth walls and what harms themHow the Kasbah of Agadir was built of mud with formwork, and which restoration materials (cement, gypsum, steel, mismatched coatings) damaged its earthen walls.
• Thick mud-brick walls in hot-arid Sudan (Kerma, Kush)A simulation study of how mud-brick wall thickness (30 to 150 cm) changes indoor heat in northern Sudan, using the Western Deffufa of Kerma as the case.
• Mud building in Nigeria and Mali: care, limits and stabilisingWhat a 2025 open-access study says about mud walls in Nigeria: thermal delay, the durability worry, stabilising, and the yearly replastering of the Great Mosque of Djenne.
• Lash poles together: square lashing and tripodHow to bind a crosspiece to an upright, and three poles into a tripod for lifting, with a rope and a few turns.
• Choose a knot: rope strength lost in knotsEvery knot weakens a rope; a table of how much, and what a good knot should do.
• Haul and lift with block and tacklePulleys and rope multiply your pull; what each common set gains, and what friction takes back.
• Square, level and plumb-line: what each doesThe three simple tools a mason or bricklayer sets out a wall with, and how a plumb-line gives you both upright and level.
• Measure heights, widths and right angles without instrumentsShadow and triangle tricks for the height of a tree, the width of a river and a true right angle, from a century-old scouting handbook.
• Thatch a roof with reed or straw (England, 1851)Which straw or reed to use, how sways bind it to the rafters, how the eaves and ridge are finished.
• Frame and cover a roof with hand-split shakes (USDA, 1945)How to frame rafters on a log wall and split and lay cedar shakes so the roof sheds water.
• Keep log walls off the ground and season the logs (USDA, 1945)A dry raised foundation with air holes, and how to cut, peel and stack logs so they do not crack or rot.
• Seal log walls against wind and rain: chinking, daubing, scribed logsClose the gaps between logs with chinking, plaster and a flexible sealant, or avoid gaps by scribing a groove.
• Build a fireplace in a log house so the walls can settle (USDA, 1945)Why masonry must stand free of settling log walls, and what a firebox is made of.
• Chimney mistakes that cause fires and bad draft (USDA, 1921)The common faults in building chimneys, how to carry the chimney, mortar mix and cap.
• Size, height and lining of a chimney flue (USDA, 1921)Flue shape and minimum sizes, how high above the roof, lining and wall thickness.
• Chimney and stove-pipe clearances, smoke test and cleaning (USDA, 1921)How far wood must be from the chimney and pipe, how to join the pipe, and how to test a flue for leaks.
• Pole roof covered with straw and clay on a log cabinA simple 8 by 12 ft cabin with a ridge log, pole roof, straw and packed clay, and a pegged plank door.
• Split logs with an axe and wooden wedges; drive posts with a log malletMake boards and poles from a log with no saw: start a crack, drive wedges, and strike on a slant. A section of log makes a mallet.
• Sod roof on poles: layers, edges and snowPoles, then a mattress of boughs or straw, then clay or sod: how a pole roof is covered with earth, and what stops the sod sliding off.
• Sod and earth walls: slanting walls, banked earth and double wallsWhy slanting walls are easier to cover with turf, how to bank earth against a shack, and a double wall filled with mud.
• Dugout in a bank: log and barrel dugouts, entrance and safetySet a log or barrel room into a bank, roof it with logs and sod, and keep the bank from falling in.
• Smoke hole and movable wind-shield over a hut fireHow huts let smoke out through the roof, and how a bark wind-shield or barrel chimney keeps rain and wind out.
• Ventilator for an underground room: barrels, mesh and fireA barrel ventilator through the earth roof of a dugout, screened against animals, and why an open fire and not a stove.
• Level and grade without instruments: square, A-level and lineThe eye cannot see level. A square on a stake, a span (A) level and a stretched line with a rod give a steady fall for a drain or ditch.
• Keep the floor above snow and ground water; drain a cellar and wet clay groundRaise the floor above the snow and the ground, drain a cellar from its lowest corner, and underdrain clay ground to a lower spot.
• Insulate walls and floors with sawdust, shavings, felt and strawTwo casings with the space packed with sawdust, a layer of straw on the floor, and an insulated ceiling: cheap local ways to slow heat flow.
• Brace a small frame while building and against windTemporary diagonal braces while raising a frame, slanting poles on stony ground, plenty of braces in studding, and a hip roof for wind.
• Water-shedding details: sloped sill, window hood, gutter notch, roof pitch, tight boardsSmall details that throw rain off a window, a roof edge and a doorway.
• Taino round caney and rectangular bohio (Hispaniola, Puerto Rico)A round house of posts, converging pole rafters, cane walls and leaf thatch, and its rectangular twin with a small porch, as the early Spanish writers described the Indian houses of Haiti.
• Puerto Rican grass-thatched and palm-sheath country cabinsHow country cabins were framed from rough logs and thatched in tied courses of grass, or clad in palm-leaf sheaths and palm boards, with floors on the ground or raised.
• Maloka: the Amazon tribal long house (Issa-Japura, Colombia and Brazil)A great house for a whole tribe, built from forest poles, liana lashing and shingled palm leaves, with a low wall, no windows and a roof that is built to be replaced.
• Forest rancho: poles lashed to four trees, palm-leaf thatch (Amazon)A quick sleeping-place made by lashing poles to four trees, laying branches as rafters and covering them with palm leaves.
• Hawaiian hale: post-and-ridge house with pili-grass thatchA framed grass house recorded by the Hawaiian scholar David Malo: straight mountain timber, jointed and lashed posts, rafters and a ridge-pole, thatched with pili grass, with a sliding door and a fence.
• Ponapean house on a stone platform, with council lodge (Micronesia)A reed-wall, palm-thatch house on a platform of broken basalt, with tree-fern and breadfruit posts and mangrove rafters; plus the cook-house and the open-ended council lodge.
• Cruck-frame house: bent timbers, ridge-tree and bays (England, Welsh laws)A house framed on pairs of bent trees (crucks or forks) joined by a ridge-tree, extended by adding sixteen-foot bays, with wattle and clay walls, and the same 'fork' frame named in the old Welsh laws.
• Devon cob cottage: shale-and-clay cob walls on a stone baseHow cob walls were mixed by treading, laid in 2-foot courses on a stone base, pared plumb, dried for weeks and rendered, with a new cob cottage built shortly before the war as the worked example.
• Vedda palm-thatch and bark huts (Sri Lanka)Small camp huts of posts, palm-leaf or grass thatch and bark walls, no more than eight feet square, described at a Vedda camp in the jungle of Sri Lanka.
• Ao Naga bamboo house on piles (Nagaland, India)A bamboo-matting and thatch house with its main room and back platform on piles, framed with posts, bamboos and split cane, and built within a day by a young man and his friends.
• Lushai bamboo, cane and thatch hill house (Mizoram, India)A hill-village house of split hardwood uprights, bamboo floor, walls and roof framing, cane-leaf thatch and cane ties, with an earth hearth and a verandah, built on steep ground.
• Garo pile house of bamboo and grass thatch (Meghalaya, India)A long, narrow house on piles of different lengths on a steep slope, with a bamboo floor and walls, a grass-thatch roof and an earth hearth, plus tree houses for crop watching.
• Chittagong Hill Tracts bamboo house on stilts (Bangladesh)A house of bamboo from floor to roof, raised about ten feet on bamboo supports, tied with cane and thatched with palm leaf, recorded in the hill tracts of Bangladesh.
• Kashmir village house: log, plank or brick-in-frame walls, bark and earth roofA two-storey timber house of cedar, pine and fir with log, plank or unburnt-brick walls, a steep roof of straw, shingles or birch bark and earth, and animals kept below.
• Kashmir post-and-groove wall: planks in grooved posts with mud plasterA timber wall in which split planks slide into grooves in squared posts and are plastered with mud, plus a panelled version that alternates planks and double-grooved posts.
• Sumatran timber house on pillars with bamboo floor and nipa or ijuk thatchA wood frame on pillars with split-bamboo floor and walls, nipa-palm or ijuk thatch and bark panels, built without stone, brick or clay in an earthquake country.
• Javan peasant cottage: bamboo walls, timber or bamboo frame, nipa or grass thatchA village cottage on the ground with plaited-bamboo walls, a thatched roof and a shady front veranda, recorded in Java in the early nineteenth century.
• Kandyan cottage of sticks, clay and thatch, tied with rattan (Sri Lanka)A low thatched cottage of sticks daubed with clay, with no nails because everything is tied with rattan, described in the Kandyan kingdom of Ceylon in the 1600s.
• Tibetan flat-roofed stone and mud house (Western Tibet and Lhasa)A one-storey stone and mud house with a flat roof of imported beams, and the two-to-three-storey whitewashed stone houses of Lhasa with flat roofs and a central hearth.
• Read your local climateFind out the seasons, winds and sun on your site before you decide how to build, using people, land and plants as well as records.
• How the body stays warm or coolHow people lose and gain heat, and simple habits that make heat or cold easier to bear inside a shelter.
• Find north and the sun's pathWork out true north and how high the sun climbs in each season so windows, rooms and shade face the right way.
• Shade the sun out firstDirect sun is where indoor heat comes from; shade windows, walls and roof by direction, with fixed and adjustable shade and plants.
• Keep cool without powerBreeze, night air, rising hot air and evaporation: the free cooling that works in hot weather.
• Keep warm: wind, draughts and windbreaksWind chill, windbreaks, draughts, curtains, drying clothes and fresh air: the first rules for staying warm inside.
• Keep rain and flood water awayPick high ground, drain the site, keep out of flood paths and handle roof runoff in wet climates.
• Hot-humid climates: breeze, shade and light wallsHow a building answers constant heat and humidity: cooling through air movement, deep shade, raised floors and light construction.
• Tropical walls, openings and louvresLight shaded walls, large well-placed openings and the details that keep rain out while the air moves.
• Tropical roofs and raised floorsReflective double roofs, deep eaves, fast drainage and raised floors that let air pass beneath.
• Hot-dry climates: siting, wind and waterGroup and shade buildings, deal with dust, wind and scarce water, and cool with courtyards.
• Heavy walls and cool roofs in the desertThick earth walls, time lag, day and night rooms, double walls, shuttered openings and flat roofs that cool at night.
• Thermal mass versus insulationWhen heavy walls help, when light walls are better, and how insulation and shade work with mass.
• Design for cross and stack ventilationNarrow plans, window placement, fins, roof-space venting and fans that turn breeze into comfort.
• Temperate climates: balance summer shade and winter sunEave rules, adjustable shade, deciduous plants and roof-space venting for places that need both heating and cooling.
• Cold climates: sun, mass and compact formLet the sun in, store it, spread it and hold it: orientation, glass, mass, a Trombe wall and airtight form.
• Arctic and subarctic building practiceSite study, permafrost foundation options, water and heat, snow and ice details, vapour control and simple forms.
• Highland and alpine homesSun access, protection from cold wind, eaves tuned for altitude, fog, insulation and mountain air currents.
• Moisture and condensation in every climateWhy damp forms, how risk changes by climate, which way vapour travels and how to let walls and roofs dry.
• Wet, coastal and storm-prone sitesFloods, storm surge, cyclone wind, hail and heavy rain: choosing a site and building details that cope.
• Choose a winter camp sitePick ground out of the wind, with firewood, water and snow close by, and keep away from crevasses and avalanche slopes.
• Snow walls and windbreaksUse blocks of compact snow or ice, hollows and ridges to break the wind around a tent or a sleeping place.
• Pitch a tent on snow, frozen ground or iceClear or pack the snow, seal the snow cloth and anchor the tent with buried poles, logs or stones.
• Heated shelters: fumes, stoves and ventilationA closed, heated shelter can poison its occupants. Keep vents open, keep fuel outside and never leave a stove alone.
• Snow cave: where to dig and how to shape itDig into a deep, firm drift on the lee side of a ridge, with a sleeping level above the entrance and an arched roof.
• Snow cave: air, heat and collapseKeep two air holes open, put out flames before sleeping, never walk on the roof and mark the entrance.
• Snow hole, trench roof and poncho sheltersQuick shelters: burrow into a drift or roof a trench, or stretch ponchos over a ridge and seal the edges with snow.
• Forest shelters in snow: lean-to, tree pit and wigwamIn the woods, build a lean-to or use the space under a big tree, with boughs for roof and bed.
• Polar tents: lessons from the fieldFew poles, a sewn-in floor, a double layer and a sack entrance make a tent that stands up to polar wind.
• Entrances, vestibules and storm doorsA low passage, a sack entrance or a vestibule keeps cold air and drifting snow out, but a blocked door can trap people.
• Snow houses in practice (Stefansson, 1913)A snow house is warmest when new. If you cannot build one, shelter on a dry seat out of the wind.
• Winter hut of stone, moss and hide (Nansen, Franz Josef Land)How two men built a half-sunken stone hut with a walrus-hide roof and a low passage door for an Arctic winter.
• An insulated expedition hut (Amundsen, Framheim)A prefabricated double-walled timber hut, held down with steel wires, with its own fresh-air and exhaust pipes.
• Permafrost and frost heave: what to know before you buildFrozen ground lifts, settles and softens. Learn how ice lenses and thaw move buildings.
• Siting and foundation choices in frozen groundInvestigate first, build on clean gravel or rock where you can, and choose how to handle thaw and heave.
• Ventilated foundations over permafrostRaise a heated building on posts or piles and let cold winter air pass under it so the ground stays frozen.
• Water, drainage and leaks near cold-climate buildingsFrozen ground sheds water, and even small leaks can thaw permafrost under a building.
• Cold-climate building design: materials, site and layoutChoose quick-to-build, fire-resistant, wind-resistant forms on well-drained ground with low drifting.
• Snow loads, roofs, drifts and icingDesign snow loads vary hugely from site to site. Keep eaves and doors clear of ice and avoid snow-slide and avalanche paths.
• Condensation, vapour barriers and drying clothesWarm, damp air meets cold surfaces and drips or freezes. Plan vapour barriers, ventilation and a drying place.
• Earthquake: during the shaking and right afterDrop, cover and hold on, then get out of damaged buildings and expect aftershocks.
• Floods: warnings, getting above the water, cleanupWhat to do under a flood warning, when trapped, and when you return to a flooded home.
• Cyclone, hurricane, typhoon: before, during, afterTropical storm alerts, preparation, where to shelter from wind and surge, and cleanup.
• Tornado: warning, safest place, aftermathWatch versus warning, where to shelter, signs of a tornado, and what to do in a vehicle.
• Tsunami: natural signs, getting high and inlandRecognise a tsunami without a siren, move at once, and what to avoid afterwards.
• Landslides and debris flows: warning signs and what to doRecognise fast and slow slides, get uphill and out of valleys, and who to call about cracks.
• Wildfire: prepare the home, stay safe, return carefullyA cleared zone and fire-resistant materials, the roof, smoke control, and what to do if trapped.
• Volcanic ash: shelter in place and protect the roofWhy ash is heavy, how to seal a room, and what to avoid on the roof and road.
• Choose a safer site: check every hazard firstDry ground, firm soil, drainage, exposure and shoreline setbacks before you build or rebuild.
• Safe rooms and storm shelters: what countsWhich shelters give life-safety protection, how to decide, and stand-alone versus internal versus retrofit.
• Safe room design: debris-resistant envelope, load path, anchorageWhy a safe room differs from a strong house: debris impact, an unbroken load path, anchors, and flood or groundwater siting.
• Community storm shelter: siting, access, suppliesWhere to put a shared shelter, how far people must walk, entry, parking, communications and supplies.
• Wind-resistant house: connections, openings, roofsUplift, load path, corrosion, protected openings, roof shape, fasteners and wind speed-up.
• Coastal flood and tsunami sites: setbacks, open foundations, enclosuresWhy flood maps are only a minimum, why slabs and walls fail in waves, what may sit under a raised floor, and tsunami loads.
• Raise a flood-prone house: three techniquesExtend walls up, convert the ground floor and add a storey, or jack up the whole house.
• Earthquake-resistant building: site, materials, tie the boxFlat ground, light flexible walls, timber ties, openings, and the traditional systems that survived Kashmir 2005.
• Slopes and landslide-safe building: drainage, deflection, sandbagsDrain surface water, avoid slope-loading, and simple protection for homes in debris-flow paths.
• Transitional shelter that can become a permanent homeTimelines, upgradeable shelters, owner-built oversight, site choice, and lessons from Japan 2011.
• Build back safer: choose technology, repair or retrofitLocal materials and traditional methods, when vernacular is not enough, repair before demolishing, and guidelines.
• Quality checks: train builders, supervise on site, maintainTraining that sticks, early start, on-site supervision, field tests, fastener checks and upkeep.
• Earth-covered lodgeA pit-floored pole lodge with a roof of earth, as built on treeless plains in the 1800s.
• Wattle and daub wallsWoven twigs or stakes plastered with clay and straw make a quick wall for a short-term shelter.
• Sun-dried mud bricksHow to test soil, mix mud and straw, mould and cure adobe bricks by hand.
• Safety with earth buildingsCollapse, floods, earthquakes, codes and old toxic coatings: what to know before you build with earth.
• Rammed earth: soil and moistureChoosing, testing and preparing the earth for pise de terre walls.
• Rammed earth: forms and rammingFoundations, forms, rammers, ramming in layers, bonding and wall thickness for pise walls.
• Cob and clay-lump wallsPuddled clay and straw built up by hand or cast in blocks, as in old English cottages.
• Adobe and earth-block wallsLaying cured blocks: mortar, thickness, height limits, lintels, tie beams and chimneys.
• Stabilised earth blocksCement- or asphalt-stabilised blocks for wetter climates, and why they must not be mixed with old adobe.
• Foundations and damp-proofingSite, soil, footings, frost depth, drains and damp-proof courses under earth and masonry walls.
• Stone, brick and mortarChoosing units, mixing mortar, laying brick and stone, and keeping masonry sound.
• Plasters and rendersMud plaster, lime and cement stucco, whitewash, and when each one fails on earth walls.
• Keeping water off earth wallsRain splash, rising damp, drainage, grading, plants and overhangs.
• Roofs on earth wallsSloped and flat roofs, insulation, drainage, anchoring and old earth roofs.
• Choose and prepare a tent sitePick level, drained, sheltered ground away from water, dead trees and cliffs before you pitch.
• Pitch a wall tentMark the corners, raise the ridge pole with two people and guy the tent until it stands square and taut.
• Guy lines, pins and ground anchorsUse the right pin and angle, handle hard ground carefully and brace against wind.
• Drain and trench around a tentDig a shallow sloping trench with an outlet so rain runs away from the tent instead of under it.
• Ventilate a tent and heat it safelyKeep air moving, watch for carbon monoxide and fire, and do not bring heaters into a small tent.
• Tents in rain, wind and snowSlacken lines before rain, tighten in wind, keep snow out and let a steep roof shed snow.
• Light tents and shelter-cloth tentsChoose and rig a light cloth shelter: shelter cloth, tarpaulin tent, snow tent or insect-proof tent.
• Camp layout: latrines, waste and handwashingPlace the toilet, kitchen, garbage and water so waste stays away from people and drinking water.
• Keep a tent serviceableDry it, clean it, inspect it and look after the ropes so one tent lasts through a long emergency.
• Bark, bough and brush sheltersBuild a lean-to, bark teepee, bark-shingled shack or twig-bundle hut from plant material.
• Tent to fixed camp: fly, sod-cloth, floorAdd a second roof, a sod-cloth, screens and a real floor to make a tent comfortable for a long stay.
• From tent to timber shantyStake out a foundation, frame a floor and walls from two-by-fours and roof it to replace a tent.
• Make a bark or brush shack warmInsulate bark-shingled or twig-bundle shacks with moss, a second layer and banked earth.
• Choom: Nenets pole-and-reindeer-skin tent (northern Russia)A cone of slender birch poles under sewn reindeer skins, with a smoke opening at the top, as seen in northern Russia in the nineteenth century.
• Maya pole-and-palm-thatch house (Yucatan and Belize)A post-and-rafter house bound with liana, thatched with palm leaves and built by neighbours in a few days, as recorded in the early twentieth century.
• Madagascar warm-coast house of traveller's-tree leaves and papyrus panelsA raised house with bark floor, leaf-stalk walls, leaf thatch and a sliding door, recorded in nineteenth-century Madagascar.
• Tuareg leather tent (Sahara and Sahel)A round tent of sewn sheepskins on three pairs of poles with raised reed couches, as Heinrich Barth saw it in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Kirghiz felt tent (kirgah) on the PamirA domed felt tent on a willow frame with reed-mat lining, as seen on the high Pamir in the nineteenth century.
• Sahel corn-stalk huts, mat sheds and clay hutsCorn-stalk and cow-dung hamlets, circles of small conical huts, and a mat-fenced yard with a clay hut, seen by Barth in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Norwegian log farmhouse and fire-houseHow Norwegian farmers built long-lasting log houses and how heating moved from an open hearth to a chimney fireplace, as recorded in the nineteenth century.
• Stabbur: raised storehouse and loft buildings (Norway)Separate farm buildings in Norway, including the larder on posts (stabbur) and the loft that kept clothes dry, as recorded in the nineteenth century.
• Northern Russian log house raised for spring floodsA notched-log farmhouse with low store rooms below and living rooms upstairs, on the flood plain of the Petchora, as recorded in the nineteenth century.
• Irish wattle-and-thatch round house (early records)A round house of upright poles woven with hazel rods, plastered white and roofed with a thatched cone, as described in early Irish records.
• Burmese raised house of bamboo, teak and thatchA one-story house on posts with a verandah, bamboo or teak walls and palm-leaf or bamboo roofs, plus the village fire precautions, as recorded in the late nineteenth century.
• Madagascar highland house of laid clay and timberA north-south house of laid clay or planks, carried by three roof posts and thatched with rush, as recorded in the central highlands in the nineteenth century.
• Stone-and-mud house compounds of BadakhshanA dry-stone enclosure with sunken stock rooms, flat mud roofs on four pillars and a smoke hole, in the high valleys of northern Afghanistan in the nineteenth century.
• Philippine bamboo-and-nipa house on postsA house on heavy posts with a bamboo frame tied with rattan, nipa-palm walls and roof, a bamboo floor and a ladder, as seen in the late nineteenth century.
• Korean mud-and-straw house with flued stone floorA posts-and-lath house plastered with carefully prepared mud, thatched with straw and warmed by kitchen smoke passing under a stone floor, as recorded in the early twentieth century.
• Ethiopian highland stake-and-mud huts and Galla thatched cabinsA stake frame daubed with mud, with shuttered openings and a sunken fire, and the conically thatched cabins inside stone walls, as recorded in the nineteenth century.
• Triangular palm-thatch shelter (banab), GuianaA quick triangular shelter on three posts with a vine-tied frame and palm-leaf thatch, recorded among the Taruma, Atorai and Waiwai of Guiana; it can also serve as a permanent house.
• Lean-to (penthouse) house of the Taruma, GuianaA permanent lean-to house on framing posts and runners with palm-leaf thatch, in a rectangular and a half-hexagon form, recorded on the upper Essequibo.
• Round and rectangular thatched houses (Waiwai, Oyana), GuianaThe recorded building order of a Waiwai circular house, an Oyana dome-shaped house with a sleeping floor above, and a rectangular Waiwai house with sewn leaf thatch.
• Windows and doors for a hot-humid climate: shade, screens, breezeWhere to put windows and doors in the tropics to avoid the sun and catch breezes: orientation, shades, screens, shutters, window height and size.
• Windows and walls for a hot-dry climate: courtyards and small deep openingsCourtyards, shading neighbours, thick self-shading walls, small deep-set high windows against hot wind, dust and glare, and a flat roof for living space.
• Roof styles and coverings comparedFlat, shed, gable and hipped roofs compared for wind, rain and heat, plus wood, bamboo, tile, metal sheet and thatch coverings, from the Peace Corps self-help manual.
• Building more safely in earthquake areasChoosing and shaping a site, light flexible materials, openings, ties and reinforcement for small buildings in earthquake areas, from the Peace Corps manual.
• Black house of Lewis and Harris: dry-stone and turf walls, straw thatch (Outer Hebrides, historical)A low house with walls two stone faces thick and filled with turf, a rounded straw roof held down by weighted heather ropes, and a fire in the middle. A historical record, with the faults of the design pointed out.
• Beehive house (bothan): corbelled dry-stone dome under turf (Outer Hebrides, historical)A small round dwelling of rough moor stones laid in overlapping courses to a dome, covered with turf, built without wood, iron, cement or metal tools.
• Kullu house: tiers of beams and rubble masonry, verandahs, slate roof (Himachal Pradesh, historical)A two-storey valley house with walls built in alternating tiers of timber beams and rubble stone, living rooms above and grain or cattle below, ceiling beams that project to carry the verandahs and the slate roof.
• Lahaul house: mud, stone and timber, flat roof, houses grouped against deep snow (Himachal Pradesh, historical)A flat-roofed mud, stone and timber house with the family above and animals below, villages massed in a ring against deep snow, and a tower house with notched-log stairs.
• Bhutan house: rubble and clay or trodden clay in a frame, pine-shingle roof (historical)A three- or four-storey house of rubble stone and clay or clay trodden down in a frame, with wooden floors, a verandah, a store under the roof and a shallow pine-shingle roof held by stones.
• Society Islands fare: ridge posts, wall-plates, purau rafters and pole walls (French Polynesia)A house of square posts carrying a ridge, purau-pole rafters resting on wall-plates, closely set pole walls tied with light sticks, and thatch, as built at Afareaitu.
• Pandanus-leaf thatch sewn to lines on the rafters (Society Islands, historical)How pandanus leaves were soaked, flattened, folded over canes and sewn in overlapping courses from eaves to ridge, how the ridge was covered, and how long the roof lasted.
• Ice pond and storage well (yakhjal): freezing thin layers of water behind a mud-brick wall (Shiraz, Persia, historical)A shallow excavated pond shaded by a long sun-dried-brick wall, filled a little at a time on cold nights so thin ice forms by morning, then broken and stored in a deep well for the hot months.
• Cappadocian rock-cut village rooms and arched tuff houses (Turkey, historical)Rooms and stables hollowed from soft volcanic stone with a built front, a staircase cut in the rock, and, in town, houses of the same tuff raised on arches over cave entrances.
• Mosquito Shore and Carib thatch houses: posts, open thatch, sleeping platforms (Honduras and Nicaragua coast, historical)Posts driven into the ground, roofs thatched with palm and wild-cane leaves down to near the ground, split-bamboo sleeping platforms, and, in Carib towns, wattled walls and shuttered openings closed against the land wind.
• Bangkok pile houses and floating houses: bamboo, boards and atap thatch (Siam, historical)Houses on rafters that float and can be towed to a new site, and houses on piles with the floor raised well above the ground, built of wood or light bamboo and roofed with atap palm leaves.
• Mud and stone houses of Nubia and Berber: courtyard, mat-and-mud roof (Sudan, historical)Stone huts where the river shore is narrow, mud houses where the plain is broad, and courtyard houses of mud or sun-baked brick with a roof of beams, mats, reeds and a layer of mud.
• Stone-and-adobe house compound: separate kitchen, bedroom and store buildings (Lake Titicaca, historical)Stone blocks laid in adobe mud, with the home split into at least three small thatched buildings: a kitchen, a sleeping house and storehouses, and an adobe bench for a bed.
• Dry-stone building without mortar: corbelled beehive houses, tapering fort walls and field walls (Ireland, historical)Natural unhammered stones fitted together without mortar, domes made by each course reaching inward until one flat stone closes the top, a wall thick at the bottom and thin at the top, and a six-foot dry-stone field wall.
• Newar town house: brick in clay mortar, grooved tile roof, projecting fir beams (Kathmandu valley, Nepal, historical)A three-storey brick house laid in clay mortar under a roof of flat grooved tiles, with narrow rooms, small carved lattice windows below and large balcony windows above, and fir beams jutting through the walls.
• Atlas Berber stone village houses and sun-dried clay houses (Morocco, historical)Thick stone walls laid roughly below and finished with mud and small stones above, an upper storey, a flat roof sealed with mortar, and small cubical houses of sun-dried clay where stone is short.
• Mix mortar by handChoose a mortar type, mix it in a box, keep it workable, and know when to throw it away.
• Hand tools for masonry and layoutThe basic trowel, hammer, level, line and layout tools, and how to look after them.
• Set out and square a buildingMark the corners, set batter boards, and square the lines with the 6-8-10 rule before you dig.
• Build safely: scaffolds, forms and cold-weather workScaffold, shoring and formwork rules from the Army manuals, and how to protect fresh masonry.
• Mix concrete by handChoose clean materials, measure by volume, turn the pile, and place it before it sets.
• Cure concrete and protect it from heat and frostKeep fresh concrete moist, cool it in the heat, and never let it freeze in its first days.
• Rubble stone wall for a hut or small buildingLay fieldstone in mortar with bonding stones, big stones low, and tight packing.
• Make bricks by hand: clay, moulding and dryingDig and weather the clay, pick out stones, temper it, mould and dry the bricks before firing.
• Burn bricks in a clamp or simple kilnA clamp is a stack of raw bricks with fuel between the layers, cased and lit through fire holes.
• Safe field stove, fire pit and stovepipe basicsA block or stone fire ring, firebrick lining, and the stovepipe clearances that prevent house fires.
• Footings, site drainage and damp-proofing for masonryClear and drain the site, size a footing, drain the wall base, and parge below grade.
• Concrete forms, walls and slab floorsBuild tight forms, place in layers, then screed, float, trowel and cure a slab.
• Lay a brick wall: bonds, joints and corner leadsBrick sizes, bonds, bedding, joints, and the corner-lead method for an 8-inch wall.
• Openings, lintels, arches and watertight walls in brickPlan courses to the sill, carry the load over openings, and keep rain and heat out.
• Build a concrete block wallPlan to full and half blocks, lay the first course true, build corners, tool the joints and tie the walls.
• Lime: burning, slaking and hydrated limeHow limestone becomes lime, how to tell good lime from bad, and what slaking does.
• Build a safe masonry chimneyFoundation, flue lining, walls, clearances, top and smoke test for a chimney that will not burn the house down.
• Build a fireplace: hearth, throat, smoke chamber and flueSize the opening, build a fireproof hearth and firebox, form the throat and smoke chamber, and size the flue.
• Roofs of clay tile, slate and wood shingleHand-made roof tiles, slate and tile laps and nailing, wood-shingle reroofing and valley flashing.
• Doors, door frames and windowsRough openings, a batten door, jambs, hinges, hanging a door, window types and a hasty sash.
• Plumbing, drains and sewage for a small housePlan pipe and fixtures, choose pipe material, keep sewage away from water, and site a pit privy or septic tank.
• Estimate quantities and plan a small buildingCubic yards, brick and mortar counts, courses, labour and modular planning for a small job.
• Improvised water level: two glass tubes joined by a pipeWater in a tube finds its own level, so two readings on a rod show how much higher one spot is than another. Useful for foundations, floors and drain falls.
• Stone-boat: a low sled for hauling heavy loads over any groundA flat sled of hardwood planks that moves ploughs, barrels and heavy goods in summer or winter. Handy for hauling stones, timber and fill to a building site.
• Dead-air and packed walls: double boarding, sawdust, shavings, strawA wall boarded on both sides of the studs holds still air that slows heat loss; the space can also be packed with sawdust, shavings or straw. An air space on a masonry wall keeps the room warmer and drier.
• Straw loft: soak up breath moisture so frost does not form on the roofWarm, moist breath condenses as frost on a cold roof and drips later. A loose floor with cracks under a layer of straw lets that moisture rise into the straw and dry out through gable doors.
• Footings below the frost line: stop frost heave and settlingFrost moves shallow footings and cracks walls, steps and drains. Put footings below the local frost line, keep surface water out, and keep wood off the ground.
• Rat-proof a building: foundations, gaps, hiding places and storageRats live where there is food and shelter. A deep concrete foundation, tight openings, no hidden spaces and raised storage keep them out. From a U.S. Department of Agriculture bulletin.
• Braced posts and girts: diagonal braces, truss bracing and an open side away from the windA simple post-and-plate shed uses short diagonal braces under the plate, girts for rigidity and diagonal bracing, and may leave the side away from the prevailing wind open.
• Moken stilt house (Surin Islands, Thailand)A timber post-and-beam house on stilts with palm-leaf walls and roof, bamboo floor and rattan lashing, built by the Moken sea nomads for the monsoon season.
• Earth-lump, cob, adobe and rammed-earth walls (Eastern Austria)Five hand-built earth wall methods recorded in vernacular farm buildings: earth lumps, adobe bricks, cob, rammed earth and clay plaster, each matched to the local clay.
• Yaodong cave dwellings and courtyards (Loess Plateau, China)Chambers dug horizontally into loess slopes, or built as masonry vaults of brick, stone or rammed earth, grouped around a courtyard.
• Sherpa dry-stone house (Khumbu, Himalaya)A south-facing rubble-stone house built into the slope with a timber frame inside, studied in the Thame Valley after the 2015 earthquakes.
• Hani courtyard house (Samaba terraces, Yunnan, China)A three-tier earth-walled house with livestock below, family rooms above and a flat roof for drying crops, set in sheltered hollows beneath forested slopes.
• Hani adobe-brick walls and flat earthen roof (Yunnan, China)How adobe bricks are made, laid and plastered, how fired bricks wrap an adobe core, and how the flat earthen roof is layered.
• Hani timber frames and plank walls (Yunnan, China)Managed woodlots, two ways of framing the main wing, grid-beam frames for the side wings and plank-clad upper walls.
• Mud-brick courtyard house (Rif Dimashq, Syria)An inward-facing house of straw-and-soil mud bricks on a stone foundation, with rooms arranged around a courtyard to suit a very hot climate.
• Flat mud roof (Al Balla) of Rif Dimashq, SyriaA flat roof of beams, small poles, a protective layer and two layers of straw-clay, kept watertight by yearly rolling and clearing snow.
• Rammed-earth farmhouse (eastern Croatia)Thick rammed-earth walls made in a half-metre formwork from site soil and straw, on a brick plinth, with reed reinforcement and lime whitewash.
• Timber ceiling and tiled gable roof on earth walls (eastern Croatia)Softwood ceiling beams with straw-and-clay vitlovi, a rafter-and-tie gable roof with wind braces, and floors on beams in sand.
• Fujian tulou: round rammed-earth houses (China)Large defensive earth houses with thick rammed-earth outer walls and a timber or earth-wall interior around a central courtyard.
• Apulian trullo: conical dry-stone hut (Italy)A cylindrical stone base carrying a stone cone, with thick layered walls, one small door and no windows.
• Stone and adobe houses of Anatolia (Turkey)Rubble-stone and adobe walls, timber ring beams and hımış timber frames with adobe infill, recorded across many Turkish provinces and climates.
• Somali mat hut (gurgi), Horn of AfricaA hemisphere of bent sticks tied with cord and covered with grass mats, recorded by Richard Burton in Somaliland in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Sami mountain tent (reindeer herders, Lapland)A six-angled frame of beams under a cloth cover, with reindeer-skin floors, recorded by Linnaeus in Swedish Lapland in the early eighteenth century.
• Sami turf, bark and bough huts (Lapland)Cone sheds of boards covered with boughs, bark or turf, timber-and-bark huts and peat-and-sod huts of Sami herders, recorded from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.
• Corn-stalk shade hut and Mandingo thatched hut (West Africa)A square hut of upright corn stalks with a flat roof, and the round mud-walled hut with a conical grass roof, recorded by Mungo Park in the late eighteenth century.
• Makololo round hut with grass thatch (Zambezi)A hut of circular walls under a separate cone-shaped roof of reeds or sticks lashed with bark and thatched with fine grass, recorded by David Livingstone in the 1850s.
• Beehive and conical grass huts of East AfricaLow beehive huts with a spiral inner partition in the Taita hills, conical grass huts and square mud tembe of the interior, and grand grass courts in Uganda, recorded by travellers in the 1860s and 1880s.
• Mound villages and pile huts on African floodplainsVillages raised on mounds above the yearly flood in the Barotse valley, and huts built on piles on the lower Zambezi, recorded by David Livingstone, with a parallel from Egypt.
• Clay-walled towns and rest houses of West and Central AfricaSquare clay houses with flat roofs behind high mud walls, clay-and-stone houses with clay mortar and wattle-and-daub rest houses, recorded by Mungo Park and David Livingstone.
• Cairo courtyard house with lattice windows and wind scoopStone and brick houses around an open court, with lattice windows, evaporative water bottles and a roof wind scoop, recorded by Edward Lane in the 1830s.
• Nile village house: mud brick, palm-timber roof and pigeon towerUnbaked brick houses with palm-timber and mud roofs, roof pigeon towers and small mud domes, recorded by Lane and Amelia Edwards in the nineteenth century.
• Persian Gulf wind-towers, roof awnings and cool cellarsWind-towers on Gulf houses, mud brick as the usual material and rock-cut cellars used in the summer heat, recorded by George Curzon in Persia in 1889 and 1890.
• Highland and Hebridean stone hut with heather thatchA loose-stone or turf wall under a heather thatch tied down with heather ropes and stones, recorded by Samuel Johnson in the Highlands and islands of Scotland in the eighteenth century.
• Icelandic turf farmhouseThick turf walls between wooden gables, a long low entrance passage and a shared wall-bed room, recorded by Sabine Baring-Gould in Iceland in the nineteenth century.
• Alpine log chalet (Switzerland)Notched tree-trunk and plank walls, a wide low roof held down by stones, and trees left standing against avalanches, recorded by William Dana in 1913.
• Aboriginal bark and bough huts (Queensland and Victoria)Dome and lean-to huts of saplings, boughs, grass, bark and mud, recorded among Aboriginal peoples of Queensland and Victoria in the late nineteenth century.
• Palm-thatch huts and sheds of the AmazonOpen palm-roofed sheds, hammock shelters and pole-and-mud houses on the Amazon and its tributaries, recorded by two naturalists in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Corn-husk and palm-leaf huts of Central AmericaSimple pole huts roofed with corn husks or palm leaves, as seen by John Stephens in Central America in the early nineteenth century.
• Bamboo and leaf houses of Siam and LaosHouses and quick shelters of bamboo and leaves on the Chao Phraya and in Laos, as recorded by the French naturalist Henri Mouhot in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Fijian reed and grass housesHow Fijian builders framed and thatched houses of reeds, grass and sugar-cane leaves, recorded by the missionary Thomas Williams in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Japanese timber-frame house on stonesThe post-and-beam frame, stone footings, bamboo-lath walls and mud plaster of ordinary Japanese houses, described by Edward Morse after living in Japan in the late nineteenth century.
• Japanese thatched roofHow rural Japanese roofs were thatched with straw, grass and reed and finished with tile or bamboo ridges, with notes on weight and renewal.
• Stalk, straw and earth-brick houses of ChinaHouses of millet and sorghum stalks, rice straw and sun-dried earth brick in China, with the heated brick bed (kang), as seen by F. H. King in the early twentieth century.
• Ainu reed-walled house (Hokkaido)A large house of posts, double reed walls and a very tall thatched roof, as Isabella Bird saw it in an Ainu village in Hokkaido in the nineteenth century.
• Mud-roofed stone and earth houses of LadakhFlat mud roofs on poplar rods, stone lower storeys and sun-dried brick upper storeys in Ladakh, western Tibet, as seen by Isabella Bird in the late nineteenth century.
• Bagobo bamboo house on piles (Mindanao)A raised one-room house of piles, palma brava strips and flattened bamboo, built roof first, with notes on nipa-roofed variants, recorded by Fay-Cooper Cole in the early twentieth century.
• Bontoc timber house (Luzon highlands)A pine-board house on a ground floor with a stone back wall, upper storerooms and a heavy grass roof, recorded in the early twentieth century among the Bontoc people of northern Luzon.
• Koryak winter yurt (Kamchatka, Siberia)The driftwood hour-glass winter house of the Koryak of northeastern Siberia, with its smoke-hole entrance and sleeping tents, seen by George Kennan in the nineteenth century.
• Andean coast and highland huts (Peru)Wicker huts, matted flat roofs, sun-dried brick, ichu-thatched stone rest houses and reed floats, recorded by E. G. Squier in Peru in the nineteenth century.
• Maori whare: sapling huts and framed housesRound-sapling huts thatched with raupo and carefully framed houses of wrought timber, as described by Elsdon Best in the early twentieth century, with notes on raised storehouses.
• Marquesan stone platform and thatched houseA boulder-and-earth platform carrying a thatched sleeping house with a steep back wall, recorded in the Marquesas Islands in the early twentieth century.
• Samoan round house on postsThe open-sided, round-roofed Samoan house, with centre posts, breadfruit-wood rafters, sugar-cane-leaf thatch and sinnet lashing, described by George Turner in the late nineteenth century.
• Fallen-tree, pole and lean-to sheltersQuick shelters from poles, branches and bark for one night or a short stay.
• Raised platform and stilted shelterGet off wet or snake-prone ground with a pole platform and a simple roof on top.
• Wind and storm shelter basicsWhat an old FEMA booklet says about why houses fail in tornadoes and hurricanes and what a shelter must do.
• Log hut and open log campA log hut or open log camp for a cold-weather stay: roof, windows, chinking and fire safety.
• Site, planning, tools and layoutCheck the ground, get the local rules, choose lumber and mark out a square building with batter boards.
• Footings, piers and postsFootings, piers, posts and sill anchors that carry a timber building and keep the wood off the soil.
• Floors and raised floorsFrame a timber floor with sills, girders and joists, keep it off damp ground, and lay subfloor and finish floor.
• Wall framing and bracingStuds, plates, corner posts, headers and bracing for a timber-frame wall, and how to raise and straighten it.
• Log walls and notchingChoose and prepare logs, notch the corners, lay up the walls and protect them from rot and borers.
• Roof framingRafters, ties, trusses and sheathing for a simple pitched roof, and how to keep the walls from spreading.
• Roof coverings: shingles, thatch, bark and sheetWood shingles, thatch, bark and sheet roofing: pitches, laps, nails and when each is a poor choice.
• Doors, windows, siding and stovepipesOpening sizes, siding and building paper, and fire-safe stovepipe and chimney details.
• Drainage, moisture and decay controlKeep timber dry: grade, drainage, ventilation, vapor barriers, termite shields and regular inspection.
• Flood, wind and quake-resilient detailsElevation, foundations, connections and bracing that help a timber building survive floods and wind.
• Pick a safe camp site in jungle and monsoon countryHigh, open ground away from swamps and dry riverbeds; what the weather does in the tropics; low and flood-prone ground.
• Mangrove, swamp and tidal ground: field rulesTwo kinds of jungle swamp, nipa palm where the tide reaches, houses on piles in sheltered coves, and fire in thatch.
• Quick bamboo-frame hut with a thatch or mat roofA bamboo frame lashed with vines or wire, woven or plastered walls, mat and thatch roof: how fast it can go up and where smoke is a danger.
• Bamboo: which culm, what age, what seasonHow hard the culm must be before you cut it, the age, the season after the rains, and soaking out the sap.
• Bamboo: curing, storing and making it lastDry storage upright and off the ground, how long bamboo lasts, rot at the base, and why a chemical dust is left out.
• Bamboo frames, posts and lashingCorner posts, joists and studs; lashing instead of nails; the cradle cut; bamboo posts for stilt houses; and the weak joints.
• Bamboo floors, walls, partitions and woven matsSplit-bamboo floors on clay or raised, two wall methods, sawale matting, mud-plastered lath, doors and windows.
• Bamboo roofs, mat awnings and water pipesBamboo roof frames and halved-culm tiles, the mat layer under thatch, shade awnings, and bamboo pipes for temporary water.
• Palm, nipa and grass thatch roofsWhat thatch is good for, nipa and cogon, laying like shingles, a mat layer beneath, and the fire risk.
• Stilt houses and raised floorsThe typical raised house, why light materials are safe, durable timber for posts, and clearance beneath the floor.
• Ventilation, shade and breezes for hot-humid housesHigh ventilated ceilings, windows turned from the sun, shades and overhangs, cross-ventilation, screens, and mat awnings.
• Termite and rot control by design, without hazardous chemicalsHow termites enter, which foundations are riskiest, keeping wood off the ground, metal shields, drainage and ventilation, durable timber.
• Monsoon roofs: pitch, overhang, coverings and drainageShed and gable roofs in heavy rain, ventilated gables, coverings compared, ditches and slopes around the house.
• Coastal, tidal and salt-spray sitesSetting back from the shore, weighing storm risk, salt corrosion, wood in ground contact, and houses on piles in quiet water.
• Desert houses: shade, thick walls and courtyardsWindows away from the sun, courtyards, buildings that shade each other, thick walls, hot winds, wide temperature swings and wadis.
• Cool roofs for hot climatesWhat makes a roof run cooler, reflectance and emittance together, keeping it clean, why it is not insulation, and the shingle warning.
• Rainwater from roofs: catchment and cisternsHow much a roof collects, planning for dry years, the vital features of a drinking-water cistern, and materials.
• Snow house (Inuit, Arctic Canada)How Inuit builders of the Central Arctic raised a dome of cut snow blocks, as recorded in the late nineteenth century.
• Bark-covered pole lodge (wigwam)Bent-pole frames covered with bark or mats, as built by Algonquian and Ojibwa peoples and recorded in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
• Skin tent (tipi) of the Great PlainsA cone of poles covered with stitched hides, recorded by Morgan in the nineteenth century as portable and quick to raise.
• Brush, bough and grass shelters (wickiup, lean-to)Quick shelters of boughs, saplings and grass, drawn from Navajo, Apache, Californian and woodcraft accounts.
• Bamboo, palm-leaf and grass huts (Malay Archipelago)How bamboo, sago-palm leaf and grass were used for quick huts and temporary shelters, as a nineteenth-century naturalist saw them.
• Hogan (Navajo log-and-earth house)A forked-timber frame, bark layer and earth coat, recorded by the Smithsonian in the late nineteenth century.
• Earth lodge (Mandan, Upper Missouri)A round timber-framed lodge with an earth roof, described by Morgan from a deserted village he visited.
• Adobe terrace houses (Pueblo)Stacked rooms of sun-dried brick and stone with mud-plastered roofs, as recorded in New Mexico in the nineteenth century.
• Long-house (Haudenosaunee, Iroquois)An elm-bark house up to a hundred feet long, with a central passage and shared fires, recorded in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
• Plank and bark houses (Northwest Coast and Columbia River)Posts, a ridge-pole and split boards on the river and coast, described by the Lewis and Clark expedition and by James Swan.
• Stone, sod and whale-rib house; summer tent (Inuit)Dug-in houses with stone walls, whale-rib roofs and skin tents, recorded in Arctic Canada in the late nineteenth century.
• Round felt tent (ger, yurt) of MongoliaA folding trellis wall and umbrella roof of poles, recorded by a French missionary in the nineteenth century.
• Black goat-hair tent of the BedouinA woven hair cloth stretched on poles and pegs, with side curtains that can be shifted with the wind and sun.
• Grass and wickerwork huts of Central AfricaConical thatch roofs on clay-daubed wicker walls, recorded by a botanist in the nineteenth century along the Upper Nile and Congo watershed.
• Stilt and pile houses (Borneo, Sumatra, Moluccas)Houses raised on posts above ground and water, with bamboo floors and high thatched roofs, recorded by a nineteenth-century naturalist.
• Reed houses of the Mesopotamian marshesArched bundles of reed covered with woven mats on small islands in the marshes of southern Iraq, recorded in the nineteenth century.
• Cave and cliff-alcove dwellings (Canyon de Chelly)Masonry rooms built under overhanging cliffs and in caves, surveyed by the Smithsonian in the late nineteenth century.