The Iconic Tropical House (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780500027011)

This stunningly illustrated volume presents forty-five of the most interesting tropical houses of the last fifty years, surveying India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and northern Australia.

Author Patrick Bingham-Hall sets the houses in context, arguing that climate, colonization, and modernism, as well as geopolitical events, increasing prosperity, and even air-conditioning since the end of World War II, have created a very specific set of circumstances and therefore houses. This includes buildings with pitched roofs, broad overhangs and eaves, verandas, big doors, and windows, which optimize airflow and solar orientation. Larger-than-life, open to the elements, this is soaring architecture with a strong sense of place.

The Iconic Tropical House shows readers that this is architecture that's inherently environmentally attuned and innately sustainable. It's also a book of lush, jaw-dropping houses that seamlessly blend indoor and out, in locations anyone would want to visit.