The Iconic Tropical House

A luscious survey of forty-five of the most interesting tropical houses built in south-east Asia and Australia over the last fifty years, arranged decade by decade.

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, arranged decade by decade.

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

Bingham-Hall makes the case that this is architecture that’s 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.