Three quarters of the world's people live in homes made of mud. Yet, the forms of their houses and the skills inherent in their construction are seldom perceived as architecture. Hardly any documentation exists on the subject: There is little record of the history of domestic earth buildings, or of the recent experiments in mud technology. The book is designed to fill this lacuna by offering an indigenous interpretation of indigenous architectural ideas. It deals largely with the mud house and the settlements it makes, the result as it is, of a professional concern and two years of documented architectural research into the forces that affect the design of the mud dwelling. The gathered material and the method of its presentation are directed towards an assessment of mud building in places that have a long historical tradition of earth architecture. The purpose of the book, however, is to look at mud buildings neither with the single?mindedness of the historian (facts about a building's history are important only if they help to shed light on its architecture), nor with the eulogizing intent of an appreciative artist. Instead, it attempts to observe buildings in the light of practical experience, and in view of the culture of their setting.