Peillon is one of several “perched villages”, just a few kilometers north of Nice and Monaco but at almost 400 meters altitude. It is a quaint pedestrian only village with narrow cobbled streets winding up and down through low vaulted passageways, offering a dramatic contrast to the busy Riviera coast to the south. A visit to this magnificent fortified village is a true trip back in time, with its unchanged stone houses being a beautiful example of medieval french architecture and Old World charm.

The historic village of Monsanto in Eastern Portugal is another example of thoughtful architecture that adapts to its natural surroundings rather than attempting to transform them. The village developed around enormous granite boulders, utilized for walls, floors, and even roofs.The homes, sandwiched between mossy boulders, and the narrow cobbled streets have hardly changed in hundreds of years, making Monsanto a living museum that has retained its medieval village charm.

Icelandic turf houses were the product of a harsh environment. They offered superior insulation compared to stone and wood houses, and Iceland did have large amounts of turf that was suitable for construction, while other building material were difficult to obtain. The end result is an example of vernacular architecture based on local needs and construction materials, that blends beautifully into its natural environment.

The serene Shirakawa-go and Gokayama regions, nestled in a remote mountain area of Japan, are famous for their traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses, some of which are more than 200 years old. Gassho-zukuri means “constructed like hands in prayer”, as the farmhouses’ steep thatched roofs resemble the hands of praying Buddhist monks. The roofs, made without nails, were designed to withstand the large amounts of heavy snow that falls in the region during winter, and provided a large attic space for cultivating silkworms.