I came across this beautiful house in Lamu, designed by Claudio Modola. The exterior of the traditional stone house is massive, imposing and often completely unadorned – except for the inside of the daka entrance porch to the house, which usually featured a magnificent wooden double front door, with intricately carved surrounds and centre post. 2 (Winter, 1974): 42-84.

Tiny fish were kept in the cistern to eat any mosquito larvae that might be tempted to breed there. Feel free to leave your highlights in the comments section. Besides its beauty, plants can improve indoor air quality or you can even grow some vegetables and herbs.

The Swahili architecture Lamu is a symbol of power, and only the elite families were allowed to own them. google_ad_host="pub-6693688277674466"; In the grandest houses, a huge, heavy and beautifully-carved pavilao bed was often used by the principal inhabitants; it was so high that a special stool of bench had to be used to climb into it.

Beds were arranged around the misana as required and some privacy could be obtained by drawing the curtains hanging from lacquered miwandi poles at either end of the galleries to create sleeping alcoves. Stay safe and healthy. With the need to settle in more people the towns expanded into the mainland. Traditional household furniture included the kiti cha enzi (literally ‘chair of power’ – or chief’s chair) – a carved mahogany throne, often inlaid with ivory or mother of pearl, reserved for the man of the house or for important visitors. With time, the new designs were merged with the already existing ones to form one unique style that is directly associated with the Swahili tribe. The traditional stone house is Lamu’s classic building type – found exclusively in Mkomani – the northern and oldest part of the town – a patrician area built and inhabited by wealthy merchants and noble Arab families – many of whose descendants still live in these grand, historic family homes. The daka porch led directly into a foyer called the tekani, with the front door facing a blank wall, ensuring again that visitors to the daka didn’t catch a glimpse of the private areas of the house. To understand Swahili architecture, one must, first, understand the language and identity of the Waswahili. It doesn’t seem like there are as many books on this subject as others, so I was happy to have found...Read More ». Traditional stone houses generally had two bathrooms on every floor: the first located near the sabule and the courtyard and used predominantly by the men, and the second located to the rear of the house by the ndani.

As time went on, it became fashionable to fit your building with carved decorative doors. Furthermore, the ruins of Gede, pate, takwa, Songo Mnara and kilwa which can be seen in various regions in the coast exude Swahili architecture of interlocking history and diverse influences. Congested as the towns were they were separated by narrow channels and huddled along the islands. The flat roofs consisted of cozy spaced mangrove poles supporting coral blocks.

After that, the Indian businessmen settled in some of the trade towns which include Lamu and Mombasa.