Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #471884 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

Synopsis
Beautiful Mauritian houses - both patrician and popular - have a charm that attracts the admiration of travellers from around the world. This splendid volume reveals the unique style of an island known to outsiders mostly from the allure of its palmfringed shores. Here are the authentic interiors of a culture whose traditional design, colours and decoration reflect an exotic blend of Oriental, African and Western styles. From the last vestiges of 'colonial' Creole architecture to windswept seaside campements, Mauritian dwellings combine two centuries of ingenuity and imagination with basic elements of everyday comfort, and survival in a capricious climate. Yet their future is far more fragile than the walls fashioned from ravenala palm leaves, or the finely latticed wood of a weathered porticullis. Originally built to withstand intense heat, heavy rains and the annual ravages of cyclones, the brilliant examples of eighteenth-century architecture depicted here face the contemporary threat of demolition - an effect of the escalating cost of living in paradise.

Mauritius Style is not only an intimate look into a style of tropical grace and serenity, where life is savoured in the shade of the verandah, but a tribute to a precious vernacular heritage. This revised edition includes 16 additional pages on new hotels in Mauritius.