Hello my name is Colm Breslin. I will be writing my blog about the Geography of Architecture, more specifically, how the environment and geography of a place in the world will affect the shape of the building, the size of the building, the building materials and even the colour of the building. I will explore the differences between buildings all around the world such as buildings in European cities and in the Himalayas, the beaches of Cuba and the forests of the Arctic and many more.




Place-Columbia, Coffee Plantation,


From what I can see in pictures, Columbian coffee plantations are generally in small valleys defined by small hills that stretch for miles. The most common building materials seem to be wood, clay, slate and small amounts of metal. The houses seem to be one-storey tall, square, white or cream in colour, with roofs that have a soft slant, lots of windows and an outdoor space that surrounds the main part of the house but is covered by the roof.
The houses are designed to let lots of air come in and out, in order to achieve a breeze as it is very humid due to the valley trapping the heat from the sun and the water vapour from coffee plants. They do this with all the windows and open space throughout the buildings, the buildings are light in colour to reflect sunlight.
But they are also meant to be able to survive intense weather as tropical storms are quite common, that's why they have slanted roofs and brick or concrete walls. From what I know one storey buildings are the most common but I have seen images of two storey buildings, I don't see any advantage to this other than the extra space and the possibility of being able to cool the house easier. But if I were to build a house there it would be one storey and made of the same materials listed above, in this case it seems like the locals know best.