ABSTRACT
Housing design – even in “normal” conditions – is not an easy task, since, as Rapoport puts it, a house, apart from its social dimensions, aims to satisfy the basic and the most complicated needs of human beings; it is the central place of human existence.8 Furthermore, housing becomes particularly important as a focus for the emotional, the personal and the symbolic; the primacy of these aspects shapes its form and in turn exercises important psycho-social impacts. In Rapoport’s words, “Because building a house is a cultural phenomenon, its form and organization is greatly influenced by the cultural milieu to which it belongs.”7
