Apartment block A tall building in a city built to accommodate many people despite lack of ground space. Most apartment blocks are purpose built, but some large houses are converted into apartments to accommodate more people.

Bungalow A one-storey house, sometimes with upstairs rooms in the roof. In South Asia, a bungalow is any house inhabited by just one family, in contrast to an apartment block.

Houseboat A boat designed or adapted for use as a home. Some houseboats are permanently moored.

Igloo An igloo is a traditional Inuit shelter, usually made from snow when out hunting. Blocks of snow are cut and laid on top of each other to form a dome. A lamp is then used to melt snow on the inside walls, which quickly freeze to form a windtight wall.

Log cabin A small house made from unshaped wooden logs. Log cabins are traditional buildings in densely wooded parts of Europe and in North America.

Maasai house The traditional shelter of the Maasai people in East Africa, made from poles interwoven with branches and packed with mud, grass and dung to keep the building dry. There are no windows, just an opening to let light in and smoke out.

Machiya A traditional wooden Japanese townhouse. Machiya are long and narrow, usually with a small courtyard garden and tile roof. They can be between one and three storeys high.

Mudbrick house A house made from traditional bricks, shaped from mud and left to bake in the hot sun. Mudbrick homes are built in hot, dry areas such as North Africa.

Mudhif A traditional reed house built in the marshes of southern Iraq. It is usually a large, communal house with an arched roof. If marsh waters rise too high, the mudhif can be quickly dismantled and carried to an area of higher ground.

Nomads People who do not live in one place all the time but move about, usually to find new grazing land for their animals, or new hunting ground for themselves. Nomads usually live in tents, which can be easily carried around with them.

Round house A house built with a circular base. Many early houses and huts were round. Round houses are still popular in many parts of Africa and southern Europe.

Stilt house A house raised on stilts above water or soil. Stilt houses are usually built in areas that regularly flood. They also help to keep out vermin. In and around Indonesia, offshore stilt houses, called kelongs, are inhabited by fishing communities.

Suburb The outer regions of a city, consisting of residential areas and spacious shopping malls. Often people live in the suburbs and commute into the city centre to work.

Terraced house A house that shares its side walls with other houses. Townhouses are terraced houses that are typically two or more storeys tall.

Thatch A roof made from straw, leaves or reeds, layered in order to shed water.

Timber-frame house A house built around a wooden frame with walls made from wood, brick or twigs packed with mud.

Tipi A traditional Native American cone-shaped tent, made out of buffalo hides attached to poles.

Tongkonan A traditional house built by the Torajan people of Indonesia. It is made from wood with a large, boat-shaped roof protruding over the front of the house.

Treehouse A building constructed among the branches of a tree. In tropical regions, treehouses are built to protect people from animals on the ground and flooding during heavy rains.

Yaodong A traditional cave dwelling in northern China, dug in the side of a sandy hill. Yaodongs have a door and windows at their front and are plastered inside.

Yurt A circular tent (called ger in Mongolian) made of a wooden frame covered in pads of felt and a canvas cover to protect it against rain. Over the centuries, the yurt has been used by Mongolian nomads. Yurts adapted to modern ways of living, with TV and electricity etc., are still the permanent home of choice for people living in the suburbs of Ulan Bator, Mongolia's capital.

Consultant: Philip Wilkinson