Nomadic Homes

Nomadic homes come in all shapes and sizes. They are for the wealthy and the poor, the trendy and the out-of-luck. Changing place of residence is an idea that is as old as humanity, for reasons of season, or, more recently, to better occupy leisure time. This illustrated volume, written and edited by Philip Jodidio contains some of the most remarkable examples of homes on the move. Starting with totally revamped Airstream mobile homes, and going on to spectacular yachts like Philippe Starck’s Motor Yacht A, this book doesn’t stop moving, surveying the best in campers and tents, and even going on to private jets in the A319 or Boeing 737 category, veritable flying palaces for the privileged few. At the other end of the spectrum, we find refugee housing for those forced into a life on the move, including shelters designed by the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Shigeru Ban. What we discover throughout is that the nomadic spirit of our hunter-gatherer ancestors is very much alive in the modern world. Where architecture has often sought stability and thus the lack of movement, modernity has brought a sense of the finite, and a good deal of modesty about posterity and longevity. What more contemporary thought could there be than to seek nothing so much as to move, to grow perhaps, but always to move. “A good traveler,” said the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu “has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” As this book ably shows, it is the journey that counts.