Housing is a manifestation of human being, it expresses our lifestyle. In the past, people lived in caves and they decorated their dwellings. However it has something in common – people, who live in a house, should feel pleasantly. We know a lot of kinds of housing. Terraced houses are built in a row and are joined one to another to form a street. Two houses joined together by one common wall are called semi-detached house. A detached house stands by itself and is not joined to another house. Bungalow is one-storey house, which you can find in housing estates. It’s popular with older and disabled people because everything is on one level.

A cottage is a small village house. Council flat is owned by the council and the people, who live there, pay a rent. Condominium is a house, where the flats are owned by the people, who live there. A farm is usually big house with large garden and hug space for keeping animals or growing fruits and vegetables. A villa is large modern house with large garden, swimming pool and sauna. Block of flats: a flat is part of a bigger building where all the flats share a front door. Only cities and very big towns have flats like the one you can see below. In northern countries are igloos. People that live in igloos are communities of Eskimos. They are made of ice blocks and snow. In present is very rare a teepee or a tent. A tent is moveable shelter made of cloth and supported by poles. And teepee is Indian tent. In these times is not usual a castle but in some countries are Queen with royal family. It was built this way to keep enemies out, to guard important places and protect their family. Some people in U.S.A. live in houseboats. In China and Japan the people who live in houseboats are usually extended families. The houseboats in China are called sampans.

Houseboats are made out of straw, wood, steel, aluminum or a combination of wood and fiberglass and can be in length from 18 to 65 feet. Stilt house are often built out of straw, rope, wood or wire.
They are built on water because there might not be enough room on land, and it's cooler on water than land. People live in stilt houses all over the world. The community could be a big family and often house boats are found in South East Asia. Housing is still different in cities and villages.

In villages and small towns you can see a lot of semi-detached houses and detached houses as well as cottages. In the country side you can find something which isn’t in cities. That’s stables because people in villages keep livestock. A house or a flat is for everybody not just a place where you sleep, eat or relax, but it is a place, which we all call „ home“. Well, as the saying goes, „ As a good roof shelters us from winter’s storms, a good home shelters us from life’s storms“, home is a place where you can find, on the one hand, help, understanding and embrace of your family through the though times in your life and on the other hand, joy, love and happiness while experiencing all the family most memorable days and events A flat usually consists of one to four rooms, whereas a house is designed to be more comfortable and is arranged with large space for every member of a family. Lately, there’s a wide variety of houses and we just have to decide which one fits to our needs, wishes and financial situation best. If you wish to live in country, for example, you can get a farm house or even a cottage, which is, yet, nowadays usually used as a weekend house. A standard house, whether it is a detached, a semi-detached or a terraced house, consists of a kitchen, a dining room, a master bedroom, one or two bedrooms for children, a living room, a laundry, not necessarily a study, a garage, a hall and an attic. A house has usually also a garden either for growing vegetables and breeding animals or for having a lawn with flowerbeds, possibly a small pond. Apartment is a set of rooms that are usually all on the same level and are a part of larger building.

Houses, however, look different in different countries. In cold countries, there is often a fireplace in the living room or a woodstove in the kitchen with a comfortable chair placed next to it for warmth. In southern countries people prefer cool stone floors and no carpets. Homes are different because people’s attitudes and needs differ so much. Larger families prefer big houses and some people like the idea of several generations living together.

Every country has some typical features of its homes. In Britain, they have always a garden and sometimes a cellar. They have separate bedrooms and living rooms. On the other hand, they don’t have balconies or terraces which are more typical for countries where the weather is warmer. In mountainous countries like Austria and Switzerland, there are balconies full of geraniums and other flowers which attract visitors in summer.