Tropical Retreats : The Poetics of Place TAN HOCK BENG

This book really teaches how certain Asian tropical structures support the natural beauty of their environment. Not only are the photographs carefully composed to show harmony of the organic and the man-made, but Tan Hock Beng's text offers useful comments about using materials, line, light (and other factors) to design a great tropical home or resort.

He concentrates on Bali, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, but there is also a single example from each of Tamil Nadu and Bintan. Then he illuminates these featured structures with plenty of photos from all over the region. This format gives space to a huge number of other hotels and homes and temples, without making the book seem crowded. Some very clever editing went into this book. The juxtapositions are quite effective. Comparisons (for example, a series of passageways in a Cambodian temple shown opposite an open-sided walkway in a Bali boutique hotel) are well-chosen and useful.

The reader will definitely get a sense of regional furniture, decor, and objets d'art, but the concentration of the author is architectural / structural.