Our curiosity has undoubtedly been excited by what we have unearthed breathing and living on the inside of this unorthodox home, and it has nothing to do with human life! The interior environment has brought the natural world in, contoured by the...
A road to recovery rises skywards to the highest spot above Ocho Rios, St Ann, at an elevation of 1,800-feet above sea level, with geographic coordinates of 18.38250 N and 77.12760 W. This hill, with an unbeatable bird’s-eye vantage point, evokes...
The lonely country road snakes its way high through the Santa Cruz mountains, some 2,300 above sea level, to the bracing climes of the town of Malvern, St Elizabeth. Here, we have unwittingly arrived at an anomalous address that by all appearances...
People’s habitats around the globe are sometimes in the most uncustomary of climes and locations, adapting to their respective environments. Take this peculiar home away from home, which finds itself also in one of these phenomenal areas of the...
Long ago, man devised an instrument to tell time, using the sun and the shadows cast by it. The instrument was called a sundial. One hundred and eight years ago, the traditional pocket watch (with chain attached) would metamorphose into a...
Architectural enthusiasts, if you are seeking tropical architecture that vividly absorbs all your attention; interiors that calmly enfolds you in the most enticing of relaxed settings; and gardens that are a tropical oasis of pure pleasure, with...
This intriguing, inconspicuous beachfront acreage in St Ann, with its original residence (now torn down and redeveloped), owes its one-time notoriety to the British couple, Sir Bernard and Lady Norah Docker, who owned it in the 1950s. Norah Turner...
There was a time, as far back as the early 1960s, when three famed taxi companies, Yellow, Checker and Co-op cabs, ruled ground transportation in Jamaica with their fleet of more than 600 Austin Cambridge and Morris Oxford motor cars. They were all...
When this column exposed earlier the dream house (with swimming pool) built literally from actual dirt, many readers were flabbergasted at its very concept and existence! How could that be possible they pondered. That house, had utilised sun-dried...
This is the house that dirt built! What you are about to read is nothing short of unbelievable! The narrative defies the norm, and yet, manmade structures made from raw earth have continually existed, as far back as 10,000 years ago. The United...
Paula-Ann was relaxing with friends many years ago at a sauna facility in England — but that rejuvenating, harmonious experience was quickly interrupted by Eric, one of the other guests, who persisted in cutting into their conversations. While...
Like a breath of fresh air, this villa appears out of nowhere – ventilating architecture that expresses contemporary and modernist ingredients in an emboldened display. This, my readers, is not the average dream house you have now grown accustomed...
With great pleasure, I introduce you to Navin and Katerina Chandiramani, a couple described as “a team in marriage and in life”. She is a businesswoman and he, an international tourism hospitality expert. Both Jamaicans, they live equally between...
The dream house series is an architectural feature that highlights the outstanding architectural qualities of our homes across the island. But it is also more than that. It also speaks, at times, of the special relationship between humans and their...
Ever had dreams of living by the sea? Your very own coastal home, freeing you from all worldly anxieties and other emotionally related pressures. Research has strongly indicated that waterfront environments make us happier than other natural...
Is time travel possible? This very question has fascinated humanity from the ninth century BC, including fiction writers, philosophers and scientists. Today, astrophysicists and other leading researchers believe travelling back through time will be...
Mere words, no matter how well written, cannot begin to adequately describe this dream house. You need to actually see it, feel it, and live it to fully interpret and appreciate its myriad design qualities. Today’s featured architectural wonder...
According to the American Medical Association, stress is the fundamental producer of more than 60 per cent of all humankind illnesses and diseases. There is a strong correlation between the unique design of this house, its one-of-a-kind...
So many individuals have shared with me over the years their wish to live in a house like what they have seen on the island, on TV or in magazines. Homes that impress and inspire. These people delight themselves with the romantic notion that one...
Point Nemo is a spot in the vast Pacific Ocean whose geographic coordinates make it the most remote location on earth. Positioned in the middle of nowhere, it’s authoritatively called “the oceanic pole of inaccessibility!” Tristan da Cunha, a...
Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is a nation in Southeast Asia where many of its historic architectural treasures are coated resplendently in gold. Burmese-born family physicians Soe and Khine Naung left their country and came to Jamaica 35 years...
Many homes across the island, from luxury mansions to humble shacks, have been affected in varying degrees by the recent passage of Tropical Storm Grace. Here are some pertinent tips for those touched by the natural disaster, even days after its...
The history of the house is the history of civilisation. We value the past by appreciating our old houses as they whisper the lives of their owners, who are inseparable from them. We recognise their historical and architectural heritage value...
