Roundhouse is a term applied by archaeologists and anthropologists to a type of house with a circular plan, usually with a conical roof. In the later part of the 20th century modern designs of roundhouse eco-buildings started to be built[where?] using techniques such as cob, cordwood or straw bale walls and reciprocal frame green roofs.
New designs of roundhouse are again being built in Britain and elsewhere. In the UK straw bale construction or cordwood walls with reciprocal frame green roofs are used. There is a manufacturer of contemporary Roundhouses in Cheshire, England, using modern materials and engineering to bring the circular floorplan back for modern living.
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A palloza is a traditional thatched house as found in the Serra dos Ancares in Galicia, Spain, and in the south-west of Asturias. It is circular or oval, and about ten or twenty metres in diameter and is built to withstand severe winter weather at a typical altitude of 1,200 metres. The main structure is stone, and is divided internally into separate areas for the family and their animals, with separate entrances. The roof is conical, made from rye straw on a wooden frame. There is no chimney, the smoke from the kitchen fire seeps out through the thatch. As well as living space for humans and animals, a palloza has its own bread oven, workshops for wood, metal and leather work, and a loom. Only the eldest couple of an extended family had their own bedroom, which they shared with the youngest children. The rest of the family slept in the hay loft, in the roof space.
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