East Polynesia

Architectural and Cultural Guide

Natascha Meuser, Philipp Meuser, Martn Anzellini , Coni Bohorquez

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

DOM Publishers
01 January 2026

History of architecture

This Architectural and Cultural Guide East Polynesia challenges the romanticized visions of the South Pacific by critically examining the built environment through the lens of architecture, history, and cultural resilience. Across over 400 richly illustrated pages, it traces how traditional knowledge systems, ecological adaptation, and colonial ruptures have shaped architectural practices from the Cook Islands via French Polynesia and Pitcairn to Rapa Nui in Chilean Polynesia.

With contributions from local experts, architects, geologists, and historians, the guide foregrounds the complex entanglements of place, power, and memory. Rather than offering a conventional typological catalogue, it maps networks of meaning: from sacred stone platforms (marae) and climate-responsive vernacular dwellings to the infrastructural legacies of nuclear testing and space-age geopolitics. The Pacific is not portrayed as a void but as a stage of cultural innovation and architectural intelligence.

This publication is a carefully curated, research-based exploration of a region where architecture emerges not as monumentality, but as method: flexible, bioclimatic, and socially coded. Aimed at critically minded travellers, scholars, and architects, this volume invites readers to reconsider what architecture can mean in contexts defined not by permanence, but by rhythm, movement, and relational space.

By: Natascha Meuser, Philipp Meuser
Contributions by: Martn Anzellini, Coni Bohorquez, Bill McKay
Imprint: DOM Publishers
Country of Publication: Germany
Dimensions: Height: 245mm, Width: 134mm,
ISBN: 9783869228464
ISBN 10: 3869228466
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 01 January 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Philipp Meuser, born in Hilden / Germany (1969), architect and publisher. Studied architecture in Berlin and Zürich with a focus on history and theory. Construction and consulting projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Academic research on mass housing in the Soviet Union as well as publications on socialist architecture.