Architecture B‑class Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture B This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Indigenous peoples of North America Unassessed

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Native Americans, Indigenous peoples in Canada, and related indigenous peoples of North America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Indigenous peoples of North AmericaWikipedia:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North AmericaTemplate:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North AmericaIndigenous peoples of North America ??? This article has not yet received a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Are there austrailian sand igloos still around? 169.231.11.70 20:26, 22 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently some igloos were/are a lot bigger than what a lot of people picture them as being.

Gringo300 07:57, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I seen pictures of groups of igloos were most are the usual "family" size but one is MUCH larger, looking kind of like a "town hall" or so. Seemed to be big enough for the people from all the other igloos to meet in. However I have no idea if that is usual. Although, since that is how people all over the world have built and still build their villages / tent groups / whatever it seems to be part of human nature and it wouldn't surprise me if the inuits often did the same. But I guess we have to wait until some inuit surfs in here and tells us the facts. :)) --David Göthberg 17:32, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

64.231.26.84 wrote: "After the snow is piled up it must sit for a couple of hours for the snow flakes to interlock."

I sort of disagree. When me and my friends build our snowhouses we simply compact the snow by banging our spades or hands on it which takes a minute or so. Then it is compacted enough to start digging out the interior imediately. (Or in our case cutting out the door and pulling out the cardboard boxes.) We should perhaps add that to the text in some way. And note, when you build an emergency shelter you don't have the time to sit and wait some hours for the snow to compact...

The trick with sticks to indicate wall thickness is new to me but seems nice, I sure will try it next time I build a snow house. We usually use our "intuition" and sometimes if we fail and cause a hole in the wall or roof we simply repair it and add some snow on the outside to make the wall thicker again. But since we usually use cardboard boxes we only round of the walls from the inside, we don't really dig out the interior so we mostly have no problem with missjudging wall thickness. Oh, and a note about sturdiness: Our snowhouses usually survive all winter (several months) even when the kids climb on them etc. So they are usually sturdy enough if we leave the walls thick enough or if we "cheat" and pour water over the house. --David Göthberg 06:22, 20 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"In some cases a single block of ice was inserted to allow light into the igloo."

Should this not read a block of ice is omitted to allow light in? catParade 03:25, 20 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, the sentence is correct. Note that igloos are mainly built from blocks of snow, not from blocks of ice. However, ice lets light through, snow does not. So if you instead of one of the blocks of snow use a block of ice it lets light in. The effect usually becomes similar to bathroom windows that lets light through but that aren't really transparent. The reason that usually only one block of ice is used (only one window) is that ice does not heat isolate as good as snow does. So building mostly from ice would make the igloo a very cold place to live in. --David Göthberg 08:32, 20 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Did/do inuits use igloos as regular homes or only on travel or when surprized by a blizzard? Had they other types of buildings/tents for other purposes? 130.225.127.185 08:24, 23 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Today there are no Inuit that would use an igloo as a regular home, it's hard to mount the satellite dish to snow. All Inuit live in a house of some sort, the same as any other people in North America or the western world. Not all Inuit built igloos but those that did had different types (see the article under "Types of igloo") and some were used as semi-permanent dwellings. Yes they did have other types of dwellings. For some reason a lot of people don't realise that the snow does melt in the Arctic summer. For those Inuit who did use igloos they would also have some sort of tent for the summer. This would be constructed using wood (if found) or whalebone/antlers covered in caribou. Good picture here and the google search for inuit tents. Today very few Inuit would even bother making an igloo at all, too much work and not always easy to find the correct type of snow. Most would use a canvas tent with home made wooden poles. There would be a small one (sleeps 2 or 3) for use when it's cold or out hunting and only needed for a night or two. A larger one for the spring fishing trips when it's only -20C and you go with the whole family, could sleep up to 6. Both types of tent would have some sort of extra cover that could be put over the outside to help retain heat. Caribou skins or a longer lasting cover made from thick blankets. The tent is heated with the 4th item on this page, running one on a slow burn keep a small tent warm all night at -35C. By the way the word is Inuk - singular and Inuit - plural not Inuits. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 11:37, 23 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I was searching for snow cave and got redirected here. But in my understanding they are two completely different. Snow caves are excavated out of a pile of snow, while igloos are built.

Picture: http://www.traditionalmountaineering.org/images/snow_cave2.jpg

TommyMoullet 18:53, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, snow caves and igloos are two different things. Although many of the design principles are the same. Among other things, to keep in heat we prefer to have an entrance that is lower than the living area, and we often also make a "sleeping platform" to make the height difference even bigger. (The picture you linked to is a good example of the height trick.) Oh, by the way, this is the way I am used to use the terms: A "snow house" is dug out of a man made pile of snow, while a "snow cave" is dug into existing deep snow or into a snow covered slope.

And yes, eventually there should be a separate article about snow caves. But as you might have noted we already have a section in this igloo article about "Other kinds of snowhouses". So I suggest that we start by adding a section called "Snow caves". And when/if the "Snow caves" section grows big we cut it out and make it into a separate snow cave article.

--David Göthberg 05:51, 27 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What is the plural of igloo? Is it igloos or igli?--Lerdthenerd 08:13, 26 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the Oxford Dictionary states that plural of igloo is igloos. And the Google test confirms that. --David Göthberg 20:09, 26 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

thanks--Lerdthenerd 10:14, 27 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

someone has changed it to iglooit in the main article--Lerdthenerd 14:48, 27 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]