Architecture of Papua New Guinea
Most of the people in historic Papua New Guinea lived along the coasts so it's not a surprise that life revolved around the water and the housing matched this lifestyle. Most of the region's earliest architecture is in the form of stilt houses standing over the water. These were generally very simple in design and style as men tended to live in one house while women and children often lived in a separate house.
As people moved inland they generally remained divided by sex, but houses grew in size and design. Although many were still built on stilts, whether that meant stilts over a river or lake or just on land.
With the arrival of the Europeans a number of things quickly changed in Papua New Guinea, most noticeably with the types of building materials, techniques, and types of construction. These changes often times led to stronger, and longer lasting houses, while introducing new types of buildings, most notably in the form of churches and schools, most commonly found in urban centers that had a strong European influence.