Dwelling
Hammock
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A net or cloth hung from two firm points in which a person reclines, swings or sleeps. It hangs from hooks on columns, beams or walls, or between two trees.
What it solves
It keeps the body off the damp ground and away from insects and lets air pass beneath and through the weave. In the tropics it is the cool bed of the veranda and the open shelter.
Today
Plan from the design stage hooks anchored to columns, beams or solid walls and a free space in the shade where the hammock can hang and swing without blocking the way.
Common mistake
Hanging it from a nail or a lightweight wall that was not designed for the weight of a person in motion.
Tomorrow
Verandas, open shelters and balconies can have their anchors shown on the drawings, just like an electrical outlet. With stronger heat, a hammock under the eave offers cool rest without using energy.
Fact A common rule says the height of the hooks should be half the distance between them, for example 1.5 m high for 3 m apart.
Where it comes from
- 1Taíno people Antilles, 1492
Columbus noted in his 1492 diary the cotton nets in which the Taíno slept and called them hamacas, a Taíno word that passed into Spanish and many other languages. - 2Maya people of Yucatán Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, before the 16th century and today
The hammock arrived from the Caribbean shortly before the conquest. Today it is handwoven near Mérida and even the most modest houses have hooks in their walls. - 3European seafaring England, 1597
The English navy adopted the canvas hammock for sleeping on board, and ships used it until the 20th century. - 4Sertão of the northeast Brazil, living tradition
The hammock is the bed of the house, and in villages without a cemetery it was also used to carry the dead.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Dwelling
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.