Houses are machines for living in … that’s the way one of the world’s greatest architects Le Courbesier described them.

And, having been property editor for the past 13 years, I fully understand the importance of his statement.

The value of a good block of land, the value of the right design and siting of the house for the location, the value of good natural light, insulation and cross-flow of ventilation.

These are considerations that will make living in a well-designed and built house a pleasure, not a chore.

It started with a cave ... and man has been building better homes ever since.

Yes, it goes right back to our ancestors ... about the same time they discovered fire, art and the barest of clothing (or should that be bearest, as in bear skins). The wheel came later.

The earliest of artwork recorded such things as animal hunts but also handprints and silhouettes to say: “This is who we are.”

Our predilection with home and lifestyle goes back to those days of lighting fires at the entrance of the cave to ward off sabre tooth tigers, woolly mammoths and the like.

The cave provided some form of protection. At least you only had to worry about predators from one aspect. Not from the sides or from the back.

There was a good clearing at the front to give some form of warning and a bit more defence.

So it is today. The lawn and pathway leading up to the front door. Think about it. The door opens up to a secure living and sleeping area. We even have artwork on the walls and a fire.

Yet it is what people do with a basic design that sets us so apart. Think of those rows of terrace houses in the inner-city suburbs, of the brick and tile houses in outer suburbs.

The floorplan can be identical in houses sitting side by side. Yet the different tastes of people in exhibiting their own personalities leaves us with totally different outcomes.

Different colours, different finishes – timber, metal, stone, glass are all used to put our individual stamp on where we live.

Different food on the stove cooking opens up different aromas. Different furnishings, ornaments, mementos. Different art works on the walls.

Different colours to suit our moods and temperaments. Different design styles – minimalist, country cottage, contemporary, oriental.

Then there is the landscape outside. English country garden, Australian bushland, coastal vegetation and sand, or the low-maintenance pebbles, pavers and concrete.

It all adds up to say who we are, what we do, why we are here.