en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen
For centuries the need for security has driven the fiercely tribal inhabitants of Yemen to live together in towns that can be easily defended. Although there are distinct regional differences, the vernacular house is a tower, built to a height of up to 30 metres. Sana’a, the capital of the Yemen, has about 14000 of these tower houses. Typically they are six storeys high, made of mud bricks decorated with thick layers of whitewashed gypsum.
Openings, doors, and windows in the houses are usually emphasized in white. Mud bricks are often still handmade in the traditional way out of earth and straw mixed with water and then dried in the sun. Gypsum is obtained locally and is also used for shelves and decorative effects inside. Each tower has to accommodate a family, its goods, and guests, with animals, such as sheep, goats, and cattle, on the first floor.
Above the animals is usually a floor for storage, and thereafter floors for residential use. The fifth floor, for instance, might house the kitchen, being high enough to benefit from the ventilation that comes with height above the ground. On the top floor is the traditional mafraj, a large room with a view where guests are welcomed and the men of the family gather to drink coffee, smoke and talk.
