The book is a document of lectures/performances by several architects held during CIAM '59 in Otterlo. Contributors include Bakema, Van Eyck, Smithson, Tange and Haan. Haan's lecture deals with life in the desert, as experienced during his travels to the Sahara. Although different in nature from the other lectures held during the conference, the importance becomes clear when looking at the work of Bakema and Van Eyck, Newman said. Newman writes, "Haan does not suggest that we take on the customs and mannerisms of these people or build ourselves similar spaces; but rather that we might better come to understand through the study of a primitive culture what in our civilization has remained fundamentally the same. (p. 150) The lecture highlighted aspects that can be found in Haan's work such as the patio as a "grandiose threshold between complete privacy and interminable space" and the simplicity of building. In a discussion with Sekler, Haan addressed the lack of contact with the outside world in a design by Sekler: 'I feel that you, as an architect, have gone too far in making decisions for these people. You are pushing them to becoming privacy lovers.'