The grande case is a single cone. One houp post at the centre, a ring of carved uprights around it, niaouli bark and straw over the whole, and no window at all — the interior stays smoke-dark by design.

Two carved elements hold the meaning. The chambranle, a pair of door jambs bearing ancestral faces beside the low entrance. And the flèche faîtière, the spire driven through the roof apex, its needle threaded with conch shells that stand for the breath of speech. Everything else is thatch.