Vernacular architecture:
Vernacular architecture can be defined as a type of local or regional construction, using traditional materials and resources from the area where the building is located. Consequently, this architecture is closely related to its context and is aware of the specific geographic features and cultural aspects of its surroundings, being strongly influenced by them. For this reason, they are unique to different places in the world, becoming even a means of reaffirming an identity.
Given such unique features, the definition of vernacular architecture may become somewhat unclear. Driven by this dilemma, Paul Oliver writes about the need for a more refined definition of the term in his bookBuilt to Meet Needs: Cultural Issues in Vernacular Architecture (2006), part of a project entitled Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. His research has led to the definition of vernacular architecture as an architecture that encompasses the peoples’ dwellings and other constructions, relating to their respective environments and resources, usually built by the owners or the community, using traditional techniques. It is built to meet specific needs, accommodate the values, economy, and lifestyles of a specific culture. [ArchDaily]
Noted in “ANCIENT ELEMENTS OF COOL,” Philip Kennicott and Sima Diab, WaPo:
Meanwhile, in Cairo, millions of air conditioners churn in the midday sun, people hang sheets and table clothes to shade their concrete balconies, and take the stairs to avoid being caught in elevators during a blackout. The old technologies embedded in vernacular architecture are apparently of little interest in Egypt, where Dubai often seems to be the architectural and lifestyle fantasy of the privileged and cosmopolitan. Architecture students who want to make buildings sensitive to climate change tend to look to modern, westernized green building technologies rather than their own traditions, which is frustrating to architects and teachers like Khaled Tarabieh.
It’s really a fascinating article, inspiring fugitive thoughts of building a new home not requiring an air-conditioner nor, if possible, a furnace. But would I want to live in a mud walled structure? I dunno.
