Vernacular architecture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources to address local needs. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it exists. It has often been dismissed as crude and unrefined, but also has proponents who highlight its importance in current design.[1]
In contrast to planned architecture by architects, the building knowledge in vernacular architecture is often transported by local traditions and is thus more - but not only - based on knowledge achieved by trial and error and often handed down through the generations rather than calculated on knowledge of geometry and physics. This of course does not exclude architects from using vernacular architecture in their designs or being firmly based in their regional vernacular architecture. For the similarities to "traditional architecture" see below.
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[edit] Etymology and usage
The term vernacular is derived from the Latin vernaculus, meaning "domestic, native, indigenous"; from verna, meaning "native slave" or "home-born slave". The word probably derives from an older Etruscan word.[2][3][4]
In terms of language, vernacular refers to language use particular to a time, place or group. In architecture it refers to that type of architecture which is indigenous to a specific time or place (not imported or copied from elsewhere). It is most often used to apply to residential buildings.[5]
The term is not to be confused with so-called "traditional" architecture, though there are links between the two. Vernacular architecture may, through time, be adopted and refined into culturally accepted solutions, but only through repetition may it become "traditional." Traditional architecture can also include temples and palaces, for example, which would not be included usually in the rubric of "vernacular."
The Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World defines vernacular architecture as:[6]
...comprising the dwellings and all other buildings of the people. Related to their environmental contexts and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them.
[edit] Vernacular and the architect
Architecture designed by professional architects is not often considered to be vernacular. Indeed, the very process of consciously designing a building can be argued to make it not vernacular. Paul Oliver, in his book Dwellings, states:[7]
...it is contended that 'popular architecture' designed by professional architects or commercial builders for popular use, does not come within the compass of the vernacular.
Oliver also offers the the following simple definition of vernacular architecture:[7]
the architecture of the people, and by the people, but not for the people.
Frank Lloyd Wright described vernacular architecture as:[7]
Folk building growing in response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no better than to fit them with native feeling
suggesting that it is a primitive form of design, lacking intelligent thought, but he also stated that it was:
for us better worth study than all the highly self-conscious academic attempts at the beautiful throughout Europe.
Many modern architects have studied and claimed to draw inspiration from vernacular buildings, and to include aspects of the vernacular in their designs. In 1946, the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy was appointed to design the town of New Gourna near Luxor. Having studied traditional Nubian settlements and technologies, he incorporated the traditional mud brick vaults of the Nubian settlements in his designs. The experiment failed, due to a variety of social and economic reasons, but is the first recorded attempt by an architect to address the social and environmental requirements of building users by adopting the methods and forms of the vernacular.[7]
In 1964 the exhibition Architecture Without Architects was put on at the Museum of Modern Art, New York by Bernard Rudofsky. Accompanied by a book of the same title, including black and white photography of vernacular buildings around the world, the exhibition was extremely popular. It was Rudofsky who first made use of the term vernacular in an architectural context, and brought the concept into the eye of the public and of mainstream architecture: [8]
For want of a generic label we shall call it vernacular, anonymous, spontaneous, indigenous, rural, as the case may be.
Since the emergence of the term in the 1970s, vernacular considerations have played an increasing part in architectural designs, although individual architects had widely varying opinions of the merits of the vernacular.
Modern proponents of the use of the vernacular in architectural design include Charles Correa, a well known Indian architect, and Balkrishna Doshi, also Indian, who established the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation in Ahmedabad to research the vernacular architecture of the region. The Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck was also a proponent of vernacular architecture.[7] Architects whose work exemplifies the modern take on vernacular architecture would be Samuel Mockbee, Christopher Alexander and Paolo Soleri.
Oliver, in Dwellings, claims that:
As yet there is no clearly defined and specialized discipline for the study of dwellings or the larger compass of vernacular architecture. If such a discipline were to emerge it would probably be one that combines some of the the elements of both architecture and anthropology with aspects of history and geography.
[edit] Influences on the vernacular
Vernacular architecture is influenced by a great range of different aspects of human behaviour and environment, leading to differing building forms for almost every different context; even neighbouring villages may have subtly different approaches to the construction and use of their dwellings, even if they are at first appearance the same. Despite these variations, every building is subject to the same laws of physics, and hence will demonstrate significant similarities in structural forms.
[edit] Climate
One of the most significant influences on vernacular architecture is the macro climate of the area in which the building is constructed. Buildings in cold climates will invariably have high thermal mass or significant amounts of insulation. They will usually be sealed in order to prevent heat loss, and openings such as windows will be small or non-existent. Buildings in warm climates by contrast tend to be constructed of lighter materials and allow significant cross-ventilation through openings in the fabric of the building.
Buildings for a continental climate must be able to cope with significant variations in temperature, and may even be altered by their occupants according to the seasons.
Buildings will take different forms depending on precipitation levels in the region - leading to dwellings on stilts in many regions with frequent flooding or monsoon rain seasons. Flat roofs will not occur in areas with high levels of precipitation. Similarly areas with high winds will lead to specialised buildings able to cope with them, and buildings will be oriented to present minimal area to the direction of prevailing winds.
Climatic influences on vernacular architecture are substantial, and can be extremely complex. Mediterranean vernacular, and that of much of the Middle East, often includes a courtyard with a fountain or pond; air cooled by water mist and evaporation is drawn through the building by the natural ventilation set up by the building form. Similarly, Northern African vernacular, with its often very high thermal mass and small windows to keep the occupants cool, in many cases also includes chimneys, not for fires, but to draw air through the internal spaces. Such specialisations are not designed, but learnt by trial and error over generations of building construction, often existing long before the scientific theories which explain why they work.
[edit] Culture
The way of life of building occupants, and the way they use their shelters, is of great influence on building forms. The size of family units, who shares which spaces, how food is prepared and eaten, how people interact and many other cultural considerations will affect the layout and size of dwellings.
For example, the family units of several East African tribes will live in a family compound, surrounded by a marked boundary, in which separate single-roomed dwellings will be built to house different members of the family. In polygamous tribes there may be separate dwellings for different wives, and more again for sons who are too old to share space with the women of the family. Social interaction within the family is governed by, and privacy is provided by separating the structures in which family members live. By contrast, in Western Europe, such separation is accomplished inside one dwelling, by dividing the building into separate rooms.
Culture also has a great influence on the appearance of vernacular buildings, as occupants will often decorate buildings in accordance with local customs and beliefs.
[edit] Nomadic dwellings
There are many cultures around the world which include some aspect of nomadic life, and they have all developed vernacular solutions for the need for shelter. These all include appropriate responses to climate and customs of their inhabitants, including practicalities of simple construction, and if necessary, transport.
The Inuit people have a number of different forms of shelter appropriate to different seasons and geographical locations, including the igloo (for winter) and the tupiq tent (for summer). The Sami, who live in similar climates to the Inuit in Northern Europe, have developed different shelters appropriate to their culture, including the atnaris-kahte tent.[7] The development of different solutions in similar circumstances because of cultural influences is typical of vernacular architecture.
Many nomadic people will use materials common in the local environment to construct temporary dwellings, such as the Punan of Sarawak who use palm fronds, or the Ituri Pygmies who use saplings and mongongo leaves to construct domed huts. Other cultures will reuse materials, transporting them with them as they move. Examples of this are the tribes of Mongolia, who carry their yurts or gers with them, or the black desert tents of the Qashgai in Iran.[7] Notable of all of these is the signicant impact of the availability of materials and the availability of pack animals or other transport on the ultimate form of the shelters.
All the shelters will be adapted to suit the local climate. The Mongolian gers, for example, are versatile enough to be cool in hot continental summers and warm in the sub-zero temperaturs of Mongolian winter, and include a closable ventilation hole at the centre and a chimney for a stove. A ger is typically not often relocated, and is therefore sturdy and secure, including wooden front door and several layers of coverings. A berber tent, by contrast, might be relocated daily, and is much lighter and quicker to erect and dismantle - and because of the climate it is used in, does not need to provide the same degree of protection from the elements.
 Tuareg tent during Colonial exhibition in 1907. |
[edit] Permanent dwellings
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The type of structure and materials used for a dwelling vary depending on how permanent it is. Often moved nomadic structures will be lightweight and simple, more permanent ones will be less so. When people settle somewhere permanently, the architecture of their dwellings will change to reflect that.
Materials used will become heavier, more solid and more durable. They may also become more complicated and more expensive, as the capital and labour required to construct them is a one-off. Permanent dwellings often offer a greater degree of protection and shelter from the elements. In some cases however, where dwellings are subjected to severe weather conditions such as frequent flooding or high winds, buildings may be deliberately "designed" to fail and be replaced, rather than requiring the uneconomical or even impossible structures needed to withstand them. The collapse of a relatively flimsy, lightweight structure is also less likely to cause serious injury than a heavy structure.
Over time, dwellings' architecture may come to reflect a very specific geographical locale.
[edit] Environment and materials
The local environment and the construction materials it can provide governs many aspect of vernacular architecture. Areas rich in trees will develop a wooden vernacular, while areas without much wood may use mud or stone. In the far east it is common to use bamboo, as it is both plentiful and versatile. Vernacular, almost by definition, is sustainable, and will not exhaust the local resources. If it is not sustainable, it is not suitable for its local context, and cannot be vernacular.
[edit] Literature
An early work in the defense of vernacular was Bernard Rudofsky's 1964 book Architecture Without Architects: a short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture, based on his MoMA exhibition. The book was a reminder of the legitimacy and "hard-won knowledge" inherent in vernacular buildings, from Polish salt-caves to gigantic Syrian water wheels to Moroccan desert fortresses, and was considered iconoclastic at the time. Rudofsky was, however, very much a Romantic who viewed native populations in a historical bubble of contentment. Rudofsky's book was also based largely on photographs and not on on-site study.
A more serious work is the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World published in 1997 by Paul Oliver of the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development. Oliver has argued that vernacular architecture, given the insights it gives into issue of environmental adaptation, will be necessary in the future to "ensure sustainability in both cultural and economic terms beyond the short term." Christopher Alexander, in his book A Pattern Language, attempted to identify adaptive features of traditional architecture that apply across cultures. Howard Davis's book The Culture of Building details the culture that enabled several vernacular traditions.
Some extend the term vernacular to include any architecture outside the academic mainstream. The term "commercial vernacular," popularized in the late 1960s by the publication of Robert Venturi's "Learning from Las Vegas," refers to 20th century American suburban tract and commercial architecture. There is also the concept of an "industrial vernacular" with its emphasis on the aesthetics of shops, garages and factories. Some have linked vernacular with "off-the-shelf" aesthetics. In any respect, those who study these types of vernaculars hold that the low-end characteristics of this aesthetic define a useful and fundamental approach to architectural design.
Among those who study vernacular architecture are those who are interested in the question of everyday life and those lean toward questions of sociology. In this, many were influenced by The Practice of Everyday Life (1974) by Michel de Certeau.
[edit] Humanitarian response
An appreciation of vernacular architecture is increasingly seen as vital in the immediate response to disasters and the following construction of transitional shelter if it is needed. The work Transitional Settlement: Displaced Populations, produced by Shelter Centre covers the use of vernacular in humanitarian response and argues its importance.
The value of housing displaced people in shelters which are in some way familiar is seen to provide reassurance and comfort following often very traumatic times. As the needs change from saving lives to providing medium to long term shelter the construction of locally appropriate and accepted housing can be very important.[9]
[edit] Gallery
[edit] Permanent
 Rondavel in Cameroon. |
 Replica log cabin at Valley Forge, USA |
 A typical jungle hut in Brazilian Amazonia, made of straw and supported by stilts. It is used by rubber tree collectors. |
 Payerhütte in the Ortler Alps, Italy |
 Apache Wickiup |
 Toda hut, Indian vernacular architecture |
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 Quonset huts in front of Laguna Peak, Point Mugu, California, USA in 1946. |
 The Maison Bequette-Ribault, a French style building in Ste. Geneviève, Missouri. |
 Maison Bolduc, in Ste. Geneviève, Missouri is a grander building in the same style as the Maison Bequette-Ribault. |
 The Lasource-Durand house in Ste. Geneviève, Missouri. |
 A house on Gabouri Creek in Ste. Geneviève, Missouri. |
[edit] See also
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House types: Organizations: |
Real-life examples:
People: |
[edit] References
- ^ Holm, Ivar (2006). Ideas and Beliefs in Architecture and Industrial design: How attitudes, orientations, and underlying assumptions shape the built environment. Oslo School of Architecture and Design. ISBN 8254701741.
- ^ Vernacular. online etymology dictionary. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
- ^ Vernacular(noun). yourdictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
- ^ Fiddling with words, again!. Tribune India (June 8, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
- ^ Dictionary definitions: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vernacular, http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=88049&dict=CALD, http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/vernacular
- ^ Oliver, Paul (ed). The Encyclopdia or Vernacular Architecture of the World 1. ISBN ?.
- ^ a b c d e f g Oliver, Paul. Dwellings. Phaidon, 15. ISBN 0-7148-4202-8.
- ^ Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture Without Architects, 58. ISBN ?.
- ^ "NGOs criticise tsunami shelters" BBC News - 22 December 2006
[edit] Further reading
- For 10 years Carl Pruscha, Austrian architect and United Nations-UNESCO adviser to the government of Nepal, lived and worked in the Himalayas (1964-74). He continued his acitivities as head of the design studio "Habitat, Environment and Conservation" at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In 2004, he published: "Himalayan Vernacular" (Vienna: Schlebrügge.Editor)
- R.W. Brunskill, Traditional Buildings of Britain: An Introduction to Vernacular Architecture
- R.W. Brunskill, Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture, 1970.
- Bernard Rudofsky, Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture
- Bernard Rudofsky, Streets for People: A Primer for Americans
- Spectacular vernacular : a new appreciation of traditional desert architecture, by Bourgeois, Jean-Louis. Salt Lake City : Peregrine Smith Books, 1983. Large format.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Center for Vernacular Architecture-Bangalore-India
- Vernacular Architecture Forum
- Vernacular Architecture Examples at GreatBuildings
