| |
|
|
"Ethnoarch Presents" features articles on the
topic of traditional, vernacular and ethno
architectures.
|
|
What is Vernacular Architecture? (Long definition)
Gabriel Arboleda
|
|
|
An early 1900s vernacular landscape in Papua New Guinea.
|
|
Broadly speaking, the term "vernacular architecture" refers to structures
made by empirical builders, without the intervention of professional architects.
It is the most traditional and widespread way to build (fig. 1). However, despite its
being linked to tradition, it could still be considered a state-of-the-art activity,
because it offers alternatives to conventional architectural practices that are
highly accountable for today’s energy crisis. In fact, according to a 1991
estimate, the building industry (construction and operation) consumes fifty percent
of all energy in the world (Housing Research Center, 1992). As the key actors
behind that over-consumption, architects are now exploring ways to reduce it
through "green" design. In this exploration, it is critical to look
at the vernacular, because for hundreds of years common builders managed to build
using just a small percentage of the available energy resources (fig.
2).
Vernacular architecture as a concept is not a totally revolutionary one. However,
the expression may sound new to many, as do many other names vernacular is associated
with: primitive architecture, indigenous architecture, anonymous architecture;
folk, popular, rural, or traditional architecture; architecture without architects;
or even, “non-pedigree” architecture. These terms make vernacular
architecture seem exclusive to the realm of the exotic and the distant. Yet,
most of us were very likely raised in vernacular homes, since at least 90 percent
of the world’s architecture is estimated to be vernacular, only five to
ten percent having been designed by architects (Rapoport 1969, 2; Centre n.d.,
1). That is to say, the denomination vernacular does not apply exclusively to
architecture from the past nor from non-western or rural societies. There is,
in fact, a major field of study called “American vernacular,” which
analyzes and classifies rural, suburban and urban dwellings of the United States (fig.
3).
|
|
|
Fig. 1. Kouta'uya, a chief and a vernacular builder.
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 2. Energy efficiency in vernacular types.
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 3. An American vernacular: Victorian architecture.
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 4. The poetic vernacular.
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 5. A popular stereotype.
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 6. Learning with vernacular builders.
|
|
Although the interest in the vernacular has just grown in relatively recent
times, it has been latent for a long while. It actually dates back to 1839, when
the expression vernacular architecture was used for the first time in
England. After that, and for more than a hundred years, vernacular buildings
were more
objects of ethnographic curiosity than of architectural interest (fig.
4). Nineteenth
century travelers recounted stories of exotic places they visited, including
descriptions of their typical buildings. Some of the first ethnographers, by
the end of the century, tried to prove that these buildings were actually the
material evidence of the intellectual inferiority of their builders (fig.
5).
Architects started to become interested in bringing the vernacular to the theory
of "high" architecture
by the 1950s. In 1964, an influential
exhibition of vernacular buildings at New
York’s Museum of Modern Art sought to elevate them to the category of beaux-arts.
By the end of the 1960s studies began to emphasize less the beauty of the vernacular
types and more the environmental, technological, and social contexts in which
they were built. In 1976, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
formed a special committee to promote international co-operation in identifying,
studying and protecting vernacular architecture. The growing interest in the
vernacular reached a milestone in 1997, with the publication (under the direction
of British folklorist Paul Oliver) of the most important reference work edited
so far on the topic, the “Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the
World,” which contains entries written by 800 professionals from the five
continents.
Today, vernacular techniques re-emerge as part of the set of technological alternatives
available to address present-day environmental problems. In day to day building
practice, vernacular builders know, usually better than architects, how to adapt
to changing environmental conditions (fig. 6). This is partly because they can
risk experimenting with alternatives that offer uncertain results, without fear
of
losing professional
prestige, and/or contracts, if they fail. In this informal and permanent world
laboratory of trial and error, successful technological options emerge as paradigmatic
in their practice.
|
|
|
Fig. 7. A popular building type...
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 8. ...And its problems.
|
|
One of many good examples of the vernacular bringing more viable solutions to
the conventional practice is the case of the modern-looking rural schools that
have been built in tropical areas—notably indigenous settlements—of
the world since the 1940s (fig. 7). The plans for these schools usually came
from architects educated, living, and practicing in urban centers, with little
knowledge about the place where the schools were to be built. The designs followed
the conventional
idea that "hard" building materials for durability should be used.
Concrete and asbestos were some of the preferred ones. Partly because of the
material selection, the temperature inside of the buildings was so high that
the children could hardly focus on their classes. Added to this, the humid environment
rapidly spoiled the materials, which usually work well in the urban environment
where the school models were conceived (fig. 8). As a result, many of these buildings
ended by being quickly abandoned. Nowadays there is a trend to implement vernacular
technological solutions in the building of schools and other public infrastructure
in these locations. Local vernacular types make use of natural ventilation solutions
that are based on elements as simple as proportion, dimensions and shape; in
other words, based on pure design. Additionally, despite being weak in appearance,
local materials like bamboos are more tolerant to humidity than imported
ones like concrete.
A benefit of implementing these alternatives is economic, since there are immediate
savings associated with building repairs and energy consumption costs. With energy
prices skyrocketing and the overall economy consequently affected, developers
and clients are increasingly considering resource-saving strategies in building.
When socio-environmental and economic conditions press for alternatives, the
vernacular becomes a central concept in architectural theory and practice.
References
Centre for Vernacular Architecture Studies. International Studies in Vernacular
Architecture. Brochure. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University, n.d.
Rapoport, Amos. House Form and Culture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
1969.
The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center. HRC News [online]. Philadelphia: Penn State University, 1992 [cited 19 February 1992]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.engr.psu.edu/phrc/Newsletter-Summer1992.pdf>.
See Spanish version of this article.
Published: May 29, 2006 . Category: General Info
For academic purposes, please cite this page as:
Arboleda, Gabriel. What is Vernacular Architecture? (Long definition) [online]. Berkeley, CA: Ethnoarchitecture.com,
29 May 2006 [cited 21 November 2008].
Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.ethnoarchitecture.com/web/articles/article/497>.
|
|
|
|
