![]() ![]() The harshest environment can be managed by building systems. Over the last 500 years we have grown to have a lot more people, often in crowded conditions we have transportation networks that can bring materials from anywhere heating and cooling systems that can create comfort from Fairbanks, Alaska to Dubai. This is wasteful, environmentally degrading, and poor planning. The design quality is not very good the approach gobbles up acres and acres of farmland and wetlands for people to have a quarter acre lot on a house on a cul-de-sac. Today, most new construction consists of suburban complexes by developers and contractors. Apartments in effect dozens of families occupied these rooms, living out their lives here, depending on materials that were all close at hand. Here are 9,000-year-old dwellings built into the side of a cliff, the smoke shadows still on the ceiling. Think about Mesa Verde, in southwest Colorado. Whether in the American Southwest, Nepal, or Africa, the outcome tends to be simple, elegant, beautiful buildings that respond to their climate. Heating and cooling the space tended to be of paramount importance. A book by Amos Rapoport, “House Form and Culture,” surveys many examples. Places of worship may be grander, but both types of structures tend to be built with materials found within walking distance. Homes are often very simple, they are built with an economy of materials and labor, and their purpose was simply to shelter. If you look at shelters or places of worship built long ago by indigenous people, you’ll notice several things. ![]() ![]() We believe the path forward for architecture should be to appreciate the past and use new building technology. The technology of today, though, is a good thing. There’s a lesson in that for us today, when many new buildings are “cookie cutter” replicas. Their method was trial and error, sometimes a matter of religious expression of the people. Some really simple buildings have an elegance that stems from being locally sourced. These vernacular buildings used local materials to provide necessary shelter and were highly responsive to local climatic conditions. Some of the most beautiful structures ever created by man were indigenous shelters and early places of worship that predate the profession of architecture. Appreciate the past and use new building technology ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |