According to Natural History Museum (2015), modern humans have been around for nearly 200,000 years, and in our journey to the present, humans have learnt many ways to survive. From hygiene to hyperplasia, people have come to know the best way possible to survive in the living conditions they lived. To help protect themselves from sun, wind, rain, snow and even enemies, one of the methods used is what today is called vernacular architecture.
The practice of designing and constructing a building today may seem easy with modern technology at our finger tips, however 500 years, one can imagine the difficulties, trial and errors the inhabitants of different geographical locations had to go through just to provide suitable shelter for themselves.
These trail and errors throughout the history have benefited many civilizations and bring forward bundles of knowledge. For this reason, the objective of this research report is to explore vernacular architecture and to expand on the passive engineering techniques used in times when technology was not so readily available as we have today. Also, an analysis of the different lessons learnt from these techniques will help determine the contribution it has made to sustainable architecture and awareness.
Vernacular Architecture
What is it?
Vernacular architecture can be described as one of the many methods, which are used in construction. “Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural
“The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built” (Frank Lloyd Wright). Throughout the centuries, architecture has fascinated everyone. History is inscribed in buildings and they can express the political and economic power of a nation. Although time has gone by, buildings have not. You can still idolize ancient Egyptian and Greek architecture and see how the events that occurred at that time influenced them.
We can learn about the personal beliefs of these people through the excavation of buildings erected on the site. As noted earlier, astronomy was a clear influence on architecture. Religion and community dynamics were brough fourth following the discovery that not all buildings were for residential use. Rather for spiritual and communal use (Munson, Bates and Nordby, 45).
Throughout history we can see that housing has followed certain trends. These trends are most heavily influenced by the technology available to the public at that time. As can be seen throughout history, living conditions in general have improved, as there are more access to resources and building technologies. Although the world we live in has changed greatly, the basic type of shelter needed for everyday life and the resources needed to construct them has changed very little. This is why we can see a lot of parallels between the ways people live throughout history. However, the biggest change is in the way we construct buildings and especially housing. History has taught us that as time goes by, technology increases, making it easier for us to build structures. For example the Egyptians relied solely on Adobe (sun dried mud bricks) and slave labor for construction. Then came the development of hydraulic lime mortar, the Treadwell cranes (which is a wooden, human powered hoisting and lowering device) as well as the start of domes and arches, as structural components in architecture. Followed by the Middle Ages, which saw a huge emphasis on the construction of massive public buildings such as Cathedrals, Churches, Fortifications
During the Paleolithic age the shelters the prehistoric humans designed were small huts and caves. An example of the structure is on page 11 figure 1.15, it was made out of mammoth bones, which are enormous strong mammals so I can only imagine just how strong their bones are which is probably why the prehistoric humans used their large bones. Historians even believed that these kind of shelters were used more for seasonal residence, so they weren’t a permanent home to the residents but would be their place of stay for months on end.
“Human houses should not be like boxes, blazing in the sun, nor should we outrage the Machine by trying to make dwelling places too complementary to Machinery. Any building for humane purposes should be an elemental, sympathetic feature of the ground, complementary to its nature-environment, belonging by kinship to the terrain.”
“The idea was to incorporate a building that could be easily be built and taken down both constructively and economically. Most ideas involved a long, one-story building made of brick. The problem was that it looked far too solid difficult to remove later and it might be even harder to light- not to mention that it probably could not be built in time. Further debates and redrafting delayed the project even further.” (1)
Prehistoric humans quickly learned to build shelters that would protect them from rain, snow and other elements of nature. Early roof designs were simple and were often little more than branches placed atop a frame; such shelters were intended for temporary use, so not a lot of effort went into the construction. However, as humans began to embrace permanent agricultural settlements, they began to develop architectural styles that were typically dependent on the local climate and available materials. Many of the roofing materials and styles in use today can be traced back over the centuries.
Vernacular building is a typology which results from a direct response to regional context (Murphy 2011). While contemporary Australian architecture
The patient was brought to the clinic for a clinic visit. She has severe eczema on her arms, legs, and body but the place of concern is her mouth. In her mouth, she has severe ulcers, bleeding gums, and a thick white substance attached to her tongue. Reporter believes she has a severe infection in her mouth. The mother and grandmother were at the visit. They stated the child has been unable to eat or drink. She has lost 3 pounds within the last couple of weeks. Reporter has concerns of ongoing neglect. The child weighs 25 pounds and that's less than the 1st percentile for her age. Reporter advised that she be admitted to the hospital for IV fluids and medications. She appeared to be lethargic, dehydrate, and in severe pain due to her mouth
In late 2007, America was hit with the most significant blow to its finance sector since the Great Depression. Upon careful retrospection of the nations economic policy since the Great Depression, many discovered that slowly but surely, America had been setting itself up for the “perfect storm” all along. Without question, it was evident that due to deregulation, excessive accumulation of debt (especially in the form of over leveraging), greed, treacherous decision-making, and obscure practices between financial institutions, America’s economy was brought to a screeching halt. While facing the impending failure of the country’s powerhouse banks, the federal government was forced to intervene, saving some banks, while merging or leading others to their demise. Additionally, the United States Department of Treasury was faced with rectifying the lack of credit available to fuel commerce, both business and personal. After jump-starting the nations cash flow with government assistance packages, the government introduced reform to oversee and limit corporations that are deemed “too big to fail” hoping to ensure that no such economic downturn should arise in the future.
Buildings have lifespan, and eventually it comes to its end. A physical permanence of the building is paradoxical. ‘Everything ages: buildings and place weather. The process of deterioration of architecture is part of a natural evolution of elements, natural or artificial in the environment.’ (Hornstein, 2011, p.86)
The history of Architecture started long time ago. The nomadic were groups of people whom move from one place to another in order find shelter and food to survive. As they progress, their techniques to survive evolve. The need for a permanent shelter became vital for a better stability of the group. This is the time when the first structures that provided protection appeared. Post and lintel were the first forms of Architecture, that satisficed the basic needs. Architecture evolved to be more sophisticated and fulfill the people’s needs. Consequently, Architecture evolved throughout different periods such as: Ancient architecture, Romanesque, The medieval, Renaissance, Early modern, and the industrial age, Modernism and Contemporary
It can be seen that the challenging construction marvels of Rome depended on a certain level of organization and order. Furthermore, the advancement in city planning and construction technology that took place during that time has clearly influenced architecture around the word. Rome left an incredible legacy that has formed the basis for construction and engineering today, because of the way the way Roman architecture displayed use of “...discovery, experimentation and exploitation of concrete, arches and vaulting” (Anderson,
“Vernacular architecture” has been used by scholars to categorise methods of construction using local resources that is available in the local area and influenced by traditions to address what is needed. Vernacular Architecture evolves as time pass by and reflect environmental, cultural and historical changes.
World War I was a war including France, Russia, Italy, United States, Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Britain, and Bulgaria. The main causes of this war was nationalism which is belief in country. Militarism which is belief in military. And the alliances which were a way to show strength over the other countries who would want to start a war.