Using Vernacular Architecture And On The Passive Engineering Techniques Used During Times When Technology

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).

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

“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.

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

“Learning to read architecture-an ability that centers on a kind of visual and spatially oriented analysis-is not easy” (Carter & Cromley, 2005, p. xvi).The short history of the field makes this guide a valuable tool for emerging scholars as it introduces the field, guides them to conducting research on vernacular buildings, and invites them in participating in shaping the field by adding their own scholarship. What is significant about this guide for young researchers is that is explains how fieldwork lacks categorical clarity and can be messy, and it is in this confusion that researchers can reveal the priorities, values, and lifestyle of the users. Renovations and additions are part of the built form and it results in making it difficult to categorize material, roof type, and windows resulting in the struggle to categorize as the field work becomes more descriptive than prescriptive. It can and does indicate social hierarchies and power dynamics within the culture, by reading this guide young scholars can begin to understand how to read buildings and understand what they tell us. Material culture and vernacular architect explores the relationship between objects and/or buildings with people, and both

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.

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.

“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)

The Queenslander responded more effectively to weather and environmental conditions than the Terrace House (vernacular architecture)

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,

“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.”

Vernacular building is a typology which results from a direct response to regional context (Murphy 2011). While contemporary Australian architecture

It is also the result of the belief of the architect that the building should not oppose the environment. By constructing the same material in a more environmentally efficient way, the building is light in appearance but it doesn’t in functionality. The titles of some books on this architect who lead a new Australian domus in the form of a long and narrow, light-weight, roof work, comparable in its sheltering function to the bower of a tree or, in more morphological terms, to the turned up collar of an overcoat that shelters from the wind while subtly opening its front towards the sun , reveal the stubbornly prudent aesthetics of lightness: Leaves of Iron , Touch this Earth Lightly , Feathers of Metal

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)

“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.