Vernacular architecture Essay

Occupying one of these buildings is like sailing a yacht; you modify and manipulate its form and skin according to seasonal conditions and natural elements, and work with these to maximize the performance of the building.” Murcutt’s challenge for the Marika-Alderton house was to create a home that could withstand the wet and dry seasons of the Yirrkala area. The house is divided allowing for use throughout the whole year. The main living area is located on the east side of the house to allow for ventilation during the day, while the bedrooms are too the west which are coolest at night. The building was designed to use affordable and local materials; hence the structure is skeleton like made with solid steel to survive the extreme weather. The stability is achieved through the length of the house. The eaves overhang to prevent direct sunlight from entering the house. Murcutt calculated the angle of the sun and designed the eaves to drop far enough to provide shade all year, as there is no cold climate. The house opens out on every-side to provide ventilation throughout, together with the shutters allows air to be channeled through the house. The low pressure of the hot air causes it to rise, pulling the cool air in. The house was designed to sit on stilts. This is to keep various species of reptiles and spiders from entering the house, protects it from flooding and again for cooling purposes. The stilts allow for the house to have little impact on the surrounding native

Impact of Urban Density on local climate. Melbourne has an oceanic climate which sees big natural fluctuations in the temperature and weather conditions throughout the year, giving Melbourne the reputation of having “four seasons in one day” (“Melbourne Regional Office”). In any growing city, the urban architecture has a huge impact on the local climate of the city.

Being environmentally friendly isn’t merely a trend. After thousands of years of using the earth’s resources, we have finally come to realize that we are destroying this beautiful gift we were honored with. Architects play an influential role in trying to preserve this gift by encouraging a multitude of strategies that can be more cost efficient in the long run, be more comfortable for its users, and most importantly, have a lower carbon footprint. Strategies can include drastic changes to heat and air systems, construction material selections, or even specific design details to the architecture of a building that would reduce the amount of energy it consumes.

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

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

The Monadnock Building is a “skyscraper” located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the South Loop of Chicago. The Monadnock was constructed in two phases, but still functions as one cohesive structure. However, the facades of the two sections vary significantly from one another, the northern half of the building expresses a bolder tone, while the southern half is decorated in traditional ornamentation. Each signifies the culture along with the transition of the time period.

Whereas, Singapore is obtaining winds from the south equatorial current carrying warmer temperatures towards the equator. Another climate control is land and water contrast. “A land surface heats up more rapidly and reaches a higher temperature than a comparable water surface subject to the same isolation. In essence, a thin layer of land is heated to relatively high temperatures, whereas a thick layer of water is heated more slowly to moderate temperatures” (Hess, 2011, p. 82).

This was achieved by harnessing nature for cooling. Buildings in Africa can be designed with passive cooling properties. This can be achieved by placing openings in the path of the wind. By understanding wind patterns in any given area, the positioning of windows and doors can be optimized such that as many of them as possible are directly in the wind’s route. This would enable the wind to bring in cool air through one part of a building, while exiting with warmer air at the other end. Natural cross ventilation is inexpensive and requires no

Regions use the earth mixed with certain ingredients then to be left out in the sun to dry into bricks, when they lacked timber and stone.

Author of this book states that sustainably built single-family homes don't have to look ugly. In this book, homeowners and architects introducing their perspectives on the combining between contemporary architecture and ecology. For everyone who thinks that in the process of building or renovating a home, sustainability is a critical issue, for example, since energy is likely to remain costly for the foreseeable future. Using resources responsibly makes as much of a statement about a home as the selection of floor plans, building materials, or furniture. In an ideal version, our homes should be sustainable and look good at the same time; however, it does not happen always. Building Better show variations single-family homes from around the world whose architecture proves that sustainable and attractive are not

Seeking prime real estate in the heart of Midtown Manhattan? Various retailers and businesses are, and for them, 292 Madison Avenue could be the perfect spot. The building’s renovated facade, which is nearing completion, has managed to catch their attention for its great location and updated design.

With the climate’s influence on houses in a tropical urban environment, it is undeniable that there is a substantive design issue for modern North Queensland. Tropical climates affect urban housing in several aspects such as heat, ventilation, and energy use. Therefore, it is necessary for Queenslanders to understand the effects that tropical heat has on their houses and the best way to minimize them. Consequently, this report has three main sections. The first section outlines the implications of tropical heat on house design, starting with early adaptations to the North Queensland climate and comparing them with modern house models. Then, it defines the basic climate design problems, focusing on housing design, energy, and ventilation. After

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

Larkin put "The Building" in the middle of his collection for a reason, it is a pillar that supports the rest of the collection with its long lines and many verses, and because of this, is maybe a bit more clearer than some of his other poems in the ideas and views that are expressed through it. Of course, being a Larkin a poem, there is the obligatory underlayer which so many people miss, but in "The Building" it is easier to discern and comprehend.

Finally, many tools were used to document our site visits that would used during the modeling of the buildings. As stated before, PlanGrid was very useful when viewing the construction sheets. PlanGrid was used on an iPad for easy access during the site visit. The iPad, as well as our phones, was used to take pictures of any notable changes or major features of the buildings. The pictures were used as references during the modeling portion of the project. A measuring tape was also used to take the dimensions of sections of the buildings that were not clearly labeled on the construction sheets. For example, the Architecture Annex’s terrance needed a measuring tape to measure its dimensions because the top-down view was absent from the