Vernacular architecture

• Vernacular architecture does not go through fashion cycles.

• It is nearly immutable, indeed, unimprovable, since it serves its
purpose to perfection.
• As a rule, the origin of indigenous building forms and construction
methods is lost in the distant past.
• Architectural history, as written and taught in the Western world,
has never been concerned with more than a few select cultures. In
terms of space it comprises but a small part of the globe—Europe,
stretches of Egypt and Anatolia
• the evolution of architecture is usually dealt with only in its late
phases. Skipping the first fifty centuries, chroniclers present us with
a full-dress pageant of "formal" architecture, as arbitrary away of
introducing the art of building as, say, dating the birth of music with
the advent of the symphony orchestra.
• Although the dismissal of the early stages can be
explained, though not excused, by the scarcity of
architectural monuments, the discriminative approach
of the historian is mostly due to his parochialism.
• Besides, architectural history as we know it is equally
biased on the social plane.
• It amounts to little more than a who's who of
architects who commemorated power and wealth; an
anthology of buildings of, by, and for the privileged—
the houses of true and false gods, of merchant princes
and princes of the blood—with never a word about the
houses of lesser people.
• "Vernacular architecture can be said to be 'the architectural language of
the people' with its ethnic, regional and local 'dialects,'" writes Paul Oliver,
author of The Encyclopaedia of Vernacular Architecture of The World’.
• Unfortunately, there has been a growing disregard for traditional
architectural language around the world due to modern building
technology quickly spreading a “loss of identity and cultural vibrancy”
through what the Architectural Review recently described as “a global
pandemic of generic buildings.”
• People have come to see steel, concrete and glass as architecture of high
quality, whereas a lot of vernacular methods including adobe, reed or peat
moss are often associated with underdevelopment.
• Ironically, these local methods are far more sustainable and contextually
aware than much contemporary architecture seen today, despite ongoing
talks and debates about the importance of sustainability.
• As a result of these trends, a tremendous amount of architectural and
cultural knowledge is being lost
 Living root bridges, Meghalaya
• Found in what is possibly the wettest human-inhabited place on earth,
during monsoon season in Meghalaya the rivers grow to become far more
violent and powerful than in the dry season.
• To cross, the Khasi tribes that lived in the region would build bamboo
bridges, however they were not strong enough to last the monsoon.
• Around 180 years ago they experimented with a new technique, pulling
the roots of a rubber tree across a river the slowly grew into a bridge that
is now capable of sustaining the weight of 50 people.
• The living root bridges of Meghalaya take around 25-30 years to grow, and
they only grow stronger with time.
• There are a few living bridges that have had enough time to grow into fully
functioning structures, but over the last 25 years this practice has begun
to die out.
• Waiting decades for a bridge to form is far too long in our modern day
world, especially when a steel or concrete alternative can be constructed
in a fraction of that time—although they certainly aren’t as magical.
 Gurunsi, Burkina Faso
• In Gurunsi the art of rock painting is still very much alive—it
has just been transferred from caves to buildings.
• The mud huts are constructed, then covered in mud, cow
dung, soil, pulverised rock, clay and chalk to produce
elaborate geometric patterns on the facades of the houses.
• Gurunsi women redecorate the buildings every 4-5 years
with these murals, which often consist of motifs associated
with specific meanings such as cultivated fields, rolled grass
or the pattern of a man’s woven shirt.
• Each building is different, reflecting the personal taste of
the inhabitants, resulting in a village that is rich with a
variety of artistic and cultural expression
• the small country of burkina faso near the border to ghana may not have many
resources or economic wealth, but with the plentiful raw materials available
• the kassena people make some of the most culturally rich and architecturally
beautiful villages
• tiébélé, built using traditional gurunsi vernacular.
• the dwellings occupy a community of just over one hectare in area, and are made
of a sun-dried mix of clay, soil, straw and cow droppings moistened to a perfect
mortar, mixed by foot to create strong pottery-like structures.
• these techniques actually preceded the well known mud-brick constructions of
indigenous peoples in the area.
• layer upon layer are added when needed, maintaining the necessary wall thickness
to withstand rainstorms and extreme temperatures.
• short walls are used as urban landscaping elements, provide a buttressing support,
and offer supplementary places to sit or work.
 Beehive Houses of Harran, Turkey
• In the town of Harran in Southern Turkey, houses shaped a little like beehives were
once a popular housing structure, constructed out of adobe, brick and stone found
in the area.
• The domed shape can be built quickly, making it a very practical construction for
the nomadic population to set up that is still resistant to heat and cold, unlike a
common tent for example.
• Ventilation holes on the sides provide cooling air-circulation through cross-
ventilation, and on top of the dome one acts as a chimney.
• Their domed shapes also mean that there is a low surface-to-volume ratio,
meaning that there is very little heat loss during the cold winter months.
• Due to the transition of their nomadic culture into a more settled one, the
beehive houses are no longer used as homes but more as storage spaces or barns.
• This declining importance and value of the buildings in their society mean that
they are no longer restored, resulting in a collection of houses in a poor state.
• New housing units around the city lack also lack a contextual relationship with the
beehive houses, as knowledge of their construction techniques diminishes
• This is an architectural tradition that is at least 3,000 years old.
• Made entirely of mud or clay bricks, these buildings are designed to
fence off searing heat and retain cool air.
• The dome-like structure topped with an opening is also functional,
as hot air collects in the upper part of these houses and escapes
through the aperture.

• The beehive shape of these abodes allows them to withstand

earthquakes, violent wind storms, and seasonal heavy rains, which
explains why they are still in use these days, thousands of years
later.
• What’s more, it is relatively easy to expand the size of a beehive
house by simply erecting another hive next to it and knocking an
archway through.
 Seaweed Roofs on Læsø, Denmark
• On the island of Læsø in northern Denmark there is a longstanding tradition for seaweed roofs,
made using eelgrass.
• A successful salt industry on the island meant that most of the trees were used to power kilns for
salt refinement, leaving residents with little to construct their homes.
• As a result, they used driftwood from shipwrecks and eelgrass from the ocean that were able to
withstand decay for hundreds of years, thanks to the fact that they were impregnated with
saltwater.
• Unfortunately a fungal disease wiped out over 200 of the existing buildings in the 1930s, leaving
only 19.
• There is an ongoing attempt to conserve the remaining buildings, however with 300 kilograms of
eelgrass required for every 1 square meter of roofing, restoring the vernacular buildings on Læsø is
not the simplest of tasks.
• The reforestation of the the island has also contributed to the decay of the roofs; surrounding trees
now protect them from the salt laden winds that once covered the eelgrass, allowing plants to take
root in the seaweed that then begins to rot.
• Fortunately Danish citizens have not given up, and continue the effort to restore any buildings they
can, even building the first seaweed roof from scratch in over a century.
 Ma’dan Reed Houses, Iraq
• The Ma’dan people, or Marsh Arabs as they are sometimes known, inhabit the
marshlands at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq.
• Around the marshes grow a substantial amount of reeds that the Ma’dan use to
build with; wrapping them in bundles to create columns, arches and walls, a reed
house can be erected in just 3 days.
• Sometimes they float on "islands" called "tuhul," and other times they are moved
depending on the rising and falling water levels, re-erected in less than one day.
• These homes, though extremely simple in their material and construction, can last
up to 25 years with proper care.
• Unfortunately, during the rule of Saddam Hussein the Marsh Arabs were
persecuted for housing people the government regarded as terrorists or enemies
of the state.
• The marshes were drained to the point where much of the Ma’dan population had
no choice but to move in order to find adequate food, diminishing their population
of half a million down to around 1,600 at the turn of the century.
• Over a decade later and after the fall of the regime, the dams were broken,
restoring the marshes to around 50% of their original size and opening up an
opportunity for the regrowth of the Ma’dan culture.
• The Ma’dan or Marsh Arabs inhabit the marshy area at the junction of the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers in Iraq. They are a semi-nomadic tribal people with their own
distinct culture, whose way of life has changed very little in the past couple
thousand years. Their whole way of life revolves around the marshes – they live in
floating houses made entirely of reeds harvested from the open water and Qasab,
a kind of giant grass that looks like bamboo, which can grow as tall as 25 feet (7.6
meters).
• The islands on which the Ma’dan build their elaborate floating houses are called
tuhul, and while they might look stable, they aren’t. The ground is very soggy and
villagers often need to anchor their islands to avoid drifting into a neighbor.
• Ma’dan houses are architectural marvels – all built without any nails, wood or
glass. It takes as little as three days to build a house, using a method that has
remained unchanged for the thousands of years since these people have inhabited
the marshes.
• Not all reeds are equal. For instance, if arches were made from bundles of fresh
reeds, the structure would collapse in short time. For better structural strength the
core of a new arch bundle was made up of reeds taken from an older structure.
 Goahti, Arctic Region
• Sami people cover areas in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as the
Russian Kola Peninsula.
• Many traditionally hunt and fish for their livelihood, but they are best known for
their semi-nomadic reindeer herding, even though only around 10% of the current
Sami population is involved in the practice today.
• Goahti constructions have been a central part of this lifestyle, used as a
transportable shelter for longer journeys.
• Domesticated reindeer were used to drag the larger curved poles needed for the
structure, which were then covered in peat moss for better thermal insulation.
• In favour of efficiency, this practice has been thoroughly reduced, due to the
inconvenience of transporting the large curved poles.
• Instead, Sami people often opt for the well-known lavvu tent structures on their
travels.
• Goahtis have also been used as more permanent dwellings and shelters for
livestock, up until around the Second World War.
• Nowadays, Sami people tend to live in ordinary homes, just like the ones found
around the rest of the Nordic Regions.
 Ab-anbar, Iran
• Literally "water storage" in Persian, the ab-anbar used to be the cistern
systems that supplied water to Iranian cities.
• The underground reservoirs sometimes descended as far as 20 meters
below ground level, protected by a dome that prevented evaporation and
any contamination of the water.
• They were constructed using bricks that contained a mortar called
"sarooj," considered to be impermeable to water.
• Badgir, or wind-catchers, channelled air down into the cistern to cool the
water and prevent condensation on the inside of the dome.
• In a desert, a structure as important as this one was incredibly valuable,
often integrated into other highly-regarded structures such as mosques.
• With the introduction of pipelines however, the ab-anbars have started on
their road to extinction.
• They are now, for the most part, just tourist attractions
• The āb-anbār was one of the constructions developed in Iran as part of a
water management system in areas reliant on permanent (springs, qanāts)
or on seasonal (rain) water.
• A settlement’s capacity for storing water ensured its survival over the hot,
dry season when even the permanent water supply would diminish.
• Private cisterns were filled from qanāts (man-made underground
channels) during the winter months before the floods, while surplus flood
water could often be stored in open tanks, as well as in the large, public,
covered cisterns
• Water was brought to the cisterns by special channels leading from the
main qanāt or holding tanks and was controlled by sluice gates.
• The āb-anbār, a ventilated storage chamber, could then provide cool
water throughout the summer months. Often rooms or pavilions were
built within the complex of the cistern to provide a comfortable resting
place as well.
• o withstand the pressure the water exerts on the containers of the storage tank,
the storage itself was built below ground level. This also provides resistance to
earthquakes.
• Many cities in Iran lie in a region that has been affected by very large earthquakes.
Since almost all ab anbars are subterranean structures capped barely above
ground level, they inherently possess stable structures.

• The construction material used for ab anbars were very tough and extensively
used a special mortar called sarooj which was made of sand, clay, egg whites, lime,
goat hair, and ash in specific proportions, depending on location and climate of the
city.
• This mixture was thought to be completely water impenetrable. The walls of the
storage were often 2 meters thick, and special bricks had to be used. These bricks
were especially baked for ab anbars and were called Ajor Ab anbari.
• Some ab anbars were so big that they would be built underneath caravanserais
 Cliff of Bandiagara, Mali
• Also known as the Land of the Dogons, 289 villages of earthen buildings
cover sandstone plateaus, escarpments and plains in the landscape of
Mali.
• The Dogon adapted to the hostile environment, that in turn became a
form of defense against any potential attackers since the 15th Century.
• Despite the centuries-old building knowledge of an unforgiving
environment, socio-economic and environmental factors have driven parts
of the Dogon population toward more urban surroundings.
• Not only does this mean a reduced production of more vernacular
architecture and a loss of knowledge, but also a "contaminated" resource,
as the Land of the Dogons began to come into contact with tourists and
other value systems.
• In order to preserve the existing sites, the Cliff of Bandiagara was
designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989.
• The Bandiagara Escarpment slices across the hot and dusty lands of the
Sahel in Mali for over 100 miles. In itself, Bandiagara is a wonder of nature.
• The cliffs rise over 1,500 feet in the air at times and range in geographic
diversity from desert to cascading waterfalls plummeting onto the plains
below.
• However, almost more impressive than the landscape are the Dogon
homes carved into the escarpment.
• Although a range of people lived in the area, for over 600 years the Dogon
people have made Southern Mali their home, carving everything from
simple rectangular homes into the cliff walls to detailed Mosque’s made
out of mud and stick.
• The entire concept of their village is stunning, as homes hang from the
cliffs defying all natural bounds of the traditional city. Some of the villages
can hardly even be seen as they blend seamlessly with the rocky cliffs that
surround them. Others are only noticeable from their thatched roofs,
protruding from the sand and rock.
 Amphitheatres of Mayu Uray
• In Peru, halfway between Cuzco and Machu Picchu, lies an ancient theater
center that has no counterpart anywhere else.
• Built by the Inca tribe of the Maras, it comprises four theaters in the round
and one in the form of a horseshoe.
• As might be expected, the acoustics of all five theaters are superb.
• The contours of the architecture have been eroded by the elements, the
site turned to pasture and farmland. Yet the basic structure is relatively
well preserved.
• The largest theater—probably set into a meteoric crater—accommodated
as many as 60,000 people.
• Twelve of its terraces, each about 6 feet high and 23 feet wide, still exist.
The lowest circular platform of the four theaters, which corresponds to
the Greek orchestra, varies in diameter from 80 to 134 feet.
• Water pipes, one foot wide, carved into stone monoliths, carried spring
water from a nearby mountain peak.
Mayu-uray, Peru
Morbihan community, Carnac
The troglodytic town of Pantalica
• Home to some 5,000 burial chambers of considerable archaeological
interest, Pantalica is also a place of great natural beauty, a deep limestone
ravine carved out over millennia by the Anapo and Calcinara rivers.
• The tombs themselves pepper the sides of the canyon and are an
impressive sight. Built in two main periods between the 13th and the 8th
Centuries BC, they are relatively small in size and either elliptical or
rectangular in shape.
• Durability and versatility are characteristic of vernacular architecture. The
rude chambers whose doors can be made out in the picture were cut into
the nearly perpendicular de clivities of the Anapo Valley by the Siculi, who
inhabited Sicily about 3000 years ago.
• Originally serving as burial grounds for an adjacent prehistoric town, they
were converted into dwellings during the Middle Ages.
• As a rule, they form multistoried apartments con nected by interior
passages. Similar establishments are scattered all over Sicd
Underground village near Loyang ,
China
• The series of underground dwellings in central China's Henan Province used to have nearly 10,000
homes.
• Right now, around 3,000 people still live there while the others have moved to modern homes,
according to Chinese media.
• The courtyard homes people can see today, which are called Yaodongs, have had six generations
living under their roofs for over 200 years.

• However the tradition itself in China is thought to date back over 4,000 years and have housed
thousands of residents in the hills.

• The square or rectangular dwellings are sunk into the ground, whose temperature inside is over 10
degrees Celsius in winter and 20 degrees Celsius in summer.

• They were listed as a form of intangible cultural heritage by the Chinese authority in 2011 and are
currently under conservation.

• The subterranean caves mainly spread around Sanmenxia city in Henan Province and have been
dubbed 'China's most mysterious villages' by media.
• The origins of Yaodongs can be traced back to Bronze Age, when people
lived in dwellings within deep pits and they became widely popular during
the Ming and Qing dynasties.
• Today, the homesteads are much more modernised and many of them are
equipped with electricity and other utilities.
• The local government of Henan has announced that it is protecting the
sites and plans to turn them into tourist attractions for curious visitors.
• Amazing bird's-eye view images of one of the villages show the
remarkable prism-like homesteads in all their glory, carved out of the
sediment of huge loess land pits.
• Apparently, the structures also boast the features including earthquake-
resistance, sound-proofing and are even energy-efficient.
• More importantly, there are wide wells that prevent floods and storms to
ensure safety.