What is modern today? This is about aspiration and stylistic change. Young people living in desert communities are using mobile phones and seeing very different ways of living.
Long before foam insulation and concrete tower blocks, humans were finding ingenious ways to address their needs through architecture. Using local materials and inherited construction techniques, societies have ensured that buildings provide protection and comfort. In Tonga, traditional curved roofs offered aerodynamic protection against storms and cyclones. In the Uros islands of Lake Titicaca in the Andes, reeds were used in houses due to the insulating properties of their hollow stems. And in southern Taiwan, the alleyways of traditional settlements were built on an east-west axis to harness the cooling power of the island's prevailing winds. But in recent decades, technology has disrupted millennia-old building traditions. From steel skyscrapers in the Gulf to concrete apartment blocks in China, a global push to urbanize, modernize and, arguably, Westernize has created new architectural ideals.
Looking closer to home: Local materials are at the heart of vernacular architecture. In Norway, turf is used as a roof covering due to its thermal properties, while many rural Japanese homes are still made from the wood of nearby forests. Vernacular architecture, the simplest form of addressing human needs, is seemingly forgotten in modern architecture. However, due to recent rises in energy costs, the trend has sensibly swung the other way. Architects are embracing regionalism and cultural building traditions, given that these structures have proven to be energy efficient and altogether sustainable. In this time of rapid technological advancement and urbanization, there is still much to be learned from the traditional knowledge of vernacular construction. These low-tech methods of creating housing which is perfectly adapted to its locale are brilliant, for the reason that these are the principles which are more often ignored by prevailing architects.
Vernacular architecture originated when mankind was forced to make use of the natural resources around him, and provide himself shelter and comfort which is responsive to the climate, a shield from the elements. It is a pure reaction to an individual person’s or society’s building needs, and has allowed man, even before the architect, to construct shelter according to his circumstance. Such simple traditions have long been regarded as backward, and have been replaced by half-digested, largely inappropriate architectural values. The humanistic desire to be culturally connected to ones surroundings is reflected in a harmonious architecture, a typology which can be identified with a specific region. This sociologic facet of architecture is present in a material, a color scheme, an architectural genre, a spatial language or form that carries through the urban framework. The way human settlements are structured in modernity has been vastly unsystematic; current architecture exists on a singular basis, unfocused on the connectivity of a community as a whole. Vernacular architecture adheres to basic green architectural principles of energy efficiency and utilizing materials and resources in close proximity to the site. These structures capitalize on the native knowledge of how buildings can be effectively designed as well as how to take advantage of local materials and resources. Even in an age where materials are available well beyond our region, it is essential to take into account the embodied energy lost in the transportation of these goods to the construction site. The effectiveness of climate responsive architecture is evident over the course of its life, in lessened costs of utilities and maintenance. A poorly designed structure which doesn’t consider environmental or vernacular factors can ultimately cost the occupant – in addition to the environment – more in resources than a properly designed building. For instance, a structure with large windows on the south façade in a hot, arid climate would lose most of its air conditioning efforts to the pervading sun, ultimately increasing the cost of energy. By applying vernacular strategies to modern design, a structure can ideally achieve net zero energy use, and be a wholly self-sufficient building.
The benefits of vernacular architecture have been realized throughout the large part of history, diminished during the modern era, and are now making a return among green architecture and architects. In order to progress in the future of architecture and sustainable building, we must first gain knowledge of the past and employ these strategies as a well-balanced, methodical whole to achieve optimum energy efficiency.
The quest for a deeper approach of contemporary architecture to nature sometimes conceals the achievements of the past. Vernacular architecture is, by its definition, aim and structure, the most integrated architectural form in communion with the environment. Two important traces of vernacular architecture can be resources for contemporary architecture: the deep respect and perfect communion with the natural environment the perfect relation and understanding of users needs. The result of a complex balance between material, shape and natural context, vernacular architecture could become an extremely useful model of inspiration for the present. From the intimate and personal experience with the wooden and wattle and daub architecture of South Eastern Europe, we noticed that the mentioned triad created very efficient eco-design outcomes that could be used today as models to generate an architecture closer to nature. Modern perspectives on the mentioned values include a new approach of specialists and communities, having as a purpose the understanding and integration of vernacular experiences and values in today’s projects in order to enable architects to be an active part in plural-disciplinary teams, to promote their responsibility to conserve and valorize built and landscape heritage and the re-use and integration of existing buildings, technologies and skills in contemporary design.
As a result of the complex balance among materials, the form, as well as the social, technological and natural context, the “architecture without architects” could, by means of transposing its core principles, be considered a sustainable foundation for designing contemporary envelopes in two ways : through an expression of utmost respect and harmonious union with the natural surroundings or by establishing a perfect balance to encompass the users’ needs. The experiences with the authentic materials that were used to create a very efficient eco-design may be used as guidelines for launching revolutionary and utterly new techniques such are the steel, concrete and glass techniques. The premises based on experiences may result in the usage of the bioclimatic responsible construction. Similarly, it can be used for models to generate nature-friendly architecture. “Items” of nature should be observed as artefacts “which means, to observe local architecture in relation to the environment that created it, the epoch that nurtured it, and the financial and technical means that provide it” Contemporary views on the mentioned values mean new approaches with the aim of comprehending and integrating experiences and values of pre-architecture into contemporary projects. This allows promoting responsibilities regarding preservation and valorization of the built environment as well as technologies and techniques applicable in contemporary design. By means of understanding the “continuity approach“, i.e. understanding the place, its spirit and evolution, one may reach clearer and better conclusions and applicable guidelines while using technological solutions for modelling the contemporary façade envelope. The harmonization of transmitted vernacular building envelope concepts in line with technological solutions lead us to a more genius loci oriented architecture. In the following sections, the authors suggest the generation of a matrix system that addresses all of the above-mentioned factors with the intent to introduce a completely new and unique facade design approach.