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Posts Tagged ‘vernacular architecture’

Ethos through traditional construction processes: Historical development between community builder in the Minho Area of the North-western Iberian Peninsula and Pico Island in the Azores

This article analyses the developmental transitions in traditional construction processes in two very different but historically related contexts: the Island of Pico in the Azores and the Minho Area in the North-western Iberian Peninsula. The Pico Island, with a young geology, presents a serious limitation of available material resources, and resulting in a markedly individualistic approach to building. The Iberian Peninsula, on the other hand, with an abundance of material resources, presents a strongly collective approach to the organization of building works. This paper described the forms of organization necessary to achieve similar constructive systems, with the objective of making different material realities visible in the ethos of both. Activity-theoretical studies put an emphasis on the object enabling a longitudinal and rich analysis through time. A specific contribution in outlining the historical transformation of work of the community builder is made by using the life stories of two builders, one in Pico and another in the Minho Area, serving as the guiding thread. The paper shows that activity theory provides useful analytical tools for the enrichment of studies in constructive systems.

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Symbolic Use of Domestic Space in the Upper Svanetian (Georgia). Vernacular House

Upper Svaneti (Georgia) is a territory in almost permanent isolation amid the Caucasus mountain range. This strategic position, along with the military nature of its settlements made its defence so effective that Svaneti served as Georgia`s safehouse, protecting its chief historical and religious relics in times of crisis. This isolation also ensured the preservation of archaic cultural traditions and ancient rituals, such as animal sacrifices, ritual shaving and blood feuds, establishing what is known as popular religion. Some of these rituals, mainly those performed by women, take place in the domestic space. This paper, developed under the scope of the 3DPast project, aims to interpret the symbolic use of space in vernacular houses of Upper Svaneti. The methodological strategy combines architectonic survey with documental analysis and brings forward an interpretation of this vernacular house from a space anthropology perspective. The traditional svanetian house (machubi), is composed of a single volume, of rough quadrangular plan. The ground floor (machub) houses, during winter, the family and the cattle, while the upper floor (darbazi) was mostly used as the family residence during warmer periods. This analysis will focus specifically on the machub, where there are traces of the symbolic use of domestic space. The machub is composed of a single space with a central fireplace. This element is the axis of segmentation of female and male spaces inside the house. The present paper will address this gender-differentiated symbolic use of the domestic space through the scope of anthropology and of the Svanetian history.

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Locations of the Global in Traditional Architecture

Alcindor, Monica Huelva, “Locations of the Global in Traditional Architecture,” in Vernacular and Earthen Architecture Towards Local Development, ed. Shao Yong, Gisle Jakhelin, Mariana Correia (Tongji University Press, 2019), 351-357.

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Refurbishment, vernacular architecture and invented traditions: the case of the Empordanet (Catalonia)

In the recent past, processes of urbanisation related to gentrification have been observed in some rural areas. This article analyses the role of the rehabilitation of vernacular architecture and mainly addresses social groups with high levels of income in the territorial dynamics of the Empordanet in Catalonia (Spain). This case is particularly relevant for two reasons. On the one hand, the Empordanet is under particularly intense and socially selective pressure because of its proximity to Barcelona. On the other hand, this demand for housing is partially related to the reclamation of a kind of tradition associated with a component of strong regional identity. This article explores the various ways in which tradition is reclaimed, recovered, and reinvented, insisting particularly on agents’ behaviours framed in the broader context of governmentality. This is done through a pluralistic research methodology based on the dialogue between architecture and the social sciences. One of its main conclusions is that the rehabilitation of vernacular rural buildings generates a type of housing completely different from traditional constructions in its conception, functionality, design, materials, and construction processes. Furthermore, rehabilitation is closely associated with the generation of a new form of tradition.

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