Books are the carriers of civilization.Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science
crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.They are engines of change, windows on the
world, lighthouses erected in a sea of time.
–Barbara Tuchman
Rural Architecture
A "countryside" refers to rural areas that are open.
Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country with low population density.
Forest, wetlands, and other areas with a low population density are not always countryside.
Traditionally the rural landscape is associated with open spaces dotted with houses.
Randall Arendt (1990 describes the rural pattern as “a patchwork of open agricultural fields punctuated by occasional farmstead or villages grouping.”
► The definitions of rural character may include the following elements;
- tree-lined streets
- farmlands
- tree-lined streets
- farmlands
- woodlands
- open space
- natural stream
- natural lake shorelines
- small villages and communities
- open space
- natural stream
- natural lake shorelines
- small villages and communities
Ultimately, it is the community's own perception of their community.
The community itself will decide whether their neighborhood is rural or not.
Rural Architecture
Buildings associated with the countryside and other buildings designed to suggest
the rural ideal, as in a pictorial landscape, using free compositions, and materials such as thatch, rubble etc.
Definitions
In general term "vernacular architecture" refers to the informal building of structures through traditional building methods by local builders without using the services of a professional architect.
The builders of these structures are unschooled in formal architectural design and their work reflects the rich diversity of their climate, locally available building materials, and the intricate variations in local social customs and craftsmanship. Vernacular Architecture is the informal, functional architecture of structures, often in rural areas built of local materials and designed to meet the needs of the local people.
Broadly speaking, the term "vernacular architecture" refers to structures made by empirical builders*, without the intervention of professional architects. It is the most traditional and widespread way to build.
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs.
Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it exists.
Frank Lloyd Wright described vernacular architecture as;
"Folk building growing in response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no better than to fit them with native feeling".
Suggesting that
-it is a primitive form of design, lacking intelligent thought.
He also stated that;
-it is worth studying than all the highly self-conscious academic attempts.
We can rephrase the above statements as following;
Rural Structures that are being constructed by a group of craftsman without having formal know-how. These structures evolve through trial and error procedures guided by emotions and family needs. Usually such construction is being conditioned by its immediate environment and economic ability.
KEYWORDS
Rural Structures that are being constructed by a group of craftsman without having formal know-how. These structures evolve through trial and error procedures guided by emotions and family needs. Usually such construction is being conditioned by its immediate environment and economic ability.
Etymology
The term vernacular is derived from the Latin vernaculus, meaning "domestic, native, indigenous";
from Verna;
meaning "native slave" or "home-born slave". The word probably derived from an older Etruscan word.
In architecture, it refers to that type of architecture which is indigenous to a specific time or place (not imported or copied from elsewhere).
The Vernacular Architecture should not be confused with so-called;
* traditional architecture
Traditional architecture can also include buildings which bear elements of polite design: temples and palaces.
* polite architecture
Characterised by stylistic elements of design intentionally incorporated by a professional architect for aesthetic purposes.
Probably most of us are very likely raised in vernacular homes. At least 90 percent of the world’s architecture is estimated to be vernacular, only five to ten percent having been designed by architects.
