Popular Architecture – AAAA magazine

Genuinely sustainable architecture

There’s no disputing the fact that the original purpose of architecture was to provide shelter. Finding a place to weather the elements, to seek protection and sanctuary from the harshness of the climate were the first steps in the long path taken by architecture. With this in mind, functionality and accessibility can be considered inherent features in housing architecture. The use of materials that are not only near-at-hand and easy to gather but that can also be quickly assembled is a matter of common sense. The seed of every piece of construction is the quest for simple ways of attaining the architecture’s ultimate goal – shelter.

This otherwise basic premise seems to have been forgotten. Conventional architecture has caused structure and surrounding to become completely separate entities – interior and exterior, construction and landscape, making the construction process more complicated, expensive and detached from its original purpose. These buildings are not meant to solve existing problems (or, more precisely, situations), but rather to pose problems with the intention of resolving them.

Before technological resources were thoroughly developed, the wisdom from previous generations, along with pure observation and experimentation were the foundations of every discipline. Though currently, popular architecture, which is often stigmatized, ismore often than not relegated to the “undeveloped” sectors of society. Construction wise, the terms ‘traditional’ or ‘popular’ architecture are readily associated with poverty, lack of resources and backwardness.

We even came up with new, ambiguous concepts – that are now in commonly used. Regarding terms such as ‘bioclimatic’, ‘sustainability’, or ‘bioarchitecture’, we could ask ourselves «what do they really mean?».

07/10/2014

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Popular Architecture: Earth housing… out-dated?

Earth Housing could be considered the paradigm of both human adaptation to the environment and the utilization of its resources. Yet, as is often the case with ‘natural’ housing models, it has been disregarded as ‘sub-standard housing’ for far too many years.

This has brought us to a situation in which Earth Housing continues to be overlooked by current regulations. Even though in this article we will be focussing on Andalucía (Spain) and its challenges regarding Earth Housing, it is important to consider that this model of habitat has sheltered millions of people all around the globe since prehistoric times: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Sub-Saharan Sahel, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, China, Tibet, Mexico, California, Turkey, the Balkans, Sicily, France, Sardinia, Spain…

As we can see, earth houses are often found in arid areas with very specific conditions, not only in a natural and climatic sense but also social and economic.

In Spain earth houses are spread throughout the majority of the country, but it’s in Andalusia where they take on a special importance since they are still used as the default way of living for much of the population.

03/02/2014