Interdependence of Traditional House Form and Settlement Pattern

Abstract

The main stream of research on traditional built form can be assumed to be focused on either cultural or natural deterministic approaches. Although the priority depends largely on the background of the scholar; culture and nature are mostly accepted to be the major factor determining the course of evaluation of traditional built form. Other forces acting on the formation of traditional built environments, ranging from defensive to administrative factors have also been issues of the discussion in scholar works. An important aspect of traditional built form, besides the constraints imposed and opportunities offered by the above forces, is the existence of discernible interdependences between the individual house form and settlement pattern. Neither the house nor the settlement evolves irrespective of one another. Individual houses are integral components of the settlements they belong to. Furthermore, no single house can be viewed as a self-sufficient building standing all by itself in the natural landscape. Isolated traditional buildings, like farm houses, are rare and exceptional. Similarly traditional settlements cannot be taken up as additive assemblies of individual masses. Space configuration of indoors and outdoors and also the modes of interaction between the two are shaped totally according to the aforementioned mutual dependence. Solid-void relationship that characterizes the textural properties of the settlement pattern, modes of enclosure and exposure, are all defined by the layout relations among the building masses. The theoretical contrast of this study is based on the binary relations of house form and settlement pattern as stated in the above.