Vernacular Houses Research Articles

Understanding genius loci to sustain Ume Bangka’s traditional architecture based on intangible material culture

The vernacular architecture used natural materials for its construction, such as wood, clay, stones, leaves, and animal skins. In tropical countries such as Indonesia, most vernacular architecture is made out of wood; this material is versatile, highly accessible, and affordable. Ume Bangka—a plantation house from Bangka—uses wood for its main construction. However, due to deforestation mainly by private sectors, such as major palm oil industries and private tin mining, wood becomes a scarce commodity. These activities also reduce traditional landscape areas and settlements that belongs to local people for centuries. As wood becomes unaffordable and less area to inhabit, people begin to abandon Ume Bangka as their future home and opt for modern housing type. This is very unfortunate because Ume Bangka shares a close relationship with local culture and natural landscape. This paper investigates the issue of the relationship between natural landscape and cultural values around Ume Bangka as a traditional Bangkanese dwelling. The main methodology in this discussion used literature studies on vernacular housing typology, especially in Bangka Island. Finding the genius loci— the spirit of a place—from the construction of Ume Bangka is the expected result of this paper that will serve as a preliminary idea in sustaining Ume Bangka’s traditional house amidst globalization and proposing Ume Bangka as the cultural identity as well as the inspiration for built-environment sustainability in Bangka Island.

Preserving the Cultural Landscape Heritage of Bhimakali Temple and its surroundings, Sarahan, Himachal Pradesh, India

Bhimakali Temple Complex is a popular tourist attraction in the Shimla Hills. The temple complex and the dwellings surrounding are an interesting example of an architecture style developed based on the local constraints of the area. Nearly 800 years earlier, a palace was built housing a temple, by the king of the Bushahr Dynasty in Sarahan, a small town in Shimla District. Along with time, buildings were made around it and a village came up. The landscape which was once barren turned into a lively cultural landscape through a self-sustainable approach one. While the tangible heritage of monumental architecture of the temple is managed and maintained by the Temple Trust, the streets and farmlands along with building knowledge and skills of construction and the art of wood carving in vernacular houses are kept alive by the local people. The paper argues an approach to architectural preservation overlooking the significance of both tangible and intangible heritage. Traditional knowledge system of techniques and cultural values along with human efforts has shaped the landscape that we see today. This inhabited cultural landscape is dynamic rather than in a fixed state as people live here and pilgrims visit it. Such landscapes need a more holistic and comprehensive framework for conservation which integrates architectural monuments, shared spaces like roads and apple orchids because of its association with people, Wood Carving, and other forms of the Cultural Landscape. Such framework can be obtained by understanding the cultural habits and rituals and beliefs of the people, traditional architectural design vocabulary which shaped the settlements and the buildings and intimate knowledge of site geography and climate that shaped and sustained the settlements.

Recalibrating the New Thai Vernacular Architecture

The emergence of the new types of vernacular houses shows the evidence of change leaping fromthe popular image of the traditional Thai houses. The change is impacted from many factors includingcontemporary cultural needs. New vernaculars, which are found in the central Thailand, are the transformingThai houses and the reproduction Thai houses. These two occurrences began since the 1960s (forthe first type) and the 1990s (for the second type). The vernacular houses were surveyed in Pak Kranvillage and Bang Pahun area in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province during the 2000s. These new vernacularhouses have developed from the traditional Thai house among other modern housing developments.However, there is lacking of awareness and understanding of the change. Most of the policies from Thaigovernment, study courses and research topics have focused only on the image in the past. Accordingly,contemporary vernaculars tend to be disregarded. For recalibrating the new vernaculars in this paper, thereare three main subjects: 1. the viewpoints on vernacular architectures both from local and internationalscholars; 2. the definitions and previous studies relating to vernaculars; and 3. the establishment of the newvernacular architectures, which closely relate to the traditional Thai house. This paper involves developingan understanding of vernaculars as well as providing ways to expand the scope of vernacular studies.

Natural Ventilation Design Attributes Application Effect on Indoor Natural Ventilation Performance of a Double Storey Single Unit Residential Building

: In establishing a good indoor thermal condition, air movement is one of the important parameter to be considered to provide indoor fresh air for occupants. Due to the public awareness on environment impact, people has been increasingly attentive to passive design in achieving good condition of indoor building ventilation. Throughout case studies, significant building attributes were found giving effect on building indoor natural ventilation performance. The studies were categorized under vernacular houses, contemporary houses with vernacular element and contemporary houses. The indoor air movement of every each spaces in the houses were compared with the outdoor air movement surrounding the houses to indicate the space’s indoor natural ventilation performance. Analysis found the wind catcher element appears to be the most significant attribute to contribute most to indoor natural ventilation. Wide opening was also found to be significant especially those with louvers. Whereas it is also interesting to find indoor layout design is also significantly giving impact on the performance. The finding indicates that a good indoor natural ventilation is not only dictated by having proper openings at proper location of a building, but also on how the incoming air movement is managed throughout the interior spaces by proper layout. Understanding on the air pressure distribution caused by indoor windward and leeward side is important in directing the air flow to desired spaces in producing an overall good indoor natural ventilation performance.

ENVISIONING OPEN-AIR MUSEUM FOR INDONESIAN

The founding of Skansen in the early of the 19th century was a milestone behind the phenomenon of Open-air museums all over the world. Although late, this phenomenon began to emerge in Indonesia since 1972 marked by the establishment of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII). Behind all the controversy on its establishment, TMII has been recognized as one of the nation pride as well as the first instituted open-air museum in the country. Ahead, this noble purpose should be further envisaged as an opportunity for Indonesian to take a part in rescuing remaining vernacular houses as the provision for future generations recognize their identity. By observing TB Silalahi Center in Balige and Taman Nusa in Gianyar, this paper describes that the opportunity for Indonesian to conserve ex-situ their neglected vernacular houses also definitely could be realized. From the analysis, some constraint found in terms of management, specifically in financial issue, but proven does not make a significant barrier in making these both museums keep running. Need collaboration from related parties since there is no proper translocation procedure done and also the weaknesses of tangled documentation. This concern aroused in order to prospecting ex-situ conservation for Indonesian vernacular houses properly implemented as an Open-air museum.

Adaptability of Folkways: Buddhist Thai vernacular houses of Songkhla Lake Basin

This research has explored the relationships between community ecosystems and folkways in the context of modern development, especially how these relationships are manifested in the changing physical characteristics of their vernacular houses. Using qualitative methods and a holistic approach to study tradition and change, three Thai-Buddhist communities around Songkhla Lake Basin were selected for comparative study. Data were derived from documentary sources, direct and participant observation, in-depth interviews and architectural drawings. It was found that the traditional communities in different local micro-ecosystems were transformed to be a new characteristic of Southern Thai dwellings underlying the emergence of a hybrid economy and society. However, kinship ties, their Buddhist beliefs and their experience of adaptability reinforce the existence of local identities.

강릉지역 田자형 민가의 주생활 변화에 따른 주거공간의 변형

강릉지역 田자형 민가의 주생활 변화에 따른 주거공간의 변형

Numerical and experimental performance analysis of a four-sided wind tower adjoining parlor and courtyard at different wind incident angles

Ventilation performance of a scaled four-sided wind tower connected to parlor and courtyard at different wind incident angles was studied both numerically and experimentally. Parlor (Talar in Persian) is a large room with one open side that connects the wind tower to the courtyard. The combination of wind tower, parlor, and courtyard forms a typical layout of summer section of vernacular houses in hot-arid regions of Iran. This study aims to uncover ventilation strategies considered in the design of wind tower and its interaction with surrounding architectural elements. The numerical study was conducted on a 1:25 scaled model for 13 wind incident angles with 15° intervals. Interested parameters were the flow rate and the ratio of total extract to supply flow rates at each wind incident angle. A structured grid was generated, and ANSYS Fluent software was employed for simulating the flow field. Wind tunnel experiment was carried out on the same scaled model and a semi-empirical approach was adopted for predicting the air flow rate at each wind angle. Numerical simulation results were validated with the wind tunnel measurements and good agreement was observed. Results indicate that for 61.5% of wind incident angles, the dominant function of four-sided wind tower is extracting air out of the building and at other wind angles, with approximately equal values of supply and extract flow rates, it acts as an air exchanger device. Accordingly, it can be concluded that neglecting stack effect, four-sided wind towers in hot-arid regions of Iran are primarily employed for heat dissipation rather than inducing outdoor breezes to the interior spaces.

La arquitectura del silencio: lo vernáculo en las viviendas del Valle del Chota(1960-1990)

El objetivo principal de esta investigación radica en establecer las principales características de la vivienda vernácula en el Valle del Chota. Este estudio se ha desarrollado con una visión holística desde la perspectiva de la metodología cualitativa y del paradigma hermenéutico. Se trata de un estudio de caso, por lo que los métodos capitales fueron la observación científica documental y el trabajo de campo. La principal interrogante que rigió el estudio fue: ¿cuáles son los valores patrimoniales de la vivienda vernácula en el Valle del Chota a partir del influjo cultural afrodescendiente, y cómo éstos se relacionan con la vida cotidiana y la cultura material y espiritual de la región dentro de las aspiraciones actuales del Sumak Kawsay o Buen vivir? Se trata de una arquitectura que dialoga con el entorno y mantiene ese originario principio de intercambio entre hombre y medio ambiente, a través de la vivienda.

Akit’s house: identification of vernacular coastal architecture in Meranti Island

Akit people can be found on Meranti islands near east coast Sumatra. Their houses made mainly by wood construction as stilt type house. The roof of the house was made by leaves, and bark of the tree was used on house wall. Nowadays, some changes have occurred on this vernacular house. The changes are not only as responding to the environment, environment but also are affecting by way of their life. In turn, this changing becomes an interesting phenomenon, particular comparing to the house on other islands. This research has conducted in qualitative research approach to identify how the changes of the house. Field data gathered by a range of methods such as observation, story-telling, and documentation. The data are analyzed and interpreted within an iterative process to expand understanding of the house’s changing. This research offers an architectural insight into how the vernacular houses are changing.

TIPOLOGI ATAP PADA ARSITEKTUR VERNAKULAR DI SUMATERA SELATAN

The development of new urbanism paradigm in the world today, has been reminded of the importance of vernacular architecture in urban planning.. It would be advantageous for areas with high ethnic diversity as South Sumatra. This study aims to inventory the vernacular house typology in South Sumatra. Methods of study is to examine the vernacular houses of all ethnicities in South Sumatra (29 ethnicity) plus two ethnic from neighboring provinces (Kubu and Lambak). The study found 18 different types of houses, and also found that the typology of the roof consists of a limas roof, pelana roof, and a perisai roof. The variety of roof reflects the high ethnic mobilization in South Sumatra. Even so, as a result of acculturation that occurs in these dynamics, the variety is found only on the shape of the roof, while the other part of the building does not have a clear marker of difference. Implications of the New Urbanism presented in the design of contemporary urban planning in South Sumatra.

WHAT REMAINS OF OLD HARRAN AND REDEFINING IN VERNACULAR URBANISM

Old Harran house, or what remains of it, is a beehive houses existing on the Harran/Shanlıurfa. Its old vernacular houses were designed and constructed in order to be sustainable and to subsist through hundreds of years. Each family constructed mud house to its name and call it beehive house. The beehive houses are an evidence of vernacular architecture and rural urbanization. But in the near time, the indigenous inhabitants of Old Harran were relocated to Halfeti region. In the new Harran settlements, the houses did not meet the expectations of indigenous people about the sustainable architecture and social sustainability. This paper aims to demonstrate the particularity of Old Harran, especially when it comes to vernacular architectural sustainability. The hypothesis of this paper is that a vernacularly conceived urban space, like Old Harran, it can take lessons from in a way the principles of sustainable architecture/urbanism. It also conducts a comprehensive survey concerning the architectural /urban advantages of each one of houses.

Experimental Investigation of the Surface Temperature Distribution and Thermal Performance of an Intermittent Combustion Chinese Heated Wall

Chinese heated walls represent a traditional space heating technique that is still widely used in vernacular houses in northern China. Such walls efficiently recover gas heat from heating stoves and reduce users′ exposures to indoor air pollution. This experimental study proposed a heat recovery system composed of a heated wall and fireplace. Test rooms were set up to evaluate the surface temperature distribution and thermal performance of the heated wall in response to several combustion patterns. The results show that an intermittent combustion heated wall heated only by a stove used for cooking can produce a relatively more comfortable indoor environment without extra energy consumption. In this research, indoor air temperature was increased by 3.3 to 4.0°C over the control room. The temperature distribution of the heated wall′s surface was nonuniform, with a temperature range of 116.03°C. It was also found that the combustion pattern had a major impact on the initial and peak temperatures of the wall body′s surface during combustion.

Reading sustainability post annexations of Rumah Gadang architecture

Many of Rumah Gadang of Minangkabau in West Sumatra has strived through many years of extreme tropical climate. Through times this type of vernacular house has remarkably endure and stay, hence the increasing numbers of maintenance cost. One family generation to its next, as many other normal family houses may have experienced, the annexation phase (adding spaces) of living is inevitable. As Rumah Gadang design has been considered as one model of eco-tropical architecture fine example, its annexation could make the green compactness of its majectic design changed. This research analyzes major typical modifications and changes that could happen to Rumah Gadang’s original design. Field research was conducted direct to its site’s origin in West Sumatra. Its actual and recent plans (after annex) are documented to study the basics and its upgrading modification tendencies. This information then could become the base for further research on exploring the local wisdom, its traditional building values, material development and changes, and also its future endurance.

Preliminary Study in Finding Alternative Materials: A Study on Traditional Malay Stage-House Typology and Construction in Bangka Island

Woods is the most favoured material for traditional and vernacular housing construction in Indonesia because it is cheap, versatile, and easily accessible. However, the practice of wood constructions has become a laborious task nowadays, with woods availability dwindles and becomes highly unaffordable. Advanced technology in our everyday routines and habits is also indicated as one of many aspects, influencing shifts in today’s vernacular and traditional architecture in Indonesia. Therefore, finding an affordable alternative is crucial to maintain and develop vernacular typologies of traditional houses in Indonesia. This paper focuses on Malay stage-house, a traditional housing typology in Bangka Island, which is in dilemma of being left by the local people. The scarcity of wood makes the material unaffordable for locals, forcing them to adopt a more modern housing typology instead of traditional ones. This paper uses methodologies of literature research, interviews, and field study on Malay stage-house in Muntok City, Bangka. Result and conclusion in this paper, therefore, becomes a preliminary study to propose an alternative and sustainable materials that is available and financially affordable for locals in Muntok without overlooking the authenticity of Malay’s traditional typology and ideology in Bangka Island.

Vernacular housing practices in Burkina Faso: representative models of construction in Ouagadougou and walls hygrothermal efficiency

In Burkina Faso, particularly in Ouagadougou, the walls of the houses are made of several local materials. The choice of a material implies a suitable constructive technique and an appropriate architecture. The walls are either earth-based, i.e. Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) or Adobe, or based on cement-based materials such as hollow concrete blocks. This paper proposes a description of the vernacular construction practices according to the material used for the walls and tries to explore the hygrothermal behaviour of various wall compositions. A hygrothermal simulation of a hollow concrete blocks wall and a CEBs wall using the WUFI®Pro software is carried out in order to compare the humidity flux passing through interior surface of each wall and to analyze the influence of integrated moisture in the calculation of heat flow. It is shown that, for CEBs wall, both thermal and hygrothermal simulation of heat flow give similar results.

Sustainable Features of Vernacular Architecture: Housing of Eastern Black Sea Region as a Case Study

The contributions of sustainability to architectural designs are steadily increasing in parallel with developments in technology. Although sustainability seems to be a new concept in today’s architecture, in reality, it is not. This is because, much of sustainable architectural design principles depend on references to vernacular architecture, and there are many examples found in different parts of the world to which architects can refer. When the world seeks for more sustainable buildings, it is acceptable to revisit the past in order to understand sustainable features of vernacular architecture. It is clear that vernacular architecture has a knowledge that matters to be studied and classified from a sustainability point of view. This work aims to demonstrate that vernacular architecture can contribute to improving sustainability in construction. In this sense, the paper evaluates specific vernacular housing in Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey and their response to nature and ecology. In order to explain this response, field work was carried out and the vernacular architectural accumulation of the region was examined on site. The features of the examples have been identified and debated in today’s sustainable architectural concept. This work holistically evaluates this architectural manifestation, in the light of current knowledge, in order to find scientific justification for its knowledge to verify and promote its application in the future.

Housing building typology definition in a historical area based on a case study: The Valley, Spain

This paper introduces the problem of the abandonment of historical housing located in city centres. These constructions are usually excluded from the cultural heritage conservation processes, and therefore a large quantity of them is currently unlivable, and because of this there is an urgent need to propose solutions. However, the extent of the existing building stock and the additional difficulty of protecting its patrimonial value requires an accurate analysis. This work makes a contribution to the definition of historical housing areas by cataloguing the different dwellings, hence it underlines the need to define building typologies in order to simplify the multiparametric analysis and identify the main vernacular characteristics on such a wide scale. This definition of typology may include all the parameters which value and characterize a historic house through an approach which combines a territorial, urban, architectural, and construction perspective. Likewise, data processing will enable the selection and definition of building typology. The methodology proposed serves as a policy guideline for analysis of buildings in historical centres, prioritising the preservation of the cultural heritage value and the recovery of the historic use of urban space. This method has been tested in a previous case study of the Jerte Valley (Valle del Jerte), located in The Central System, Spanish and Portuguese: Sistema Central. This study approaches the analysis of a vernacular housing stock of three thousand dwellings by: first, taking into account the complexity of the historical area analysing the territory, landscape, architecture and urban variables; then, by selecting the representative building typologies; and, finally, by defining information sheets. The culture heritage of the Valley, based on adequate information, will be protected.

APPLYING THE VERNACULAR MODEL TO HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

In the age of globalisation and continuous urbanisation, architects have a greater responsibility to design residential buildings with comfortable and sustainable environments. However, sustainable solutions should not concern themselves only with utilising technology, but also with creating synergies amongst a community’s social, cultural, historical, and environmental aspects. This research focuses on the implications of this wider definition of sustainability within the hot-arid climates of the Middle East and North Africa. Most of the current high-rise residential buildings in these regions do not promote social cohesion as they have been constructed without consideration for local identity and lifestyle. In contrast, vernacular courtyard dwellings and neighbourhoods offer good examples of socially cohesive and healthy environments. Yet, vernacular houses might not be compatible with pressures of modern construction. The question then becomes how to maintain the relationship between the spatial, social and environmental aspects while employing the latest technologies and materials. This paper presents the different qualities of vernacular houses and neighbourhoods in the different regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Social and spatial relationships of different cases are assessed, through a typological analysis approach using a developed syntactic-geometric model, to trace the lifestyle and the cultural values of the society. The aim is a parametric exploration of appropriate sustainable solutions that facilitate the synergy of socio-climatic requirements, the well-being qualities of the residents, and the specifics of culture, time and people while designing sustainable high-rise developments.

Assessment of Climate Comfort in Vernacular and Contemporary Houses Of Iran

Technology development causes a human oriented design to be forgotten all over the world. In housing design, one of the important factors for human-oriented design is Climate comfort. Today similar architectural patterns in different climate regions in Iran, can't provide residents comfort. While vernacular housing architecture of Iran had different patterns for providing climate comfort in different regions. The aim of this paper is to suggest some solutions to enhance the level of comfort in today's housing of Iran. This paper compares contemporary and vernacular houses of Iran in terms of climate comfort by using description and case study analysis methods.Keywords: comfort; climate comfort; contemporary housing; vernacular housing2398-4295 © 2017 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.