Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our planet. There has never been a more important time to understand how to make the best use of local natural resources and to produce buildings that connect to ecosystems and livelihoods and do not rely on stripping the environment or transporting materials across the globe.
The culmination of years of specialist research, Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet, a once-in-a-generation large format publication, gathers together an international team of more than one hundred leading experts across a diverse range of disciplines to examine what the traditions of vernacular architecture and its regional craftspeople around the world can teach us about creating a more sustainable future.
With over 1000 illustrations and organised by the five major climate zones, covering polar, temperate, tropical, desert and continental, and more than eighty countries worldwide, the book reveals how people and cultures have adapted to their environment to make the best use of indigenous materials and construction techniques, and stresses the importance of preserving disappearing craftsmanship and local knowledge before it is too late.
Including contextual essays on issues ranging from climatology to anthropology and economics; a detailed reference section; specially commissioned maps and info-graphics; and a wealth of illustrations, this landmark publication is a celebration of humankind’s resilience and ingenuity in a rapidly changing world, and an invaluable resource document for the future generation who will shape our built environment.
Dr Sandra Piesik is an architect and a researcher specialising in technology development and transfer. Creator of several multidisciplinary research groups and consortia, actively engaged in the global climate change action. Founder of Habitat Coalition and a director of 3 ideas Ltd, leading several pilot projects endorsed by UNCCD and UNFCCC. Piesik is the author of Arish: Palm-Leaf Architecture, also published by Thames & Hudson.
Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet
Edited by Sandra Piesik
(including c. 1000 illustrations)
Contents
Foreword by Tomas Chruszczow UNFCCC
Introduction by Dr Sandra Piesik
General Essays
The Influence of Climate on Building Design and Materials by Dr Catherine Souch
A Geological Classification of Earth Materials in Vernacular Construction by Dr Graham Lott
Plants in the Built Environment by Dr William Milliken
An Anthropological Introduction to Vernacular Architecture by Dr André Singer,
The Value of the Vernacular by Professor Jim Coleman and Henry Fletcher
Tropical • Dry • Temperate • Continental • Polar (fully illustrated)
Appendix 1: Contemporary Vernacular
Appendix 2: Natural Disasters
Appendix 3: Materials Science
Notes
Bibliography
Author Biographies
Picture Credits
Index
Acknowledgments
ISBN
9780500343241Title
Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing PlanetAuthor
Sandra PiesikPublisher
Thames & Hudson LtdPublication year
2017Binding
HardcoverLanguage
English
