Vernacular Architecture – Atlas for Living Throughout the World - Image 5 of 6 — Book cover Vernacular Architecture, credit: Christian Schittich

Published on January 23, 2021

Traditional building methods – such as those used in pueblos, timbered houses, or the Japanese minka – exist in fascinating diversity and create the face of a region. However, as a result of globalization they have been marginalized in many places. In the fastest developing countries in particular, a wealth of experience that goes back hundreds of years is being irretrievably lost, even though valuable insights can be gained for modern building.
Using the examples of selected domestic buildings from all continents, 36 international experts demonstrate why we can still learn from vernacular architecture; they analyze the cultural context and the adaptation to topographic/climactic conditions, and focus on the local materials used as well as on the construction, the building process, and the necessary maintenance.

Table of contents

7 Foreword
8 The Dwelling House in
Traditional Architecture
Christian Schittich
20 Material and Construction
Christian Schittich
Europe
42 The Low German House
Michael Schimek
50 Half-timbered Buildings in
Southern Germany
Konrad Bedal
66 Umgebinde Houses in the Border Triangle
Between the Czech Republic, Germany
and Poland
Kerstin Richter
74 The Engadin House
Marc Antoni Nay
80 Stone Farmsteads in the Ticino
Giovanni Buzzi
88 The Alpine Log Construction
Roland Flückiger-Seiler
94 Houses with Turf Roofs in
Northern Europe
Gisle Jakhelln
102 Tents of Nomadic Hunters and Reindeer
Herders in Siberia
J. Otto Habeck
110 The Anatolian- Turkish House
Önder Kü.ükerman
Asia
122 The Islamic House
Hans Munk Hansen
130 Dome Houses in Syria
Karin Pütt
138 Tower Houses in the Old City
of Sana’a
Jan Martin Klessing
148 Traditional Construction in Nuristan
Max Klimburg
160 Yurts and Black Tents in
the High Steppes of Asia
Christian Schittich
172 The Tulou Buildings in Fujian
Qinghua Guo
182 Weiwu of the Hakka in Fujian
Qinghua Guo and Christian Schittich
190 Tibetan Farmhouses
Peter Herrle and Anna Wozniak
208 Vernacular Building Tradition of India
Poonam Verma Mascarenhas
218 Urban Dwellings in Jaipur, Rajasthan
Alain Borie
226 Vernacular Architecture in
Northern Laos
Klaus Zwerger and Suchon Mallikamarl
238 Hanok in Korea
Daniel Tändler
246 The Minka in Japan
Klaus Zwerger
Oceania
262 Vernacular Forms of Building
in Oceania
Andrea Rieger-Jandl
272 Māori Architecture
Deidre Brown and Jeremy Treadwell
278 Tree Houses of the Korowai
Roland Garve
Africa
288 Traditional Forms of Construction in the
South of Morocco
Jürgen Adam and Sophie Karst
304 Building with Clay in the Sahel Region
Gert Chesi
314 The Architecture of the Dogon in Mali and
Burkina Faso
Oliver Heiss, Wolfgang Lauber, Bamadio Kodio
324 The Vernacular Architecture of Southern
Africa
Franco Frescura
America
338 Building Forms in Indigenous
North America
Christian Feest
360 Colonial Architecture in Colombia
Gx Samper, Ximena Samper in collaboration
with Marieth Castro
366 Indigenous Architecture and Construction
Technology in Mato Grosso
José Afonso Botura Portocarrero
374 Glossary
378 Authors
382 Picture Credits