Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Vernacular architecture

Some of the questions that I stumbled in my thoughts related to architecture where related to the way people and architects see , interpret and think about traditional architecture . personally I think that traditional way of building is changing fast because of factors like globalization , culture and the age of the star architect influence . Globalization makes one countries culture to enter in a state of mutation and tolerance thus making the people and the cultural interface of the place to morph into a new hybrid type of culture with new values and" traditions ". Architecture can and is in a lot of cases a reflection of the values that a specific nation or society has and cherish , and if those values are changed then so the aesthetics of the individuals will . Architecture is a complex process that can work both ways from individual to the mass and reverse ; in the case of traditional generated architecture the individual is the maker and the person that starts to express itself trough the means that architecture puts of display . Culture makes and generates a set of rules for social behavior and a way of looking at architecture and aesthetics in general ; the contemporary factors that interfere in the building process are the infuzion of a new type of culture and the influence that some famous architectural personalities can have on the architectural practice and the way outer architect , designers see trough this lens form , theory and the outer components that put together can react in an "chemical " way and give birth to what the word architecture (or on a different scale ) design can mean .
In contemporary society traditional architecture is under constant change and it cannot be associated anymore only with the country side lifestyle . Because of the urban development the traditional architecture is moving to the city and neighborhood and suburban areas can be considered the new interfaces for generating a sort of form of suburban vernacular architecture that can wildly spread and become subculture and a new way looking at what tradition means .
On a bigger scale satellite cities can be seen as places where tradition can flourish and develop because of the way these cities are platforms for different functions for the main cities . The culture of these small places can be also seen as connected to the functions of the city . Politics are also an important factor that can influence what is considered traditional and how the things can work and evolve as concepts and future traditions . In a lot of cases tradition does not exist anymore and it is does not have the importance that was related to it in the past . Vernacular architecture can become an artefact that can exist in a specific place with a specific set of rules that are working together with the habitat .

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