


 Vernacular Architecture is a term used to categorize methods of
construction which use locally available resources to address local needs.
 Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the
environmental, cultural and historical context in which it exists.
 It has often been dismissed as crude and unrefined, but also has
proponents who highlight its importance in current design
 Vernacular architecture can perhaps be defined as architecture born out
of local building materials and technologies, an architecture that is
climate-responsive and a reflection of the customs and lifestyles of a
community.
 It is different from traditional architecture in that contemporary
architecture can also be “vernacular” if it is generated from an
understanding of local materials and indigenous methods of building.
 “Traditional” architecture must necessarily belong to the past as it bears
within it traditional values of living and building.
 Vernacular does not aim at good aesthetics, it aims at comfort and in its
use of natural materials to achieve that comfort, it comes about to be
also an aesthetically sound architecture.
ORIGIN OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
 Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter,
security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and
attendant skills).
 As human cultures developed and knowledge began to be formalized
through oral traditions and practices, building became a craft, and
"architecture" is the name given to the most highly formalized and
respected versions of that craft.
 It is widely assumed that architectural success was the product of a
process of trial and error, with progressively less trial and more
replication as the results of the process proved increasingly satisfactory.
What is termed continues to be produced in many parts of the world
DEFINITION
 Vernacular refers to language use particular to a time, place or group. In
architecture,

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  It refers to that type of architecture which is indigenous to a specific
time or place (not imported or copied from elsewhere).
 It is most often applied to residential buildings. – Paul Oliver - ( Author of
Encyclopedia of World Architecture)
 Oliver also offers the following simple definition of vernacular architecture
– “the architecture of the people, and by the people, for the people”.
 F.L Wright described vernacular architecture as: Folk building growing in
response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no
better than to fit them with native feeling.
 Developing concepts and innovative technologies for an Energy Conscious
and comfortable Built Environment with reference to residential buildings
through the study of vernacular buildings
AIM
 This subject aims to explore and assess passive solar design techniques
that promote high thermal comfort in vernacular houses of the state of
tamilnadu in India.
 The study of these houses provides useful insights for designing energy
efficient houses that provide thermally comfortable conditions.
 An analysis of these houses in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra & India provides
a context for the field research.
OBJECTIVES
 To appreciate how design with climate is effectively conducted in
vernacular architecture.
 The study of these houses provides useful insights for designing energy
efficient houses that provide thermally comfortable conditions
 To achieve the source of information and inspiration from the vernacular
architecture for future built environment.
 To study on the importance of vernacular architecture studies now and
throughout the twenty-first century, not as a study of past traditions,
but as a contribution to new methods, solutions and achievements for
the future built environment‟.
 To identify the way in which vernacular architecture can contribute to the
future of the built environment, through education, as a model for
sustainable design

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  This subject intends to seek ways to document the traditional vernacular
principles to promote a sustainable community
WHAT TO STUDY
 Green concepts in vernacular buildings
 Planning aspects
 Spatial organisation
 Materials
 Orientation
 Treatment
 Colors
 Adaptability, Functionality, Aesthetic Quality, Climatic control
 Theories and principles of vernacular architecture
 Influence of climate
 Geographical features
 Vernacular architecture in different regions
 Vernacular style
 Evolution of form
 Construction materials
 Techniques of regional architecture.
 The relationship of groups and individuals in a settlement, the local
materials available, the skills of the artisans, the technology available and
the climatic conditions of the region determine the resultant forms and
building typologies.
NEED FOR THE STUDY-WHY
 The vernacular architecture of the past was based on certain principles of
design
 It is based on knowledge of traditional practices and techniques.
 It is usually self-built.
 It reveals a high regard for craftsmanship and quality.
 It is easy to learn and understand
 They are made of predominantly local materials.
 They are ecologically apt, that is why they fit in well with local
climate, flora, fauna and ways of life.
 The purpose of the study is to discover potential strategies for
contemporary buildings that passively promote thermal comfort in

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

 these buildings, thereby reducing the need for external energy
inputs and increasing the quality of life for occupants.
 This research intends to seek ways to document the traditional
vernacular principles to promote a sustainable community.
 Last but not least, the study intends to test the assumption that
vernacular houses of Tamilnadu have high thermal comfort levels
without using any mechanical means.
 Most of the buildings which is constructed today had not taken in
to account of the green concepts used in traditional buildings.
 There is a need for studying the green concepts used in vernacular
buildings and adopting the same in our design.
DIFF. BETWEEN VERNACULAR AND TRADITIONAL
 The term is not to be confused with so-called "traditional"
architecture, though there are links between the two.
 Vernacular architecture may, through time, be adopted and refined
into culturally accepted solutions, but only through repetition may it
become "traditional.
 can also include temples and palaces, for
example, which would not be included usually in the rubric of
"vernacular."
VERNACULAR ARCHITECT
 In 1946, the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy was appointed to design
the town of new Village
 Having studied traditional settlements and technologies, he incorporated
the traditional mud brick vaults of the Nubian settlements in his designs.
 It is the first recorded attempt by an architect to address the social and
environmental requirements of building users by adopting the methods
and forms of the vernacular

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
Town of Luxor

Desert vernacular architecture , Egypt

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

Traditional ways of building and craftsmanship using local materials that are
about to vanish

Desert vernacular Architecture

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  People in traditional vernacular desert cultures knew how to make the
buildings they need.
 Inhabitants integrate materials, climate, other physical constraints and
cultural practice into architectural forms that meet the needs of
individuals and groups. (Crouch, 2001)
 This research tried to bond the fracture that occurs between traditional
desert vernacular architecture that proved to be more efficient with
inhabitants' aspiration for modern life facilities.

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

Aranya Housing, Indore, by BV Doshi. Village in Spiti

WHERE
 Study of vernacular buildings in INDIA
 Chettinadu Architecture
 Nalukettu Houses in Kerala
 the igloo of Eskimo.

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  A toda tribal hut -

 A village hut in west bengal

 House in agumbe

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  House with veranda in ettaiyapuram

 Traditional house in manali

 The local church in Norway. Very nice Vernacular Architecture

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

 A fisherman village in the south of Thailand.

CONTEMPORARY VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

 How architects are now interpreting vernacular architecture is changing:
it is not simply about reproducing cute details from the past.
 New technology is capable of helping us to solve housing problems
around the world, but technology itself is culture neutral; so to apply
these technologies successfully, the technology has to be humanized by
taking into account local traditions, culture, economy and work
practices.
 I think this is where the Modernist International Style failed and where a
Modern Vernacular might succeed.
Stone and clay houses in rural

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

IMPORTANCE AND FACTORS DETERMINING THE CHARACTER OF
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
 Vernacular architecture is influenced by a great range of different
aspects of human behavior and environment, leading to differing building
forms for almost every different context
 Climate
 Religion
 Community
 Geographical
 Socio economic considerations
 Culture
 Local environment and materials
 Construction techniques
CLIMATE
 One of the most significant influences on vernacular architecture is the
macro climate of the area in which the building is constructed.
 Buildings in cold climates invariably have high thermal mass or significant
amounts of insulation.
 They are usually sealed in order to prevent heat loss, and openings such
as windows tend to be small or non-existent.
 Buildings in warm climates, by contrast, tend to be constructed of lighter
materials and to allow significant cross-ventilation through openings in
the fabric of the building.
 Buildings for a continental climate must be able to cope with significant
variations in temperature, and may even be altered by their occupants
according to the seasons.
 Buildings take different forms depending on precipitation levels in the
region - leading to dwellings on stilts in many regions with frequent
flooding or rainy monsoon seasons.
 Flat roofs are rare in areas with high levels of precipitation. Similarly,
areas with high winds will lead to specialized buildings able to cope with
them, and buildings will be oriented to present minimal area to the
direction of prevailing winds.
 Climatic influences on vernacular architecture are substantial and can be
extremely complex.

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Mediterranean vernacular, and that of much of the Middle East, often
includes a courtyard with a fountain or pond; air cooled by water mist
and evaporation is drawn through the building by the natural ventilation
set up by the building form.
 Similarly, Northern African vernacular often has very high thermal mass
and small windows to keep the occupants cool, and in many cases also
includes chimneys, not for fires but to draw air through the internal
spaces. Such specialisations are not designed, but learnt by trial and
error over generations of building construction, often existing long
before the scientific theories which explain why they work.
CULTURE
 The way of life of building occupants, and the way they use their shelters,
is of great influence on building forms. The size of family units, who
shares which spaces, how food is prepared and eaten, how people
interact and many other cultural considerations will affect the layout and
size of dwellings.
 For example, the family units of several East African tribes live in family
compounds, surrounded by marked boundaries, in which separate single-
roomed dwellings are built to house different members of the family.
 In polygamous tribes there may be separate dwellings for different wives,
and more again for sons who are too old to share space with the women
of the family.
 Social interaction within the family is governed by, and privacy is
provided by, the separation between the structures in which family
members live. By contrast, in Western Europe, such separation is
accomplished inside one dwelling, by dividing the building into separate
rooms.
 Culture also has a great influence on the appearance of vernacular
buildings, as occupants often decorate buildings in accordance with local
customs and beliefs.

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

 
APPROACHES AND CONCEPTS
 Aesthetical approach
 Anthropological approach
 Architectural approach
 Geographical approach
 Spatial approach
 Ecological approach
 Behavioral approach
 developmental approach
AESTHETIC APPROACH
 Two distinct approaches to architecture can be termed as aesthetic in
one the ethnographic – the efforts are to understand the aesthetic
dimensions in the culture of the builders and uses of traditional
architecture.
 The goal is to create a more complete view of architectural characters
and experience by balancing utilitarian interpretations the produced
buildings on the one hand to shelter or , on the other, to symbols with
social consequences.
 The result is the inclusion of architecture along with other material culture
with in comprehensive accounts of particular people in particular times
and places.
 In the other approach- the responsive – the effort is to select the
neglected buildings and to bring them to the circle of considerations.
 The goal is to widen the architectural appreciation of the spectator. The
result is the use of alien architectural concerns to stabilize the
observer‟s tradition.
 ETHNOGRAPHIC – to understand the aesthetic dimensions in the culture
of the builders and users of traditional architecture
 The responsive – the effort is to select neglected buildings and to bring
them in to the circle of consideration.
 Color
 Scale
 Proportion etc
 Rhythm
 Harmony

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  The idea of aesthetic
 Affective aspect of communication
 Enlivens feeling, exciting the pleasure of the senses.
 Architectural communications – divided in to utilitarian and
aesthetic components.
 Utilitarian – bodily work, provide shelter, cultural work
 Aesthetically – its appearance and occupation contain aesthetic
potential, historical or religious
 aesthetical - concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or
good taste; "the aesthetic faculties"; "an aesthetic person"; "aesthetic
feeling";
 Ideas of quality and value
 Study of aesthetic of building from within the cultures that produce them
EXPRESSION
Expression- Ulster farm house – Ireland

 Expressive characters in buildings

 Ornamentation/ decoration- artistic expression
 Ex . Indian temples and Nubian houses
 English parish churches remained constant for a millennium while the
decoration around the openings and the eaves shifted in time to signal
the changes in the style
 Exs. - Ireland and turkey
 Plain exterior – utility

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Interior – lavished with color, texture and pattern, framed pictures on the
walls, flowers in the windows, shelves laden with gleaming metal and
ceramics.
 Decoration/ ornamentation – artistic expression.
 Ireland and turkey houses – plain exterior – utility
 Interior – color, texture, pattern, exhibits of ornamental objects, framed
pictures on the walls, flowers in the windows, shelves laden with gleaming
metal and ceramics

Japanese tea house- technology and form

 Aesthetics – technology and form
 The artful is not confined to the display of scroll and a flower vase in the
alcove but extends to the size of the room, its height , the dimensions of
its openings, and the plain, carefully crafted surfaces of the floor, the
walls and the utensils.
RESPONSE
 Observations and interviews how people feel about the buildings they
see and use.
 Interpretations
 Conservation
 Consumption – builders are appreciated entirely in accord with the
observers structure of value, no effort to study the builders intentions .
ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH
Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
  Anthropology is the branch of science which deals with the study of
culture or a society
 Interest in vernacular architecture was mainly focused on
 Documentation
 Classification of traditional houses
 The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social,
and cultural development of humans.
 Family system
 Life style
 Customs and attitudes
 Economic activity
 Caste
 Society and community
 Religion and mythology
 Hodological space
 Rituals and ceremonies
 Symbolism
 Role of men and women
 Buildings as cultural artifacts reveal the relationship of dwellings to
family, social structure and more
 But now anthropology deals with functionalism – the leading paradigm in
anthropological fieldwork was more interested in principles of social
organisms than in decoration
 More programmatic approaches to an anthropological study of vernacular
architecture were being developed
 In investigation the influence of physical and social factors such as
 Climatologically
 Ecological conditions
 Available materials
 Technological knowledge
 Local form of economy - The actual impact of the houses
depends on local perceptions – what is considered to be basic
need by a given society
 The limits impact of physical and economic conditions leads on to the
influence of socio cultural factors
 Built forms are closely interrelated with behavioral patterns and cultural
values

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Another cultural influence on the form of a building can originate in
symbolic conceptions
 Notions of the right order of relationship within the social and cosmic
universe can – play an active role in the building of a house - determine
the manner of execution of details in its construction
 In most traditional societies the home is mans most important creation. It
creates space within space and so on
 Main door should be placed in the east allowing the entrance of starlight
which is the man‟s „the lamp of the outside‟
 In 1970‟s the concept of house has attained additional significance in
anthropological research.
 In view of all the various ways in which both architects and
anthropologists have begun to discover vernacular architecture as a
promising field of study.
 Architects especially from developing counties increasingly aware of
 Values of old craftsmanship
 Riches of their cultural heritage
 The construction of a building in accordance with cosmological notions
requires good importance to be attached which would not come to force
in any conventional drawing.
 It would be the anthropologist‟s task to point out the importance of
making it visible
ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH
INTRO:
 Technological and organizational principles and bring techniques of
analysis to vernacular buildings
 Vernacular architecture has had significant and continuing influence on
architectural practice throughout its history
 Practicing architects have been influenced by vernacular architecture
through direct sensory experiences incorporated in to their aesthetic
sensibilities
 The influence of research on practice has taken many forms, as a result of
the many approaches used by architects to study and conduct research
on vernacular architecture
 The types of architecture derived from vernacular sources can be broadly
classified as follows
 Architecture as an iconic picturesque evocation of symbolic
identity
 Architecture as determined by climate, material or function

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Architecture as the embodiment of experimental emotional
sensory and spiritual characters
ICONIC EVOCATION OF SYMBOLIC IDENTITY:
 .Architects whose work is an iconic and pictresque evocation of symbolic
identity often share assumptions with folklorists and preservationists who
view the vernacular architecture in terms of regional types
 These types are seen as pure and wholesome and are contrasted with
imported architectures which are bought of as unsuited to local needs,
conditions, identity
 The focus of research based on these assumptions is to discover locally
derived pure forms without impurities of distant influences
 A pictresque archetype of the vernacular is constructed through rigorous
categorization of a few aspects of a buildings such as the plan and most
common features of the elevation, decorative details or shape of the
openings
 Scholarly documention identifies details which act as symbols which
reproduced and which lend authenticity to a new architecture
 The creation of local identity through the architectural evocation of the
vernacular has at times served a variety of social goals
 Regional architecture typologies were constructed i n the belief of that
vernacular architecture reflects the character and soul of a group people
 In the last decades of the 20th century, pictures interpretation of the
vernacular have occurred in many parts of the world
CLIMATIC, MATERIAL AND FUNCTIONAL ASPECT:
 Vernacular architecure‟s aesthetic success was presumed to be the
result of superbly rational response to locally available materials, climate
and requirements to use.
 Modernist architects approach vernacular architecture focused only on
those aspects of which supported idealogical positions.
 They concluded vernacular architecture as –
 Severly utilatarian in its use of matrials and technology
 Functional in its adaptation to climate, accomodation of activities
and utilization of site
 Beautiful in its sculptural expressions of mass and volume as a
result of manipulating the plan and section to accommodate users
needs.
 F.l. wright describes vernacular architecure as folk buildings growing in
response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no
better than to fit them to it with native feeling

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Modern architects looked for and found simplicity of form in vernacular
architecure, the experimental approach focussed on the complicity of
hybrid forms that occurs inspite of the constraints of similar materials
and climate
 The forms they looked for and found in vernacular architecture produced
sensory delight and interest and spiritually uplifting
 The experimental approach to the vernacular retain many qualities and
design principles of modernist architecure such as –
 Open planning
 Non – symmetrical composition
 Complete spatial articulation in plan
 The use of modern materials and construction methods
 The goal of experimental approach is to show the quality of
habitation, to create places where inhabitants will feel at home
 The qualities that show the art of dwelling can be learned from
vernaclular architecture without mimicking vernacular prototypes
 The experiential approach to vernacular architecture requires an
interpretation of vernacular through the poetic sensibility of the
architect
BEHAVIORAL APPROACH
 Environment – behavior study – in relation to buildings and their personal
and community rural or urban settings .
 Understanding of the individual and how the building and its environment
are mentally mapped.
 It focuses on the behavioural patterns in relation to buildings and their
personal and community in rural and urban settings
TYPES:
 Behaviours involved in creating vernacular environment as a
process, and as a product of vernacular environment
 The behaviour pattern occuring within the environment as a
product
CONSERVATIONIST
 Protection and preservation of the fabric of old vernacular buildings.
DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH
 Looks to the future , evaluating the potential of traditional building to
meet world housing problems and the economic or technical support that
may be needed
 Development is expressed in –
Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
  Economic growth
 Jobs
 Better shelter
 Health
 Ecological sustainability
 Development is the process of achieving above all being and the product
which comes out by achieving the above well beings.
 It views vernacular architecture as part of one aspect of development
such that better shelter, settlement built environment among several
others
 A developmetal approach pose certain questions
 How is vernacular influenced by it?
 How does it influence border developmental process?
 How does it help achieve both a better built environments and
broader well being?
 Views of vernacular architecture are influenced not only by local
conditions and the specific characteristics of the vernacular but also the
emphasizing economic growth through advanced technological practices
 Using the characteristics of vernacular architecture to achieve better
shelter and settlement and broader development objectives
 It uses and develops local cultural and material resources
 It is small scale technology and inexpensive
 It expresses the values and needs of the local especially poorer,
communities and not least to survive
 It is continuity with change remaining rooted in the past and the
local while incorporating the new and the external to meet
contemporary needs
 These characteristics can make a developmental vernular cost
effective and therefore econimicaclly visible, labour intensive and
therefore job creating, local resource using and therefore local
income generating renewable resource using and therefore
ecologically sound
USES OF VERNACULAR
ARCHITECTU
 To help socio-economic and physical decline caused by broader socio
economic change
 To help meet the changing needs and rising aspirations of the
communities experiencing rapid improvements in their socio-economic
conditions

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Developmental changes can result in the socio-economic and physical
decline of the vernacular architecture in particular areas like
environmental degradation such as deforestation and natural disasters
such as earthquakes
 Environmental degradation has most commonly affected the vernacular
through eroding its organic materials resource base.
 For example timber and bamboo have become scarce as a result of
deforestation
 Vernacular methods using these materials have been replaced with
corrugated iron sheets and steel that bear little relation to the
vernacular
 The vernacular without adequate examination has dismissed has unsafe
and traditional methods for making buildings disaster- resistant have
fallen into disuse.
 A developmental approach examines how a vernacular buildings can be
modified, using improved traditional methods to make them more
disaster resistant
ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
 Habitat as a part of total environmental systems , both natural and
nurtured.
 Science of the habitat
 It focuses on the habitat as part of the total environmental systems both
natural and nurtured „science of the habitat‟
 Vernacular settlements and buildings reflect the consious and unconsious
know how of the local craftsman and the inhabitants
FOLKLORISTIC APPROACH
 Buildings as comparable with other folk artefacts, and with the craft
skills, customs and beliefs
GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH
 While many approaches are concentrated on localized traditions, the
geographical approach considers the pattern of settlement and building
in their environmental, topographical , spatial economic locations at
scales ranging from the regional to continental
 Conveys the pattern of settlement, their environment, topographical,
spacio economic, locations ranging from region to continent
INTRO:
 A fundamental concern of all geographers is to study the abstract space
and humanized places, geographers highlight the complex interactions

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

 between human and the physical environment they encounter and
subsequently transfrom in to cultural forms and landscapes
 Geography provides information‟s about mathematical, socioeconomic,
behavioural and experimental space
 Geographers helped to give shape and to our understanding of the
vernacular architecture as the components of cultural landscapes
 In the end of the 19th and 20th century geographers examined the built
environment focused on identifying, classifying and naming various types
of rural settlements, notably dispersed and nucleated villages.
 Although such emphasis was usually on the ensemble of dwellings and
other building types/forms within villages as well as the spatial
distribution of rural settlements, individual researchers usually presented
textual informations that suggests the diversity of both rural and urban
settlements
THE GEOGRAPHER‟S RESEARCH:
 The display of information on maps is a concern of geographers, maps
not only are graphic visual statements that record observations but are
also effective analytical devices that facilitate understanding of the
spatial ordering of reality.
 Maps at various scales assist in easing out explanations for the spatial
patterns and relationships of vernacular buildings by geographers that do
not utilize maps to convey important information that would otherwise not
be obvious
TOPOGRAPHY:
 The geographers survey the topography of the land and prepare the
topographical maps to locate different landmarks on the surface of the
earth and different types of soils, the vegetation and the raw materials
obtained from the nature to the people who built their houses.
 The data collected by the geographers about the soil gives a clear idea
about the vegetation and the approaches of the people to establish their
own territories
 There is typically much probing of the reflexing intraction of humans with
the natural environment, not only the constraints and opportunites
provided by climate and soils but also the role of cultural values and
technologies in the fashioning and human habits
 The study of vernacular buildings by geographers increasingly informs and
is informed by perspectives and work of architectural historians,
folklorist, archaeologists, anthropologists and social historians
HISTORICAL APPROACH

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Studies the building diachronically from its construction , examining the
forces that have acted upon it, using documentary records where
obtainable
RECORDING AND DOCUMENTATION
 The systematic recording of building form , materials and details
 Preservation
 Photographs
 Architectural drawing

Photographic record-Worms eye isometric projection of a slovakian

roman catholic church

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

Front elevation, side elevation , longitudinal section and floor plan of a raised
granary – leon – spain

Fully rendered axonometric of a tikolor mosque (alwar) Senegal, with cut away
to show structure and interior
SPATIAL APPROACH
 Organisation and articulation of volumes and spaces
 The analysis of which being an architectural preoccupation relative to the
organization and articulation of spaces and volumes
 Approach – one is to start from the observation of buildings and trace
back to the experience of the builders
 Other is to start from the living experience of built form and
space and to understand how te buildings were concived and
created
DIMENSIONS:
 Orientation is the inspiration of the built area within the
cosmic order
 Dimension indicates directons such as mecca or jeruselam
 Laterality refers to the distribution of the foci on the right and
left hand according to the main direction of the built spacee
 Frontality is the relation between the front and rear side of
the built space
 Centrally is the central hearth of the house
 Axis and symmetry are permanent for some cultures

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

Plan of a mongol yurt showing spatial differentiation including altar, male and
female quadrants

FOLKLORISTICS
 Building as compared with other folk artefacts, with craftskills, customs
and beliefs
 Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore.
 The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of
folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics
as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics.
 The adjective "folkloristic" for an academically oriented study is also
distinguished from "folkloric" for material having the character of folklore
or tradition.
 In scholarly usage, folkloristics represents an emphasis on the
contemporary social aspects of expressive culture, in contrast to the
more literary-historical study of texts.
 Scholars specializing in folkloristics are known as folklorists.
CONTRIBUTION OF ALAN DUNDES

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Folklorist Alan Dundes (1934–2005) of the University of California at
Berkeley is often credited with promotion of folkloristics as a disciplinary
term, with the explanation that methodology should contextualize the
material of the "lore" within the sociology of the "folk."
 In contrast to a definition of folk as peasant or remote peoples, he
applied what he called a "modern" flexible social definition for folk as two
or more persons who share any trait in common and express their
identity through traditions.
 With this expanded social definition also emerged a wider view of the
material of folklore characterized by their repetition and variation to
include material, written, and visual practices.
 Another implication of the term, according to Dundes, is that folkloristic
work is interpretative or scientific rather than descriptive or devoted
solely to collection.
 In 1978, Dundes published a collection of his essays as Essays in
Folkloristics and in the preface advocated for "folkloristics" as a
preferred term for a discipline devoted to the study of folklore.
 Four years earlier, Pentti Leino published an historical overview of one of
the important centers of comparative folklore studies as Finnish
Folkloristics.
 In other international developments drawing attention to "folkloristics,"
the University of Helsinki established a professorial chair in folkloristics,
the University of Tartu created a department of folkloristics, and the
Estonian Literary Museum featured a department of folkloristics.
 In 1999, Dundes reiterated his case with the publication of International
Folkloristics, a compilation of foundational essays in the international
study of folklore, and an historical retrospective in "Folkloristics in the
Twenty-First Century" in the Journal of American Folklore (2005).
APPLICATION TO LITERARY AND TEXTUAL STUDY
 Efforts have been made by some folklorists to apply folkloristic
approaches concerned with context and practice to literary and textual
work, so as not to limit folkloristics to ethnographic or sociological
perspectives (Examples are Simon Bronner's "Historical Methodology in
Folkloristics" in 1982 and Sandra Stahl Dolby's publication of Literary
Folkloristics and the Personal Narrative in 1988).

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

  Some scholars still prefer "folklore studies" or "folklife research" to
indicate the interdisciplinary mix of humanistic and social science
approaches, but folkloristics maintains wide currency in academic circles.
 In 1995, a major introductory textbook was written by American
folklorists Robert A. Georges and Michael Owen Jones as Folkloristics:
An Introduction.
 The Journal of Indian Folkloristics and International Folkloristics are serials
that have had folkloristics in its masthead since 1978.

Ar. Ramesh Kumar A VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE