Vernacular heritage for an underlying principle of unity in the architectural process

Abstract

How to learn from vernacular heritage and apply its lessons to contemporary architecture is not a recent concern. Admiration towards popular buildings can be traced back to key figures of the Modern Movement. Furthermore, later critical stances on the consequences of modernity drew even a closer, though rarely noticed link to this question. Aldo van Eyck's Configurative Discipline, Amos Rapoport's culturally specific design, John F. C. Turner's advocacy for self-construction, Sergio Ferro's Aesthetics of Separation, and Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language, all seemed to seek a sense of unity in the architectural process that could, indeed, be verified in the traditional ways of doing. The revision and comparison of their ideas, in light of the values of vernacular heritage, aims to identify general variables that influence the creation of the environment and whose integral consideration could lead to that underlying principle of unity. As a result, collective predispositions of cultural, political, and material order, or more personal reactions related to emotion, habitability, or economy are distilled to build a preliminary conceptual framework. This framework is coherent with recent findings and current trends in the field and may serve to identify possible paths of action for the future.