Vernacular architecture

Title text reads: "Vernacular architecture" with an image of a straw roofed clay house and below that a bamboo interior of a house including the roof, main support beams, and tables and chairs all made from bamboo. A banner at the bottom of the image includes a simple shape of the R.W. Kern Center and reads: 100 Days of Building Solutions.

The use of local materials in architecture is not a new concept. It’s intuitive to source one’s home from the surroundings and it is only a product of colonialism that we have shifted away from this practice. Today, this practice is referred to as Vernacular Architecture and is widely practiced in modern Indigenous settlements. For example, in Ghana, Africa, bamboo is used for scaffolding, furniture, laminated boards, and floor and roof paneling, while laterite from rich iron and aluminum deposits creates flooring, roadways, foundation, and embankments, and can even be made into dense bricks with incredibly efficient weatherizing properties.

Read more at the African Vernacular Architecture Database.

Project categories: 100 Days of Building Solutions

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