LINE 2

Introduction

Vernacular, rural or popular architecture is an architecture without architects that is ancestrally common in the different countries of the planet. It radiates a great common sense fruit of the knowledge of the place of the people who forged it, who lacked any technical training. For the most part, it does not respond to any type of architectural pretension but rather to obtain optimum functionality of the activities that take place inside as well as in its relationship with the outside. It is characterized by its attachment to the landscape as if it were one more element of it. It responds in a very unanimous way to the laws of the landscape itself, which does not exist in the study of architecture without its context, producing a symbiosis between the two. This leads to an architecture with great humility where its objective is unity and integration with its context and avoiding its overexposure. It is an architecture that substantially varies its morphology depending on the territory where it is derived from the culture of the way of life of its occupants, from the climate, from the existing materials in its vicinity, from the knowledgeable construction techniques of those who build it,...

Sustainability is another of the characteristics that is implicit in its constitution, as can be verified in the thickness of the walls that await a good thermal inertia, the orientation that takes advantage of the best solar radiation projected in the layout of the noblest rooms, the collection of rainwater for domestic and agricultural use, etc. Despite all these interesting and wise values ​​that this architecture enjoys, on many occasions it has been undervalued and in some others despised. Currently, most of the population has moved to live in urban areas, with which this rural heritage is largely abandoned or in a state of advanced deterioration.

Strategic objectives

The rural world from the 1970s to the present day has undergone gigantic changes with respect to the domestic economy that had been developing throughout history, which allowed the peasants to survive without problems. The transformation that this sector has undergone has led to the need to convert these domestic economies into industrial economies in order to survive or as an alternative to implanting new uses in this architecture to continue developing an activity in it and maintain it as a living testimony of rural history and the organization of the landscape itself where it is implanted.

The objective of this line of research is to try to get as close as possible to a number of cases of this type in order to promote reflection and the settlement of an architectural problem that is not easy but at the same time very interesting and necessary for our planet. The strategic objectives are based on two main aspects,

1 - the analysis and study of the existing vernacular architecture itself and its landscape

2 – reflection on the intervention to be carried out on this heritage

The analysis and study of the existing vernacular architecture and its landscape

As a requirement of any a priori design process of reflecting on future proposals to be made, it is necessary to carry out an analysis as exhaustive as possible of the idiosyncrasy of the architecture that is going to be intervened. In the first place, it requires extensive field work to carry out surveys of the buildings, since most of them do not exist graphic documents that can channel the study of it. The tools that will accompany the development of this process will be the taking of measurements in situ, the making of sketches, the taking of photographs and all that complementary documentation that can provide more precision and broaden the knowledge of each building, either through publications such as books or articles, scrolls or any document that sheds light on it. Subsequently, it requires the ordering of all the graphic documentation obtained and the formalization of different typologies and the types as a branch of each typology to analyse the characteristics of each architectural family.

The reflection on the intervention to practice in this heritage

Technological advances have been very significant, in terms of the introduction of new construction systems, the appearance of new construction materials, logistics that did not exist in ancient times, typical of when this architecture was built, which currently allows materials to be moved over great distances without any problem. All these changes are currently present, which means the need to carry out a deep reflection on how this architecture should be treated considering these contemporary and historically non-existent parameters. This has led to the possibility of being able to live in a more comfortable way, the need to have more natural light and reduce the consumption of electrical energy, for example, the use of the sun to generate energy and many other factors in a natural and isolated context where nature presides par excellence and embellishes the architecture itself. This leads to reflect on three parameters such as permeability, sensuality and respect.

The permeability, the power to enjoy the natural landscape from the inside and to blur this line that separates the interior-exterior scenarios. The sensuality, the reflection on the use of materials, their tectonics and their chromaticism and at short distances these scenarios offer. And the respect with the existing volumes and in places and environments that are so fragile and sensitive to damage, it is necessary to be very attentive in the volumetric proportions and the articulation with the place. With this view, rural architecture can be made contemporary, acquiring added value instead of being put into a museum.

Ongoing research

The investigations carried out have been at the Spanish level and Catalonia as a beginning. Subsequently, France and Italy were studied through a European research project, which led to very broad and interesting comparative results. Subsequently, it was analysed at the European level, the continental zone, the alpine zone and the Balkan Peninsula.

Algerian vernacular architecture has recently been studied with the analysis of typologies very different from the European ones with strong features of Mediterranean architecture, which invites new reflections within the same rural architecture.

Currently, a study is being carried out in Latin America, specifically in Peru, where the type of construction is a totally different one that provokes comparisons and cross-sectional readings both at an architectural and landscape level due to the response they give to the mere place where they are built. Work is also being done to be able to carry out these studies on the Asian continent and to be able to obtain worldwide documentation and enrich the knowledge of this planetary architecture.

The results obtained from the investigations have been published in monographic format or book chapters, in article format, in exhibitions, conferences and workshops are held on it.

Link of the exhibition held in Shenzhen –China-