Linguistic contamination: an epistemological tool for interrogating vernacular tradition and contemporary architecture

In 1919 in an essay entitled Tradition and the Individual Talent T. S. Eliot stated that a poet “is not likely to know what is to be done unless he lives in what is not merely the present, but the present moment of the past, unless he is conscious, not of what is dead, but of what is already living”. The paper will investigate the idea of tradition intended as 'matière vivante', as an operative tool used in architectural practice. A tradition, whose epistemology can be achieved through the analysis of what I call linguistic contamination. It is through this analogous action, made by one element over another on a morphological or semantic level, that tradition "moves" regenerating its forms and meanings. This approach allow to liberate the classical concept of tradition from its historical, time-bounded limits and to consider it in a new dynamic way. Tradition can be recognised in the survival of "architectural constants" ferried from the past to the present, sometimes remodelled and sometimes deformed under the flux of progress and change. The epistemic exercise will focus on the identification of the different kinds of contaminations which have occurred between vernacular architecture and modern architecture. The way in which a lexicon of the past has been used in a language whose syntax is yet new, will be investigated through some case studies from modern and contemporary times.

Contaminazioni linguistiche

Paola Tosolini

In contemporary debates about sustainable development, vernacular architecture plays an important role. Presenting itself as a dictionary of man’s constructive logic, it declares with no uncertainty its own usefulness, its connection to the soil, to the climate, the economy and technology. The capacity to incorporate change, to absorb the passing of time without losing the architectonical idea on which it lies, has made its forms intelligible and its language comprehensible to everybody. These qualities, together with the wide variety of forms that are found available within it, make vernacular architecture a reserve from which one can draw in order to stimulate creative thought upon a project. Despite vernacular architecture having been partially revalued, the role that it has played in the debate around ‘modernity’ and its contribution to the birth and development of modern architecture have been scarcely analysed and very much undervalued by both critics and historians. This thesis demonstrates the importance of the contribution made by vernacular architecture, investigating the architectural practice of some of the most renowned protagonists of architecture in the 20th century, among whom Mackintosh, Hoffmann, Loos, Le Corbusier, Sert, Aalto, Figini, Ponti, Rudofsky, Stirling, Abraham, the Smithsons, Venturi and Scott Brown. Furthermore, this thesis shows how some linguistic contaminations have been produced in the work of architects through their encounter with vernacular architecture during travels in native lands and abroad, and through the resulting theoretical reflections which have been documented in a large quantity of written material. For linguistic contamination I mean the analogous action undertaken by an element over another, on a morphological or semantic level. These actions are the result of a process that starts with the act of seeing, of observing and which matures in the thought put down on paper. For this reason I have decided to structure my thesis around the activities peculiar to architectural practice – seeing, thinking, projecting – to which the three sections of this thesis – travels, writings, projects – refer to. The first part demonstrates the importance of travel as a means to discover and gain direct knowledge of vernacular architecture and its legacy. For legacy I mean that baggage of impressions, sketches and photographs used by architects for reference in their future intellectual work. The second part highlights the existence of a large quantity of written material (articles, essays, books, conference papers) that witnesses the real and steady interest of modern ‘orthodox’ architects towards vernacular architecture. This section also considers the way in which some theoretical parameters of ‘modernity’ have been defined according to the observations contained in the written material. Finally, the third part shows the presence, in modern projects and works, of elements, structures, materials, and spatial and morphological devises that can be traced back to vernacular architecture, and that allow me to support the hypothesis of contaminations of vernacular architectural language on modern architectural language.

EPFL2009

Vernacular Landscape: memory of a present continuous

Paola Tosolini

In 1984, in his Discovering the Vernacular Landscape, John Brinckerhoff Jackson stated that it is through the study of the vernacular that we could finally arrive to give a complete definition of the landscape and of its beauty because it expresses the idea of a place where man creates his own human organization of space and time, where the slow processes of growth, maturity and decline are deliberately put in brackets and history takes their place. The concept of landscape implies at first a ‘design’ dimension. It is the result of a conscious action made by man for man. It is, quoting Pierre Deffontaines, the “oeuvre paysagique de l’homme”. Vernacular landscape is the place where the relationship between man and environment has been better expressed for what it is the immediate correspondence between structures and human needs, between art of building and local culture. It presents itself as a dictionary of man’s constructive logic, declaring without ambiguity its utility, its links to earth, climate and technique. Its capacity of including changes, of absorbing the passing of time without losing the architectural idea on which it lays has made its forms intelligible, its language accessible to everybody. The cultural dimension of vernacular landscape is far from being only related to the past and to “architecture without architects”. Traces of it could be found throughout the 20th century in some of the most important works of modernity. A large number of Masters travels sketches displays anonymous rural buildings, countryside and coastal landscapes. Their critical writings reveal the changing of these ‘recorded’ images into an ‘operative tool’. Their works are evidence of the ways through which memory has finally become a living present, a source of timeless modernity. The paper will suggest the idea of a vernacular cultural landscape intended as a memory of a present continuous. It will do so by analysing the layers which have been superposed on it by the changing of time and space. It will show, for instance, how the interlocking stone volumes of Scottish rural architecture, the typical chimney of the Swiss Jura farms, the Finnish tupa, the Spanish porxet, the rustic column of Capri’s peasants houses, the Mediterranean patio, the brick walls of north Italian barns and other architectural and spatial elements are to be found in modern architecture, tracing a map of memory and change through the flux of tradition and its absorption.

Ministero de Fomento CEDEX-CEHOPU, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid2007

Timberfabric: Applying Textile Principles on a Building Scale

Markus Hudert, Yves Weinand

Practical and material orientated academic research has become increasingly important for architectural practice, due to several factors. First, it contributes to contemporary concepts in architecture and improves their implementation. Today’s architects are looking for a deeper understanding of technical and technological questions related to architecture: technology, construction methods and structural considerations are no longer seen as merely bothersome necessities, as was often the case in the past. The importance of such aspects and the potential of including them as active stimuli in the architectural design process are largely recognised. It is the limitations in time and capacities that more often than not confound the realisation of such ambitions. Academic research can fill this gap and provide architectural practices with the necessary resources. Second, research has a duty to address one of the biggest architectural challenges of our time, namely how to achieve sustainable building. Society’s burgeoning awareness of the urgent need to use renewable materials for building construction is an undeniable reality and has become an important parameter for architectural production. As a result, timber constructions experience a new popularity and the importance of research on timber has increased. The potential of this field becomes evident with some of its latest developments and innovations. Cross- laminated timber panels open up new dimensions for massive timber construction and prefabrication in context with the digital chain. Technologies such as wood welding and the densification of wood create new possibilities not only for architecture but also for furniture and product design. Timber as a building material is therefore capable of satisfying both the demands of contemporary architecture as well as the requirements of sustainable building.

Wiley-Blackwell2010

Contaminazioni linguistiche

Paola Tosolini

EPFL2009

Vernacular Landscape: memory of a present continuous

Paola Tosolini

Ministero de Fomento CEDEX-CEHOPU, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid2007