2
Environmental & Culturally Specific Design
Architecture must be responsive to local traditions, existing conditions, and the environment.1
The International Style failed to recognise the complexity of the worlds varying climates and cultures, instead becoming a vehicle for globalisation of European and more extensively American ideals.2 With the benefit of hindsight, we now know a universal approach to architecture cannot provide satisfactory solutions, as an application of slick smooth designs and overwhelming materiality not only disregards location specificity, but abuses phenomenology to disguise and drive economic agendas.3
Instead, architecture should be defined by its location.
A participatory approach will allow for better programming of cultural and social needs, while the incorporation of traditional craft and construction techniques can improve the material response and tectonic expression.
The combination of vernacular technologies, local materials and high-tech solutions can provide environmental standards that far outweigh the corporate glass box.4
Francis Kéré’s Gando Primary School embraced the constraints of climate, materiality and budget to create architecture that expresses the local way of life.5 Using clay from the local soil, the community crafted bricks that became the main material for the building and informed the expression of the domed roof.6 They not only reduced material and labour costs, but created cooler interior spaces, alleviating the need for expensive air conditioning.7
Environmentally conscious buildings not only benefit the planet, they provide comfortable spaces that are not extortionate to operate.
Additionally, culturally specific design fosters a strong sense of connection to place and occupant, increasing a buildings chance of success.
[1] Jencks, & Kropf, Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture, 97.
[2] Ibid., 97.
[3] Spencer, The Architecture of Neoliberalism, 1-10.
[4] Julia Watson. “Conclusion: Constructing a New Mythology”. In Lo―TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism. (TASCHEN, 2020), 399.
[5] Francis D. Kéré, “School in Gando, Burkina Faso,” Architectural Design, 82: 66-71, 2012. doi:10.1002/ad.1496
[6] Ibid., 68-69.
[7] Ibid., 69.