1. Definition
1.1. Handling down of tradition and knowledge
1.2. Amos Rapoport's Theoretical Framework
1.2.1. "Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it, you must obtain it by great labour"
1.2.1.1. VA that requires great labour to conserve worth keeping?
1.2.1.2. Tradition requires active practice
1.3. Threats
1.3.1. Socio-economic Transformation
1.3.1.1. Public Housing a type of vernacular architecture?
1.3.2. Neglectance of Value
1.3.2.1. What are the values that worth keeping if VA is a process of continuous adaptation?
1.3.3. Mass production
1.3.4. Homogenization of Culture
1.3.4.1. To what extent homogenization is a threat?
1.3.4.1.1. A threat if it rules out all other possibility
1.4. Group Identity / Community
1.4.1. Knowledge
1.4.2. Colonialism
1.4.3. Culture
1.4.3.1. Tradition
1.4.3.2. Festivals/Rituals
1.4.4. Geography
1.4.5. The Disappearing Asian City - Logan, William Stewart
1.4.5.1. The Asian-ness of Asian City
1.4.5.2. 'Asian-ness' is often thought to be disappearing
1.5. ICOMOS
1.5.1. The built vernacular heritage is a fundamental expression of a culture and of commodity
1.6. A process that continues but also constantly changing
1.7. Represent culture or identity at a particular time
1.8. Not limited to OLD architecture
1.9. Transmission of knowledge
2. Higher Level of VA
2.1. Buildings contain all three levels of VA?
2.2. Low Level
2.2.1. Privacy
2.2.2. Everyday uses of setting
2.2.2.1. Seating Arrangement
2.2.3. Accessibililty
2.2.3.1. Movement
2.2.4. Expected behavior
2.3. Middle Level
2.3.1. Wealth
2.3.2. Identity
2.3.3. Status/Power
2.4. High Level
2.4.1. Sacred
2.4.2. Cosmologies
2.4.3. Philosophies of the community
2.4.4. World View
3. Climate
3.1. Architecture responding to Climate
3.1.1. Ventilation
3.1.2. Exposure
3.1.3. Orientation
3.1.4. Modern architecture abandoning VA qualities
3.1.4.1. Government Policy and regulation
3.1.4.2. Advance in Technology
3.2. "No environmental factor plays a greater part in the development of human life than climage"
3.3. Climatic Belt of Asia
3.3.1. Monsoon
3.3.1.1. SE Asia - Vietnam/ Burma/ Thailand/ Cambodia
3.3.2. Arctic and Subartic
3.3.2.1. Syberia
3.3.3. Desert
3.3.3.1. Northern Asia ard. Gobi Desert
3.3.4. Maritime
3.3.4.1. Japan
3.3.4.1.1. Timber framed Thinly insulated external walls Paper Shoji Screens
3.3.4.1.2. Typhoon Vulnerable
3.3.5. Tropical and Equatorial
3.3.5.1. Indonesia/ Philippines/ Singapore/ Malaysia
3.3.6. The continental
3.3.6.1. Mongolia
3.3.7. Montane
3.3.7.1. Himalayan region - Tibet & central Asia
3.3.7.1.1. Limited Flat Land
3.3.7.1.2. Limited Sunlight
3.3.8. Subtropical
3.3.8.1. Coastal China - HK & Macau
3.3.8.1.1. High Annual Precipitation Humid
3.4. "Climates stimulate needs for shelter and influence local cultures, but also provide the conditions of local building materials." - Paul Oliver
3.5. Amos Rapoport
4. Material, Construction and Vernacular
4.1. Material
4.1.1. Natural
4.1.1.1. Animal
4.1.1.1.1. Cow Dung
4.1.1.2. Stone
4.1.1.3. Clay
4.1.1.4. Wood
4.1.1.5. Grass
4.1.2. Manufactured
4.1.2.1. Iron Tin Sheet
4.1.2.2. Clay
4.1.2.3. Lime Mortar
4.1.2.4. Glass
4.2. Construction Rituals
4.2.1. Cutting of Trees offering ceremony (LAOS)
4.2.2. Roast Pig Offering (HK)
4.2.3. Buffalo Horn (Indonesia)
4.2.4. Ancestral Altars (China/Japan)
4.2.5. Fung Shui Practice
4.3. Incorporation of new manufactured material in Vernacular Architecture
4.3.1. Ability to adapt to changes in order to meet new needs of people
4.4. Material do determine the form/type of dwellings
4.5. To what extent "Repairing ancient architecture by modern material" is acceptable
4.5.1. Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto
4.5.1.1. Museum - provoking thought - make use of event in the past - to decide for the future
4.5.2. Determine by function and program of the building
4.6. Should research of secret skills and knowledge that were only passed down orally be publicized?
4.7. Spiritual Aspect of a space
4.7.1. Fung Shui (Location and Orientation)
4.7.2. Village settlement (assemblage of building, ancestral hall)
4.7.3. Use of body dimension
4.7.3.1. Congruent to cosmos
4.8. The dimensioning of the building is considered the most sacred aspect in keeping in touch with the cosmic realm. One cannot understand the cultural aspect of the building without understanding the dimensioning of the building. They are inextricably linked?
4.8.1. Dimension of building has been standardized through advancement of technology - less about culture
4.8.2. Experiencing a space vs Understanding a space
4.8.2.1. a master builder must understand the set of rules in order to create
4.8.3. No; not all the dimensioning and positioning would directly influence how the inhabitant use the space.
5. Vernacular Landscape
5.1. Natural Landscape
5.1.1. In reality it is hard to find a place on earth that is not affected by human
5.2. Cultural Landscape
5.2.1. Man-made Landscape
5.2.1.1. Landscape can be designed and created from scratch, and can grow old and fall into decay - B Jackson (UC Berkeley Professor)
5.2.2. By Common People
5.2.3. Examples
5.2.3.1. Royal Parks
5.2.3.2. Open Market
5.2.3.3. Terraced Rice Field
5.2.3.4. Fish Ponds
5.2.4. Human activity have influenced or affected the land. Human organisation of natural elements
5.2.5. Organic / Self-conscious process
5.3. "Represent multiple layers of time and cultural activity" -Professor Melnick
5.4. Directly link the past, present and future together - to give meaning to our existence
5.5. Sense of Place
5.5.1. Beyond functional purpose
5.5.2. Can we keep the traditional environment, at the same time, allow the city to grow?
5.5.3. Genius Loci
5.6. Based on Tradition and customs
5.7. Mostly built by the ordinary (indigenous)
5.7.1. Need not professional designers
5.8. Colonial Landscape
5.8.1. Kowloon Tong
5.8.1.1. Testing ground for Garden City
5.8.1.2. Poses certain identity
5.8.2. As vernacular landscape gives us a sense of identity, colonial landscape should be seen as vernacular?
5.9. Since Vernacular landscape is created by people based on tradition and customs, it requires active use of space in order to embed meaning to the landscape. If the occupant of the space has left, the space should not be seen as vernacular?
5.10. A vernacular landscape represent multiple layers of time and cultural activity. Therefore, even the function of a space has changed, it is still considered as a vernacular landscape?
6. Rural Vernacular
6.1. 1. Consist of isolated/ clusters of houses forming communities/ village
6.2. 2. Rural Social, economic and cultural system as foundation
6.3. 3. How the vernacular environment is connected with the spiritual and cosmic realms
6.4. 4. Not necessarily 'unselfconscious'
6.4.1. People in rural settings build their environment largely following traditional ways adopted by previous generations
6.5. A village/ settlement in an organised structure with a good cultural landscape setting
6.5.1. Village
6.5.1.1. not just an assemblage of houses but a microcosm of a society
6.5.1.2. symbolic representation of their social status, wealth and power
6.5.2. Settlement
6.5.2.1. A place where people establish a community
6.5.2.2. Formulate their own value
6.5.2.3. Represent tradition and culture
6.5.3. Setting
6.5.3.1. A place where something is embedded (a group of nomadic)
6.5.3.2. Is an integral part of the cultural elements in the rural landscape
6.5.4. Defence and Economic production
6.5.4.1. Forms of Production
6.5.4.2. Diaolou
6.5.4.2.1. Protect wealth and safety
7. Urban Vernacular
7.1. High concentration of population and catered to all kinds of modern convenience
7.1.1. Economic opportunity
7.1.2. Culture (Creative production)
7.1.2.1. Concentration of their own clansmen or their own village people
7.1.2.1.1. Indian Town
7.1.2.1.2. China Town
7.1.2.1.3. Muslim Quarter
7.1.3. Different ethnicity, religion and culture origins
7.2. Flexibility of Building
7.2.1. Incorporated religions and commerence
7.2.2. Incorporated dwellings and sales
7.2.3. Incorporated habitation and production
7.2.4. The variety of vernacular building one sees in city comes largely out of the multiplicity of purpose serving the daily lives of the ordinary people
7.2.5. Example: Street Occupation
7.2.5.1. Dividing line between indoor and outdoor / public and private is hazy
7.3. Arrangement of City
7.3.1. Microcosm of the Cosmos
7.3.2. Not necessarily financed by the people who use them but developers
7.3.2.1. Identical buildings
7.3.2.2. Even though buildings not built with the hands of people who use them, and even though they use materials that have been processed and manufactured, they are still vernacular buildings
7.3.3. Hierarchy of Power
7.3.4. Represent the most likely buildings to be built in a particular place at a particular time
7.3.4.1. Advancement in Technology
7.3.4.1.1. Skyscrapers
7.3.4.1.2. Shophouse threatened
8. Informal Settlement and the Vernacular
8.1. Definition
8.1.1. Result of urbanization - natural process of migration to cities - illegal and often thretened
8.1.1.1. Slums
8.1.1.2. Squatter area
8.1.2. Ingenuity
8.1.2.1. Similar house form using similar material
8.1.3. Fear to be thrown off
8.1.4. Built with commonly understood pattern and material
8.1.5. Complex culture of material supply and expertise
8.2. Location
8.2.1. Occupy tracts of land on the outskirt of cities
8.2.2. Un-used land not been built on by developers - area that is hard to buiild
8.2.3. Lack of infrastructure
8.2.4. Rectilinear grids
8.2.4.1. Ho Chi Minh City - Vietname
8.2.5. Irregular and organic configuration
8.3. Condition
8.3.1. Crowd and difficult
8.3.2. Lack of infrastructure
8.3.3. vulnerable to disease
8.3.3.1. Too compact - easy spread of disease
8.3.4. Vulnerable to natural disaster
8.3.4.1. Fire
8.3.4.2. Flooding
8.4. Benefits
8.4.1. The environment of the informal settlement provides an ideal home for this economy, it is flexible, buildings can be easily combined
8.4.2. High cultural value
8.5. Argue the pros and cons of the role of government to coming to grips to with giving such provisions to the under-privileged class?
8.5.1. Worth to preserve?
8.5.2. What kind of balancing approach do you think the government could take to preserve the informal settlement with high cultural value
8.5.2.1. Approach 1 - Active maintaining the site
8.5.2.1.1. A: Giving a comprehensive set of service and facilities - welfare and infrastrucuture
8.5.2.1.2. B: Relocating People
8.5.2.1.3. Pros
8.5.2.1.4. Cons
8.5.2.2. Approach 2 - Passive management
8.5.2.2.1. Giving subsidy to a third party instead of giving full recognition to the place. Policies related to informal settlements
8.5.2.3. Approach 3 - Disregard
8.6. Relocation
8.6.1. Lack of livelihood prospect
8.7. Do you believe urbanization transforms informal settlements into formal settlements or the other way around? What leads you to believe this?
8.7.1. Urbanization transforms formal settlement to informal settlements. Urbanization drives people from rural settlement to city. However as there's limited space in urban area, people are forced to settle on the outskirt of cities, un-used land not yet been built on by developers.
9. Architectural conservation of the Built Vernacular Heritage
9.1. Threats
9.1.1. Degradation of envrionment
9.1.2. Urbanization
9.1.3. Uncontrolled population growth
9.1.4. Natural diaster
9.1.5. High land Pressure
9.1.6. Homogenisation of culture
9.2. Architectural conservation
9.2.1. Retaining
9.2.1.1. Economic life
9.2.1.2. Cultural significance
9.3. Preservation vs Conservation
9.3.1. Preservation
9.3.1.1. Frozen in time
9.3.2. Conservation
9.3.2.1. Creative
9.3.2.2. Forward looking activity
9.3.2.3. Related to the surrounding context
9.4. Values
9.4.1. Historical Value
9.4.1.1. What the site has to tell us about the course of human history
9.4.2. Aesthetic/architectual Value
9.4.2.1. The intellectual or emotional impact of a place, demonstrate with a particular design, style, artistic development or high level of craftmanship
9.4.3. Social/identity Value
9.4.3.1. Spiritual, political, national and cultural
9.5. Famous UNESCO World Heritage Site
9.5.1. Taj Mahal, India
9.5.2. Angkor, Cambodia
9.5.3. Rohtas Fort, Pakistan
9.5.4. Kathmandu, Napel
9.5.5. Patan, Napel
9.5.6. Sumatra, Indonesia
9.6. Public realm
9.6.1. Is it more difficult to destroy buildings in the public realm where as vernacular buildings are more or less in the private ownership
9.7. Gentrification
9.7.1. A process of renovation and revival of deteriorated urban neighbourhoods by means of influx of more affluent residents
9.7.1.1. Result
9.7.1.1.1. Rise in property price
9.7.1.1.2. Displacing lower income family and small business
10. The Future of Asia's Vernacular Architecture
10.1. What is Asian tradition?
10.2. How is Asian vernacular architecture able to survive in the modern world?
10.3. "We must understand our past well enough to know why and how it must be changed" - Charles Correa
10.4. Tradition vs Modernity
10.4.1. Tradition: Never stay the same
10.4.1.1. Capture the essence
10.4.2. Modernity: Utilize the past to serve the present
10.5. Maintaining Cultural Root
10.5.1. How to upgrade an existing strucutre
10.5.1.1. people may actually choose to stay