Tag Archives: vernacular architecture

Architecture Du Jour

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Bibury, England. Click on the image to enlarge.

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Architecture Du Jour

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Microsoft’s Bing may be the redheaded stepchild of search engines, but each day they feature a new desktop wallpaper that you can download. Some of them look like stills from Architecture Without Architects, which I wrote about here.

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Who Needs Architects?

Blowhard, Esq. writes: A few weeks ago, inspired by the book Buildings Without Architects, I put together a number posts about vernacular architecture. That book was no doubt inspired by another, Bernard Rudofsky’s Architecture Without Architects. Have any of you read it? I … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The Hallenhaus House Barn

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Once found in a wide arc right across the eastern Netherlands and northern Germany, the Hallenhaus is a form of wood-frame house barn that contained, under one roof, living quarters, stables, and crop store. It was in the … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The Shaker Style

Blowhard, Esq. writes: The basic standards that defined both the buildings and their interiors were simplicity and utility. The Shakers frowned on any kind of decoration, and they favored pure, clean forms that were highly functional and economic to make. The … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The Wooden Churches of Chiloe

Blowhard, Esq. writes: The remote, heavily forested Isla de Chiloe [in Chile]…is home to a remarkable set of wood churches, sixteen of which have been recognized by UNESCO World Heritage as “outstanding examples of the successful fusion of European and indigenous … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The New Mexico Adobe House

Blowhard, Esq. writes: The history of adobe building in New Mexico has its roots in a period (AD 700-1500) when the Anasazi peoples, who had previously been living in semi underground pit houses, began building single-story houses on the ground, using … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The Caribbean Chattel House

Blowhard, Esq. writes: The chattel houses of Barbados and other parts of the British West Indies date back to the nineteenth century, and are possibly the world’s first mobile homes. The word “chattel” means “moveable property” and derives from “cattle” — … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The Fujian Tulou

Blowhard, Esq. writes: The mountainous areas of western Fujian province in southwest China are home to a unique form of rammed-earth building known as tulou — large defensive structures designed to contain and protect one family clan… …These enclosed fort like … Continue reading

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Architecture Du Jour: The Wooden Churches of Eastern and Central Europe

Blowhard, Esq. writes: The wood churches of Eastern and Central Europe are found across a vast region encompassing northern Russia and Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, and the Balkans…Three distinctive forms of wood church, found in the Ukraine and adjacent areas … Continue reading

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