Dwellings: The Vernacular House Worldwide

Description

The architecture of the people represents in excess of 90 per cent of the world's buildings, including some 800 million dwellings. This text responds to a worldwide growth of interest in the subject of vernacular architecture; a term widely applied to forms of traditional building that are self-built by their owner-occupiers or built by members of a community who share cultural values and norms. It is not architecture designed and built for the people by professionals, or in the interests of an elite, so it is not formally designed architecture, nor is it "popular" or suburban architecture. This edition of "Dwellings" takes into account scholarship in the field, including the author's own fieldwork, and also acknowledges theoretical developments since the mid-80s, when the book was first published, in the areas of cultural geography, gender studies, sociology and anthropology. This should be an invaluable document for architects and students. Whether or not they are involved in historical research, the field of vernacular architecture, and regardless of their own architectural "style", "Dwellings" should be a fascinating reference on domestic buildings by indigenous groups that still exist and thrive in the world today. It is also a useful survey for understanding how different communities cope with issues that affect everyone who builds, such as climate, migration, symbolic/cultural meaning in architecture. In this respect it should be an ideal teaching aid for architecture, urban planning, anthropology and social science courses. Thematic chapters give a comprehensive and comparative overview of such issues. Each narrative chapter is integrated with drawings and photographs, including many by the author from his research field trips over many years. It builds into an informative document of the ways in which houses are constructed, decorated and inhabited around the world.

Paul Oliver has written numerous books on architecture, notably Shelter and Society, Dunroamin: The Suburban Semi and its Enemies and he edited the two-volume Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World.

To have steered a clear path through so many types of architecture, without flagging and without repetition, is a remarkable achievement, and the many photographs in this book are mostly of the highest quality, and superbly reproduced...an attractive, valuable and provocative book.' (Architectural Review) 'Don't miss Dwellings...beautiful.' (Herald Sun, Australia) 'Fascinating, informative and wonderfully illustrated book...a thought-provoking and humbling look at how other cultures live and survive.' (The Advocate, Australia)