I've traveled to so many of these places and all these concepts were never clear, or even put forward at all. And if we don't understand how urban landscapes came to be, how can we understand where they're going? I hope it helps students, but this is for all of us!
Bless you, Tomas! A subscription here is worth an education indeed.
Also, this made me curious why native architecture has been abandoned for un-imaginative concrete boxes especially in third world rural and semi urban areas of India
I remember wondering why Kerala traditional houses were being torn down and replaced with characterless almost Soviet style quasi bungalows but this is very common anywhere on the western coast of India
Thank you, Tomas; illuminating as always. When you say we bring it home post-Asia, could you tie in the philosophical/social/economic?/geological/etc. underpinnings of Christian church building, in the same way you've been describing Egyptian and Greek architecture, first-principled? And given that Christian Europe is a broader realm, how might this differ across places?
Thank you for writing this. I have been recently thinking quite a bit about traditional architectural philosophy of India. Given, the sheer variety in geography it would be egregious to treat the whole country as a monolith.
My first thought was older homes were built with heat reduction as their central tenet. Courtyards, lattice work, protruding windows, thickness of the walls. Even, what would be called a peasant home had mud walls, thatched or straw for roof. They were incredibly cool.
I loved you idea about water conservation simply because it had never crossed my mind. I come from an area of the country that gets more than fair share of rain (it's raining right now).
the international style is the first architecture without a geology. before cheap transport, every aesthetic choice was a material constraint in disguise. the "loss of tradition" people mourn is really the cost of escaping material determinism.
But, but, the first photo is obviously the Mies buildings on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago (sorry, I know what you're trying to say, but you can't stop me from talking about Chicago).
I’m looking for the name and author of a book I used to have on my to buy list. It’s about the history of American Log Cabins, it discusses how Log Cabins are from Swedish traditional building techniques but that there were very few early Swedish colonists, the building style went viral due to the availability of trees. (British traditional buildings were wattle and daub construction.). It seemed related to your post and I hope someone knows the title and author?
I'm fairly sure there are first year architecture students who'd benefit from this material
I've traveled to so many of these places and all these concepts were never clear, or even put forward at all. And if we don't understand how urban landscapes came to be, how can we understand where they're going? I hope it helps students, but this is for all of us!
Bless you, Tomas! A subscription here is worth an education indeed.
Also, this made me curious why native architecture has been abandoned for un-imaginative concrete boxes especially in third world rural and semi urban areas of India
Which examples specifically?
Awesome that you're curious.
I remember wondering why Kerala traditional houses were being torn down and replaced with characterless almost Soviet style quasi bungalows but this is very common anywhere on the western coast of India
Thank you, Tomas; illuminating as always. When you say we bring it home post-Asia, could you tie in the philosophical/social/economic?/geological/etc. underpinnings of Christian church building, in the same way you've been describing Egyptian and Greek architecture, first-principled? And given that Christian Europe is a broader realm, how might this differ across places?
That is the 4th article in the series! I just finished it yesterday and it’s super fun I think. 3 is Roman technology, and 5 is Renaissance!
Ah, glad to hear that, it can all be so smooth if interests and lens align
Thank you for writing this. I have been recently thinking quite a bit about traditional architectural philosophy of India. Given, the sheer variety in geography it would be egregious to treat the whole country as a monolith.
My first thought was older homes were built with heat reduction as their central tenet. Courtyards, lattice work, protruding windows, thickness of the walls. Even, what would be called a peasant home had mud walls, thatched or straw for roof. They were incredibly cool.
I loved you idea about water conservation simply because it had never crossed my mind. I come from an area of the country that gets more than fair share of rain (it's raining right now).
Here!
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/how-geography-determines-architecture-b9f
Merci je me suis régalée!
Thank you for writing this article!
Your writing greatly helps me understand this planet and its history-well done and glad to be a sponsor.
Thank you Richard!
the international style is the first architecture without a geology. before cheap transport, every aesthetic choice was a material constraint in disguise. the "loss of tradition" people mourn is really the cost of escaping material determinism.
Yes not the first (Bauhaus etc) but def the most common today!
But, but, the first photo is obviously the Mies buildings on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago (sorry, I know what you're trying to say, but you can't stop me from talking about Chicago).
I hope you read the article on Chicago!
Yes I have!
Amazingly, I was asked for directions to 910 N. Lake Shore Drive (the rightmost one in the photo), just now.
I’m looking for the name and author of a book I used to have on my to buy list. It’s about the history of American Log Cabins, it discusses how Log Cabins are from Swedish traditional building techniques but that there were very few early Swedish colonists, the building style went viral due to the availability of trees. (British traditional buildings were wattle and daub construction.). It seemed related to your post and I hope someone knows the title and author?
Interesting
This one?
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/5231276-the-log-cabin-in-america
but Africa borrowed ideas and mixed them together
we got flats and also bungalows also Russian typa stuff
Stone v Clay. Did what they could back then
Geometry is the quiet logic behind every beautiful building — it shapes balance, rhythm, and flow.
nice blog