Design and the Vernacular: Interpretations for Contemporary Architectural Practice and Theory

Marcel Vellinga

ISBN 10: 1350294314 / ISBN 13: 9781350294318

Published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2025

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 9781350294318

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Design and the Vernacular: Interpretations for Contemporary Architectural Practice and Theory
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350294314
• ISBN 13: 9781350294318
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

How have Indigenous building traditions shaped modern building practices?

What can the study of vernacular architecture contribute to debates about sustainable development?

How has vernacular architecture been used to argue for postcolonial modernisation – and what has been the effect on heritage and conservation?

Design and the Vernacular explores how the vernacular architecture of Australasia and Oceania intersects with modernity and globalization – challenging assumptions about vernacular architecture being anachronistic and static, and instead demonstrating how it can shape contemporary architecture, nation building and cultural identities.

Sixteen chapters by architects, designers, and theorists, including Indigenous writers, explore different facets of vernacular architecture amid the context of rapid political, economic, technological, social and environmental changes. The result offers valuable lessons and case studies for architects across the globe, and for anyone interested in how the vernacular can inform contemporary urban planning and architectural design.

About the Authors

Paul Memmott is an anthropologist and architect and for some decades has been the Director of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre (AERC) at the University of Queensland (School of Architecture and Institute for Social Science Research).

John Ting is an Australian architect, researcher and educator. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Canberra, and he has previously taught at the University of Melbourne and at RMIT University.

Tim O'Rourke is Health Safety and Wellness Chair and Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Marcel Vellinga is Professor of Anthropology of Architecture and Director of the Place, Culture, and Identity research group in the School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, UK.