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• Tasnia Tabassum

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Vernacular Architecture The purest definition of vernacular architecture is simple…it is architecture without architects. It is the pure response to a person’s or society’s building needs. Vernacular architecture is characterised by its reliance on needs, construction materials and traditions specific to its particular locality. It is a type of architecture which is indigenous to a specific time and place and not replicated from elsewhere. Historically, vernacular architecture has incorporated the skills and expertise of local builders as opposed to formallytrained architects. One of the most important things that we can learn by looking at Vernacular architecture is the seemingly simple methods which we can create a building that is perfectly adopted to the building’s users and the building’s locale.

Climate and Culture

One of the most significant influences on vernacular architecture is the macro climate of the area in which the building is constructed. The way of life of building occupants, and the way they use their shelters, is of great influence on building forms. The size of family units, who shares which spaces, how food is prepared and eaten, how people interact, and many other cultural considerations will affect the layout and size of dwellings.

Environment, construction elements and materials The local environment and the construction materials it can provide, govern many aspects of vernacular architecture. Areas rich in trees will develop a wooden vernacular, while areas without much wood may use mud or stone. Vernacular, almost by definition, is sustainable, and will not exhaust the local resources. If it is not sustainable, it is not suitable for its local context, and cannot be vernacular.

Vernacular architecture in Bangladesh Indigenous architecture in rural Bangladesh was largely built without formally trained professionals. Buildings were built by local construction workers, typically consisting of mistris (carpenters, roof builders), rajmistris (masons) and kamlas (helpers), together with household or community members. Construction skills were learnt through experience. Inter-generational transmission and design decisions were communicated verbally. Despite not being the designed product of a professional architect, such buildings continued to accommodate and serve the needs of the great majority of the population. In that sense and being such a significant part of the built environment, such buildings represented a fundamental form of architecture that had evolved according to context-specific characteristics and resources. There is an overall hierarchical pattern within rural settlements in Bangladesh. Settlement' Most rural settlements in Bangladesh can be characterised as 'natural', in contrast to 'planned' settlements; This implies that in most cases settlements have evolved here largely according to

possibilities offered and constraints imposed by regional topography, climate, natural features, and availability of local resources. This predominantly deltaic land has changed in shape and character over time.

Houses in Chittagong hill tracts

Rural homestead from plain land area

Bamboo house with a thatched roof with curved ridge House built of mud. Bamboo is the most widely used natural building material. Most indigenous architecture in the plainlands and hilly areas employ bamboo as one of the primary building materials.

Despite Bangladesh's generally wet climate, annual floods, high rainfall and humidity, there are earth buildings in areas with relatively drier micro-climatic conditions and a higher elevation than the floodplains. Earth is utilised for making walls. Remarkable two-story earth buildings can be seen in many places. The use of corrugated iron (CI) sheets and other manufactured materials is not entirely new but is a phenomenon that has gained prominence in the past few decades, hand in hand with the diminishing supply of natural building materials. This adoption of non-traditional materials has caused the face of indigenous architecture to change, in tandem with wider changes in the rural context. It may now not be possible to experience indigenous architecture in an idyllic form. Nonetheless, some traditional qualities reflected in homestead layout, house form, and space arrangements continue to endure.

Sources: http://iaste.berkeley.edu/pdfs/05.2f-Spr94UlHaq-sml.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernacular_architecture, http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Architecture,_Rural https://www.britannica.com/technology/vernacular-architecture