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Introduction
As decades, styles and
laws continue to pass our per-
ception of what a perfect form
in architecture constitutes per-
sistently varies. There are threemain eras when we seemed to
think perfection was within our
grasp: the vernacular, classical
architecture and the modernist
style. The transition from one
to the next can be seen to have
both circumstance and require-
ment in common but the results
of these circumstances and re-
quirements yield three of the
most vastly differing styles in
the history of architectural de-sign. Just as each comes within
scope of what may be described
as perfection, the next comes
along putting new, opposing
laws in place. The natural, free-
owing vernacular style gives
way to the highly controlled,
ordered and ornamental style of
the classical era which, in turn,
gives way to the simplistic, min-
imalistic style of the modernist
age. Each could be describedas being globular in magni-
tude. These are the three styles
that reached every corner of
the globe and leave evidence of
their presence that stand to this
day. We began with the vernac-
ular style that embodied perfec-
tion in its naturalistic harmony
with the earth. It was not about
aesthetics but focused on need:
the need for shelter; protection;warmth; shade. This was then
overcome by the classical that
showed perfection in its intri-
cate proportioning and calcula-
tion. In terms of geometry, ratio
and mathematics, classicism is
the closest thing to perfection
we have seen. The next big style
to envelope the globe was the
modernist style, contrasting
with the classical in its simplistic
nature with a focus on technolo-gies rather than ornamentation.
The geometric shapes remain
but now have no meaning oth-
er than aesthetical. As we near
the exhaustion of the modern-
ist style we have to ask, is there
a further level of perfection to
yet be reached or are these the
closest we will ever achieve?
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The Vernacular
The traditional ideal of
the vernacular style refers to
the literature of local place andlanguage and the architecture of
local materials and methods. It
sprung from the rich and varied
history of diverse settlements
around the world as a purely na-
tive reaction to the situation andconditions of the people. It was a
means of recording events, leg-
ends and stories, of battling and
overcoming regional weather
conditions and of preserving a
native way of life. A truly ver-
nacular piece of work gives the
outsider a glimpse of life within
this other world in a way thatwould not be had through any
other medium. It provides theexperience of witnessing gen-
erations of learning, modi ca-
tion and improvement and tells
a story of the growth of an entirecommunity. With travel beyond
your country border unheard of
in most cases in the vernacular
The Irish vernacular thatched cottage
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era, outside in uences did not
manipulate the style and so the
globe was littered with unique,
almost incestual, inward-look-
ing cultures that were set in their
ways and reluctant to change.
Was this un-tainted feat one that
merited the title of perfection or
was it merely the beginning of
something that had yet to fuseand link with the surrounding
world to be deemed successful?
The argument is strong for both
sides. It cannot be considered a
perfect form if it only relates to
a small number of people as per-
fection is a universal quality, but
it also becomes contaminated
when allowed to mingle with
alternate, con icting methods.
A perfect form in anymedium is considered to be
something whole, something
complete. It is undeniably true
to itself and its intentions. It is
something which is seen as be-
ing universally beautiful. This
being the case, the traditional
vernacular does not t with-
in these criteria. It relates to a
speci c culture with speci c
requirements and an internal
ideal of beauty. The trespasser
within this culture, without the
background of its history and
people, may not understand
or accept the words and forms
put before him. Although to the
trained eye the beauty may be
clear this does not yield a pure
vision as preconceptions havebeen formed through knowl-
edge of the culture. The purest
experience can only be had by
the untutored eye that embarks
on a journey of discovery as it
explores the realms of a new
world. If this eye fails to under-
stand what is put before it, it has
not succeeded perfection. To be
considered perfect it must be
comprehensible and unambigu-
ous which relies on a link witha global language and under-
standing. Does tting into these
criteria compromise the de ni-
tion of vernacular or does it vali-
date it? Can the vernacular sur-
vive if it is contained within tiny
pockets of society but on the
other hand can it exist at all if it
relates to the global population?
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The term vernacular acts
as a blanket term under which
every individual native style of
every country around the world
is covered. These styles, though
categorized beneath the same
title bare no relation to each oth-
er. They range from the thatched
cottage to the mud hut, possibly
the two most prominent im-ages associated with the term
vernacular as we look back on
it today. The vernacular of each
individual country grew from
the basic human requirement
of shelter against the elements.
Using what materials could be
found, and taking into account
the regional weather conditions,
styles began to emerge. Where
the sun scorched the earth they
designed for shade, wherestorms and downpours of rain
were frequent a waterproof cov-
er was essential and where the
winters brought a deadly cold
insulation and warmth were
top priority. The best materials
around were found to suit each
requirement and were manipu-
lated over time to reach their full
potential. Beginning with the
very basic and bare minimum
the designs developed and be-
came more sophisticated with
time but all the while remained
focused on the initial necessity.
The African mud hut is
the best example of a "perfect"
form. As a vernacular style,
mud huts can be subdividedonce more into north, south,
east and west based on region-
ally found materials. One nds
structures in thatch, stick/
wood, adobe, mud, mud brick,
rammed earth and stone with a
preference for material based on
district: North Africa uses stone
and rammed earth, west Africa
uses mud/adobe, central Africa
uses thatch/wood and more
perishable materials whilst eastAfrica uses a mix of each ma-
terial. Many may believe that
Africa boasts no architectural
conquests south of the Egyptian
pyramids but these mud huts
are most de nitely not as acci-
dental nor as simplistic as they
may seem. These huts alone al-
low an insight into an entire way
of life and experience of a world
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along the equator also means
that Africa gets equal amounts
of sunlight and darkness each
day and there is no prolonged
winter period. As such, most
of life in Africa is lived outsidewith shelter needed only from
the cold at night and from wild
animals. There has never been a
vastly different to our own. The
African climate remains warm
throughout the year with the
most uncomfortable climatic
period being the long rains
which are quick and volumi-nous periods of precipitation,
unlike the continuous light
rains of Europe. Lying mainly
Vernacular African mud huts
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many cases destroyed the natu-
ral, existing order of the land.
Though this is possibly
the longest surviving genuine
vernacular way of life and archi-
tecture, the pure, simplistic and
harmonious lifestyle of the na-
tive Africans is being stomped
out due to our failure to under-stand the natural beauty of the
order and a belief that these
living conditions cannot be sat-
isfactory as they do not reach
the comfort levels of our own
homes. A failure to imagine liv-
ing in them ourselves results in
a decision that nobody could be
happy inhabiting them. This is
the case with any truly vernacu-
lar style. A standard of comfort
and aesthetic quality was setin modern times and anything
that doesn't reach this standard
is eradicated. Where these stan-
dards were set, the vernacular
became something boring and
uninteresting. These areas then
enforce their ideas of what is
beautiful on those around them.
The demise of the vernacular
here was brought about by a
total ignorance and unwilling-
ness to accept what we did not
understand. The vernacular
died out as a fashionable style
as it became too ordinary and
lacking in an ability to refresh
or redesign itself. The building
methods used by the locals for
generations were believed to
have been pushed to their limitsand exhausted. No more could
be accomplished within the
con nes of indigenous meth-
ods and materials. As is the case
with any trend the subsequent
trend is the inverse. Rather than
have something completely
native and cultural it seemed
much more exotic to adopt the
styles of distant lands as a sign
of wealth and being well trav-
elled.. Indications that you werewell-travelled were amongst
the most esteemed design fea-
tures and so we began to look
away from home for inspiration.
Elaborate decoration depicting
exotic fruits, plants and animals
became a symbol of wealth. The
upper class would bring plants
back from their travels to be
grown in their exotic garden,
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which became a feature of every
well-to-do country home. Voy-
ages overseas were sponsored
on the promise of returning with
foreign spices, jewels and cloths
to increase ones stature within
society. This would be the down-
fall of the traditional vernacu-
lar. Having something differ-
ent to everyone around us willalways make us feel as though
we possess something special
and unique, in this case the anti-
vernacular, styles experienced
around the world and applied at
home. This unique quality was
absent in conventional designs
where each building was under
the same restrictions of material
usage and construction method.
The beauty in these construc-
tions faded within the communi-ties as it remained monotonous
and tedious leaving a gap to be
lled by the next "perfect" style.
Classicism
To ll the hole left by the de-
mise of the traditional vernacu-
lar came the strictly cloned style
that spread around the world
in the age of classicism. The Re-
naissance period saw renewed
interest in the ruins left by the
ancient cultures of Greece and
Rome, and the fertile devel-
opment of a new architecture
based on classical principles.
Rooted in the Greek traditions
the classical manner was ap-pointed the most perfect and
pleasing style. Beginning in
the artistic capital of the world,
Italian scholars and philoso-
phers deemed the highly calcu-
lated and proportioned style to
be the perfect form. Rigorous
laws were put in place based
on what was considered to be
most pleasing to God, beginning
with the design of temples and
spreading into the residentialdomain. It became accepted that
the circle was the purest form as
it was most used throughout na-
ture by God himself. There are
just three ancient and original
orders of classical architecture,
the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian,
which were invented by the
Greeks. To these the Romans
added the Tuscan, which they
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made simpler than the Doric,
and the Composite, which was
more ornamental than the Co-
rinthian. The height of a column
is calculated in terms of a ratio
between the diameter of the
shaft at its base and the height of
the column. A Doric column can
be described as seven diameters
high, an Ionic column as eightdiameters high and a Corinthian
column nine diameters high.
The concept of proportion be-
came a more humanist idea with
the study of the work of Vitru-
vius and the belief that propor-
tion in building should adhere
to those of the human body in
which all proportions come back
to the golden section number
Phi( 1.681). The proportions in
building were now directly re-lated to the human proportions
of the perfectly built man for
"As man is the image of God and
the proportions of his body are
produced by divine will, so the
proportions in architecture have
to embrace and express the cos-
mic order" 1. These theories were
1 Wittkower, Rudolph. ArchiteturalPrinciples in the Age ofHumanism.
brought through the fteenth
Century by Alberti and then the
sixteenth Century by Palladio,
each adding to them and adapt-
ing them but sticking rigidly to
the same basic principles. Pal-
ladio moved away from eccle-
siastical buildings and worked
more on palazzos and villas but
still brought the man-inspiredrules of architecture to his work.
These Classical ideals
for architecture were born in
the height of the Renaissance.
As a result of this they spread
quickly around the world as this
was a time for the spreading of
ideas with the development of
the printing press and an in-
crease of interest in worldwide
travel. The ideas of classicismas "perfect"architecture became
universal and each individual
vernacular style was replaced
by these new laws. Design Pat-
terns for construction prolifer-
ated the globe and images were
simply chosen from their pages
and reproduced on vacant sites
by anyone who could afford to
build them. Books such as Pal-
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ladio's own "I Quattro Libri
dell'Architetture", Vitruvius'
"Ten Books on Architecture" and
more recently, James Gibbs' "A
Book of Architecture, containing
designs of buildings and orna-
ments" (London, 1728) spread
the ideals of classicism. Palladi-
anism became brie y popular in
Britain in the mid-seventeenthcentury. In the early eighteenth
century it returned to fashion,
not only in England but also in
many northern European coun-
tries. Later it had a surge in
popularity throughout the Brit-
ish colonies in North America,
highlighted by examples such as
Drayton Hall in South Carolina,
the Redwood Library in New-
port, Rhode Island, the Morris-
Jumel Mansion in New YorkCity and Thomas Jefferson's
Monticello and Poplar Forest
in Virginia. To show the Italian
connection, Drayton Hall, for
example, bears remarkable re-
semblance to Villa Cornaro, near
Venice which was designed by
Palladio. The spread of Classi-
cism is also clearly evident here
in Ireland. Some of our great-
est architectural feats could
have easily been taken straight
from these classical guidebooks.
Castletown House in County
Kildare is the rst house inIreland to follow the rules of
Classicism directly. It was built
between 1722 and 1729 and con-
sists of two wings connected by
Drayton Hall, South Carolina
Villa Cornaro, near Venice
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ionic colonnades anking the
Renaissance inspired central
block of the house. The wings,
in true classical fashion, con-
tained the kitchens on one side
and the stables on the other.
The main house was possibly
designed by Alessandro Galilei
with the wings added later by
Sir Edward Lovett Pearse whohad just returned from a tour
of Italy, bringing with him the
classical elements he had en-
countered. The original layout
of the house also owed much to
the plans of English houses such
as Chevening in Kent which had
been recently published. Ch-
evening was designed by Inigo
Jones, the rst Englishman to
study architecture in Italy and
the rst to introduce Classical
design to England. Those linked
with the global spread of clas-
sicism, in recent publications,
are spoken of almost as heroes,
but these could also be seen as
the people responsible for the
loss of many vernacular styles.Looking once more at the Af-
rican vernacular, this was one
of few regions that the classical
style did not manage to perme-
ate. It is only in recent years that
western civilisation has begun to
in uence the African way of life.
This could be an indication that,
had the classical style failed to
travel beyond Italy, there would
be a much greater and diverse
collection of vernaculars aroundthe world, leading ultimately to
a greater universal understand-
ing of nature, the Earth and how
we t in amongst it. With classi-
cism came a classical way of life,
following the lifestyle the archi-
tecture would demand. Here,
the image of the typical classical
house will always be linked to
the upper class families of the
Chevening House, Kent
Castletown House, Co.Kildare
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Irish countryside in the eigh-
teenth century because anyone
who t the upper class criteria
and could afford to build one
had a Palladian inspired house.
As was the case with the
vernacular, the Classical style
is only recently beginning to
expire. Its meticulous detailingis being cast aside in favour of
simplistic, minimalistic forms,
showing once more that the suc-
ceeding style to any fashion is
the direct opposite, almost in an
act of rebellion. The heavy pat-
terning and textures swiftly fad-
ed and the glory days of the clas-
sical became an eerie shadow
on our landscapes. As the style
became gradually more acces-
sible to all levels of social class,it became less attractive to those
at the top who began to strive
for something to, once more,
set them apart from the rest.
Modernism
As the Renaissance was the cata-
lyst for the spread of Classicism,
the modern style was carried
around the globe on the back of
the second world war. It had its
beginnings in the decades be-
fore 1914, reaching its highest
pitch of creative vigour in the
late twenties and then ceased to
move during the war. This was
not because the war had killed it
but because it had rendered itsuniversal acceptance inevitable.
Modern architecture is charac-
terized by the simpli cation of
form and creation of ornament
from the structure and theme of
the building. Its effects spread
and spread with undiminishing
momentum to the extent that
now there is no corner of the
industrialized world in which
the thin, high, glossy blocks, the
perspectives of concrete posts,the eternally repeating rectan-
gles are not typical and familiar.
The availability of new build-
ing materials such as iron, steel,
and glass drove the invention of
new building techniques as part
of the Industrial Revolution and
they are now forms and mate-
rials common to every square
meter of the planet. Our world
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is becoming a muddle of large,
inhabited, gleaming white geo-
metric shapes. Modern architec-
ture can be characterized by an
application of the principle that
the materials and functional re-
quirements determine the result,
an adoption of the machine aes-
thetic, an emphasis of horizon-
tal and vertical lines, a creationof ornament using the structure
and theme of the building, or
a rejection of ornamentation, a
simpli cation of form and elimi-
nation of "unnecessary detail".
The buildings in the images be-
low could be anywhere around
the globe, there are no de ning
features, differences as a result
of place or connection to the
heritage of the area. This is mag-
azine architecture, eye-catching
imagery of which we construct
an exact replica for ourselves.
It has no personality, predomi-
nantly it is merely a large white
concrete box. Everything has be-
come about shapes rather than
culture and way of life. Geom-
etry has no place in architecture.People and heritage should be
at the forefront of architectural
design. A web page posted the
following question to its fol-
lowers: "What is architecture?"
Of the 34 replies they received
to the question, 33 de ned it as
the process of designing and
overseeing construction of aes-
thetically pleasing buildings,
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one replied that it was "an art
that re ects human feelings and
dreams in shapes within sci-
ence, environment and human-
ity", but for the most part, no
response mentions lifestyle, her-
itage, tradition, culture, climate,
beliefs, nature.....the things that
should be considered most im-
portant of all. The modern styleis as much about the physically
built style of architecture as it
is about how we have begun
to see architecture. The world
sees architects as pompous and
egotistical for thinking they are
making a real difference to the
planet and architects see the
rest of the world as being oblivi-
ous and ignorant for not under-
standing the self-proclaimed
importance of their work. Ar-chitecture is viewed as the act of
making pretty buildings. There
is no intellectual attachment, as
was the case in the classical era.
Good architecture, in common
perception, is a term describing
the aesthetical quality of a build-
ing, not how one reacts with and
within it. There is little room for
such reaction in a concrete cube
especially one we see multi-
plied to the point of exhaustion.
The International style
was a major architectural style
that emerged in the 1920s and
1930s, the formative decades
of Modernist architecture. The
term had its origin from the
name of a book by Henry-Rus-sell Hitchcock and Philip John-
son written to record the Inter-
national Exhibition of Modern
Architecture held at the Muse-
um of Modern Art in New York
City in 1932 which identi ed,
categorized and expanded upon
characteristics common to Mod-
ernism across the world. As a re-
sult, the focus was more on the
stylistic aspects of Modernism.
Hitchcock's and Johnson's aimswere to de ne a style of the time,
which would encapsulate this
modern architecture. They iden-
ti ed three different principles:
the expression of volume rather
than mass, balance rather than
preconceived symmetry and the
expulsion of applied ornament.
The common characteristics of
the International style include: a
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radical simpli cation of form, a
rejection of ornament, and adop-
tion of glass, steel and concrete
as preferred materials. Further,
the transparency of buildings,
construction (called the honest
expression of structure), and ac-
ceptance of industrialized mass-
production techniques contrib-
uted to the international style'sdesign philosophy. Finally, the
machine aesthetic, and logi-
cal design decisions leading to
support building function were
used by the International archi-
tect to create buildings reaching
beyond historicism. The stark,
unornamented appearance of
the International style met with
contemporaneous criticism and
continues to be criticized today
by many. Especially in largerand more public buildings, the
style is commonly subject to dis-
paragement as ugly, inhuman,
sterile, and elitist. Some of the
most important examples of this
international style exhibited in
the Museum of Modern Art in
1932 were: Alvar Aalto's Turun
Sanomat building; Le Corbusi-
er's Stein house, Villa Savoye and
Carlos de Beistegui Penthouse;
Otto Eisler's Double House;
Walter Gropius' Bauhaus School
and City Employment Of ce;
Erich Mendelsohn's Schocken
Department Store; Mies Van
Der Rohe's Apartment House,
German pavilion at the Barce-
lona Exposition and Tugendhat
House; Jacobus Oud's WorkersHouses,(Seidlung, Kiefhoek;
Karl Schneider's Kunstverein.
Conclusion
As this most recent globular
style spreads, questions of form
in architecture are tending to re-
cede, giving place to questions
of technology and industrializa-
tion, planning and mass-produc-
tion for social needs - questionsof building rather than archi-
tecture. Architecture will soon
dissolve into a close federation
of town-planning, structural en-
gineering and industrial design.
There is much to fear in this
transformation as it is, in effect,
the full arrival of a new man-
made environment that will ei-
ther end in a full loop around
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to a restoration of the vernacu-
lar way or a mutated, complex,
"utopic" alternative. We can al-
ready see the notion of a retreat
to a simpler, traditional way
becoming the idyllic vision of a
perfect lifestyle. It has taken cen-
turies for us to realise that what
we started with was perfect in
its own right. We are graduallycoming around to an ecological
harmony with nature but the
harm that has been caused in
the process has brought irre-
versible damage to our planet.
Having experienced these three
globular styles, we now move
forward with the development
of our idea of perfection. Do
we hold on to any of the rules
of the vernacular, classicism or
modernism? Could perfectionbe born of an amalgamation of
the three? With the knowledge
of the advantages and disadvan-
tages, failures and successes of
each can we move forward with
the best points and attempt to
marry them together or is yet
another new, revolutionary style
required? "Buildings, like po-
ems and rituals, realize culture.
Their designers rationalize their
actions differently. Some say
they design and build as they
do because it is the ancient way
of their people and place. Oth-
ers claim that their practice cor-
rectly manifests the universally
valid laws of science. But all of
them create out of the small-
ness of their own experience"2.2 Glassie, Henry.
Vernacular Architecture
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