Dearq

Dearq | eISSN 2215-969X

Temporary urban dwellings: vernacular architecture?

No. 7 (2010-12-01)
  • Jaime Enrique Gómez M.
    Arquitecto, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Maestría en Arquitectura, McGill University, Montreal, Canadá. Profesor instructor, Departamento de Arquitectura, Universidad de los Andes. Miembro del Vernacular Architecture Forum. Miembro del Grupo de Investigación en Gestión y Diseño de Vivienda (GIV), Universidad de los Andes. jgomez@uniandes.edu.co

Abstract

Publishing this paper is the primary stage of an investigation focused on temporary urban dwellings, undertaken to discover if the principles that shape it can be applied to other forms of architecture. Breaking from the definition of this type of architecture, and with the aim of finding adequate methodologies for it’s study, the question must be contemplated: can it be vernacular architecture? In order to answer this question, it was necessary to revise important literature written on the subject during the past fifty years, and focus on the different definitions of vernacular architecture it offered. Any agreements in the aforementioned definitions were compared to temporary urban dwellings principal characteristics. The purpose of which was to demonstrate the pertinence of the inclusion of this topic in the field of vernacular architecture. The successful completion of this demonstration sets the basis for the second part of the investigation.

Keywords: vernacular architecture, temporary architecture, architecture and place, waste