Vernacular Buildings by Noble Allen G

Author:Noble, Allen G. [Noble, Allen G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Published: 2014-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

All this simply reflects how important traditional and architectural entry structures are for an understanding of the entire vernacular development, and how significant knowledge of such small features is for the academic student or observer.

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Openings: Windows

Windows offer an illustration of the differing responses of diverse groups to what are similar environmental challenges. Rural dwellings in the Rhône Valley, commonly aligned east–west, typically have no doors and few or no windows on their north walls, in order to provide warmth, shelter, and protection from the mistral, which sweeps down the valley with great force and velocity. “On occasion the mistral has delayed trains, hindered aviation, turned over carts, and torn off roof tiles. The negative effects of this wind on the human nervous system are part of regional folklore” (Gade 1978, 127–9, 142). Another instance of the effect of the environment on domestic building is found in Sikkim, where houses lack both doors and windows on south and west walls which face the bitter cold and brutally driven storms of winter’s southwesterly winds (Gorer 1967, 63).

Intense heat and burning sun provide environment challenges of a quite different sort. In Mediterranean summer climates, these conditions are met by allowing only a few narrow windows in the outside walls of traditional North African houses; wide windows framed with moveable dark shutters in Italy or Spain; and “with wide surfaces of glass lined with light shades as in the Californian ranch houses” (Gottmann 1957, 19). Generally speaking, the number of windows in a dwelling of the middle or higher latitudes is related to the size of the structure and especially the number of its rooms, because a source of light was required in each room (Lebreton 1982, 440).

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