ro | en
ArgumentNo. 3/2011

Bioclimatic adaptation of the traditional Romanian home

Abstract

This study follows the bioclimatic adaptation of the romanian vernacular house as an expression of the traditional physical and conceptual universe, in which man, nature and the “unseen” constitute a whole.

The first part of the paper describes the relationship between architecture and time of the building, both in terms of construction techniques and materials, as well as from the perspective of existential attitudes and living patterns. The obvious conclusion is that all these elements are interrelated. Architecture is a built picture of the vernacular universe and of the ways in which traditional man perceives, conceives, understand and relates to this universe.

The second part briefly studies the planimetric evolution of traditional housing, from single-room dwellings to complex typologies, with three or four rooms and one or two levels. The number of rooms, the planimetric layout, the size and position of the openings, oven location, are all elements that adapt the house to the bioclimatic conditions, but at the same time have a metaphysical significance, making the connection between the physical universe and the subtle one.

Constructive and functional elements of the house – footing, walls, intermediate spaces, attic and roof, window, fireplace – all are the physical, material expression of this connection, whose reflection in the physical space is the relationship between man and nature, expressed through complete integration of traditional vernacular buildings and architecture into the natural environment.

Download