In class this past week we discussed vernacular design in architecture. Vernacular design reacts to the environment and uses local resources that help to create functionality before aesthetics. I am from Northern Virginia, which is a very suburban area with houses that just follow the curve around a cul-de-sac. Vernacular design is not so prominent in the area and is substituted with a high electric bill during the hot summers and cold winters. When designing a school in Honduras with Global Architecture Brigades, we had to use vernacular design because the area does not have electricity and relies heavily on natural resources. When designing the roof, with the help of Professor Sherman, we went through many different roofing ideas to try and cater to the amount of high temperatures, heavy rain season and earthquakes. The roof of the existing elementary school is made of corrugated metal that can get very loud and distracting when the heavy rain falls. The reason they used corrugated metal is because it is a very light material and it is important not to have too much weight on top because earthquakes are very frequent in Honduras. The design we decided upon is composed of a double-tiered roof of both corrugated metal with plywood underneath to help reduce noise from the rain. The roof provides proper ventilation for the school through the air pockets and the corrugated metal provides a very light material. Additionally, the walkways are covered to provide shade from the hot sun as well as a place to cover from the rain. This project helped me learn a great amount the importance of vernacular architecture and helped prepare me for Professor Sherman’s course.
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September 12, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Mark
I think it is so cool that you got to develop this roof with Professor Sherman. I think this diagram of the vernacular roof is a perfect precedent to this past Thursday’s lecture. Cost is definitely an important factor when considering green technologies. They are often expensive. With the right materials and implementation methods, they don’t have to be.
I wonder If you could discuss the general cost to build this kind of roof. That would be really helpful in considering how we choose energy-saving materials in various forms of architecture
September 13, 2011 at 1:46 am
Kaity Badlato
I think this is a great example of how a system can be altered and adapt to become a better fit for the environment in which the system functions. By adding the plywood to the roof, you were able to improve the quality of the school without deviating from the vernacular architecture or spending a lot of money.
September 13, 2011 at 2:17 am
georgeklett
Charlotte, its pretty cool that you were able to get this real life experience. It is interesting that such a small change to one system (adding plywood to the metal roof) can reduce the impact of two different systems when they interact (when the rain hits the roof and produces high noise levels). Showing and proving that small improvements to existing systems can be both affordable and simple could be a way to sell more practical and smarter architecture to residents of Northern Virginia. You mentioned that often homes are just situated around cul-de-sacs without reacting to their surroundings. To achieve more vernacular architecture in this case may not be that expensive and could be just as simple as the solution to the metal roofs you explained above. Perhaps in new developments to save money houses could be the same but their orientation could change to react to the surroundings. Maybe we could use the sun and surroundings as the guide for situating houses and not the streets.
September 13, 2011 at 9:22 pm
cmh8vd
I like your experience in this, I wonder however if what you learned abroad could help you to design a better more efficient building in Northern Virginia with lower energy costs.