Defining vernacular architecture

Hubert Guillaud (1, 2)

1 CRAterre - CRAterre
2 AE&CC - Architecture, Environnement & Cultures Constructives

According to the etymological approach and to the Historical Dictionary of the French Language (Robert, 1985), the notion of vernacular architecture refers to the house of verna, which in Latin means ‘slave born in the house’, while vernaculus means ‘indigenous’, or ‘domestic’. This definition is derived from Roman law, codified in the fourth century by Emperor Theodosius the Great (347-395). Quoting Ivan Illich (2005), Pierre Frey (2010, p. 13) reminds us that the ‘vernacular kind’ means “Everything that was crafted, woven or reared at home and not for sale, but for domestic use. Therefore, what is ‘vernacular’ has no market value. By extension, this definition includes the architecture of a territory and/or a human group, or of an ethnic group, who lives there. Vernacular architecture commonly uses local materials (AA.VV., 1993, p. 4).

Mots clés: Patrimoine; Vernacular architecture

Domaines: Architecture, aménagement de l'espace

Hubert Guillaud. Defining vernacular architecture. Versus: heritage for tomorrow, Firenze University Press, pp.33, 2014, 978-88-6655-741-8. ⟨hal-01159777⟩