Placement patterns of vernacular dwellings of Kang

مطالعات طراحی معماری و شهرسازی زمینه گرا

Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2025, Pages 87-104   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/context.2025.91787.1011

Author

Reza Serali^*

PhD student of Architecture, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

“Vernacular architecture” is a term coined in the nineteenth century to refer to a set of building traditions outside of conventional building patterns, often created by formally trained architects. This type of architecture, which shapes most of the environments ever created, has always had a significant impact on the architectural practice of formal architects. In recent decades, scholars have recommended moving from reductionist and ideological approaches to more problem-oriented and conceptual methods and theory-building in relation to vernacular environments in order to benefit from vernacular traditions in solving complex problems of contemporary environments. Within this framework, the present study aims to examine some of the fundamental concepts of the field of vernacular architecture studies and to identify vernacular housing patterns in a known vernacular settlement. Thus, in the first step of the research, the definitions of “vernacular architecture” and “pattern” have been examined using the method of documentary study and logical reasoning. In the second step, using the "case study" method (an embedded single-case study), 21 vernacular dwellings in the Kang village (located in Torqeba Shandiz County, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran) were purposefully selected and documented as the research's "units of analysis". In the third step, by analyzing some of the data from the research database, placement patterns of the vernacular dwellings in relation to its natural terrain were extracted and reported. These patterns include the "orientation", the "Spatial Organization in Storeys", the "access" and the "Vertical Circulation", which are presented and discussed at the end of the article.

Keywords

vernacular architecture; vernacular dwelling; vernacular tradition; placement pattern; Kang village

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