Contested Legacies: Vernacular Architecture Between Sustainability and the Exotic

Abstract

This chapter questions the interpretations of vernacular architecture through architectural conservation projects. It shows examples from China, Egypt and Greece and how in a framework of valuing the legacy of these buildings, the public are offered an opportunity to marvel in the workmanship, quality of natural material provision and indoor environments created. However, these buildings, contrary to the common belief, were not architecture for the poor, but they were for the rich echelons of their respective societies at their time. Their renovation as spaces and places for the exotic experience is with a view on their position in history and the affordance needed to maintain living in these buildings. A market-driven reality underpins an appreciation of why these constructs are only afforded as tourist and revenue generating buildings. While vernacular architecture is predominantly presented in the literature as architecture for the poor, sustainable with its local material and self-build initiatives, the examples shown in this chapter question this common belief. Although appreciating the lessons to be learnt and their subscription to the three pillars of sustainability, in their construction, design philosophies materiality and energy demand, and respect of cultural and religious beliefs, the legacy of the rich remains so.