LA.219 MOD.7.1
jan29
LA219MODULE7.1.pdf
INTRODUCTION
Surprisingly often overlooked in histories of the built environment are basic residences. Monumental buildings and iconic structures are often given more attention than common dwellings. As much as we can learn about human cultures by studying those monuments and icons (such as temples and pyramids), it could be argued that even more might be learned about ourselves by studying everyday living spaces; the Parthenon is a house for Athena, and the Great Pyramid of Khufu is a tomb for the pharaoh, but the houses of common people tell us about common people.
You will be introduced to a wide variety of residential scenarios from across the globe in this module. The objective is to learn how each dwelling environment is unique by contrasting them to others. Everyone needs shelter, access to light, water, etc., but how each culture achieves these basic requirements—at different moments in history—is what we should be identifying. More than that, look to see whether and how different peoples go beyond basic utilitarian requirements in their accommodations. . . for what other needs do they provide?
Lastly, it should not be forgotten that residential environments do not exist in isolation. Whether they are located in densely packed urban settings or rural and removed landscapes, people always live in relation to their immediate surroundings. This is important to remember not only from a materials perspective (what was accessible for building?) but also from a daily living perspective, in that public and community life may be more important for some cultures, while trade and/or agriculture may be more important for others. Thus, taking note of the proximity to surrounding environments, public spaces, economic factors, and climatic conditions will help you understand how residents resided.
Some questions to spark your curiosity:
What is the scale (size of living spaces in relation to the human body) of the dwellings?
Which materials were used, and do they have benefits for light, heat, cooling, etc.?
How many people lived there, and in what kind of proximity to others?
What is the balance of privacy and publicity; are certain spaces intended to be one or the other?
What is the surrounding context: rural or urban, quiet or loud, flat or sloped, or climatic variations?
Do the residents belong to a social group in relation to others; is there a social hierarchy?
Module Learning Objectives Explore a diverse range of residential architectures across cultures, places, and times.
Articulate the consequences of living spaces for different peoples as seen in different locations.
Articulate material and structural strategies employed for residential architectures.
Compare different residential strategies across times and places.
Identify social and cultural conditions exhibited in residential spaces.
Readings A Global History of Architecture, 30–33, 75–76, 162, 181, 324, 334– 335
World Architecture, all of section 1.1, 164–177 (section 5.1), 184–186 (section 5.2), all of section 5.3, 314–318 (section 8.3), 365–371 (section 9.3), 439–442 (section 11.1)
Labelle Prussin, "Introduction to Indigenous African Architecture," Department of Architecture, University of Michigan (PDF, 8090.5 kb)
Module Coursework Read and view all module content and media in the pages that follow.
Complete all items in any Graded Coursework, Other Activities, and Quizzes and Exams areas included in this module.
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PALEOLITHIC BEGINNINGS
Human remains have been discovered dating back to 300,000 years ago, and by 12,000 BCE, humans pretty much inhabited the entire globe. Starting out on the African continent, they spread into Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, and Jnally South America. The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, period started around 9,000 BCE.
At some point during Neolithic times, groups of people started to create small villages and organized themselves as early societies, often near caves, along shores or streams. With these more permanent settlements, farming was added to hunting for food to fulJll people's needs. Animals were domesticated and plants were grown. By settling Jrmly in one place, people needed individual shelter and ritual spaces. They started to implement their own order, deJning territory and creating spaces. In A Global History of Architecture, Mark M. Jarzombek and Vikramaditya Prakash write:
This required not only an understanding of the seasons but also of ways to hand down that knowledge from generation to generation. The building arts, and their specialized uses for religious and communal purposes, began to develop as well.
A Global History of Architecture
The stability created by reliable food production and built structures for housing and worship allowed for the development of leisure time (i.e., periods of life that can be spent on activities other than survival), and leisure time is vital for the creation of culture. Soon, civilizations began developing cultural hallmarks, including:
customs and practices, like rituals, burials, and rites of passage
religion, including pantheism and shamanism
Paleolithic Beginnings
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technology, through the increased use of tools
government by tribal organizations
Prior to these developments, humans placed value on the things that gave them shelter and sustenance, such as plants, bison, water, and caves. But with shelter and food taken care of, humans also began to value and question what it was that provided these basic requirements. Thus, in the Paleolithic Era, or Old Stone Age, humans began to harness their leisure time to honor the environment that provided for them. Animal bones, furs, leathers, and cave walls began to acquire high spiritual and decorative value. Rituals became more elaborate and were aimed at ensuring bounty in future times. These rites in turn became the building blocks of religion, as they were seen as necessary to appease uncontrollable forces like lightning, drought, Xooding, and the movement of herds.
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Paleolithic oval hut reconstruction
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CATAL HÜYÜK
Catal Hüyük illustration
Catal Hüyük (pronounced Chatal Hooyook), in present-day Turkey, is situated on the banks of the Carsamba River on the Konya Plain in central Anatolia. The village is the largest Neolithic site in the Near East, covering more than 13 hectares, and is believed to have been founded around 7000 BCE. The city is thought to have been unfortiNed but very densely built out of dwellings connected directly to one another, without the separation or organization of streets. Houses were accessed over the roofs offering circulation and space for communal life. Ventilation openings in the walls regulated the interior climate. Archaeologists recorded the presence of shrines that would have housed statues of bulls and other cult motifs. Walls were decorated with colored murals seemingly reminiscent of the cave paintings of earlier phases of human development. Catal Hüyük was an organized place of settlement and seems to have boasted a vibrant economy, acted as a marketplace, and featured specialized crafts.
Catal Hüyük
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Catal Hüyük
Reconstruction drawing of second vulture shrine
Michael Fazio, Marian Moffett, and Lawrence Wodehouse write:
The themes of prehistoric cave art-hunting and fecundity had not been discarded by this early urban society. The settlement at Catal Hüyük is the precursor of more sophisticated communities that developed in the fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates at the beginning of the fourth millennium.
Buildings Across Time
Dwellings in this early city were built together tightly, with new dwellings constructed directly on top of older, abandoned versions. This approach led to a layering of dwellings over different periods. Building materials included hard- baked clays and cut stone. Pottery began to Wourish, particularly as the need for storage of perishables arose.
S. Lloyd, H.W. Müller, and R. Martin write:
As for the ordinary dwelling houses, the main living room has a raised platform to sleep on, and the Nreplace is usually located beneath the entry ladder, so that smoke may escape through the open hatch above.
Ancient Architecture: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, and Greece
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Catal Hüyük
Relief of goddess with defaced head Title:
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Catal Hüyük
Schematic reconstruction drawing
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Aerial view of Jericho Enlarge Image +
Jericho
TWO EARLY CITIES: JERICHO AND BANPO
Jericho, in the present-day West Bank, was settled circa 8000 BCE. It is the oldest continuous settlement in the world, though the population center has shifted away from the "old" city. Its walls were so impressive and so deOning of the city that they are mentioned in the Old Testament.
Fazio, Moffett, and Wodehouse write:
Jericho was a fortiOed settlement, with a stone wall up to twenty-seven feet thick enclosing an area of about ten acres. Its earliest dwellings consisted of circular mud huts that may have had conical roofs. The inhabitants were farmers and hunters who buried their dead below the hut Toors.
Buildings Across Time
Walled cities prompted the Orst attempts at basic irrigation systems that could bring water into enclosed spaces, and examples of this can be found in Jericho. With irrigation and walls—walls with gates that could be open and shut to either bar or admit outsiders, depending on whether they conformed to the
Two Early Cities Jericho and Banpo
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settlement's standards—humanity took its Orst steps toward urbanization. And with urbanization, new architectural topics emerged, such as city entrances, fortiOcation walls, doors, windows, roofs, security and structure, ownership, and territory.
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Jericho
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Jericho Title:
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Early Chinese buildings
The earliest traces of settlement in China are found around the plains of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. The fertile grounds allowed for agriculture and small settlements, which often shared ritual centers. Little is known about the exact makeup of the societies involved.
Fazio, Moffett, and Wodehouse note:
Banpo, located in the Yellow River Valley and dating from about 4,500 BCE, was just one of several large, well-organized settlements. Discovered only in 1953, it was spread out over a large area of about sixty square kilometers, of which only Ove percent has been excavated so far. It was surrounded by a ditch or a moat, Ove to six meters wide, probably for drainage and defense. The homes were circular mud and wood structures, with overhanging thatched roofs, all raised on shallow foundations with Ore pits at the center.
Buildings Across Time
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The Banpo Museum
The Banpo site is a typical Neolithic matriarchal community of the Yangshao culture.
Planning, organization, and a community-approved moral code required oversight by a governing body and often came with spiritual activities. Architecture in the form of dwellings and ritual sites, as well as buildings combined into city-like compounds, emerged all over the world. Thus, architecture and human society had become inextricably linked.
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Yangshao pottery
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HOUSES OF POMPEII
City of Pompeii
Remains of Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is one of the most complete examples of Roman city planning that has been archaeologically preserved. This resource is only available to us due to the horrific volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that took place in 79 CE.
Before its destruction, the city of Pompeii was a thriving port town that incorporated all of the Roman city-planning concepts that we have studied. Besides its eerily preserved urban open spaces, Pompeii also sheds light on the development of a more private form of open space, one that we have yet to see in other cultures: peristyle gardens.
Features of a Pompeiian Home
Houses of Pompeii
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Houses in Pompeii typify what most urban Roman houses would have looked like during this time. These houses were enclosed inward spaces that had featureless facades.
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Featureless façade of a typical Pompeiian house
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Axonometric plan of a typical Pompeiian house
Atrium
All of the rooms in the house were centered around the atrium, an internal courtyard that served as a formal living room for receiving visitors. The atrium took on a more private quality the further you were from the front of the house.
At its center, the atrium had a pool of water and a skylight to allow natural light to stream into the space below. You have to remember that these houses were enclosed and rather dark, therefore, natural light was of utmost importance.
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Atrium and peristyle garden
Tablinum
A tablinum was a reception area that served as a threshold between the atrium and the first peristyle garden.
Tablinum
The first peristyle garden was more private, serving as an informal family room surrounded by private rooms.
An exedra—a type of semicircular recess—separated the first peristyle garden from the second peristyle garden, which was a highly private space used for cooking and growing vegetables.
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ROMAN VILLAS
Interior of Roman villa
The Roman villa, which is the Latin word for "farm," was a small living unit that included residential quarters, fields, and stables, although the term evolved over time to encompass many different types of rural lodgings and estates.
For affluent Romans, urban dwellings proved restrictive and small. This led many to build second homes in the country as a place for otium, or refined leisure and contemplation.
These homes away from home were anything but dull and utilitarian. They were ostentatious, flamboyant, and thematic in their relationship to the landscape. There were four types of Roman villa:
villa rustica
villa urbana
villa suburbana
Roman Villas
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villa marittima
Let's look at each of them now.
Villa Rustica
These villas were the humble abodes of agrarian farmers, and thus not suitable dwellings for the rich and famous of Rome. However, the idea of living a rustic life on vast acres of land among crops appealed to nostalgia and was heavily romanticized. They were used as models for the next category of villas.
Villa Urbana
Despite what it suggests, the name "urbana" is deceiving. Villa urbanas were built on farms owned by city elites. The name comes from the fact that the plans for these houses were based on urban homes. It was also used to distinguish this type of villa from its humbler contemporary (villa rustica).
Villa Suburbana
These villas were built on the outskirts of the city, allowing for a quick escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life.
Villa Marittima
As its name suggests, these were seaside villas, serving as more of a resort than a second home away from the city.
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Plan of a domus Iararium
ROMAN HOUSES AND APARTMENTS
In ancient Rome and its imperial cities, the domus housed patrician families, while the poorer classes crowded into tenements called insulae.
The Domus
The main entrance to the domus faced the street and was usually protected by a double door, behind which was a short passageway that led into the atrium, where guests were greeted. The atrium was the focal point of the house. Sky-lit, with high ceilings and sparse furnishings, the atrium would feature a shrine to the house gods, or lararium, and portrait busts of family members. The atrium also featured a square opening called the compluvium in the center of the ceiling, and below that the impluvium, a shallow rectangular cistern, gathered rainwater falling in from the slanted tile roof. In contrast with the Greek ideal of reverently building in line with the contours of nature's dictates, the Romans brought nature indoors and corralled it. Not unlike their temples, the Roman house had an inward focus.
Roman Houses and Apartments
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Flanking the oasis of the atrium, across a corridor, were the main rooms: the bedrooms, or cubicula; a study or living room, or tablinium; and a dining room, or triclinium. The triclinium was about the size of the master bedroom, and usually had couches surrounding a table. The size and prominence of the tablinium often depended on whether the master of the house was a merchant and did business there. Many of the walls were stuccoed and painted with elaborate scenes; the Ooors were paved and often covered in mosaics.
1. ostium 2. vestibulum (fauces) 3. fauces 4. tabernae 5. atrium 6. compluvium 7. impluvium 8. tablinum
9. triclinium 10. alae 11. cubiculum 12. culina 13. posticum 14. peristylium 15. piscina 16. exedra
The typical domus was divided into two parts. Just as the front part of the house gathered around and centered on the atrium, the rear had a focal point, the peristyle, a small garden often surrounded by a columned passage. Bathrooms, the kitchen, and a summer triclinium usually surrounded the peristyle, which would later become the model for the medieval cloister. The kitchen was usually tiny, with a small counter and wood-burning stove typically manned by a slave who did the cooking. During hot summer days, the family ate its meals in the summer triclinium to ward off the heat. Most of the light in the domus came through the compluvium and the open peristylium.
In cities throughout the Roman Empire, wealthy homeowners lived in one-story buildings with few exterior windows, partly to bar noise from the streets. If the street was busy, front rooms were often rented out as shops or oSces.
Peristyle garden
Insulae
The lower-class plebs lived in large apartments called insulae. The ground Ooor was devoted to tavernas, or shops and businesses, and living space was relegated to the higher Ooors. There was tremendous population pressure in great Roman cities, and these huge tenements were often poorly constructed, at minimum expense, and prone to Tre and collapse. Insulae could extend as high as six or seven stories and house more than 40 people, but the height of tenements were restricted several times, especially in the wake of the great Tre under Emperor Nero.
Unlike upper-class homes, which they vastly outnumbered, most insulae did not have running water or sanitation facilities, so the inhabitants had to rely on public toilets and fountains. Accordingly, disease and stench ran rampant in these buildings, and they were a source of the several plagues that aWicted the empire throughout its history.
Insulae in Ostia
HOUSING TRADITIONS IN INDIA
Traditional Indian housing is de:ned by the need to accommodate large family systems with complex relationships. Typical housing involves a courtyard typology with a clear separation between public and private, with women's quarters removed from public view.
In north India, the haveli (mansion) was the residence of the noble and rich; it was created in imitation of royal lifestyles. Havelis typically were three to four stories tall situated on a plinth with steps coming up from the narrow street. The entrance space was called baithak and constituted a public area. The baramdah, or veranda, surrounded the courtyard on all stories, providing circulation. Jharokhas, or overhanging balconies, allowed a view out while being shielded from view by carved stone latticework screens.
Housing Traditions in India
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In south India, the Kerala House is the Nalukettu, meaning "four" and "courtyards," a typology of four volumes arranged around an inner court. A covered veranda Nalukettu typically surrounds the house. The courtyard is the transition between public and private areas and is the focal point of the house. Elaborate wood details enrich the complex timber structures that are often the basis of these residences.
Vernacular architecture in India comes in many shapes and con:gurations as well. There is a complex vocabulary related to local materials, climate, and customs. The kachcha is a structure made from natural materials, grass, mud, bamboo, and sticks of any sort; the structures usually don't last long and require continuous repair and upkeep. The pukka is a simple structure created from stone or burnt brick. The walls tend to be plastered with clay relief decoration on the interior. As people became more wealthy, they created semi- pukka structures.
Further Information
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Haveli
Filigree work decorates the balconies
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Nawab Sahib Ki Haveli
Palace Complex from above with Jantar Mantar in distance
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TRADITIONAL DWELLINGS IN CHINA
Early Sites
China is a large, sprawling country that encompasses nearly one-third of the world's population. Dominated by strong emperors, its government encouraged uniform societal structures, and its architectural traditions remained relatively stable for centuries until Western culture intruded in the 10th century.
Traditional Dwellings in China
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Little is known from the period before 2000 BCE, as many historic sites are still inhabited and excavations are therefore diOcult and rare. However, remains of farming and craft villages have been found in the Yellow River Valley at Banpo, and current houses with circular and rectangular plans, for example, have been reconstructed according to ancient foundation remains. The ancient houses also featured lightweight, wooden roof structures and no walls, and an opening at the top allowed smoke from the central hearth to escape.
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Recent Rnds show a complete Neolithic village near Sian, a settlement that featured pottery kilns, burial sites and private dwellings using timber posts. The introduction of bronze created wealth and disruption while impacting, especially, the way to make weapons. The society dominated by bronze production ceased around the Rfth century BCE, making way for the introduction of iron. A society dominated by iron lasted into the 19th century.
Much earlier, however, in the time of Confucius (551–479 BCE), the area was dominated by permanent war and struggles. Confucius was a representative of a class of scholars who served feudal princes. Confucius was a proponent of all-encompassing, unprivileged education. Different phases in Chinese history saw an increase of the power of the central government, with the emperor remaining at the top of the great structure of bureaucracy. Peasant uprisings happened several times over the course of Chinese history. A variety of dynasties witnessed an unprecedented growth of population, and inventions like paper deRned the civilization.
In 1766 BCE, the Shang Dynasty emerged and dominated the Yellow River Valley. The Shang, who cast bronze and wrote in pictographs found on oracle bones, started a series of dynastic successions that lasted until the early 20th century.
Houses and Gardens
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Rectangular and round hut, Pan P'o Ts'un, China
Chinese architecture traces back to buildings dating from the sixth century BCE, but archaeological Rndings of pottery and writings show evidence of even older practices. As already mentioned, Chinese cosmology, which in^uenced the traditional house format, pictured the heavens as round and the earth as a cube. Based on that notion, the main traditional architectural principles include:
rectilinearity (orthogonal geometry based on straight lines and right angles)
axiality
horizontal aesthetic
freestanding pavilions in courtyards with a separate walled envelope around them
Private residences traditionally revolved around an inner courtyard onto which the individual rooms looked. The walls of these rooms also deRned the exterior boundary of the household, which often included an entrance that was off to the side rather than centered. All of this aimed to shield the interior world of the house from the bustle of the street and present an enclosed facade to the city.
Like the Roman house, the Chinese house served two programs and acted as both a residence and a setting for social ceremonies. The architecture frequently relied on axial arrangements and sequencing to establish the hierarchy between building parts. More important buildings were set on a podium and distinguished in size, and wherever possible, the complex would face south. A strong separation was desired between the private and the public, creating a distance or screen between the intimate and the active commercial streetscape.
Builders used, for the most part, rammed earth, mud-brick (particularly in the countryside), or timber. In wood construction, interior walls were often built according to a regular framing module, while exterior walls were constructed of thin wooden panels that were partially solid and partially open. Windows were made of heavy paper that could be removed during the summer months.
COURTYARD HOUSES
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Cave building and sunken courtyard, Shaanxi
Courtyard Houses
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A typical earth shelter plan in northwestern China
Cave buildings were a speci<c form of traditional vernacular housing that incorporated sunken courtyards. These were found in the south along the Yellow River, and the city of Pinglu in the south of Shanxi is famous for courtyards sunken in the style of caves. A sunken courtyard would serve as a private open space, with rooms dug off it offering stable temperatures and protection from the elements.
Pingyao courtyard house
Aerial view of courtyard house in Beijing
The courtyard houses of the city of Pingyao in the Shanxi Province show a longitudinal axis running through the yards from north to south. The Hoor level rises until it reaches the main hall, with the main entrance being in the southeast corner of the front wall. The roofs of the wings are concave and slope towards the long interior yard. Pingyao city is well preserved, with a strong city wall exhibiting a wealthy and active past.
Further Information:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/812
Kostof writes about the con<guration of traditional courtyard houses:
The front gate, cut into the perimeter wall, was as far as the peddler or the stranger would be allowed to contact the residents. Friends and relatives came into the courtyard and expected to be entertained in the porched central room (the ming), corresponding to the Roman tablinum, which sat on its own platform a little higher than the rest of the house. Deeper still were the rooms reserved for the womenfolk and the rituals of family life. The etiquette of the royal palace with its many courtyards and pavilions differed only in degree.
A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals
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Fayuan Temple, Beijing
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Courtyard houses
The formality that governed traditional residential architecture was largely absent from Chinese landscape design. Gardens instead aimed to create scenes of natural forms by composing sequences and vistas, and framing speci<c views. Some gardens developed in very small places by positioning rocks, a tree, sand, and perhaps a water feature; others, like those in Suzhou, a historical city in the east of China's Jinangsu Province, covered extensive areas. The Suzhou gardens date as far back as the period spanning 770 BCE to 476 CE.
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JAPANESE HOUSES AND GARDENS
Traditional Japanese houses were built out of impermanent materials, rendering them susceptible to Cre and decay. For this reason, no original examples have survived to the present.
However, ancient scroll paintings that depict urban life mention streets lined with one-story row houses and shops. Early buildings were very simple rectilinear structures. They comprised a typology that one might still see in the Shinto shrines.
In Japanese Architecture: A Short History, A.L. Sadler writes:
Architecture, properly speaking, entered Japan with Buddhism in the sixth century. The origin of both the philosophy and the architecture was India and they were only modiCed in passing through China and Korea.
Japanese Architecture: A Short History
Often Japanese architecture is presented as a branch of the Chinese architectural tradition; however, that appears too simple, as China was impacted by India, and complex relationships between religion and architecture come into play.
Construction of early houses was simple and featured wooden posts resting on foundation stones that supported plank-gabled roofs. Earth Roors predominated, though one room usually included a raised wood Roor. Walls were made from wattle and daub or other lightweight materials, and curtains covered the entrance doors to maintain privacy. Openings along the street stayed above eye level, which allowed light to enter but shielded the inhabitants from view. Small gardens were sometimes located in the back of the buildings.
Minkas
Japanese Houses and Gardens
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Minkas were wooden folk houses for farmers, artisans, and merchants that usually housed both animals and people. In its simplest form, a minka consisted of two areas: an earthen Roor section around the central hearth and a living section with raised wooden Roors to protect from ground damp. Minkas were generally modular, following the dimensions of rice-straw woven Roor mats called tatami that were roughly three by six feet in size, and they featured high roofs made of thatch, bark, split bamboo, or wooden shingles. The houses had little furniture. Floor cushions provided seating, and mattresses were stowed away during the day so rooms could serve multiple functions.
Traditional Japanese residential architecture commonly features a strong connection to nature through modest houses that continue to be imbedded in their surroundings.
Sadler writes:
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Kono family dwelling, Shikoku Minka Mura, exterior Description:
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Traditional house interior, view showing wooden frame construction, rooms divided by
sliding shoji and fusama screens, tatami Aoor mats, and furnishings Description:
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On the whole Japanese buildings give the impression of being planned from within outwards, for use and not to be looked at from outside. As they are so often secluded behind a courtyard the gate is apt to be the most noticeable feature, and, since by its shape it denoted the rank of its owner, it was at times of a somewhat elaborate nature.
Japanese Architecture: A Short History
The material was mostly wood. Bamboo pipes were used for waterlines, and joints were mortised, tendoned, or pegged, with metal avoided for connectors. Pottery was used for tiles.
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DWELLINGS IN AFRICA
Saharan Africa
Semi-nomadic people in the Sahara used the tent, made from wooden poles and fabric, as a portable type of shelter. Even though the tents emerged when the ancient people left the caves of the Sahara, similar tent structures are still in use by nomadic groups who appreciate the ease of construction and their Fexibility. A large variety of portable and permanent structures emerged in different regions throughout the African continent.
In southern Morocco, for example, families erected pairs of poles in a line, creating an extruded triangle shape on top of a bed of grass Fooring. Cloth was wrapped around the structure, and it was Ixed to the earth with guy ropes tied to pegs.
Dwellings in Africa
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Different types of tent structures and sizes emerged, all accounting for the materials available and needs to be addressed. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), for instance, tribes used split palms that were tied together into reeds, while others used woven mats or lattice covered with clay.
Adobe is a vernacular building material used in countless different ways on the African continent, creating shelter and offering sculptural qualities at the same time. In northeastern Togo, the tribe of the Batammariba built mud tower houses that became the symbol of Togo. The huts represent an example of the Togo people working with locally available materials to create dwellings that unite symbolic expression with the function of shelter.
In addition to a large variety of free-standing huts of different conIgurations, many tribes have developed arrangements situating individual spaces or huts around a courtyard like the Ashanti (or Asante) people residing in Ghana. Four rectangular volumes covered by gabled roofs are typically arranged around a square or rectangular courtyard. The adobe walls are adorned with stylized animals or geometric patterns. The warrior tribe of the Zulus built dome-shaped huts in northeastern South Africa, using saplings inserted into the ground covered with grass mats.
Note: Read more at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1140. Please study the map of other sites on the African continent.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Zulu hut
The Zulus arranged their domed huts into large circular villages often surrounded by a palisade fortiIcation. Parade grounds served as open pasture and offered space for military maneuvers. The Fali tribes in northern Cameroon lay out circular arrangements as well; huts with adobe walls and thatched roofs are arranged in a circular fashion forming complex compounds housing kitchens, granaries, and sleeping spaces. As seen in other early cultures, the granaries are among the most important structures.
Dogon Housing
Remarkable villages can be found existing in close relationship with their natural and topographic situations in Dogon country on the upper Niger River in Mali, Western Africa. The Dogon houses are built out of mud, combining granaries and houses all arranged around a small courtyard. Dogon villages lack streets or an obvious organization; they are often perched close to cliff faces, and it is believed they were organized according to their cosmological view.
The art follows the interest in fertility and features animals like crocodiles sculpted into adobe walls. Located in the dry Savannah, the traditional settlements are compact, closed villages close to the rocky slopes or in the plain always close to water sources. Defense was offered by the close arrangement of storage buildings that created the city walls. Communal buildings were used for meetings of the local council, and a central space provided areas for women to work.
In northern Togo, the dwellings of the Tanberma are several stories high and enclosed by a surrounding clay wall. The central living space is surrounded by buffer spaces acting as grain storage. Sleeping quarters are located on the better-ventilated upper Foor.
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Female =gure with mortar and pestle
Description:
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Dogon region, Mali, Gondo Plain, view from outskirts of village Description:
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CONCLUSION
Much can be learned about ourselves by studying everyday living spaces. Analyzing houses of common people tells us about common people. While it would be impossible to include an exhaustive account of all residential types from all of history in this one module (whole university courses could hardly do such a thing), the hope is that the pages herein have exposed you to enough diversity to begin making comparisons and contrasting dwellings in order to learn what is unique about each.
Remember to ask at least these questions as you read from our book:
What is the scale (size of living spaces in relation to the human body) of the dwellings?
Which materials were used, and do they have beneJts for light, heat, cooling, etc.?
How many people lived there, and in what kind of proximity to others?
What is the balance of privacy and publicity; are certain spaces intended to be one or the other?
What is the surrounding context: rural or urban, quiet or loud, Nat or sloped, or climatic variations?
Do the residents belong to a social group in relation to others; is there a social hierarchy?
Module Coursework Complete all items in any Graded Coursework, Other Activities, and Quizzes and Exams areas included in this module.
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