Archinect - News

(A) Primitive Hut or open-air abattoir?

2020-03-24T00:28:00-04:00

Archaeologists have unearthed about 70 mammoth-bone structures across Eastern Europe. But this one is the oldest on the Russian plain thought to be made by modern humans. Most of the previously identified structures were small, leading researchers to conclude they were most likely used as winter dwellings on a nearly treeless landscape. But the researchers said this circle was too large for a roof, which might suggest it was used for a different purpose.

Nicholas St. Fleur provides an update on what scientists and researchers have been learning from a 25,000-year-old mammoth-bone circle, first discovered in 2014, 300 miles south of Moscow.

h/t @The Ice Age

OMG! designs "Primitive Hut," a pavilion that will decompose over time

2017-10-19T19:18:00-04:00

In his Essai sur l’Architecture, the 18th-century French architecture theorist Marc-Antoine Laugier developed the concept of the Primitive Hut. Exploring the origins of architecture, Laugier described the primitive man as constructing a shelter to protect himself from nature. The iconic frontispiece of the second edition, by the artist, Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen, made the book's argument clear. It shows an allegorical figure, representing architecture, pointing to the primitive hut, a new structural clarity found in nature.

Essai sur l'Architecture, frontispiece by Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen. Image via Wikipedia.

Drawing by OMG!, inspired by Charles-Dominique Joseph Eisen's frontispiece.

Martin Miller from Antistatics and Caroline O’Donnell from CODA—previously featured in our Small Studio Snapshot series—partnered with one another as OMG! to create their own Primitive Hut. Inspired by Marc-Antoine Laugier’s work, the duo created a pavilion made of decomposing materials tha...

Back to basics: building primitive architecture using only primitive tools

2016-10-12T13:33:00-04:00

Of the countless DIY YouTube channels out there, Primitive Technology has to be one of the most impressive. Starring an unidentified Australian protagonist—known as "Prim" by some within the channel's millions of followers—the videos document our primitive hero building huts, spears, a forge, and all kinds of other tools for survival using only what he finds in the bush of Northern Queensland.

Perhaps one of the most impressive projects, for the labor, time and complexity involved, is the tiled roof hut, complete with in-floor heating and an oven. How's that for design/build?

Despite always appearing shirtless in his videos, Prim still has a t-shirt tan, backing up the channel's origin story as a free-time hobby within a dude's otherwise modern life (although he'd like to pursue it full-time). All of his videos have millions of views, presenting one kind of project each episode, with no narration or introduction—only occasional subtitles—making them remarkable pedagogical resources fo...

"What's wrong with the primitive hut?" explores architecture's origins

2014-03-05T17:38:00-05:00

The Bowerbird is named for its very particular mating ritual, where the male constructs an elaborate bower-structure and decorates it with a shrine of colorful objects in order to attract potential mates. Males will spend hours gathering sticks and shiny things to complete their bower, which tend to follow two basic typologies: a tent-like cone of sticks, or two stick-walls in parallel, forming a little avenue. Whether the bowerbird builds the tent or the avenue depends pretty consistently on the species, but once the bowers are bedazzled, the structures become absolutely unique to that particular bird and its surroundings.

It’s not clear whether the bowerbird’s habits predate the first instance of human architecture, but to imagine that an inception point of our architectural history owes itself to a horny bird throws an interesting irreverence into the thought-piece of “what is the origin of architecture?”. Last Monday at the REDCAT theater in downtown Los Angeles, Pier Paolo Tam...