when i visited ireland, driving through the countryside was the most beautiful sight i've ever seen. the hills roaming on endlessly, long stone short-walls/fences, and tons of abandoned little homes. the grass would just grow right through the building. the irish leave it there as a landmark of sorts, a testament to the history of the country.

Anyway the consumption that this is architecture by non architects I think, is not the best way to meet it. Cirtainly the basic stuff academics are made of, do belong in the real world, among people that is just skill and not just that, Perfection in all , and all autodidact.
I think growing up in a particular surroundings do build an edge for doing it better, but just living there ,even for a short while, proberly ammo others to do likevise , just in another perception ---- what is best I don't know, but true none of the skills seem to be the item, anyway , atleast I know, that for the autodidact to break thru, is way more difficult, for those with a reson rather than a vision.

Had alot of experiences like that wandering around in China. There were a couple of beautiful towns with canals running through them, and one village we were had this beautiful half-moon shaped reservoir right in the middle of town with houses along the side.

might want to see this

This is tricky territory to deal with, it's easy for us to become knee-jerk and nostalgiac about stuff like this, even though I understand nobody's doing that here.

What do we mean by 'without architects', for example, especially since we like so much to quibble about the legal and otherwise uses of the term 'architect' here. In a lot of cases these houses and hill towns were built by networks of specialists who exchanged knowledge between each other and passed it down over time. How is that different, aside from the question of scale, from what we do today?

like this?



good news is that if you can read portuguese, you know that both shacks #110 and #120 are for sale...

765, that's what I was going to say. Just because the designers/builders weren't licensed architects (nothing of the sort has existed until extremely recently) doesn't mean they aren't architects.

A lot of the architectural traditions in most of the world were refined and passed down through generations of builders... until recently, that is. I think it's important to try to understand and appreciate the long history of vernacular and indigenous building - as we're seeing more and more (especially in regards to sustainability) , it has a lot to teach us.

It seems a lot of vernacular was produced by people that took pride in their work, and it was for themselves, neighbors, and families. Modern american vernacular is overrun by developers trying to build as cheaply as possible, no matter what the selling price.

I suspect old buildings accumulate refinement (fine spaces more than materials) by a survival-of-the-fittest type selection of what to keep and what to change - in new england farm houses or italian villages, the rooms that welcome the sun in the right way, or circulate the best, or fill out the best composition, are kept and each generation alters what doesn't work - not allways particularly innovative, but sometimes elegant

Good comments guys.

Clamshell I have family in Adrano, Sicily, province of Catania. Althrough your title is a little misleading I couldnt agree with you more on the shear beauty of Southern Italy. The passage of time and the layers of buildings in over five centuries is simply amazing. I am always intrigued when I visit every summer always finding something new. I visited Calabria to get on a train at Villa San Giovanni all the way to Florence and the 8 hour scenery was worth every euro! Even though my family pushed me to take the plane... I took the train! 8 hours of beautiful beaches on one side and picturesque hills on the other. Its was surreal.