Re-activating Vernacular

After the industrial revolution and modern movement, our living environment has been massively casted concrete. Because it is convenient, strong and can be casted into almost any forms. And in the recent 2 decades, with the powerful digital modeling tools, our ability of form making is greatly improved because we don’t bother to think about physics and material in the virtual platform in the architectural design process. The trend of using concrete as a building material becomes more and more irresistible. But at the same time, our world are becoming homogenized. The regional boundary are becoming blurred.

With all the convenience above, we have almost forgotten to ask some important question: is concrete always the best solution? If not, what are the alternatives? Are we satisfied with the concrete massing behind all the fake claddings?

My thesis is going to research into the vernacular building technologies and materials, in order to extract some important characters that have the potential to be recycled, re-developed and adapted to the design and construction of contemporary architecture.

Peter Zumthor | Sumvitg, Switzerland | 1988

Jizhong Feng | Shanghai, China | 1986

Shu Wang | Ningbo, China |
2003-2008