Dissertation

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Extract

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Today people live in a society ruled by materiality and overconsumption. Buildings are demolished in order for others to take their place. New designs are created and others are thrown away because they are not trendy anymore. Tons of waste is generated every minute and threaten the balance in nature (Fig.1). Cities are dominated by concrete which is not only environmental-unfriendly but contributes to the lack of cultural diversity and natural identity (Fig 2.). Most of the materials which shape the layers of buildings are artificial and made from hazardous chemicals which cause disruptions in human health (McDonough, Braungart, 2002; Brand, 1995). In an environment that is screwed up visually, physically, and chemically, the best and simplest thing that architects, industrial designers, planners, etc., could do for humanity would be to stop working entirely. … It seems to me that we can go beyond not working at all, and work positively. (Papanek, 1984, p.18) What if there is a way to build long lasting buildings without creating waste, live healthy and preserve culture at the same time? It is time to learn from the past – how people created buildings throughout the centuries, perfecting the process to achieve a final product which met their needs. Traditional buildings carry the identity of a culture or nation and are built with locally sourced natural materials. Usually non- professionals erected these buildings. Designers and architects sometimes refer to such architecture with the term vernacular. In recent years, more practitioners have been 8 searching for sustainable solutions to current environmental problems and have expressed an interest in the knowledge of their ancestors. Sustainability is a popular term covering a broad range of subjects. The widely known explanation of this word was given in 1980 by the World Conservation Union. Sustainability means to meet ‘the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Conservation Union, 1980, cited in Thiele, 2013). In the years after the 80’s this becomes the topic designers and architects talk about (Thiele, 2013). The environmental design philosophy introduced in ‘Cradle to Cradle’ by William McDonough and Michael Braungart has offered ideas which changed desginers’ thinking (Young et al. 2015). Over the years many professionals have tried to work towards achieving sustainability, however the issues surrounding this goal are not yet fully resolved.

This dissertation aims to explore traditional building methods of the Bulgarian people and how such knowledge can be applied in contemporary projects. The dissertation engages with the benefits of preserving the knowledge from the past and stresses the importance of using it together with the technologies available today to shape the future of the world. Its purpose is to raise awareness about the importance of environmental, social sustainability, national identity and cultural diversity.