Based on thirty-five years of fieldwork, Glassie's Vernacular Architecture synthesizes a career of concern with traditional building. He articulates the key principles of architectural analysis, and then, centering his argument in the United States, but drawing comparative examples from many locations in Europe and Asia, he shows how architecture can be a prime resource for the one who would write a democratic and comprehensive history.

The architectural community has had a strong and continuing interest in traditional and vernacular architecture. Lessons from Vernacular Architecture takes lessons directly from traditional and vernacular architecture and offers them to the reader as guidance and inspiration for new buildings. The appropriate technical and social solutions provided by vernacular and traditional architecture are analysed in detail. International case studies focus on environmental design aspects of traditional architecture in a broad range of climatic conditions and building types.

The study of vernacular architecture explores the characteristics of domestic buildings in particular regions or localities, and the many social and cultural factors that have contributed to their evolution. In this book, vernacular architecture specialist Paul Oliver brings together a wealth of information that spans over two decades, and the whole globe. Some previously unpublished papers, as well as those only available in hard to find conference proceedings, are brought together in one volume to form a fascinating reference for students and professional architects, as well as all those involved with planning housing schemes in their home countries and overseas.

"The dwellings of hundreds of African ethnic groups offer a variety of ideas and construction practices which contradict the widespread image of the primitive huts comonly atributed to rural Africa... The cultural dimension and its application using different architectural practices are illustrated in this work."--Book jacket.

A comprehensive examination of American vernacular buildings.

« Invitation to Vernacular Architecture: A Guide to the Study of Ordinary Buildings and Landscapes is a manual for exploring and interpreting vernacular architecture, the common buildings of particular regions and time periods. Thomas Carter and Elizabeth Collins Cromley provide a comprehensive introduction to the field. » « Rich with illustrations and written in a clear and jargon-free style, Invitation to Vernacular Architecture is an ideal text for courses in architecture, material culture studies, historic preservation, American studies, and history, and a useful guide for anyone interested in the built environment. »--

Houses are more than a shelter from the elements: they also offer an unparalleled insight into the beliefs, ideas and experiences of the people who built and lived in them. In this engaging book, Matthew Johnson looks at the traditional houses that still exist throughout the English countryside and examines the lives of the ordinary people who once occupied them. His wide-ranging narrative takes in the medieval hall and the community it framed; the rebuilding and 'improvement'of houses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and the rise of the Georgian Order in both architecture and eighteenth century culture. This passionate book is animated by the conviction that old houses are much more than just pretty tableaux of an idyllic, unchanging rural England. Vernacular houses are compared to their larger, 'polite' counterparts, and English houses are placed in the wider context of the British Isles and the Atlantic world beyond. The result is a dynamic, compelling account of the development of houses in the English countryside and through this, a portrait of changing patterns of social life from medieval to modern times. Richly illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings, this book will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the significance of our built heritage and the historic landscape.