Search Results (274)

The accelerating climate crisis and resource depletion demand new architectural paradigms that move beyond linear models of production and consumption. While the concept of Intelligent Ecologies is often associated with digital and artificial intelligence systems, this study reinterprets it through the lens of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), vernacular architecture, and constraint-based innovation. Grounded in a critical reading of key references in ecological knowledge, vernacular studies, circular economy theory, and responsible innovation, the paper develops a conceptual framework tracing a trajectory from TEK to adaptive and circular design. Two architectural case studies, the ARCò kindergarten in Sant’Alessio (biological cycle) and the Parabase Elementa housing project in Basel (technical cycle), are analysed to demonstrate how natural and collective intelligence can be operationalised in contemporary practice. The findings show that circularity emerges not as an added sustainability layer but as the logical outcome of design under ecological and material constraints. The study concludes that Intelligent Ecologies should be understood as socio-ecological systems in which architecture participates in living processes through adaptive, regenerative, and temporally open strategies, thereby repositioning innovation as continuity with historically embedded forms of ecological intelligence rather than technological rupture. Full article

This study examines the kalif structure, a unique and increasingly invisible component of the rural architecture in the Eastern Black Sea region that is currently under threat of extinction, along with the tradition of kalif-guarding integrated with this structure. Historically constructed to protect agricultural production from wildlife, kalifs are not merely functional shelters but also multi-layered memory objects where collective solidarity and social interaction are reproduced. A qualitative research method was adopted for the study, utilizing literature review, on-site physical documentation, and technical analysis centered on Yücehisar village in the Pazar district of Rize. Within the scope of the research, the material use and construction techniques of kalifs are detailed from an architectural perspective, and these practices are evaluated through the lens of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The findings indicate that the loss of the physical presence of kalifs due to the transition from corn to tea cultivation and rural migration signifies the dissolution of a production-based culture of living. Consequently, the study reveals the critical importance of incorporating the kalif and the act of kalif-guarding into academic literature and cultural memory within the framework of Intangible Cultural Heritage standards to preserve local identity and rural memory. Full article

Traditional wooden granaries in rural Türkiye are disappearing at an accelerating rate due to agricultural abandonment, rural depopulation, and the absence of systematic documentation and conservation frameworks. In the Sındırgı district of Balıkesir, one of the richest concentrations of vernacular granary architecture in the Marmara Region, these structures remain largely unprotected and unstudied within a sustainable design framework, constituting an urgent conservation challenge. This study aims to assess the current preservation status of Sındırgı granaries, classify their typological diversity, and evaluate their sustainability performance against a defined set of ecological design criteria. A mixed methods approach was employed, combining a systematic literature review with extensive fieldwork across 33 neighborhoods. In total, 1411 granaries were identified and grouped into five typologies: evli, Simav, kabak, sandık, and üstü örtülü sandık. These typologies were systematically compared to five parameters: spatial distribution across neighborhoods, plan and section geometry, construction system and structural elements, material selection and condition, and preservation status. This comparison revealed that typological variation is not incidental but directly reflects differences in land ownership, agricultural production capacity, topography, and distance from the district center. Representative examples from each typology were documented through onsite measurements, photogrammetry, technical drawings, and interviews with local craftsmen. The sustainability performance of the granaries was then assessed across seven ecological design criteria: spatial organization, building form design, structural element design, material use and conservation, design with nature, urban design area planning, and nature interaction. The findings demonstrate that the long-term durability of these structures depends on an interrelated system of climate-responsive design decisions rather than any single factor. The study concludes by proposing a holistic conservation model comprising typology-based inventory, roof water moisture-focused intervention, periodic monitoring, and transmission of vernacular building knowledge, a framework applicable to comparable rural granary heritage across the region. Full article

The construction sector accounts for approximately 36% of global final energy consumption and close to 40% of total CO₂ emissions, making it a primary target of international climate policy. Despite this growing attention, the indigenous building traditions of the Ecuadorian Andes remain virtually absent from the international scientific literature on vernacular sustainability. This study presents a systematic field documentation and bioclimatic assessment of vernacular bahareque dwellings in the Kichwa-Saraguro community of Ilincho, canton of Saraguro, province of Loja, Ecuador (2700 m a.s.l.). A field survey of 30 dwellings identified five morphological typologies—I-1P, I-2P, 2B, L, and C—with typology C, a compact C-shaped block with a three-sided portal, accounting for 53.3% of the sample. A structured multi-criteria framework of 48 bioclimatic indicators distributed across eight categories, adapted to the cold-temperate mountain climate of the study area, was applied to quantify each typology’s bioclimatic performance. All typologies exceeded 75% overall compliance on the global Bioclimatic Performance Index (BPI), with typology C achieving the highest value (88.5%). Categories F (Materials and construction) and H (Cultural and social aspects) scored 100% across all typologies, reflecting system-level properties of the bahareque constructive system rather than morphological differences between typological variants; a supplementary morphological BPI restricted to Categories A–E and G is reported. An exploratory, uncalibrated energy simulation of typology C provided indicative evidence consistent with the expected thermal behavior of a high-thermal-mass bahareque envelope, with simulated minimum temperatures in the sleeping area within the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 55-2013 comfort range (T-min 18.80 °C). Collectively, these findings contribute quantified bioclimatic documentation of vernacular bahareque architecture in Ilincho, identifying attributes—encompassing solar control, spatial compactness, high-thermal-mass envelope performance, and use of locally sourced low-embodied-energy materials—that may inform sustainable rural housing discussions in the Ecuadorian Andes and comparable high-altitude mountain contexts. Its documentation in the indexed scientific literature constitutes a step toward recognizing this constructive heritage as a practical resource for low-carbon building policy. Full article

The evaluation of intervention strategies for the existing building stock, within the context of energy transition and increasing attention being given to sustainability, requires approaches capable of systematically integrating economic and environmental dimensions over the entire building life cycle. From this perspective, the present study develops and applies an integrated Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model aimed at comparing two alternative intervention strategies for traditional residential buildings: conservative retrofit of the existing structure and demolition with reconstruction according to Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) criteria. The methodological framework, compliant with ISO 15686-5 and based on a simplified LCA-oriented approach inspired by EN 15978 principles, is applied to a representative case study of Swedish vernacular wooden architecture (röd stuga) located in the municipality of Falun. The assessments are carried out over 50- and 100-year time horizons, adopting Net Present Value (NPV) as the primary economic indicator and Global Warming Potential over 100 years (GWP100) and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) as environmental indicators. The results show that the NZEB scenario, despite higher initial investment costs, achieves a significant reduction in life-cycle environmental impacts, with a decrease of approximately 20–25% in terms of GWP100 and about 45–50% in terms of CED compared to the retrofit scenario. The analysis also highlights a differentiated behavior of environmental indicators—while operational energy use remains dominant in cumulative energy demand, embodied impacts become increasingly significant in the GWP balance, particularly in high-performance scenarios. From an economic perspective, conservative retrofit results in lower global costs over the considered time horizons, although the economic gap tends to narrow in the long term. The integrated LCC–environmental assessment approach highlights the economic–environmental trade-offs and provides a replicable decision-support framework for sustainable regeneration policies targeting the existing residential building stock. Full article

The National Register of Historic Places (NR) is a structured artifact of meaning-making that encodes disciplinary values linking architectural and cultural significance to wealth and stylistic distinction. In doing so, it systematically underrepresents vernacular, working-class, and the built environments of racially and ethnically marginalized communities. This paper uses artificial intelligence (AI) to examine how that meaning is constructed. We analyze the preservation record across three scales: a national dataset of 100,117 NR listings (1966–2025), a state-level profile of Illinois’s 1997 NR listings, and a close analysis of Lake Forest, Illinois, a community whose exceptional concentration of NR-listed estate architecture makes it an ideal site for examining how preservation significance has been defined and what it excludes. Two parallel AI methods are applied to eighteen Lake Forest nomination documents and their associated photographs. Natural Language Processing (NLP) analyzes nomination text to trace how preservation professionals connect buildings to cultural value; blind AI image analysis examines the same properties to assess how a model trained on cultural imagery constructs visual meaning independently. NLP analysis reveals a corpus dominated by architectural description, with social history, landscape, and labor systematically underrepresented. The visual analysis confirms and amplifies the nomination record’s class-based assumptions while reproducing the same omissions regarding labor, diversity, and community context. These findings inform debates about AI’s potential to audit existing listings and support nominations for underrepresented property types, while showing that without deliberate corrective design and policy reform, such tools are as likely to replicate the preservation system’s inequities as to repair them. Full article

As a key convergence zone between the Circum-Bohai Sea cultural circle and the land–sea interface of Northeast Asia, the Liaoning coastal area has been shaped by multicultural integration, endowing its dwellings with distinctive cultural hybridity and geographic adaptability. This study takes 160 traditional dwellings as samples and integrates field surveys, historical documents, and multi-source geographic data to construct a multi-dimensional feature identification system. Quantitative classification is conducted using principal component analysis and systematic clustering, and external validity is verified through historical document comparison and spatial overlay analysis. The results indicate that five dwelling pedigrees are identified: the Coastal Quadrangle Courtyard Type, the Coastal Flat-Roofed Middle Courtyard Type, the Coastal Gabled-Roof Small Courtyard Type, the Mountainous Gabled-Roof Small Courtyard Type, and the Plain Flat-Roofed Long Courtyard Type. Regarding the formation mechanism, geographic detectors reveal that the coupling effect of migration culture and topographical conditions is the dominant mechanism shaping pedigree differentiation. This study verifies the applicability of integrating quantitative and qualitative methods in dwelling research within multicultural convergence zones, constructs a pedigree framework for traditional dwellings in coastal Liaoning, and provides a theoretical basis for the systematic understanding and sustainable conservation of vernacular architectural heritage in the Circum-Bohai Sea region. Full article

Low-lying and riverine areas of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia are increasingly exposed to compound flood hazards driven by intensified monsoon rainfall, sea-level rise, and land-use change. Recent projections indicate stronger extreme rainfall, fewer dry days, but more high-intensity events, and significant increases in annual rainfall and sea level, all of which elevate fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flood risk. In this study, climate-responsive vernacular architecture is investigated as a passive, low-carbon strategy for enhancing residential flood resilience in East Malaysia. Traditional stilted Malay kampung houses, Bornean longhouses, and coastal stilt settlements were explored since they have historically evolved to cope with seasonal inundation, high humidity, and tropical thermal loads. In this study, the following was conducted: (1) historical flood and climate analysis for key basins (Rajang, Sarawak, Kinabatangan); (2) morphological and typological analysis of vernacular dwellings; (3) parametric physical and hydrodynamic simulation of elevated and amphibious configurations; and (4) multi-criteria performance assessment based on structural robustness, flood safety, thermal comfort, cultural acceptability, and embodied carbon. Results from scenario-based simulations show that well-configured stilted typologies, with optimized floor elevation, breakaway panels, and porous undercroft zones, can reduce flood damage depth by 60–80% and expected annual loss by 30–55%. By translating these findings into a design guideline and decision matrix for climate-responsive housing in East Malaysia, contemporary reinterpretations of vernacular strategies were embedded into Malaysian building codes, state-level planning policies, and community-led upgrading programmes. Full article

The sustainability of traditional vernacular dwelling heritage has become an important academic concern. This study takes the traditional vernacular dwellings of the Ancient City of Pingyao as its research object and develops a macro–meso–micro multi-scale analytical framework. Drawing on four dimensions—environment, layout, architecture, and culture—it systematically investigates the geographical environment, spatial pattern, and architectural forms of Pingyao’s traditional vernacular dwellings using GIS spatial analysis, UAV oblique photogrammetry, and 3D laser scanning technologies. On this basis, an AHP–FCE comprehensive evaluation model is introduced to assess their sustainability. The results indicate that the formation and persistence of these dwellings are closely associated with favourable natural environmental conditions, a clear and orderly spatial pattern, and well-structured courtyard and architectural forms. The comprehensive evaluation yields a score of F = 3.23, indicating a moderately high level of sustainability. The four criterion layers are ranked as follows: architecture, layout, environment, and culture. The key determinants are structural safety, material authenticity, spatial integrity, and the continuity of traditional character. By combining multi-scale analysis with comprehensive evaluation, this study aims to clarify the priority directions for the conservation of traditional vernacular dwelling heritage in the Ancient City of Pingyao, thereby providing a scientific basis for its sustainable development. Full article

Huizhou Ancient Roads serve as a vital linear heritage carrier for inheriting Huizhou regional culture and supporting rural cultural revitalization. By analyzing the spatial pattern of Huizhou Vernacular Architecture and its correlation with ancient roads, this study provides a scientific basis for the systematic conservation, integrated development and sustainable utilization of Huizhou cultural heritage, as well as the promotion of cultural sustainability. Employing nearest neighbor index, kernel density analysis, and geographic detector, the results reveal that: (1) The spatial distribution of Huizhou Vernacular Architecture shows significant clustering and imbalance, forming a spatial pattern featuring “one main center, two cores, and extension along roads”, with the most intensive distribution in Shexian and Jixi counties. (2) Ancient road density, settlement density and freight volume are the dominant factors. Ancient road traffic and social culture are the most influential dimensions affecting the spatial distribution of Huizhou Vernacular Architecture. The formation and layout of Vernacular Architecture rely on multi-factor synergy, emphasizing multi-dimensional coupling. (3) Ancient road density and settlement density present the highest spatial variability, while elevation and slope show the lowest spatial variability. Mean elevation, mean slope, ancient road density, settlement density and cultural resources are all positively correlated with the distribution of Vernacular Architecture. Full article

High-resolution Köppen–Geiger projections indicate that several cold desert (BWk) regions are likely to transition toward hot desert (BWh) regimes during the twenty-first century, challenging the environmental logic of vernacular architecture. Despite extensive simulation-based research on passive cooling in established BWh contexts, limited attention has been given to climate-type transition zones and to the morphological continuity of traditional housing systems. This study investigates the adaptive capacity of Bukhara’s courtyard houses under projected BWk–BWh reclassification. Employing an analytical generalization approach, the research integrates systematic literature mapping, typological morphological analysis, and a threshold-based compatibility matrix. Findings reveal that climate transition produces a form of morphological discontinuity by weakening diurnal discharge assumptions embedded in high thermal mass systems. However, courtyard typologies retain a resilient passive core when recalibrated through microclimatic amplification strategies. The proposed staged adaptation framework contributes a heritage-sensitive decision model that reconciles climatic performance with spatial integrity, offering transferable guidance for cli-mate-intensifying desert regions. Full article

Under the background of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, Zhejiang Province is promoting “Zhejiang-style Vernacular Dwellings” as a crucial measure to enhance the rural living environment and architectural appearance. However, traditional stylistic control tools, such as standardized rural housing design atlases, exhibit limitations including weak responsiveness to villagers’ individualized needs and high professional thresholds. Consequently, they struggle to address the bottlenecks in grassroots governance efficiency caused by massive and personalized housing demands. Meanwhile, when applied to architectural design, general generative AI technologies often suffer from “structural hallucinations” and the weakening of regional characteristics due to a lack of physical tectonic constraints. Oriented towards the governance requirements of the Zhejiang Provincial Rural Housing Design Guidelines, this study proposes a compliance evaluation-driven “Contour-Semantic-Image” hierarchical generative control framework. This aims to construct a visual scheme generation and pre-screening workflow that deeply adapts to the logic of rural governance. At the data level, this research aggregates multi-source materials, including official standardized atlases, government stylistic guidelines, and real-world photographs. Through expert screening and standardized processing of 596 schemes, a dataset of 333 high-quality, finely annotated structured samples is constructed. Furthermore, a human-guided, machine-segmented workflow assisted by Segment Anything Model 2 (SAM 2) is employed to establish a semantic label system comprising 4 major categories and 13 subcategories of components, thereby achieving the structural deconstruction of architectural prior knowledge. At the generation level, a two-stage model is trained based on Stable Diffusion and ControlNet: Stage I utilizes contour conditions and “layout prompts” to generate semantic label maps, aiming to strengthen component topology and layout consistency; Stage II employs the semantic label maps and “style prompts” as conditions to generate photorealistic facade images. By utilizing explicit semantic constraints to guide the model from pixel synthesis to logical generation, it achieves the controllable rendering of stylistic details and material expressions. At the evaluation level, an automated verification system featuring “clause translation–metric calculation–comprehensive scoring” is proposed. It conducts scoring, re-ranking, and diagnostic feedback on the generated variants across three dimensions: Design Rationality (Q), General Compliance (G), and Jiangnan water-town Regional Characteristics (P-J), forming a closed-loop “Generation-Evaluation-Feedback” workflow. Overall, this framework provides a “visualizable, evaluable, and explainable” pathway for scheme generation and pre-screening in the digital governance of rural architectural appearance. Full article

This paper studies the sustainable integration of vernacular construction techniques and natural materials in the context of sustainable development, using Danube Delta UNESCO World Heritage site as case study. Through a comprehensive literature review, this research examines the potential of clay-based composites reinforced with plant fibres such as reed, bulrush, and hemp as environmentally responsible building materials. The methodology, based on a narrative literature review, combines bibliometric analysis with a case study approach to evaluate scientific interest in vernacular construction and to identify locally available natural resources. Results reveal increasing academic attention to sustainable vernacular architecture, highlighting clay-based composite’s favourable hygrothermal properties and the remarkable thermal insulation capabilities of vegetable fibres. The case study shows that most Danube Delta’s natural construction materials—particularly the world’s largest continuous reed vegetation—remain underutilized. The research concludes that revitalizing traditional construction methods, by integrating modern technological innovations, presents significant potential for sustainable rural development, preserving cultural heritage, enhancing regional identity, and reducing environmental impact in construction while supporting local economic growth through culturally authentic tourism. Full article

Traditional architectural decorative patterns are increasingly reused in contemporary design, yet the link between object selection and design generation often remains experience-driven: public perceptual differences are rarely formalized, and evaluation outcomes seldom constrain generative decisions. This study proposes a perceptual demand-driven layered filtering and design response model (PD–LFDR) that treats traditional architectural decorative patterns as comparable and traceable design resources. Perceptual inputs from multiple stakeholders are converged via Kansei-based semantic aggregation into four core dimensions—symbolism, heritage authenticity, recognition and regionality—and are organized as a perceptual evaluation matrix. Grey relational analysis (GRA) is then applied using an expected perceptual level as the reference sequence to identify representative pattern samples suitable for design intervention. An empirical study on decorative patterns from Shaanxi vernacular dwellings demonstrates a closed-loop workflow: (i) first-round GRA filters representative theme samples, (ii) a second-round GRA selects operable minimal gene units, and, under a unified parametric rule set and a traceable two-layer parameter basis (parameter domain definition and parameter selection), (iii) multiple alternatives are generated and re-evaluated through a third-round GRA to support scheme selection. Robustness checks indicate stable rankings under moderate parameter and weight variation, improving interpretability, reproducibility, and decision efficiency for the computational translation of regional cultural visual resources. Full article

Mountainous areas are prone to extreme climatic conditions, and the lack of modern infrastructure makes it difficult to achieve sustainable construction. To overcome the challenges of thermal comfort, robustness, and post-occupancy performance in hazard zones like the Neelum Valley in Pakistan, this research proposes a Digital–Vernacular Integration Model (DVIM), which integrates traditional architectural expertise with modern digital technology. The research design was based on mixed-methods research with the integration of qualitative information obtained through interviews and household surveys (n = 120), and quantitative measures of indoor thermal environments and hazards-based spatial analysis. Vernacular buildings made of wood, stone, and mud were digitally reconstructed using geometric modeling with SketchUp and Autodesk Revit with building information (BIM)-based modeling for assigning materials’ properties. Simulations were carried out using DesignBuilder software with EnergyPlus engines for assessing thermal environment, snow resistance, and seismic resistance to local hazards. The incorporation of the double-layered wall resulted in the improvement of heat retention by 12 to 15%. Moreover, the optimized roof and walls of the hybrid model resulted in the reduction of the sensible heating demand by 42% when compared to the conventional log houses and nearly 80% when compared to the conventional concrete block houses of the modern era. The proposed hybrid model resulted in R-values ranging from 33 to 40 m²·K/W, which are significantly higher when compared to the R-values for conventional timber walls (R = 15 m²·K/W) and concrete block walls (R = 1.0 to 1.3 m²·K/W). These results show the effectiveness of the digitally optimized hybrid model in improving the thermal performance in severe climatic conditions. The results clearly show that the integration of traditional architecture with digital simulation can ensure that modern comfort and safety standards are met without affecting the cultural identity of the region. The proposed framework will be implemented in pilot projects to ensure that the hybrid architectural models are incorporated into regional building regulations. Full article