Building Traditions
List by author
List by title
List all abstracts
Abstracts
(Building Traditions Introductory Essay)
An Introduction to Architecture + Building Traditions: lessons from ethno–architects
Paul Memmott, Aboriginal Environments
Research Centre, The University of Queensland
This paper offers an introduction and overview of the papers presented
to the ADDITIONS conference under the theme ‘Architecture + Building
Traditions’. These papers are specifically oriented toward scholars
of Pacific rim Indigenous cultures and their vernacular building traditions,
in order that a debate might arise regarding the human values of these
traditions and what they represent by way of contrast to Western constructs
of architecture. A general sub-theme running through this collection
of papers is how a theoretical framework of ‘architecture’
might be configured, which would serve as a cross-cultural tool to understanding
the nature of constructed and composed environments used as human habitats
across all cultural contexts. An extension of this question would be
why the Western concept of ‘architecture’ has so far not
achieved such a unifying position, at times excluding non-Western and
Indigenous building traditions. This new construct of architecture cannot
be dominated by period aesthetics or popular Eurocentric philosophies,
but must be useful for both theoretical and practical application to
the settlements of the non-European and Indigenous cultures of the world,
as well as to Western environments.
Between the Georgina and the Great Western Railway: The Transformation
and Maintenance of Aboriginal Architecture in North-West Queensland
Stephen Long, Aboriginal Environments
Research Centre, School of Geography, Planning and Architecture, The
University of Queensland
In 1897 the English ethnographer Walter Roth observed a dramatic transformation
in the construction of the cold weather domes of Aboriginal groups of
the Georgina River, north-west Queensland. Roth believed these changes
were influenced by the acquisition of new materials and items such as
western clothing and blankets. In the 1970s the anthropologist and architect
Paul Memmott made observations of the town camps of Aboriginal people
who had been displaced from the Georgina River to the railhead at Dajarra.
Memmott was concerned with moves by authorities to destroy this self-constructed
camp which was characterised by timber and tin humpies and externally
orientated domiciliary behaviour. Whereas Roth was concerned with changes
to the physical properties of a building type, Memmott was concerned
with a potential loss of freedom to define and maintain social environments
and patterns of domiciliary behaviour. This latter concern emerged amongst
a small number of architects and anthropologists working in the area
of Aboriginal housing in the 1970s including Heppell and Wigley of the
RAIA’s Aboriginal Housing Panel.
Drawing on case study material from fieldwork with the Dajarra Aboriginal
community of north-west Queensland, the current author’s paper
examines recent examples of the transformation and maintenance of Aboriginal
Architecture. The paper commences with an example of how a part of the
broader Aboriginal environment can be temporarily transformed into an
‘architectural environment’. The contemporary maintenance
of a number of architectural types described by Roth are examined. Lastly,
the transformation of non-Aboriginal built environments into Aboriginal
environments (or Aboriginal architecture) and the maintenance of these
environments is explored.
Bodybuilding
Lesley McFadyen, School of Humanities
and Sciences, University of Wales
This paper is concerned with construction work. More specifically,
it is concerned with understanding the earlier neolithic 'long cairns'
of south-west Britain as areas of construction, that is as construction
sites. These areas of construction have endlessly been presented by
archaeologists as buildings, as complete flawlessly enclosed façaded
architectures. Such constructional histories have collapsed centuries
of evidence for labour in these areas into one exclusive snapshot of
a 'monument' in use as a tomb for the dead. In this paper, I will attempt
to question which materials are considered as 'architectural', and what
kinds of evidence for labour within these areas of construction are
considered as 'architectural'. I have come to understand the efforts
of these labours more in terms of entwined assemblages: where materials
that were intimately caught up in people's identities, material culture,
were knitted into these areas of construction; where people attempted
to engage with past materialities and create material histories of their
own; where human bodies were literally incorporated into these assemblages
of things while construction work was actively taking place. It is these
dynamics that our archaeological and architectural histories should
be focusing on.
Five types of Traditional Melanesian Architecture of Papua New Guinea
Martin Fowler, University of Melbourne
From outside the palisade I had seen the great peaked top of the
sac-sac temple, the house-tamberan, and from the garamut house more
of it could be seen over the tops of the other houses, and even from
down in the dip it was still there, overtopping everything, three
times the height of the tallest coconut palm. It was hooded at the
top and the sides projected forward of the leaning facade, to shield
from the weather its still-indistinct design of colours.
— Colin Simpson, Plumes and Arrows: Inside New Guinea, Sydney,
1962 p.319
Valued by anthropology and other disciplines, Others’ traditional
architectures have been marginalised, or ignored by Architecture. A
few exceptions are briefly examined, giving contextual balance and introducing
the approach that defines the Five Types this paper presents.
Architecture's practices of exclusion inform the context against which
the concluding section asserts a need for Architecture to try harder
to appreciate and value Others' cultural productions. Great cross-cultural
richness of universal human heritage value is embedded in them. The
Fives Types foreshadow an extensive project, involving this typology
as a device to reveal clearer pictures of the worth of these Others'
architectures.
Looking at Maori Architecture
Bill McKay, Unitec, Auckland
This paper discusses the perception of “Maori architecture”
as it has been seen in the mainstream narrative of New Zealand architectural
history. It offers a critical overview of buildings by Maori from the
perspective of their portrayal in New Zealand architectural histories.
It is not so much about the buildings themselves, but rather the processes
of selection and representation and how this has reflected the political
and cultural concerns of the times.
The development of the Whare Nui is discussed as the product of interaction
with Pakeha culture and an assertive response to the forces of 19th
century settlement, then in the way it was “acquired” and
stereotyped as the sole form of Maori architectural expression by Pakeha
museums and histories.
This paper discusses other significant buildings that are not widely
known and do not figure in mainstream architectural histories, then
elucidates the political and theoretical reasons for the marginalising
of these buildings. These works have often appropriated pakeha forms,
but the political aims of these movements make it clear that this is
not a process of assimilation - indeed it is the assertive political
nature of these movements that has caused their art forms to be marginalised
in mainstream histories.
In addition the lack of “purity”, the mixing of Pakeha
and Maori motifs by Maori (as opposed to Pakeha), has not been viewed
as a desirable means to a new and distinctly New Zealand or bi-cultural
expression, but rather has been marginalised as “folk art”.
These art forms have often been considered illegitimate, not properly
Maori, not a Pakeha’s idea of what constitutes Maori art, but
nevertheless it is what Maori have been doing for much of the last 150
years.
Notes on Dyirbalngan dwellings: Ethno-architecture in the rainforests
of northeastern Queensland
Tim O’Rourke, Aboriginal Environments
Research Centre, The University of Queensland
The late nineteenth century European invasion of the wet tropical region
in north Queensland exploited the regional network of Aboriginal pathways
and rainforest clearings to begin the agrarian transformation of the
indigenous cultural landscape. The explorer pioneers reported on native
villages of well-thatched dwellings, the novelty of these settlements
drawing comment and illustration in the Sydney press. Photographers
also captured images of a distinctive ethno-architecture common to the
rainforest Aboriginal cultures. This research project uses these archival
data sources, ethnographic records, and fieldwork with Dyirbal people
of the Tully River to reconstruct the rainforest built environment at
the time of contact. A number of elder Dyirbalngan have direct experience
of customary camps, and their memories augment, inform and contradict
the archival data. The project aims to document Dyirbalngan building
technologies, dwelling types and settlement patterns. It also examines
the relationship of the built environment to the tropical ecology of
the region.
Drawing on three sources of data, this paper describes the largest
dwelling type in the Dyirbalngan repertoire, the yabun. Built
to accommodate extended families up to 30 people in number, the relative
size and permanence of yabun adds to the evidence on the sedentary
nature of Aboriginal settlements in resource rich environments. The
documentation of the traditional Dyirbalngan camps contributes to the
record of Aboriginal ethno-architectures across the continent and the
revision of the history of vernacular architecture in Australia.
Pukekaraka: a study in architecture and Whakapapa
Ellen Andersen
A common theme that runs through discussions on developments in Maori
architectural history is the concept of whakapapa. Often referred to
simply as genealogy, whakapapa is the tracing of lineage, the recollection
of history and the inclusion of self or present into layers of a continuum.
We are able to examine architectural tradition using this model, to
help elucidate the transformations and developments present in a country’s
architectural heritage. To provide a more specific investigation into
the changes seen in Maori building after European contact, an examination
of a particular site can help articulate what was happening around many
parts of the country at the same time. New Zealand’s North Island
town of Otaki is home to the Maori tribal settlement of Pukekaraka.
This 19-acre block was settled in the 1820’s by the sub-tribe
Ngati Kapumanawawhiti, and has undergone a building programme that extends
over 150 years. The architecture of the settlement is evidence of its
own heritage, through Maori, French and Pakeha inhabitation and interaction.
This site embodies many prominent issues in the case of Maori architecture,
the most specific of these - its progress, evolution and implications
within a changing society.
Pacific Building: the construction of tradition
Mike Austin, School of Architecture,
Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland
Architecture is usually taken to be the addition to building traditions,
both in time (building before architecture) and in practice (architecture
as decoration), but we now know that things are not that simple. The
notion that primitive architecture had no architects might derive from
the 1964 exhibition Architecture without Architects by Bernard Rudofsky.
If architects are those who represent building, then Rudofsky is the
architect of primitive architecture and might be credited with initiating
books about ‘non -pedigreed’ architecture by, Fraser, Guidoni,
Rapoport and Oliver. Somehow there is supposed to be some kind of shared
identity between primitive architectures, but this identity is defined
in opposition to the metropolitan and civilised with which it is contrasted.
The traditional however is not fixed, it is also endlessly subject to
additions so that every representation of tradition is a construction
of tradition. Today this is for the purpose of tourism where architecture
is a significant commodity. One purpose of this paper (and in general
the study of other architectures) might be to make strange Western architectural
practices. Differences from these practices will be discussed, using
examples from the architecture of the Island Pacific.
Recognising Aboriginal Architecture from Northeast Arnhem Land: The ‘ancestral aesthetic’ in Yolngu dwellings and ceremonial structures
Shaneen Fantin, Aboriginal Environments
Research Centre, University of Queensland
The dwellings and ceremonial structures of the Yolngu people in northeast
Arnhem Land contain ancestral representations which have anthropomorphic
and/or animal qualities. Although these representations and qualities
have been recorded by anthropologists and an environmental psychologist,
there has been little investigation undertaken into the relationship
between Yolngu ancestral histories and vernacular architecture. The
paper aims to extend this research by presenting the ‘ancestral
aesthetic’ qualities of a selection of Yolngu dwellings, structures,
and places based on the meanings of their names in various Yolngu languages,
their presence in Yolngu cosmogony, and their relationship to Yolngu
social identity as enacted through ceremony.
First I provide an outline of the Yolngu worldview and their living
patterns as recorded by explorers and anthropologists prior to 1935.
This creates a background for the introduction of the Yolngu architectural
repertoire, a typology of Yolngu dwellings and structures I have derived
from the literature and fieldwork. The religious and social symbolism
inherent in one structure from the Yolngu architectural repertoire is
demonstrated through an analysis of its presence in ancestral histories
and ceremony. This is followed by an exploration of how Aboriginal religious
architecture is created through the process of ceremony. I argue that
the union of song, dance, ground sculptures, ceremonial artefacts, and
shelters, make places which are imbued with ancestral power and constitute
a temporary religious architecture.
Tomb Architecture of Dynastic China: old and new questions
Qinghua Guo, The University of Melbourne
In China, a great number of tombs have survived from great antiquity,
especially since the Han dynasties (206 BC - AD 220). This fact stands
in stark contrast to the architecture: none of the ancient Chinese architecture
built before the Tang (AD 618-907) exists today. While much care and
scholarly effort has been devoted to the interpretation of architecture,
the tombs themselves have not received enough study and scrutiny. This
paper studies the underground chambers of the tomb architecture. The
purpose of the study is to identify the structural types, to trace their
development and to search for reasons underlying such development.
Uneven Boundaries that do not Flatten Easily
Albert L. Refiti, School of Art
and Design, Auckland University of Technology
This paper is an exploration of cross-cultural boundaries in Pacific
church architecture in Polynesia and New Zealand. Early churches were
adaptations of oblong fale or house with solid coral walls closing off
the sides, forming a long processional space. They were sited mostly
in prominent spot in villages, raised up high on stone and concrete
platforms, which often dwarfed the surrounding chiefs’ meeting
houses. Lime washed in white made the buildings glare brightly in the
tropical sun.
An interesting development with these was the way the Polynesians imagined
them to be the ideal version of the height of European spirituality,
of an architecture that represented the utopia of a heavenly paradise
in the eyes of a Euro-centric God. These buildings were, and still are,
romantic projections by Pacific people of what a European paradise might
be — fantasy creations caught in the absurd space of expectation.
These (mis)representations are at the heart of cross-cultural exchanges
and imaginings in this part of the world.
Now imagine another situation where these architectural imaginings
are re-transplanted to other locations, as is the case in the suburbs
of Mangere, Otara and Newtown in New Zealand. Somehow a double movement
of cross-cultural exchanges starts to blur and change the boundaries
of what a Pacific culture might be in these places. Once the product
of a (mis)representation of a Euro-Christian ideal, the buildings have
become the very objects a Pacific culture becomes identified with in
New Zealand.
Western ‘Architectural’ Ideology and its Impact on the Traditional Building Practices of the Maya Peoples of Guatemala and Southern Mexico
James Davidson, Department of
Architect, The University of Queensland
Chozas, or traditional Maya dwellings, in contemporary Guatemala
and southern Mexico signify, to Maya and non-Maya alike, poverty and
depression. They also stand as historical reminders to a time past but
not forgotten. They embody traditional cultural knowledge related to
belief, behaviours and products of Maya culture and are intimately linked
to the land, materials and climate of the region. Research has also
linked the Maya house to mythological beliefs regarding humankind’s
relationship to the universe. The current author’s research has
shown that no matter how much change ‘seems’ to have occurred
in the way people construct their environment, the behaviour associated
with any type of dwelling still has its basis in the traditional.
The question is, can ‘traditional’ building practices
synthesise with non-traditional methods of construction in enabling
Western practitioners to design culturally appropriate small-scale public
housing in non-Western and Indigenous built environments? This paper
responds by comparing the housing traditions of the Maya peoples of
Guatemala and southern Mexico to the non-traditional housing provided
by a Western change agency within the region. The purpose is to illustrate
the negative influence that such ‘Western-directed’ change
is having on the traditional housing of the region. The significance
of this analysis is to establish ways in which it is possible to synthesise
the traditional and non-traditional for culturally appropriate housing
programs in Guatemala and southern Mexico – establishing ways
in which Western understanding ‘could’ be relevant.
The Whare on Exhibition
Deidre Brown, School of Fine Arts,
University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Since the 1867 confiscation and removal of the Te Hau-ki-Turanga meeting
house from its turangawaewae (place of belonging) in Turanga to the
Colonial Museum in Wellington Maori architecture has been on exhibition.
Indeed, no museum-held Maori collection has been considered complete
without its own whare whakairo (decorated meeting house) and pataka
(decorated storehouse). It is only in the last thirty years that museums
have taken into account Maori views on the display of these taonga (cultural
treasures) the last decade being witness to a few instances of repatriation.
These recent developments have also been accompanied by a related interest,
on the part of contemporary Maori artists and architects, in making
Maori architecture specifically for the gallery setting. This paper
will examine the history of exhibited Maori architecture with specific
reference to the author's mostly unpublished research on museum collections
and recent curatorial whare (house) building projects undertaken by
herself (Hiko! 1999, Techno Maori 2001, Whare
2002) and others (Purangiaho 2001, etc.) in New Zealand
art galleries.
The work created specifically for exhibition is not related to a specific
marae, or a concept of turangawaewae, as it is a reality of life that
many Maori must try to make a transportable Maori space, or spaces,
for themselves within urbanised, transient, or sometimes globalised
contexts. These Maori live in cities, they travel regularly, and some
of them live permanently overseas. Their sense of identity is different
to that of their grandparents and great-grandparents and their art speaks
of a Maori world, as Darcy Nicholas puts it, that is not in the process
of changing, but has already changed. For them, what might be described
as Maori architectural arts, such as kowhaiwhai and tukutuku, and even
electronic whare, have become portable emblems of identity which can
be hung-up, set-up, worn or plugged-in to indicate Maori space. The
transient nature of contemporary exhibited Maori architecture, its transformation
through Maori and non-Maori viewing protocols and processes, and its
relationship to earlier museum-held and customarily-sited Maori buildings
will be original subjects of discussion.
top
|