HOUSE FORM AND CULTURE BY – AMOS RAPOPORT
SUBMITTED BY : SHRIPAL.M.SHAH B.ARCH V SEM 2BV08AT034 B.V.B.C.E.T.
HOUSE FORM AND CULTURE The book, “House form and culture” is consid ered to be the first one in dealing with the
concept of the “why’s” of the house form, rather than just making descriptions of house forms. It is an important source of information on the cross cultural aspects of the house form. The author was extremely successful in exploring and editing the available scattered sources of information and compiled them into one extensive work. The why’s, in Rapoport’s opinion, is not related to physical constraints as it was commonly
believed, but to a more complex web of factors, out of which the culture and freedom of choice is the prominent one. The object of this book remains on how and why the forms are created and influenced by several factors. This book depicts ideas from the fields of anthropology and architecture. Rapoport methodically builds an argument for his hypothesis that "The different forms of dwellings is a complex phenomenon for which no single explanation will suffice". He supports his arguments with hundreds of examples drawn from the literature, as in the style of a review article. Author ’s ideas are totally different from traditional patterns of study in architectural theory and history where efforts have always been on monuments and “high style” buildings of various civilizations. The foundation of the book was laid on the
intellectual debate of the meaning and characteristics of folk, primitive, and vernacular buildings on one side, and modern buildings on the other –possibly even forming a continuum. Relying on the work of Gould and Kolb (1964), Redfield (1965) and Mumford (1961), among others, he argued that “primitive” buildings were produced by “primitive” societies which had a “diffuse knowledge of everything by all” with elementary
technology. In order to prove this assertion, Rapoport structures the book in six chapters, logically interconnected. The first chapter,”The nature and definition of the field” is a necessary attempt to define the work’s discipline area , given its innovativeness. He asserts that the
negligence of study of historical monuments and the architectural theories put forth by them has resulted in two standards of building typology. One – “Important” buildings, the historical ones and two – “Unimportant”buildings and their environment.
The chapter deals with defining , classifying , listing and describing house types under primitive and vernacular buildings. The second chapter , “Alternative theories of house form” presents alternative
hypothesis on the origin of the house form, and questions them as the true origin.Throughout this chapter, he sequentially describes and questions the ideas of climate, technological constraints, and influence of place , defense , economics and religion as the generators of form. In third chapter, ”Socio-cultural factors and house form”, he details his theory, which he summarizes as the house form is not simply the result of physical forces or any single casual factor, but is the consequence of a whole range of socio-cultural factors seen in their broadest terms. He confirms the forms of primitive and vernacular buildings have symbolic values, since symbols serve a culture by making the ideas strong. At the same time, the house forms are modified by climatic forces, choice of site and availability of materials and construction techniques. Rapoport devotes next two chapters to review two of the previously discarded hypothesis, acknowledging that they are important if limited to the status of secondary or modifying factors. Chapter iv “Climate as modifying factor” examines the climatic determinism accounting
for the range and diversity of house forms.The impact of climatic factors will depend on its severity and forcefulness, hence the degree of freedom it allows, has a major effect on the forms man may wish to create for himself. The skill of primitive and peasant builders in dealing with climatic problems and their ability to use minimum resources for maximum comfort is appreciated by the author. Chapter v “Construction, materials and technology as modifying factors”, he explains
the reason for construction and materials for being regarded as modifying factors, inspite of their fundamental nature, as they do not yet determine form.
This chapter deals with the universal problems of enclosing of space, weathering, wind forces and probably the ways in which different people have solved them and the form consequences these solutions may result in. On chapter vi ,”A look at the present”,Rapoport ponders if house forms today still reflect
those old concerns which he has been exploring throughout the book.He concludes that they do, by providing examples based on both the developing countries and the American house. His conclusion, that the house form is a matter of choice and that today’s problem is one of excessive choice, clearly sets his work on the opposite side of
materialist, Marxist-oriented approaches to the origin of house form. He retorts that the greater institutionalization and specialization of modern life has resulted in loss of dominant characters of primitive and vernacular building forms.He highlights the loss of clear hierarchy in settlements and within the society, and all buildings getting equal prominence. Utilitarian view is rather submerged with the strong appeal of aesthetics of buildings.He claims the present era is one with excessive choice, the difficulty of selecting or finding constraints. The house form now is a domain of fashion alone.This is an alarming note and leads to the growing need of understanding of the criticality and the primacy of socio-cultural factors and the resulting house form and its choice.The study of past can give a rather loose framework where interplay of the constant and changeable aspects of man can find its expression. CONCLUSION: The book indeed is right on the edge between old orientalizing perspectives on folk architecture typical of works like Rudofski’s architecture without architects , and more rigorous and broader approaches such as Paul Oliver’s edited encyclopedia of
vernacular architecture of the world.
Because of its being historically in the middle, Rapoport’s book brings up significant
points that have become themes in the recent discussions on the topic. This book tries to propose a framework for looking at the great variety of house types and forms and the forces which affect them. It attempts to bring some order to this complex field and thus create better understanding of the form determinants of dwellings. It overlaps from many disciplines like architecture , cultural geography , history , crosscultural studies and even the behavioral sciences. This is an appreciable attempt at dealing with house forms and their origins.
SUBMITTED BY :
SHRIPAL.M.SHAH B.ARCH V SEM 2BV08AT034 B.V.B.C.E.T.
