New Vernacular Architecture. . - Modern Vernacular Possible? - book review

Architectural Review, The, March, 2002 by Bobby Open

By Vicky Richardson. London: Laurence King. 2001, [pounds sterling]39.99

New Vernacular Architecture assumes its place among a growing library of books exploring the production and future of architecture after Modernism, Richardson states that '... new vernacular architects express ambivalence about the Modernist notion of progress in society ... Vernacular architecture, or architecture in denial, is perhaps the most appropriate mode of expression for an era that lacks a sense of transformative historic change.'

Thirty-seven building case studies - of arguably varying architectural merit - are grouped by theme into six chapters, each chapter starting with a short essay covering subjects like 'Building with the Landscape' and 'Giving Shape to Identity'. Although at times the book reads like a series of magazines, the case studies contain a wealth of provocative ideas which are subtly developed in the context of the chapter essays. Richardson seems to thrive on this eclectic mix of approaches from around the world, and favours implication through carefully chosen comparison over the definition of a distinct way forward for architecture. Thus, it is suggested that regionalism and globalization are perhaps not as mutually exclusive as may be assumed.

What it means to be 'newly' vernacular is also defined with the broadest of brushes, and eventually one is left slightly bemused with this tenuous concept. Sverre Fehn is quoted as saying: 'The [primitive] architecture works perfectly because it exists in a timeless space. Its signature is anonymous, for it is nature itself.' Fehn's Ivan Aasen Centre (AR September 2001) stands out precisely because it defies what may be theoretically useful, but ultimately become generalized and restrictive labels. The best architecture presented here is certainly not in denial.