Great article. But there are other factors that constrained vernacular architecture. The past was poor. So you ended up with implicit constraints around things like materials because everyone used the same local quarry or forest. Design guidelines for new towns today essentially emulate the natural constraints of poverty in the past.
You can see how a place like Amalfi emerged if you visit a typical slum/favela in Africa or LatAm. These places have the same sort of fractal layers and mimetic copying of forms as Amalfi. And they even have a somewhat common design language of materials. But now it's ugly cinderblocks and rebar and concrete because that's the practical material available.
Great piece! It's so interesting how unplanned towns look naturally looked planned due to their inherent constraints.
Regarding how contemporary building cultures appear relatively incohesive/clashing, I find that the main exception is colleges. Buildings on college campuses usually use consistent building materials and design features, even when a new building is added 200 years after the college was originally built. I suppose this is because having a consistent identity is important for the college, while the normal tendency in cities and towns is to atomize.
Maybe more neighborhoods could be built like this -- in unified "chunks" rather than fragmented?
If you want to regulate aesthetics, regulate them, but compensate by not regulating density.
Great article. But there are other factors that constrained vernacular architecture. The past was poor. So you ended up with implicit constraints around things like materials because everyone used the same local quarry or forest. Design guidelines for new towns today essentially emulate the natural constraints of poverty in the past.
You can see how a place like Amalfi emerged if you visit a typical slum/favela in Africa or LatAm. These places have the same sort of fractal layers and mimetic copying of forms as Amalfi. And they even have a somewhat common design language of materials. But now it's ugly cinderblocks and rebar and concrete because that's the practical material available.
Possibly of interest: https://www.startupcities.com/p/owned-is-beautiful
Great piece! It's so interesting how unplanned towns look naturally looked planned due to their inherent constraints.
Regarding how contemporary building cultures appear relatively incohesive/clashing, I find that the main exception is colleges. Buildings on college campuses usually use consistent building materials and design features, even when a new building is added 200 years after the college was originally built. I suppose this is because having a consistent identity is important for the college, while the normal tendency in cities and towns is to atomize.
Maybe more neighborhoods could be built like this -- in unified "chunks" rather than fragmented?