Local materials & their use in construction

Abstract

The decision as to what form a building shall take is made on socio-cultural grounds - way of life, shared group values, and ideal environment sought. But once it has been decided whether the building is to be individual or communal, permanent or temporary, the whole setting for life or part of the larger realm of a settlement; once adaptation to site has been made, and the form has responded to climatic forces, there still remain certain universal problems - those relating to construction. To create any type of place, space must be enclosed. The availability and choice of materials and construction techniques in an architectural situation will greatly influence and modify the form of the building. In the same way that the building responds to the physical stresses of climate - heat, cold, humidity, radiation, and light - it must also respond structurally to the mechanical stresses - gravity, wind and rain. The reason why construction (which, of course, involves technology) and materials are best regarded as modifying factors, in spite of their fundamental nature, is that they do not determine form. They merely make possible forms which have been selected on other grounds, they make certain forms impossible, and, in acting as a tool, they modify forms.