If you’ve ever travelled abroad, you probably came across an abundance of different housing and living styles, from little stone houses squished in a century-old village to tucked away mountain huts or thatched countryside cottages. You might have recognized how different they look from buildings in your home country and asked yourself, “Why?”, “What prompted people to build their living space in this specific way?”.
All these amazing places, towns and little houses share a common background. The species of trees, the location of a town or the construction materials of that little house are all based on the same principles: local climate conditions, available resources, and specific present needs.
For thousands of years, we have shaped the world around us to meet our needs. For most of this time, all we had was local materials, local trees, grains and vegetable seeds combined with a specific “how-to” knowledge based on direct observations and personal experiences, passed from generation to generation. The result? Thousands of places and humanized landscapes, unique and specific to the geographical area, climate conditions and local necessities.
A townhouse in Santorini, Greece, is so very different from a traditional residence in Kyoto, Japan, or from a farmhouse in the Swiss Alps. (you pick the region; they are all so beautiful!!). The same principles apply to gardens, and productive fields: The Mediterranean soft hills of Tuscany host a variety of plants and animals completely different from the iconic rice fields in Thailand or the Chinampas in Mexico.
In the old days, people adapted their lifestyle, diet, home design and production systems to fit better into their respective environments, to work along the natural cycles, and to live comfortably during harsh winters and long hot summers. The beautiful towns and countryside we admire today result from long successful collaboration between our ancestors and their land.
Breaking News: things changed! Dramatically! During the last three centuries, from the Industrial Revolution onward, a sequence of technological innovations, new materials and population growth pushed humankind to a position of dominance over the environment and its resources. Unfortunately, this often included a total disregard of potential consequences in the medium to long term.
The result is a set of generic answers to a multitude of very different questions and conditions, guided by an “I do ‘cause I can” approach and a lack of general understanding of the issue(s) and context. Now, the same home design can be found along the Pacific coast in Los Angeles, Singapore, Melbourne or London.
The design is outstanding and memorable, and all neighbors will look up to it. But the construction cost is also impressive: the marble is from Italy, the timber paneling from Canada and the stones from a “local pit” a few hundred kilometers away. The running and maintenance costs are also … memorable: the house requires constant heating or cooling at horrendous cost, the garden plants require more water than the weather can provide, and mountain climbers are there every Monday morning at 8 am for coffee and cleaning the main façade: what a spectacle!
Let’s take a moment now to breathe and digest all this information.
To answer our original question: “Why have we been doing things in very specific ways for millennia?” The short answer is: “Because it makes sense”. The long answer is: “Considering all climate conditions, people's desires and necessities, available resources and knowledge, this is the best way to proceed.” This way we can reduce costs and wastes, improve life quality and move toward resilience and peace of mind.
So, if you are wondering if your house can look like that beautiful picture you found in your social media feed, the answer is, most likely, “Yes, it can” or “Yes, you can have it”. However, the design will be tailored to the specific condition of your site and its surroundings, following sustainable design principles, in harmony with the local environment and your bank account.
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