Commonsense Architecture: A Cross-Cultural Survey of Practical Design Principles

by John S. Taylor

Thousand-year-old earth-sheltered houses built in China, passive solar heating ideas used by the Pueblo Indians over nine hundred years ago, natural air conditioning systems built in the Middle East in the thirteenth century, modular building techniques used in Japan for more than five hundred years – these are just a few of the several hundred design ideas, developed by history’s anonymous builders, that are studied in Commonsense Architecture. The refreshingly practical nature of these designs clearly reflects a responsiveness to external forces and to human needs and inspires both a rational approach to construction and an appreciation of the built environment.

In hundreds of pen-and-ink sketches, on subjects ranging from solar heating to stairways, the author gives a detailed introduction to the many lessons indigenous architecture offers about creating practical buildings that make efficient and economical use of material, capital, and human resources while working with natural forces rather than trying to overpower them.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Reference

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Afra Anan Anan Saba · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a bible for vernacular architecture.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been savoring this book in little bits all summer. I've seen some fancy art books on indigenous building styles and they don't add much to Taylor's simple, straightforward and clear-eyed documentation here. I'm seeing buildings around me in whole new ways, and have a language with which to talk about the intuitive impressions I have of the failures of most of the modern buildings we interact with on a daily basis. We've done much to discredit the basic know-how represented by cultures around the globe (and animals! Taylor includes some wonderful examples of buildings by animals, especially by insects), but it's these varied and in many places forgotten (or intentionally purged) skills that can help us adapt how we live to where we live in a way that will help us more truly inhabit the planet we live on, rather than harm it with our energy-intensive buildings as we do now.

[mahatmanto · Rating 4 out of 5]

buku kecil bersampul merah ini berisi banyak sketsa tangan mengenai bangunan -dan bagian bangunan- yang mendapatkan bentuknya sebagai respons terhadap keadaan alam sekitar.
ada cerobong untuk mendinginkan ruang, ada jendela yang bisa direntang keluar menjadi pergola... dan banyak lagi penyelesaian disain yang bersahaja tapi berfungsi, yang didapat dari khasanah vernakular.
betapa logis, benar dan mudah dibikin...
ini buku cocok buat para arsitek, khususnya yang sudah 'lupa daratan' karena terlalu lama bergelimang dalam dunia digital.
ada arsitektur yang 'biasa-biasa' saja tapi memenuhi segenap kebutuhan penghuninya.
mau apa lagi?

[jw468 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent collection of sketches exploring vernacular climate responses. It pairs nicely with Bernard Rudofsky's The Prodigious Builders, a book that considers the cultures that developed many of the forms portrayed in John Taylor's book.