Editing Vernacular architecture (section)

== Evolution of the phrase ==
[[File:Batak Toba House.jpg|right|thumb|A traditional [[Batak people|Batak]] house, [[Indonesia]], in ancient [[Austronesian people|Austronesian]] architectural style]]
[[File:Тарасова світлиця Канів1.jpg|thumb|Ukrainian traditional house]]

The term ''[[wikt:vernacular|vernacular]]'' means 'domestic, native, indigenous', from ''verna'' 'native slave' or 'home-born slave'. The word probably derives from an older [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] word.<ref>{{OEtymD|vernacular|accessdate=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/wotd/wotd.pl?word=vernacular|publisher=yourdictionary.com|title=Vernacular(noun)|access-date=24 December 2007|archive-date=12 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012152527/http://www.yourdictionary.com/wotd/wotd.pl?word=vernacular|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020608/windows/roots.htm|title=Fiddling with words, again!|date=8 June 2002|publisher=Tribune India|access-date=24 December 2007}}</ref>

The term is borrowed from [[linguistics]], where [[vernacular]] refers to language use particular to a time, place, or group.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vernacular Dictionary.com definition]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=88049&dict=CALD |title=Cambridge advanced learner's dictionary definition |access-date=24 December 2006 |archive-date=7 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007110310/http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=88049&dict=CALD |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/vernacular Merriam–Webster definition]</ref>

The phrase dates to at least 1857, when it was used by Sir [[George Gilbert Scott]], as the focus of the first chapter of his book "Remarks on Secular & Domestic Architecture, Present & Future",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=George Gilbert |title=Remarks on Secular & Domestic Architecture, Present & Future |date=1 January 1857 |publisher=J. Murray |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4IEAAAAYAAJ |access-date=11 June 2021}}</ref> and in a paper read to an architectural society in [[Leicester]] in October of that year.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Revival of Gothic Architecture |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/396281100/ |access-date=11 June 2021 |publisher=Leicester Chronicle, or, Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser |date=31 October 1857}}</ref>  As a proponent of the [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival movement]] in England, Scott used the term as a pejorative to refer to the "prevailing architecture" in England of the time, all of it, as opposed to the Gothic he wanted to introduce.  In this "vernacular" category Scott included [[St Paul's Cathedral]], [[Greenwich Hospital, London]], and [[Castle Howard]], although admitting their relative nobility.

The term was popularized with positive connotations in a 1964 exhibition at the [[Museum of Modern Art, New York]], designed by architect [[Bernard Rudofsky]], with a subsequent book.  Both were called ''[[Architecture Without Architects]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rudofsky |first1=Bernard |title=Architecture Without Architects exhibition catalog |url=https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3459_300062280.pdf |website=MoMA |access-date=11 June 2021}}</ref>  Featuring dramatic black-and-white photography of vernacular buildings around the world, the exhibition was extremely popular.  Rudofsky brought the concept into the eye of the public and of mainstream architecture, and also kept the definitions loose:  he wrote that the exhibition "attempts to break down our narrow concepts of the art of building by introducing the unfamiliar world of nonpedigree architecture.  It is so little known that we don't even have a name for it.  For want of a generic label we shall call it vernacular, anonymous, spontaneous, indigenous, rural, as the case may be."<ref name=Rudofsky>Rudofsky, ''Architecture Without Architects'', page 58</ref>  The book was a reminder of the legitimacy and "hard-won knowledge" inherent in vernacular buildings, from [[Wieliczka Salt Mine|Polish salt-caves]] to gigantic [[Syria]]n water wheels to [[Morocco|Moroccan]] desert fortresses and was considered [[iconoclastic]] at the time.

The term "commercial vernacular" was popularized in the late 1960s by the publication of ''[[Learning from Las Vegas]]'' by [[Robert Venturi]] and [[Denise Scott Brown]], referring to 20th-century American [[suburban]] tract and commercial architecture. 

Although vernacular architecture might be designed by people who do have some training in design, in 1971 [[Ronald Brunskill]] nonetheless defined vernacular architecture as:
<blockquote>...a building designed by an amateur without any training in design; the individual will have been guided by a series of conventions built up in his locality, paying little attention to what may be fashionable. The function of the building would be the dominant factor, aesthetic considerations, though present to some small degree, being quite minimal. Local materials would be used as a matter of course, other materials being chosen and imported quite exceptionally.{{sfnp|Brunskill|1971|pages=27–28}}</blockquote>

In the ''[[Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World]]'' edited in 1997 by [[Paul Oliver]] of the Oxford Institute for [[Sustainable Development]]. Oliver argued that vernacular architecture, given the insights it gives into issues of environmental adaptation, will be necessary in the future to "ensure sustainability in both cultural and economic terms beyond the short term."  The encyclopedia defined the field of vernacular architecture as:
<blockquote>comprising the dwellings and all other buildings of the people. Related to their environmental contexts and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World'', volume 1, page not cited</ref></blockquote>

In 2007 Allen Noble wrote a lengthy discussion of the relevant terms, in ''Traditional Buildings: A Global Survey of Structural Forms and Cultural Functions.''  Noble concluded that "folk architecture" is built by "persons not professionally trained in building arts."  "Vernacular architecture" is "of the common people", but may be built by trained professionals, using local, traditional designs and materials. "Traditional architecture" is architecture passed down from person to person, generation to generation, particularly orally, but at any level of society, not just by common people.  "Primitive architecture" is a term Noble discourages the use of.<ref>Noble, Allen George. ''Traditional buildings: a global survey of structural forms and cultural functions''. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007. 1-17. Print.{{ISBN|9781845113056}}.</ref> The term popular architecture is used more in [[Eastern Europe]] and is synonymous with folk or vernacular architecture.<ref>The meanings in this paragraph are supported by the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Vernacular, a. and n., 6.; Folk 2. a.; Tradition, n., 4. a.; Traditional, a. (n.), 1. a.; Popular, a.(n.), 2. a.</ref>