Vernacular architecture and seismic resilience: Which techniques for which territories?
Nada EL MOADEN
Abstract. In the context of climate change and the recurrence of natural disasters, vernacular architecture finds itself at the heart of a debate opposing those who find it resilient in facing nature’s hazards, and those who question its ability to cope with these new challenges. By focusing on the seismic hazard, it seems even more antagonistic to attribute earthquake resistance to vernacular architecture. However, the earthquakes that have shaken our globe in recent decades have demonstrated that, in many areas, buildings constructed using traditional construction techniques have been more resistant to seismic shocks than those built using modern processes. How can vernacular architectural techniques contribute to a territory’s resilience in facing seismic hazards? Beyond the multidisciplinary nature of the resilience concept, our aim in this article is to present and analyze the technical aspect of the resilience of traditional buildings to earthquakes, through a bibliographical and comparative analysis of different traditional processes used in several territories worldwide and which have demonstrated their ability to cope with earthquakes. Despite the divergence between the ancestral techniques used, there is a notable convergence in terms of their ductile nature, enabling better dissipation of the earthquake energy generated in buildings, without causing serious cracks or consequent collapse. It’s also worth mentioning that the diversity of forms and techniques used in these vernacular architectures is not the result of a hasty choice, but rather of a careful consideration of the needs of people who live there, while adapting to the various natural hazards, including earthquakes.
Keywords
Vernacular Architecture, Seismic Resilience, Seismic Hazard, Traditional Building Techniques, Territory
Published online 1/10/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Nada EL MOADEN, Vernacular architecture and seismic resilience: Which techniques for which territories?, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 47, pp 232-241, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903391-27
The article was published as article 27 of the book Vernacular Architecture
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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