Erasing the architectural and built identity of the Marais Vernier: A chronicle of the suburban dream as an expression of consumer society
Samuel DEPREZ
Abstract. At the heart of an ancient meander of the Seine, the Marais Vernier micro-region (France – Normandy) is renowned for its vast wetlands, an ecological sanctuary protected by multiple French and European schemes. It is also an exceptional area in terms of architecture and buildings, the fruit of local determinisms that have dictated the nature and form of the habitat and land. While the “chaumière”, a thatched, half-timbered house, is the land’s defining feature, its place in the landscape is gradually disappearing under the weight of the urbanization movement initiated in the early 1960s and the opening up of the area. Since then, in a random arrangement and denial of the existing, singularity and richness, the various forms of built-up areas that have marked each new phase of individual construction in France since the post-war period have been sedimented. The result has been a long process of erasing built, land, and architectural identity, driven by the realization of the suburban dream and the myth of the single-family home as the material manifestation of consumer society.
Keywords
Natural Environment and Landscape Organization, Architectural and Built Identity, Land Use Change, Sururbanisation, Consumer Society
Published online 1/10/2025, 15 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Samuel DEPREZ, Erasing the architectural and built identity of the Marais Vernier: A chronicle of the suburban dream as an expression of consumer society, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 47, pp 15-29, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903391-3
The article was published as article 3 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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