The designs of domus

Nomadic Domus

Nomadic domus refers to the homes of people who were often on the move, these involve living spaces such as tents, campervans and igloos.

They are non-fixed living spaces that were occupied by people, examples include:

  • Bedouins, Tents
  • Innuits, Igloo
  • Indigenous Americans, Tepee, Wigwam 
  • Aboriginal Australians, Humpy
  • Ancient Mongolians, Yurts
They used Non-fixed homes as they often needed to hunt and follow herds of animals for a stable source of food.

~~~

What is interesting to me is how functional and intelligent some of the design choices in these nomadic living quarters are and it's intriguing to understand how some of the design choices of these structures can make a huge impact for their inhabitants. An example of this is the Igloo, it retains it's warmth via the application and understanding that heat rises. In this system the cold air is pushed towards the lower opening which is also the entrance whilst the hot air is kept and channeled out at a controlled rate by the small vent which allows enough heat to escape without melting the Igloo whilst keeping the living space at a warmer temperature. 

Static Domus

Static homes throughout history:
  • Skara Brae, a prehistoric village in Scotland.
  • Marrakesh in Morocco is a former economic centre that dates back to the Berber empire.
  • Troglodyte dwellings, Matmata, Tunisia.
  • Borries, France
These homes perfectly demonstrate how climate greatly impacts the architecture of an area as they all are very heavily inspired by the local materials and climate of their locations. 


I believe that buildings should be designed for their specific climates, that's why something like the international style of architecture also known as internationalism is in my opinion unsustainable. Urban cities all across the globe are becoming plagued with international architecture full of double glazing and using modern technology as its crutch. It arguably takes the creativity away from architecture as it let's designers be lazy and uncreative since they can just rely on some new fancy technology which is usually unsustainable or makes things unnecessarily expensive.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Manifesto, Sustainability

Image
  Is sustainability truly sustainable?   Before taking an interest in architecture and design I used to think that sustainability just meant adding plants and greenery to things.   Personal experiences and why I wanted to do this topic: GCSE product design Researching into Ken Yeang.   Embodied carbon through manufacturing processes and construction.   What have I learnt so far in terms of sustainability in design?   My opinion on what defines a sustainable building/product?   Maximising the use of the climate, whilst minimising the energy required to run the product/ building.   Both perspectives, consumer and designer. Having been both of them I can relate to both sides.   My ambitions for the future are to promote the construction/ progression of ecological cities where human systems and natural systems can co-exist.   Another ambition of mine is to convert or start converting an existing street into an ecological street that will hop...
Read more

Gothic architecture

Image
-Gothic/Revival Architecture sketches, drawn by me (Camron Lam) Gothic Architecture Gothic is a term that has been linked to many different things since it's initial creation. The word has been used to describe: An Architectural and Artistic style A genre of literature And as of recent a fashion aesthetic, typically featuring dark clothing and makeup Gothic architecture was an architectural style developed in medieval Europe in the mid-twelfth century. A trait of this style of architecture is that none of it was really drawn since they couldn't really draw in that time period which meant that a lot of Gothic architecture was built through trial and error. It typically featured tall buildings with cavernous spaces, tall ceilings and intricate ornamental façades. Lot's of Gothic architecture involved vaults, which were a good solution for the need to span large areas with masonry. These included: Barrel Vaults Groin Vaults Rib Vaults Fan Vaults https://cdn.britannica.com/47/7...
Read more