Reclaiming the Abandoned Values of Typical Construction

RECLAIMING THE ABANDONED VALUES OF TYPICAL CONSTRUCTION
Student’s Name
Class
Date
While in most parts of the world houses are built on masonry comprising of solid poured concrete, most parts of America use wood North America being a typical example. Most houses are constructed in the Balloon Frame which are hollow and very light. When compared to the ancient buildings, there is a huge contrast in terms of durability and sustenance of natural disasters such as earthquakes. In the recent decades, the housing construction has claimed to move towards industrialization so as to reduce costs in construction. While that is a positive move, on the contrary side quality of housing is impaired with the reduction in cost. Industrialization and the so called technology have focused on cheaper building materials which are in essence of low quality and of a short life span. The architectures of today do not take time in designing the houses as compared to the ancient architectures who could take their time to come up with good houses. Architectures today are motivated by the payment. The architectures were guided by the typical architectural principles. The Definition of Typical in the Architectural Field meant, among other things, Durable, reliable and Long Standing. These attributes have been abandoned in today's typical single family home construction. These virtues must be restored into the current construction vernacular for the long term survival of the natural and built environment.
Architectural durability
Durability in building and construction is defined as the ability of a house to provide functionality for a longer time. Durability is an aspect used in architecture to as a parameter to determine the value of a building, depreciation value and is also used in calculation of insurance rates. Durability is a complex issue as far as construction is concerned and can be divided into three categories; technical durability, functional durability and aesthetical longevity. Durability ought to be an important issue for consideration by building designers as it is required by architectural ethics. However, today the interest of durability in buildings seems to be insufficient as it was a few centuries ago. In particular, technical durability is missing in the architecture of today as compared to yesterdays. Architectures have ignored the aspect of technical longevity in their constructions. Absence of technical longevity is attributed to the insufficiency in knowledge among the architects on the effective ways that should be employed in achieving the durable technical solutions in construction. It is also attributed to the hesitant behavior of the investors as far as the technical durability of the houses is concerned. The architectural design has evolved recently and various modifications came to play with claim of sustainability. Sustainability has not been properly interpreted and has been take to make the architectures to see buildings as works subject to steady demolition with time.[Upton, Dell. 2011. Architecture in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 15] [Ibid., 58] [Ibid., 63] [Mallgrave, Harry Francis. 2010. Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673–1968. Cambridge: Cambridge Unive...