Understanding the interrelations of form, construction, function and symbolism in elementar architectural traditions of non-European cultures. Learning to recognise principal criteria in the evolution and development of architectural forms and types of building.
Discussion of the genesis and evolution of basic building forms and types against the background of cultural and social environment. Topics: Frame constructions (Africa, America, Asia, Oceania). Adobe building (North America, West Africa). Stone architecture (Oceania, East Africa). Pithouse and cliff dwelling (North America). Pile buildings and platform houses (Asia, Oceania, Africa, Mesoamerica). Tumuli (North and West Europe, Mediterranean area, North Africa, Middle East, South Asia, North and Central America, Polynesia).
Book publication (in German):
Erich Lehner, Elementare Architektur: Traditionen des Bauens in außereuropäischen Kulturen, Wien 2014, 2nd edition 2016 (IVA-Verlag), ISBN 978-3-900265-25-0.
Book publication (in English):
Erich Lehner, Roots of Architecture: Building Traditions in Non-European Cultures, Vienna 2016 (IVA-ICRA publishing), ISBN 978-3-900265-36-6.
(These books are available at the Institute 251/1 and in libraries, can be ordered in bookstores, and via Amazon in the Internet.)
