House,Form and Culture, Chapter 5 - Marium Iqbal

CONSTRUCTION, MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY AS MODIFYING FACTORS

The form of the building does not depend on the modifying factors. The form of the building is affected by socio-cultural grounds, environment and site conditions. A house should respond to the physical stresses and as well as mechanical stresses. Every factor has its own affect on a house but “Materials, Construction and technology” are best treated as modifying factors, rather than form determinants, because they decide neither what is to be built nor its form.

The answer to each and every issue or problem that we face while selecting materials, construction processes or any structural issue is already available but we just don’t seem to care. Everyone is in a hurry to do more work and that too without any research. Materials those are locally available should be used because their response to the climatic and weather conditions is positive. Modern builders just don’t pay any attention to these factors. Why are we after new inventions even when we are not fully aware of their advantages and disadvantages? A dwelling should act according to the climatic conditions. People should try and use cooperative construction methods which will definitely make our lives easier as it did in the primitive time. In this way complex tasks can be tackled more easily and that too in a short time. Each and every contribution in the process of construction matters and people should be rewarded as a token of appreciation. Our negligence towards structure causes massive destruction. It is a very technical matter and of great importance which should be considered quite seriously. Religion also plays an important role when it comes to the selection of materials as the use of some materials is prohibited. Brick and tiles were prohibited for some houses in India.    

The biggest problem of this modern age is that we think that we are geniuses and therefore, we know everything. The work that has been done earlier is definitely worth studying, it is a treasure. We should use our brains and try to benefit ourselves. Some great work has been done in the past, we need to understand it and apply it on our designs.