How Traditional Design Can Protect Modern Homes From the Elements
We look at the sustainable magic that happens when traditional architecture meets modern-day living
How do we make our homes energy efficient, keep heat inside in winter and outside in summer, and hold moisture and humidity at bay? And how do we do that with a minimal carbon footprint?
It’s almost a truism that traditional architecture holds some of the answers. Historical techniques often represent less embodied energy, adapt to the local geographical context and make the best use of local materials to boot… so the thinking goes. But can traditional techniques really suit modern tastes and lifestyles?
We take a look at how Houzz architects around the world have worked traditional techniques into their modern-day designs, and explore some of the lessons we can take from global architectural traditions when it comes to regulating heating and cooling, and managing humidity. While it’s by no means exhaustive, this list presents a taste of the magic that can happen when old informs new.
It’s almost a truism that traditional architecture holds some of the answers. Historical techniques often represent less embodied energy, adapt to the local geographical context and make the best use of local materials to boot… so the thinking goes. But can traditional techniques really suit modern tastes and lifestyles?
We take a look at how Houzz architects around the world have worked traditional techniques into their modern-day designs, and explore some of the lessons we can take from global architectural traditions when it comes to regulating heating and cooling, and managing humidity. While it’s by no means exhaustive, this list presents a taste of the magic that can happen when old informs new.
Trulli, conical dry-stone huts like the ones pictured here, have been built in the Apulia region of Italy for more than a millennium. Their thick stone walls achieve a similar effect.
Architect Enrico Maria Cicchetti and Francesco Palmisano added a very modern glass cube entrance to this complex of five renovated trulli.
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Architect Enrico Maria Cicchetti and Francesco Palmisano added a very modern glass cube entrance to this complex of five renovated trulli.
10 Sustainable Features Pros Recommend for Any Home
Cool white: Of course, the oh-so Mediterranean whitewash of Apulian trulli also helps reduce heating inside — a technique architect Roger Christ adapted here in more northern latitudes, in Wiesbaden, Germany.
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How to Plan a Home’s Design Around People and the Planet
Green roofs: Nearly as old as cave dwellings are green roofs, which have roots in the neolithic Era. Although we have more efficient ways of insulating homes today, a green roof can help provide additional insulation for both heat and sound.
In fact, vegetated roofs play an important role in heat control on a larger scale, by reducing the urban heat-island effect in cities. This refers to the rise of ambient temperatures in urban areas due an overabundance of hard, reflective paved surfaces.
Green roofs can also address another problem: biodiversity. The Wave House, designed by Patrick Nadeau with a green roof by Ecovegetal, has been covered with sedums, grasses, thyme, lavender and other small perennials and aromatic plants. These plants also provide food and shelter for insects and other wildlife.
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In fact, vegetated roofs play an important role in heat control on a larger scale, by reducing the urban heat-island effect in cities. This refers to the rise of ambient temperatures in urban areas due an overabundance of hard, reflective paved surfaces.
Green roofs can also address another problem: biodiversity. The Wave House, designed by Patrick Nadeau with a green roof by Ecovegetal, has been covered with sedums, grasses, thyme, lavender and other small perennials and aromatic plants. These plants also provide food and shelter for insects and other wildlife.
How to Install a Green Roof
Thatch: Thatched roofs are another classic form. Despite its rustic feel, thatch provides both thermal and sound insulation, and when it’s built at the right angle, it conducts water away from the building envelope. Thatched roofs are also durable and can last for decades without needing to be replaced, although they require regular maintenance. Möhring Architects used thatch on both the roof and walls of this home in Germany.
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What We Can Learn From Regional Architecture
Danish thatcher Bjarne Johansen took his craft to the extreme to build this thatched smart sauna, which can be controlled remotely by mobile phone.
Find thatched roof specialists on Houzz
Find thatched roof specialists on Houzz
Traditional insulation: Traditional architecture also offers a wealth of insulating materials that make creative use of locally available resources.
On Spain’s Balearic islands, traditional homes similar to the one pictured here by architect Marià Castelló were often insulated with Phoenician juniper, layered with tegell, or Phoenician juniper chips, and dried Posidonia oceanica, a seaweed that is found in abundance in the area. Fun fact: Posidonia oceanica, and the ecosystem it creates, is the reason for the stunning clear blue waters that make the Balearic islands a tourist favorite.
While environmental degradation has endangered Posidonia and it is now a protected species, this is a useful model for thinking about how local materials can be leveraged for insulation.
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On Spain’s Balearic islands, traditional homes similar to the one pictured here by architect Marià Castelló were often insulated with Phoenician juniper, layered with tegell, or Phoenician juniper chips, and dried Posidonia oceanica, a seaweed that is found in abundance in the area. Fun fact: Posidonia oceanica, and the ecosystem it creates, is the reason for the stunning clear blue waters that make the Balearic islands a tourist favorite.
While environmental degradation has endangered Posidonia and it is now a protected species, this is a useful model for thinking about how local materials can be leveraged for insulation.
Architects Design Their Own Passive Houses
In Japan, one traditional method of insulation is charcoal made out of rice hulls. The owners of this home in Kashikojima Island smoked the hulls themselves. They then split the charcoal into 14-ounce bags, and laid them under the floor. In this way, the insulation makes use of not only a local but also a waste product.
Houzz Tour: A Home Built With Traditional Japanese Methods
Houzz Tour: A Home Built With Traditional Japanese Methods
Rice hulls are converted into charcoal during the construction of the home in the previous photo.
Rammed earth: Perhaps one of the most widespread materials used for insulation and thermal control is rammed earth, which shows up in construction all over the world.
Rammed earth has high thermal mass, and acts as an excellent insulator as well as helping with moisture control. And this is on top of low-embedded carbon in its production and transportation, particularly if soil from the site itself is used.
Pictured here is a rammed earth building in Auroville, an “experimental micropolis” of rammed-earth construction built on the border of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, India, in 1968. The town serves as a center for teaching on, and experimentation with, the architectural applications of rammed earth.
Rammed Earth: Old Meets New in Hybrid Material
Rammed earth has high thermal mass, and acts as an excellent insulator as well as helping with moisture control. And this is on top of low-embedded carbon in its production and transportation, particularly if soil from the site itself is used.
Pictured here is a rammed earth building in Auroville, an “experimental micropolis” of rammed-earth construction built on the border of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, India, in 1968. The town serves as a center for teaching on, and experimentation with, the architectural applications of rammed earth.
Rammed Earth: Old Meets New in Hybrid Material
The Japanese homeowners who smoked rice husks for insulation also packed their own earth floor using traditional techniques.
All together now: This award-winning set of apartments designed by Luigi Rosselli Architects was built to house musterers and shearers in Western Australia. It combines a number of techniques listed above: The huts are built into a sand dune, taking advantage of its natural cooling. The bank also creates a natural green roof for the structure. The walls are made of rammed earth, mixed from clay sourced from the build site and gravel from a nearby river.
Light Control and Ventilation
Of course, other methods of heating and cooling go hand in hand with insulation: controlling how light enters and heats a building — both to take advantage of that heat in winter and to minimize it in summer or in hot climates — is a basic tenet of passive construction.
Extended eves: In Japan, the play of light and shadow is central to traditional architectural forms. The engawa, for example, is a porch-like indoor-outdoor area; the floors of the indoor spaces are extended to the outside, and covered by overhanging eaves. An engawa controls the amount of light that enters into a home, thereby helping keeping the interior space cool. It also keeps rain away from the building envelope.
The engawa pictured here, created by Cubo Design Architect, faithfully reproduces the proportions of one described in a 16th-century Japanese text. This engawa is part of the traditional Japanese wing of a home that also incorporates French influences and contemporary design.
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Of course, other methods of heating and cooling go hand in hand with insulation: controlling how light enters and heats a building — both to take advantage of that heat in winter and to minimize it in summer or in hot climates — is a basic tenet of passive construction.
Extended eves: In Japan, the play of light and shadow is central to traditional architectural forms. The engawa, for example, is a porch-like indoor-outdoor area; the floors of the indoor spaces are extended to the outside, and covered by overhanging eaves. An engawa controls the amount of light that enters into a home, thereby helping keeping the interior space cool. It also keeps rain away from the building envelope.
The engawa pictured here, created by Cubo Design Architect, faithfully reproduces the proportions of one described in a 16th-century Japanese text. This engawa is part of the traditional Japanese wing of a home that also incorporates French influences and contemporary design.
3 Things to Know About Building a Green Home
Of course, the idea of a protective roof overhang is not unique to Japan. They serve a similar purpose in these traditional German homes in the Black Forest, for example. The pitched roof also helps stop snow from accumulating.
West African Architect Francis Kéré Wins the 2022 Pritzker Prize
West African Architect Francis Kéré Wins the 2022 Pritzker Prize
Porches: In the United States, porches screen harsh light and take advantage of cooling breezes in much the same way.
In addition to limiting the amount of light that enters the home, they also create a comfortable place for owners to escape indoor heat. Traditionally, homeowners might even have slept on a screened-in porch to take advantage of the cooler night air. Today, such porches are more commonly used for relaxing or entertaining in comfort, with protection from insects and the elements.
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In addition to limiting the amount of light that enters the home, they also create a comfortable place for owners to escape indoor heat. Traditionally, homeowners might even have slept on a screened-in porch to take advantage of the cooler night air. Today, such porches are more commonly used for relaxing or entertaining in comfort, with protection from insects and the elements.
The Beauty of Subtle Sustainable Architecture
Building Cross-Breezes Into the Home
Remember the Japanese home whose owners smoked rice hulls and packed earth themselves? Note the large openings on all sides of the house, which can be closed with sliding doors. Likewise typical of Japanese construction, these large openings ensure proper ventilation and bring in a cooling breeze in summer.
The Passive House: What It Is and Why You Should Care
Remember the Japanese home whose owners smoked rice hulls and packed earth themselves? Note the large openings on all sides of the house, which can be closed with sliding doors. Likewise typical of Japanese construction, these large openings ensure proper ventilation and bring in a cooling breeze in summer.
The Passive House: What It Is and Why You Should Care
Cross-breezes are leveraged in a similar way in dogtrot houses, a traditional architectural form from the southern United States where an open breezeway cuts through the center of a home, as in this home in Portland by Caleb Johnson Studio.
10 Ways to Bring In the Breezes
10 Ways to Bring In the Breezes
Jaali, mashrabiya, louvers and blinds: Ventilation, likewise, is important for cooling hot rooms and removing stale, hot air. As we’ve all discovered in the pandemic, it also has a key hygienic role to play by reducing the spread of airborne infection.
Ornate screens, called jaali in India and mashrabiya in much of the Arab world, are used to control light while allowing breezes through.
Spasm Architects designed this jaali screen out of Corten steel for a home in Ahmedabad, India. “The corners of the volume are perforated in patterns of trees and branches, a bow to the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque jaali, an architectural wonder of Ahmedabad,” says architect Sangeeta Merchant, who worked on the project.
Ornate screens, called jaali in India and mashrabiya in much of the Arab world, are used to control light while allowing breezes through.
Spasm Architects designed this jaali screen out of Corten steel for a home in Ahmedabad, India. “The corners of the volume are perforated in patterns of trees and branches, a bow to the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque jaali, an architectural wonder of Ahmedabad,” says architect Sangeeta Merchant, who worked on the project.
Letting the hot air out: This house in Singapore, built by architect Teo Yee Chin of Red Bean Architects, is a modern version of a house on stilts, which allows air to circulate on the bottom floor. A regular pattern of holes created by absent bricks in the upper walls allows hot air to escape.
The same principle is applied in double-hung windows such as sash windows. Open both the top and bottom panes, and you encourage air to circulate.
Courtyards: In many traditional architectures, circulation is ensured by courtyards built into the home.
In Japan, tsuboniwa are small gardens, traditionally built into internal courtyards, but which can really be built into any unused urban space.
“I don’t think we need to divide it into Western or Japanese,” says award-winning Japanese landscape architect Kazuyuki Ishihara. “We can look at [tsuboniwa] as a way to make use of small, unused spaces, turning them into green spaces. We don’t need to use Japanese plants specifically, but rather local plants native to the region.”
In Japan, tsuboniwa are small gardens, traditionally built into internal courtyards, but which can really be built into any unused urban space.
“I don’t think we need to divide it into Western or Japanese,” says award-winning Japanese landscape architect Kazuyuki Ishihara. “We can look at [tsuboniwa] as a way to make use of small, unused spaces, turning them into green spaces. We don’t need to use Japanese plants specifically, but rather local plants native to the region.”
Controlling Moisture and Keeping Water Out
Another component of a healthy and safe home is keeping water out — both in terms of flood-proofing and in managing humidity, which can destroy materials and encourage the growth of bacteria and fungi that can be harmful to health.
Building on stilts is one method that’s found around the world. Queenslanders, a traditional residential architecture in Queensland and other parts of Australia with tropical climates, were built on stilts called stumps to keep out flood waters and torrential rain.
Another component of a healthy and safe home is keeping water out — both in terms of flood-proofing and in managing humidity, which can destroy materials and encourage the growth of bacteria and fungi that can be harmful to health.
Building on stilts is one method that’s found around the world. Queenslanders, a traditional residential architecture in Queensland and other parts of Australia with tropical climates, were built on stilts called stumps to keep out flood waters and torrential rain.
It’s an approach seen around the world. These traditional fishermen’s huts on the lower Adriatic coast of Italy, known as trabucco, used this approach to elevate the structures over the incoming tide. These huts provided a stationary base for fishing in waters that are too dangerous for boats.
Although its lack of bathrooms and plumbing made it difficult to convert this trabucco into permanent housing, studio zero85 turned it into a multipurpose room and a space for community concerts.
Houzz Tour: In Italy, a Former Fishing House Becomes a Beach Hangout
Although its lack of bathrooms and plumbing made it difficult to convert this trabucco into permanent housing, studio zero85 turned it into a multipurpose room and a space for community concerts.
Houzz Tour: In Italy, a Former Fishing House Becomes a Beach Hangout
Material Approaches
And then, of course, there are material approaches to controlling moisture.
Traditional architecture offers a variety of creative approaches to keeping water away from the building envelope and allowing construction to breathe — using locally available, sustainable materials. Thatch, discussed above, is one.
Wood shingles: Wood shingles are another, traditionally used as a facade material in Russia, Japan, Scandinavia and elsewhere.
Wood is, of course, a renewable resource, and involves less embedded carbon than materials such as concrete. Wood shingles can last decades, depending on the species of wood, the climate and quality of upkeep. Today, fungicidal and fire-retardant treatments can help extend their life spans even longer.
This lightweight material is also suitable for multi-story construction, and demonstrated by this eight-story building designed by Gert Wingårdh and built by wooden construction specialists Folkhem in Sweden.
Rammed earth: Clay and rammed earth, already discussed above for their thermal mass advantages, also help regulate humidity.
And then, of course, there are material approaches to controlling moisture.
Traditional architecture offers a variety of creative approaches to keeping water away from the building envelope and allowing construction to breathe — using locally available, sustainable materials. Thatch, discussed above, is one.
Wood shingles: Wood shingles are another, traditionally used as a facade material in Russia, Japan, Scandinavia and elsewhere.
Wood is, of course, a renewable resource, and involves less embedded carbon than materials such as concrete. Wood shingles can last decades, depending on the species of wood, the climate and quality of upkeep. Today, fungicidal and fire-retardant treatments can help extend their life spans even longer.
This lightweight material is also suitable for multi-story construction, and demonstrated by this eight-story building designed by Gert Wingårdh and built by wooden construction specialists Folkhem in Sweden.
Rammed earth: Clay and rammed earth, already discussed above for their thermal mass advantages, also help regulate humidity.
Lime mortar: Traditional lime mortar pointing for bricks, likewise, is more porous than cement, responding better to the movement of the building and allowing moisture to evaporate more easily. This is particularly important when pointing historical buildings made of materials such as bricks or stones that are porous themselves, as the accumulated moisture needs a route to escape.
In Italy, lime mortar was also adapted for a waterproof flooring material called cocciopesto or opus signinum. Going back to Roman architecture, the material is made of broken tiles and bricks mixed with lime mortar. It is not only waterproof but also a good way to reuse existing materials. It was used to great effect in this masseria, or farmhouse, restored by Studio Talent, where it was even used in the shower.
In Italy, lime mortar was also adapted for a waterproof flooring material called cocciopesto or opus signinum. Going back to Roman architecture, the material is made of broken tiles and bricks mixed with lime mortar. It is not only waterproof but also a good way to reuse existing materials. It was used to great effect in this masseria, or farmhouse, restored by Studio Talent, where it was even used in the shower.
Zinc: In the French region of Alsace, zinc cladding was traditionally used on farmhouses. This material is highly resistant to corrosion, long-lasting and highly recyclable. Architect Sébastien Arnold used it in this modern family home in the Alsace region.
The best of both worlds
These examples demonstrate the beautiful synergy that happens when traditional knowledge is incorporated into modern builds. The key is taking the best from tradition and innovation and putting them together.
Of course, as societies and lifestyles change, so do our needs in the home. A Japanese engawa, for example, ensures thermal comfort in summer, but makes for a very cold interior when traditionally paired with paper screens.
Historically, this was addressed through a localized approach to heating: warm clothes and small sources of heat to warm people, not spaces. Modern homeowners are unlikely to find this lifestyle comfortable — but they can solve this problem by pairing an engawa with glass sliding doors instead. This is how the problem was addressed in the home on Kashikojima island, pictured earlier.
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The best of both worlds
These examples demonstrate the beautiful synergy that happens when traditional knowledge is incorporated into modern builds. The key is taking the best from tradition and innovation and putting them together.
Of course, as societies and lifestyles change, so do our needs in the home. A Japanese engawa, for example, ensures thermal comfort in summer, but makes for a very cold interior when traditionally paired with paper screens.
Historically, this was addressed through a localized approach to heating: warm clothes and small sources of heat to warm people, not spaces. Modern homeowners are unlikely to find this lifestyle comfortable — but they can solve this problem by pairing an engawa with glass sliding doors instead. This is how the problem was addressed in the home on Kashikojima island, pictured earlier.
More on Houzz
Read more stories about green building
Find home pros near you
Thermal control is in some ways the holy grail of modern sustainable design. It was primarily this aspect of construction that was targeted by sustainable architecture standards such as Passivhaus and the RT2012 regulation in France. However, humans have been solving the problem of how to regulate temperature at home for far longer.
Thick walls: The most basic technique? Extremely thick walls to separate inside and out. And it doesn’t get more basic than a cave dwelling, with the stone walls of the cave itself ensuring a controlled temperature inside.
In Spain, cave dwellings are being rediscovered and adapted to modern life — such as the one pictured here, designed by UMMOestudio. In these caves in Andalusia, the natural shielding keeps the temperature stable at 59 degrees Fahrenheit to 66 degrees despite local temperatures ranging from 32 degrees in the winter to 104 degrees in the summer.
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