The development and changes of vernacular architecture: exemplified by stone houses in north-eastern Taiwan

Abstract

This study investigated the changing process of traditional Taiwanese stone houses from the perspective of vernacular architecture in order to supplement the cultural contexts of ordinary people’s self-construction and extensions. On the one hand, materials and constructions could reflect the characteristics of social culture and the limitations of the natural environment. On the other, the material uses and construction methods adopted in the adjustment and repairs of common residences would also represent the specific characteristics of social culture. This study therefore took 11 traditional stone houses of villages in north-eastern Taiwan as empirical works to reveal their meanings for architectural spheres and also the significance of their changes in vernacular architecture. According to our comparisons of these 11 stone houses between their old and their most recent status, it might be possible to suggest that in the process of the change in the construction methods from master craftsmanship to self-construction, the social organization and the meanings of cultural symbols in the original spaces interacted with traditional environmental wisdom and the employment of contemporary construction materials. This would then gradually form the vernacular characters of stone houses in north-eastern Taiwan.