Rethink Heritage

PRINCIPLES

The first human shelter was undoubtedly a cave. In the beginning, it was a natural cave, where there was natural protection from five sides for passive security. The sixth side, the front, was left to the head of the family and this protection was active, with simple weapons and hands. A cave is a natural shelter, a hut had to be built by primaeval man himself (Oliver 2006). Use of the brain, instead of physical power, came later, with fire. 

Fire was not primaeval man's invention. Nature sent it with thunderbolts but, for its use, changes were needed in man's brains. Fear was eliminated, and 'handmade' fire was introduced into daily life. Fear persisted with animals, man used fire for cooking, baking, lighting and protection (Egenter 1992).

In theory, fire also shows the social development of society. It works in a circular way, around the centre, with decreasing effects with distance – in warmth, light and protection. In detail, there are several problems: in the centre it is too hot, it is dangerous because of the risk of burns, warming works only from the front, at the back it is cold and shadowy. A bigger fire means greater effect, but also greater danger and this is the reason for the careful construction of a fireplace – in addition to its practical use.

The relationship between the various elements in architecture is independent of the size or complexity of a construction project: it is as essential for simple structures as it is for complex ones (Lehner 2016).

The principle of a primary house starts with a fire, with all its technical characteristics - centre and radiation, which leads to the simplest geometrical form: a circle. A circle is understood as a geometrical place of points with the same distance from the centre. This is at the same time the principle of a society with a central head and the equality of all the members (Egenter 1992). The scheme of classical Greek society follows the skeleton construction of the single-cell hut, with the fire in the centre and a circular ground plan. This is the principle of Plato's organisation of the state.

In theory, a house has three parts: the foundation as a connection between the ground and the body, the body made of walls, which organises the users’ activities, and the roof, which protects against weather conditions.

EXECUTIONS

The primary hut is the result of primaeval man's mental and physical possibilities, which show a complex composition, combining his needs, possibilities, natural circumstances and his ability to in-build all these elements. Fire as physical existence shows both the mental scheme of society and the technical execution in creating the shape of a hut. This can be understood as the technical shape in the ground plan and as the scheme in its cross section. 

Stone has a clearly longer lifespan than wood constructions and it is impossible to write about architectural history in its chronological development (Lehner 2016).

The construction of a hut starts as the protection of its contents – in the first line against fire, people and animals. A primary hut is built as a skeleton when wood is available, and in corbelling with stones, where stone is available (Juvanec 2013).

We have no information about the roof of cave dwellings, dug into the earth. Circular constructions in wood as a palisade with skeleton construction can be found in Ireland as 'crannog' (in Scotland 'crannag'). The circular ground plan of these artificial islands is covered by wooden beams, thatched with straw and they date back to the fourth millennium BC. 

Smaller circular constructions such as tombs can be found in corbelling on Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia; archaeologists have dated them to the 5th millennium BC (Steimer 2001). Nuraghe, as circular tower architecture in Sardinia, also in three storeys, appears in the second millennium BC. Stone shelters, used as transhumance architecture, are well known from the middle of the 16th century, and 'tipi', a portable conical tent, made of skins or canvas on a frame of poles, used by Indians in North America is two centuries younger. The use of longer elements – longer stones or logs, constructed in longitudinal directions, changed the circle into a square and finally into a rectangle.

A hearth-house has a hearth in the middle of the room, an open fire. The next step was raising the hearth from the floor to a more convenient height, but the fire was still open, unpleasant and dangerous for health. Changing the position from the centre of the room to a sidewall was the next step. Building a stove meant making a controlled fireplace, enclosed within walls, controlled at the entrance. Finally, the hearth entrance was moved to a vestibule, creating a clear and hygienic living room.

Vernacular house appeared with this living room with a stove, an antechamber as the kitchen and connection from the main entrance to the rear one, with other rooms added as sleeping chambers. Additional areas such as storerooms, granaries, cellars and later stables were also added on other floors.