Cette thèse a pour point de départ le constat de l’émergence de revendications vernaculaires dans le champ urbain « alternatif » (Paquot, 2012 ; Béal & Rousseau, 2014) contemporain, en urbanisme, paysage, architecture et design. Des néologismes récents semblent empreints de tautologies et de paradoxes : on parle « d’urbanisme convivial » (Grünig, 2013), de « vernaculaire contemporain » ou de « nouveau vernaculaire »(Frey, 2010). Une première étude terminologique autour du vernaculaire dévoilera une étymologie fondamentalement dialectique et relative : ce mot savant désigne l’aspect populaire des choses – noms communs, pratiques ordinaires, savoirs non-doctes. Mais la géohistoire du vernaculaire révèle surtout sa subversivité latente, confirmant là sa place dans le champ des alternatives. C’est à partir des concepts de « travail fantôme » et de « genre vernaculaire » (Illich, 1983), que nous établirons que le terme est apparu lorsque la chose a disparu. Une dépossession (des savoirs, des techniques, des biens communs, des modes de faire) se lit au creux des révolutions industrielles (Giedion, 1980) et des mutations des pratiques de subsistance, désormais reléguées au champ des loisirs (Corbin, 2009). Le terme est donc intimement lié à un caractère revendicatif, de reprise, qui n’est pas sans écho avec un type de pratiques critiques en design : être contre, tout contre (Papanek, 1974). C’est alors par l’analyse de différents types de reprises récentes, posant les esquisses d’un paysage existentiel du vernaculaire (Jackson, 1984), que nous proposons l’idée de déprise d’œuvre, déployant les paradigmes d’un urbain soutenable. Dans un contexte de déprise urbaine qui la voit apparaître, la déprise d’œuvre répond à la maîtrise d’œuvre, par la quête du recouvrement des savoirs qu’aura révélé le vernaculaire : faire, laisser faire, faire faire. Nourrie d’improvisation, de processus et d’expérience (Zask, 2011), cette attitude affirme finalement le rôle de vecteur rhétorique et mobilisateur que joue le vernaculaire dans la réinvention de pratiques urbaines / This research starts from observations of the emergence of "vernacular claims" in the alternative urban fields (Paquot, 2012; Béal & Rousseau, 2014) : urbanism, landscape, architecture and design. Recent neologisms seem to be characterized by tautologies and paradoxes : "convivial urban design" (Grünig, 2013), "contemporary vernacular" or "new vernacular" (Frey, 2010). A first terminological study of the vernacular will reveal a fundamentally dialectical and relative etymology : this scholarly word refers to a popular aspect of things - common names, ordinary practices, non-doctoral knowledges. But the geohistory of the vernacular reveals mostly a latent subversiveness, confirming its place in an alternative field. From the concepts of "ghost work" and "vernacular gender" (Illich, 1983), we will establish that the term appeared when the things disappeared. A dispossession (of knowledge, of techniques, of common goods, of crafts) can be found in the depths of industrial revolutions (Giedion, 1980), and from subsistence practices mutations, relegated to leisure fields (Corbin, 2009). The term is thus intimately linked to a reclaim feature, which is not far from a type of critical practices in design: to be close, very close (Papanek, 1974). By analyzing different types of recent recoveries, sketching in the edges of an existential vernacular landscape (Jackson, 1984), we finally suggest the idea of an déprise d’oeuvre, deploying some sustainable urban paradigms. In a context of urban shrinkage, this déprise d’oeuvre responds to traditionnal maîtrise d’oeuvre, in a quest to revover the knowledge revealed by the vernacular : to do, to let do, to make do. Nourished by improvisations, processes and experiences (Zask, 2011), this approach finally confirms the role that the vernacular plays as a mobilizing vector in the reinvention of urban practices

As any architectural historian would argue, historic buildings are the most accessible, yet illusive documents of their founding culture, and as the relevant historiography argues, the early Mormon pioneer built environment in Utah is no exception. In fact, many Mormon architectural historians posit that due to the exclusivity and unusual circumstances of many Mormon settlements, their original structures have an exceptional ability to comment on the culture that erected them. The first permanent settlement in Cache Valley, Wellsville, provides a particularly lucrative opportunity to discover a great deal about the founding pioneers who established it due to the city's time and place within the context of Mormon colonization, the plethora of original domiciles that remain standing, and the wealth of genealogical documents that still exist in the community shedding light on the lives and skills of the community's original craftsmen. While the voices of vernacular builders are often lost, leaving only their structures to testify of the culture, the incorporation of personal histories and interviews with descendents and acquaintances of three specific builders grants this argument a distinct foundation. This thesis explores the change in housing designs in Wellsville from vernacular styles to nationally popular housing patterns at the turn of the twentieth century by examining three specific structures. By contrasting a stone saltbox and clap-boarded Georgian house, both built in the 1860s, with a bungalow built in 1914, and investigating the lives of their respective builders, I demonstrate how housing design practices mirror the social and political transition of the Mormon church during this period. At the same time that late-nineteenth century Mormons sought to change their image by emerging from isolation, gaining statehood, and assimilating into a more national identity, a modern housing movement proliferated throughout the western United States. By participating in this transition of domestic structures, the Mormons discarded the vernacular housing traditions brought by Mormonism's founding community of diverse converts from Europe and New England in favor of popular designs readily available in widely published plan books. Had the national transition in housing happened even a decade earlier, it is plausible that the still-insular and strictly traditional Mormon culture region would have resisted such a change. Thus the alteration in housing serves as evidence of the transition in Mormonism toward the national mainstream at the turn of the twentieth century. While a vast historiography concerning Mormon sacred structures exists, this thesis strengthens the discourse regarding the religion's understudied domestic built environment. Furthermore, by illustrating the important role that historic houses in Cache Valley play in both discovering and remembering the foundation of this valley, I hope to foster the desire to both appreciate and preserve these structures as crucial pieces of cultural history.

No description available.

This project examines the important implications of printed vernacular appeals to a nascent public by exiled reformers such as William Tyndale, by religious conservatives such as Thomas More, and by Henry VIII and his regime in the volatile years of the 1520s and 1530s. This dissertation explores the nature of this public, both materially and as a discursive concept, and the various ways in which Tyndale provoked and justified public discussion of the central religious issues of the period through the production of vernacular Bibles and his polemical works. Tyndale’s writings raised important issues of authority and legitimacy and challenged many of the traditional notions of hierarchy at the heart of early modern English society. This study analyzes how this challenge manifested itself in Tyndale’s ecclesiology and in his political reflections and in the complex relationship between these two elements of his thought.

No description available.

This study of commemoration of 9/11 on the 10th anniversary is performed at the intersection of public memory and rhetorical studies. Examining the role of the individual within public memory, this study furthers both fields by expanding on the definitions, processes, and negotiation between official and vernacular discourse. With a theoretical frame work that uses Foucault's concept of discursive archive, rhetors involved in the creation of public memory are framed as curators of a discursive archive of 9/11 memory. The role and limitations of the curatorial role is explored in three cases studies: a local ceremony, national newspapers, and Twitter hashtags. The study finds that there is a complicated interaction between vernacular and official memory and narrow definitions of the terms are not sufficient to describe the processes through which individuals take part in public memory. Rhetors involved in the public memory process may take on complex and ambiguous roles within the entangled discourses of official and vernacular memory. Within these case studies, individual curators crafted messages about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 that reify the importance of individuals tied to particular groups, urge for unity, and focus on the ten years since the tragedies.

The rapid modernization and densification of Taipei has resulted in a culturally and socially unsustainable society. The North American paradigm of high-rise condominiums disrupts the social pattern of the vernacular family, cultural activities and communities, isolating the city dwellers within their own homes. The physical city no longer reflects or supports its social and cultural condition, thus has led to the disintegration of traditional customs and lifestyle without a sustainable replacement. The hypothesis of this thesis is that high-density residential architecture can be reinvented through the reinterpretation of vernacular dwelling to accommodate cultural sustainable activities and a sociable, identifiable community. <br /><br /> The first three chapters record and examine three branches of research: vernacular Taiwanese culture and architecture, high-density vernacular architecture, and the current condition of Taipei, Taiwan. The research deals with various disciplines, most importantly family and social structure, to provide a foundation for further discussion of dwelling condition versus culture. Chapter iv compares and analyzes the relationship between residential architecture and lifestyle of the vernacular and current dwelling. It argues for the importance of communities at different scales, bound together by a hierarchy of communal spaces. The condominium building is carefully reexamined under the categories of the unit, the floor, the building as a village, and the neighbourhood. <br /><br /> The design project, Vertical Vernacular [chapter v], presents a new typology of high-density residential architecture. It demonstrates the implantation of the theories and prototypes developed in the previous chapter, by consideration of current culture and family structure, including both traditional customs and modern lifestyle. A full range of unit plans are developed based on demographics, family structure, traditional custom, and adoption of tradition to modern imperatives. The co-operative living environment inspired by the vernacular dwelling creates friendly, strong and safe communities within the condominium. Furthermore, the project aims for the feasibility of the concept within the densest district of Taipei City from a developer's point-of-view.

The rapid modernization and densification of Taipei has resulted in a culturally and socially unsustainable society. The North American paradigm of high-rise condominiums disrupts the social pattern of the vernacular family, cultural activities and communities, isolating the city dwellers within their own homes. The physical city no longer reflects or supports its social and cultural condition, thus has led to the disintegration of traditional customs and lifestyle without a sustainable replacement. The hypothesis of this thesis is that high-density residential architecture can be reinvented through the reinterpretation of vernacular dwelling to accommodate cultural sustainable activities and a sociable, identifiable community. <br /><br /> The first three chapters record and examine three branches of research: vernacular Taiwanese culture and architecture, high-density vernacular architecture, and the current condition of Taipei, Taiwan. The research deals with various disciplines, most importantly family and social structure, to provide a foundation for further discussion of dwelling condition versus culture. Chapter iv compares and analyzes the relationship between residential architecture and lifestyle of the vernacular and current dwelling. It argues for the importance of communities at different scales, bound together by a hierarchy of communal spaces. The condominium building is carefully reexamined under the categories of the unit, the floor, the building as a village, and the neighbourhood. <br /><br /> The design project, Vertical Vernacular [chapter v], presents a new typology of high-density residential architecture. It demonstrates the implantation of the theories and prototypes developed in the previous chapter, by consideration of current culture and family structure, including both traditional customs and modern lifestyle. A full range of unit plans are developed based on demographics, family structure, traditional custom, and adoption of tradition to modern imperatives. The co-operative living environment inspired by the vernacular dwelling creates friendly, strong and safe communities within the condominium. Furthermore, the project aims for the feasibility of the concept within the densest district of Taipei City from a developer's point-of-view.

This report takes as its subject the Anglo-Saxon text of The Wonders of the East, a medieval liber monstrum which appears in three English manuscripts from the 11th and 12th centuries. It argues that Wonders is a uniquely English text, and that the use of the vernacular is an attempt to spread and validate English usage across various literary and scientific forms. The first section examines briefly the relationships between the three manuscripts, then turns to one in particular, British Library MS Cotton Tiberius B.v., for the remainder of the study. This first section will also detail the contents of each of the three manuscripts, and the various thematic and linguistic connections between them. The second section turns to the text and illustrations of Wonders, and will consider the use and significance of distinctly “English” vocabulary in describing foreign monsters. It will show that the use of vernacular neologisms to describe foreign spaces and monstrous creatures is an attempt to explore the potential uses of English, and was inspired by a political and cultural environment which encouraged the use of the vernacular in an attempt to grow a national identity. The third section examines a brief passage describing the wondrous creatures known as the donestre, and will show examine the anxieties revealed in the naming and renaming of these creatures. It then explores the relationship between the visual representation and textual description of the donestre, and the implications of the discrepancies therein, to our understanding of the text. The fourth section reads The Wonders of the East as a map. First, it unpacks the myriad potential meanings held within the medieval map; then, it examines the structural and thematic concerns of the text, and the ways in which those concerns work to literally map English onto the Eastern world. My final section considers the implications of my reading of Wonders. It shows that this reading, by acknowledging for the first time, the distinct “Englishness” of the text, opens up Wonders to further study from a number of theoretical and disciplinary viewpoint. / text

Individuals, who were predominantly untrained in architectural design and construction, created the vernacular architecture of American homesteads for their own use. The buildings homesteaders created varied in materials and architectural forms. The goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that the cultural backgrounds of homesteaders were significant in their homestead architectural decisions. Three homesteads in Cebolla Canyon, New Mexico, were selected for study, due to their unique architectural construction and close proximity, both geographically and temporally. Methods included historical and biographical research, homestead site documentation, dendroarchaeological research, and architectural analyses. The results of this study suggest that the cultural backgrounds of homesteaders were influential in architectural decisions, but were not necessarily the most influential factor. Intentions for staying in the canyon and interests in conveniently acquiring construction materials were also influential factors in architectural decisions in Cebolla Canyon homesteads.