What is Ethnoarchitecture?
Ethnoarchitecture is architecture seen through a cultural relativist perspective. By cultural relativist architecture I mean architecture that is conceived, made or studied emphasizing on a local rather than a global point of view. To provide an example, from a conventional architecture point of view the thatch-and wood “huts” of indigenous peoples in the world are not as efficient as western, “global” houses are. They are not as durable as western houses. From an ethno-architectural point of view, the response to this assertion is that both houses last as much as they are needed to last. In the case of the hut, it is not necessary that it lasts for a long time, because the communities using it are fairly mobile. People’s lifetime in a specific place is often equivalent to their house’s lifetime. The same can be said for western housing. The only difference is that westerners’ lifetime in specific places spans for a longer period of time, and sometimes it goes over several generations.
