Sustainable development – from a local to a European perspective

Spijkenisse - Netherlands

March 7th - 14th 2017

Fourth Exchange of Group of Pupils

“The traditional house and sustainable development”

“Does the preserving of traditional houses contribute to the sustainable development?”

How do people see the traditional houses? Do they like them?

Does the traditional house have any touristic value?

Is the traditional house sustainable? What is a sustainable house?

Is there any added value when the traditional architectonic style of the houses in a village is maintained?

Which supports/strategies are there for the protection and promotion of this built legacy?

Problem

The traditional Portuguese architecture, based on the ancestral

art of building and humanizing of the landscape, is marked by:

optimization of construction processes

use of local materials and resources, according to the climatic

characteristics at the place of implantation

and resulting in the development of various constraints

Is there one or more than one type of traditional house?

geographicaleconomicsocial historical cultural

In Portugal the traditional construction is usually very diverse,

from region to region and within the same region.

Granite

Schist

SeiaBeira Alta

The municipality of Seia is part of a region called Beira Alta where

traditional construction is influenced mainly by the climate and

abundance of rocks such as granite and schist.

Schist

Granite

In just a few kilometers’ range, the change of the rocky substrate makes

the typology of the houses change and in the zones of lithological

transition the houses present the two types of rocks in the construction.

The cold winter weather conditions the buildings and so the houses, which can have

between one and three floors, often are placed on the slopes of the valleys facing

south, in order to increase the solar gains and obtain protection against the cold winds.

In the vernacular architecture of the region of

Beira Alta, it is usual the building of balconies,

stone balconies, porches and roof eaves.

In these houses, due to the harshness of the winter, the windows and doors to

the outside had very small dimensions and appeared in very limited number.

Another common material in the

construction of this type of houses is wood.

It is used in construction of wooden floors,

supported by wooden beams, in the attics

and in the structure of the roofs.

Pine wood

Chestnut wood

In places where granite is the main building material, the

most resistant and best-looking stones are usually chosen

and placed on one of the façades.

The corners of the houses

are built using larger stones

to help the wall stay stable.

When schist is the predominant rock, the houses are built

with it sometimes presenting the corners reinforced by

granite. Only in some privileged places is it possible to

extract a piece of schist to build a window or door frame.

Due to this, in the lintels we use granite of fine

grain or durable wood of chestnut wood that,

with time, acquires a black color similar to schist.

graniteSchist

The roofs in granite houses are made of ceramic

tiles, fixed to a wooden structure with stones in

order to prevent the entrance of wind. Slate slabs

fixed in a manner similar to the ceramic roof are

used in schist houses.

Wooden structure Ceramic tiles

Slate

These architectural solutions, transmitted from generation to

generation, have been adapted to the climate and culture of

each region, adapting the materials and spaces to the

surrounding environment.

Therefore…

Is a traditional house sustainable?

What exactly is a sustainable

house?

Our traditional houses have some sustainable characteristics:

they are built with local resources, especially granite, schist

and wood;

some of those houses are placed in sunny locations, their

terraces allow them to catch the winter sun and their

porches provide good ventilation in summer.

However, for these houses to fit into the concept of

sustainable house, and given their state of degradation, they

need to be rehabilitated from a perspective of sustainable

construction.

This would require:

The introduction of electric and hydraulic systems that can control the

use of water and electricity.

The use of materials to increase thermal efficiency;

The optimization of the natural sun light;

The use of traditional and recyclable resources during the building

rehabilitation process;

…..

Therefore, the rehabilitation of these houses enhances the

main principles of the environmental sustainability when we…

reuse existing building structures

How do people see the traditional houses?

Do they like them?

From this point on, we came up with the following hypothesis:

People like traditional houses though they don’t fit in the patterns of the recent construction.

Making a balance between those who would like to live in a traditional house

and those who prefer to live in modern homes it highlights a greater

appreciation of the traditional house.

So the assumption we started from that people like traditional houses seems to

be real, because they are valued not only because of their materials, their

architecture but also because of the beauty they bring to the villages and

landscapes.

People recognize that the dimensions are the biggest problem of these houses.

However, they think they are habitable, they could become comfortable

despite its recovery not being cheap comparing it to the construction of a new

house.

Some conclusions… :

QuestionsDoes the traditional house have any touristic value?

Is there any added value when the traditional architectonic style of the houses in a village is maintained?

Hypothesis

Perhaps the traditional houses have a tourist value

capable of contributing to the sustainable

development locally.

55% of the owners have no difficulty on renting the houses. However, there are problems

that may be related with the fact that the region is more attractive in the winter than in the

other seasons.

Although not all owners depend entirely on the income of these houses, they´re an

important economic contribution. Even though some of the owners could make a living only

with the renting contribution, they don´t, because they enjoy their current job.

The owners value the preservation of the villages and their typical houses, because it

contributes to tourism development.

Some conclusions… :

Which supports/strategies are there for the protection

and promotion of this built legacy?

Local policies find it difficult to promote the rehabilitation of the traditional houses. Hypothesis

Question

And now…