1. ArchDaily
  2. AD: Global Architectural Parallels

AD: Global Architectural Parallels: The Latest Architecture and News

Crossing Hemispheres: Thatched Roofs from America to Asia

Thatching is a traditional building technique that has been reinterpreted in different ways in contemporary projects, allowing its value to continue to endure over time. As well as being a culturally and historically valuable technique, given its presence in humanity for centuries, it also has a number of other constructive advantages, such as its great environmental value, as it is an accessible renewable material.

The technique consists of grouping, intertwining, and overlapping dry vegetation, creating light surfaces with excellent thermal and sound insulation and which are cheap and relatively simple to build. In addition, flexibility is one of the technique's most prominent features, and it is particularly popular in roofing applications. 

Crossing Hemispheres: Thatched Roofs from America to Asia - Image 1 of 4Crossing Hemispheres: Thatched Roofs from America to Asia - Image 2 of 4Crossing Hemispheres: Thatched Roofs from America to Asia - Image 3 of 4Crossing Hemispheres: Thatched Roofs from America to Asia - Image 4 of 4Crossing Hemispheres: Thatched Roofs from America to Asia - More Images+ 16

Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects

Subscriber Access | 

It shouldn't be too surprising that architectural concepts were traveling around the globe long before the online spread of information. While many regions share certain historical events and hence references (such as colonization and the mid-20th-century independence movement/ turn of political systems), others might have simply developed parallel solutions to similar climates and material availability. Additionally, it was only natural that with the dissemination of a more uniform architectural pedagogy acquired while studying abroad, followed by the internet boom, we would find almost twin projects from every corner of the world. While these might look nearly identical from some angles, they might bear different layers and stories. Then again, they might also display the same reasoning and prompts shared by counterparts from across the seas.

Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects - Image 1 of 4Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects - Image 2 of 4Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects - Image 3 of 4Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects - Image 4 of 4Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects - More Images+ 6