Funded projects

Endangered architecture: Hamer Woreda in Ethiopia, contains three unique architectures: 1) the Hamer field hut, a very rare example of a fully conical dwelling within the African continent,  2) village huts built by women,  and 3), village huts built by men. Each type exhibits a type of coded system found rarely in architecture, in that locals who can read the buildings know the status of the occupant (and their children), through adaptations made to the building itself. All three types are short lived ephemeral architectures that last little more than ten years without being substantially rebuilt. However, change is coming quickly to southern Ethiopia with the building of a major road that is leading to industrialisation and modernisation of the whole region. Consequently, the conical field shelters are now rarely built, and most are disappearing from the landscape.

Aims: The project aims to record three structures within one community along with their compounds, and to map the village layouts. This project will considerably increase the depth of detail known about these architectural types, as it will not only explore the finished form of the building but also document  the construction materials, management, tool use and patterns of occupation of the whole village area. 

Project Lead: Gordon Clarke

Collaborators: Linda Hurcombe, Takele Merid Afessa

Location of Research: Hamer Woreda, Ethiopia 

Host Institution: University of Exeter

Type of Grant: Small grant

Endangered architecture: The reed architecture of Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq represents the survival of one of the oldest known building traditions in the world. The most distinctive architectural form is the Mudhif; a large meeting hall, usually commissioned by a sheikh and used for community gatherings and the entertainment of guests. These halls are made entirely of reed, consisting of a long tunnel-like structure formed by large reed arches bound together under tension. Between these arches, woven reed mats form the walls and roofs of the mudhif, while the end walls often feature elaborately woven designs. In-depth knowledge of the various reeds which grow in the Iraqi marshes are also essential as different types of reeds are needed for different structural components. Having barely survived the deliberate draining of the marshes in the 1990s, the Marsh Arab communities now face an even greater threat; climate change and dam building, which have reduced the flow of water into the marshes to a critical level.

Aims: The project will seek to document the reed structures, the method of construction and the specialist knowledge required. The latter will include issues such as what sort of reed is used for what part of the building, what time of year building takes place and how the work is organised. The buildings will be recorded through photogrammetry (drone and handheld) and through the production of detailed diagrammatic records.

Project Lead: Mary Shepperson

Collaborators: Jassim al-Asadi

Location of Research: Iraq

Host Institution: University of Liverpool

Collaborating organisation: Nature Iraq

Type of Grant: Small grant

Mudhif near Chibayish, Iraq

Photographer: M. Shepperson 2016

Endangered architecture: Throughout history, teak – from farmer to king – was the mainstay building material and holds a special place in the consciousness of the Burmese people. The harvesting of teak required ceremony and blessings; its handling was a matter of respect. Teak, in the context of a monsoon climate, resists decay, rot, and insect infestation, and its strength is ideal for supporting tremendous weight. The basic form is a stilted elevated platform upon which is erected a structure of singular or multiple gabled roofs. Columns are usually sturdy vertical teak logs embedded below ground, a superstructure perforated with a mortise-and-tenon system of joinery supporting a uniquely Burmese network of girders, joists, and boards. The destruction of Myanmar's teak farmhouses is part of a larger rapid socio-economic transformation that undermines the survival of traditional architectural forms and building craft. The combination of industrialized building materials, a tightening of teak markets, and recent political turmoil are placing incredible pressures on surviving traditional farmhouses, and in doing so, the lifestyles of their inhabitants.

Aims: This project aims to support the documentation of Burmese Teak farmhouse typologies in Myanmar. Engaging with farmhouse owners, the project will contribute to the understanding of Myanmar’s rich vernacular architectural legacy and provide the foundation for future research on its evolution and regional and ethnic variations.

Project Lead: Jeffrey Allen

Collaborators: U Aung Soe Myint, Htet Htet Phyo, Ko Soe Naing Oo

Location of Research: Myanmar

Host Institution: World Monuments Fund (https://www.wmf.org/)

Type of Grant: Small grant

Ko Kyi Naing Win’s home in Mawlaik, Myanmar exemplifies the overlapping residential and agricultural uses of architecture being surveyed under this grant. 

Photographer: Tim Webster, September 16, 2017

Endangered architecture: The Tamang Heritage Trail (THT)in Nepal  was introduced as part of the Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program (TRPAP) to showcase local culture and heritage. Traditional houses here consist of dry-stone masonry (gable-end and rear walls) and wooden elements incorporating load-bearing elements, balconies, and a roof structure, as well as a wooden carved wall on the front façade. Most traditional houses are built in a row, inducing a high interdependency of these constructions. The dwellings and settlements are notable for their cultural significance, their adaptation to daily and seasonal uses and their adaptation to the local climate. However, the Tamang built heritage is currently under severe threat. Almost all the houses have been damaged (at different levels of severity) due to the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes. Despite their will to preserve their cultural heritage, inhabitants have had to make repairs using non-traditional methods such as RCC frame to meet the government building standards and regulations, and in many cases, they have been forced to rebuild a new house in spaces formerly dedicated to other uses or still live in their damaged house. 

Aims: This project aims to document buildings and settlements at varying scales along the Tamang Heritage Trail, with a primary focus on the village of Gatlang. The project will build on research by ASF Nepal and AE&CC-CRAterre to involve inhabitants, artisans, and communities in its documentation of the technical elements of this built heritage and the   local cultural knowledge and practices that shaped it. This documentation will aid in the support of reconstruction projects and self-recovery.

Project Lead: Reshma Shrestha

Collaborators: Minar Thapa Magar, Salena Sangachhe, Philippe Garnier

Location of Research: Nepal

Host Institution: CRS Nepal

Type of Grant: Small Grant

The image above shows a traditional housing pattern in the village of Gatlang, Rasuwa, a few months after the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes.

Photographer: Remi Buscot, July 2015.

Endangered architecture: The wooden townhouses (havelis) of Gujarat are of high historical, cultural and architectural significance owing to their elaborate decorative motifs, which developed out of an amalgamation of Hindu, Jain, Islamic, Mughal and European design traditions. In addition, the houses are excellent examples of how local construction techniques responded to the availability and management of scarce resources, as wood is not abundant in certain regions of Gujarat and each region developed its own system of design. Today many of these traditional buildings are in disrepair or being demolished and local building knowledge is being lost. Gujarat is also in an earthquake prone area and regular small tremors are slowly but steadily causing the townhouses to collapse.

Aims: This project aims to document up to 100 wooden havelis in Gujarat through 3D LiDAR scanning technology and architectural drawings. The project will record representative typologies and variations in construction techniques, as well as the knowledge of construction systems, ideologies of ornamentation and community histories. Archival research and oral histories will be used to support the surveys.

Project Lead: Jigna Desai

Collaborators: Gauri Bharat, Brinda Pancholi Shah, Ashna Patel, Shriraj Gohil, Mrudula Mane, Shaily Gandhi

Location of Research: Gujarat, India

Host Institution: Center for Heritage Conservation, CEPT Research and Development Foundation

Type of Grant: Large grant

Wooden House in Dharmaj, Central Gujarat is an example of elaborately carved wooden houses, now in a state of disrepair. 

Photographer: Jigna Desai, June 2021.

Endangered architecture: There are three variants of timber-laced masonry constructions that have been in practice in Kashmir, Frontier Pakistan and Himachal Pradesh. A popular construction system, particularly in Frontier Pakistan (regionally called bhatar) and parts of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir, employs a technique in which horizontal timber bands are embedded within the masonry walls. The alternating horizontal courses of these timber bands, usually placed at regular distances, act as seismic bands and have been widely adopted in new builds in the earthquake- prone areas of Pakistan after the devastating earthquake of October 2005. The second variant of the timber-laced masonry construction is the cator and cribbage construction – which is mostly seen in buildings of religious significance (such as khanqahs and mosques) in Kashmir, dating back to at least the 15th century. Until the turn of the 19^th century, there were many surviving khanqahs built in this technique in Kashmir. However, only 3 such khanqahs of high architectural value survive today. Further, the cator cribbage is a declining form of construction, owing largely to the fast-depleting deodar (cedrus deodrara) forests and the introduction of modern building material and techniques. These buildings are also vulnerable to fire and two khanqahs have already succumbed, being rebuilt in modern materials, thus losing not only the construction techniques but the spirit of the structure.

Aims: This project aims to survey the three-surviving wooden Khanqahs in Kashmir. Measured drawings using traditional methods will be complemented by digital scanning techniques to develop richer and more accurate detailing of joinery and other timber and composite masonry details. 

Project Lead: Mohammad Ajmal Shah

Collaborators: Saima Iqbal, Takeyuki Okubo

Location of Research: Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian

Host Institution: University of Kashmir

Type of Grant: Large grant

Khanqah of Shah Hamdan, Srinagar, UT of Jammu & Kashmir © Archaeological Survey of India

Endangered architecture: Mohannas, an indigenous community of fishermen in Pakistan, live on boat-houses along the banks, lakes and islands of the Indus River in Sindh province. The Mohanna villages comprise of fleets of varying sized house-boats and other smaller vessels, forming the tangible expression of the cultural landscape. The Indus boat-houses are richly ornate and uniquely designed flat-bottomed vessels, specially developed to navigate the shallow and turbulent waters of the unpredictable Indus River. Custodians of ‘Indus Boat-House’ culture are today faced with displacement, and deprived of their ancestral livelihood due to pollution, reduced freshwater supplies, and other industrial exploitations that have played havoc with the ecology of Manchar Lake. Many boat-dwellers have either shifted to affordable housing on adjoining lands or migrated to other locations along the Indus, in search of livelihoods.

Aims: This project aims to document this dying culture of Indus boat-houses to generate a visual and technical record of the processes and traditional ways of boat building and their maintenance. Being an oral tradition there is no record of the traditional ways of building the boat-houses, nor is there a record of the rituals related to this unique lifestyle. The produced documentation will be a first-time attempt at creating an archival and documentary record of the central and most tangible material aspect of this cultural tradition. 

Project Lead:  Anila Naeem and Farida A. Ghaffar

Collaborators: Shazia Abro, Muhammad Ahmed

Location of Research: Sindh, Pakistan

Host Institution: N.E.D University of Engineering and Technology

Type of Grant: Small grant

Mohanna Boat-houses banked on Indus near Sukkur up till 2010 (now displaced)

Photographer: Anila Naeem, December 2004

Endangered architecture: E’ya (俄亚) village, a vernacular settlement of the Naxi ethnic group, is located in Sichuan province, China. The wooden houses in E’ya are typically three- or four-story wooden frame houses with flat roofs and masonry enclosure. This distinct style is the result of integrating building traditions from Tibetan, Naxi, and Han ethnic groups. E’ya is unique in the way the settlement is organized and situated in the landscape. Located along the southern slope of a mountain, the roofs of all the houses are connected in order to form an escape path that allowed the residents to run and hide in the mountains, if and when the settlement was being attacked by bandits. Due to its isolated location, the residents in E’ya also preserve many cultural traditions. Although many are nicely preserved as of early 2022, E’ya village faces a high level of endangerment, including an immediate threat of being destroyed as a result of promoting tourism, a pending threat of being abandoned due to rural-to-urban migration, and a constant threat of fire, flood, landslides, and in particular wildfires started in the adjacent forest.

Aims: This project aims to focus on 30-40 interconnected residual structures and a few public buildings in the center of E’ya village, Sichuan province, China, and to document not only these wooden structures, but also how these buildings are physically and spatially connected as an integrated system. More importantly, based on photographs taken by residents and their stories, this project intends to uncover and present the meanings of vernacular places from residents’ perspectives. 

Collaborators: Deyin Luo, Xi Pan

Location of Research: Sichuan Province, China

Host Institution: Louisiana Tech University

Collaborating institutions: Tsnghua University 

Type of Grant: Large grant

Houses in E’ya. Photo by Zhaojun Li

Endangered architecture: Once an important tributary to the historic Silk Route, Gurez valley contains some of the last vestiges of early medieval traditional wooden architecture in Kashmir. The present study is focused on the population of 38,000 Shina-speaking Dards of the Gurez valley in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. Various varieties of cedar (deodar) are the most preferred construction material for the houses, mostly in the form of stacked undressed simple wooden logs or dressed planks. The multi-storeyed structures with truncated apex, have gabled roofs ascending in tiers of pyramidal form, with overhanging eaves. The traditional ways of life and the cultural landscape of the region are rapidly disappearing under the combined impacts of armed conflict, the new wave of adventure tourism, and ambitious redevelopment. Consequently, the local population is forced to transform their traditional ways of living, threatening the continued use of traditional techniques and styles of construction which have been practiced since early medieval times.

Aims: This project aims to locate and survey at least 10 of the most significant and endangered wooden structures in the Gurez valley. This study will also collect oral histories and plans to open possibilities for integrating local communities and heritage conservation.

Project Lead: Rafiq Ahmad

Collaborators: Fayaz Ahmad, Aamir Latief Wani, Emily S. Doerner

Location of Research: Kashmir, India

Host Institution: Govt. College for Women Nawakadal

Type of Grant: Small grant

 A residential log-house in Tulail, Gurez, Photographer: Rafiq Ahmad

Endangered architecture: The Classic Māori Period was one of architectural distillation, creating Māori whare (house) distinct from Polynesian fale (house). Unlike the fale, which visibly binds the frame together with rope acting as a connector, the whare used a hidden building system called mīmiro, which transversely post-tensions the entire building frame. Built not from the ground up with the roof laid on top of supporting walls, the whare is constructed from the roof down. The only remaining whare to have been built using mīmiro, Whakaata in Okains Bay Museum, was carved and built by John Rua and Murray Thacker in 1976. A traditional whare, Tānewhirinaki, built in 1874 using mīmiro has been in storage for 100 years and is scheduled to be reconstructed in 2023. Documenting the reconstruction of this whare will preserve this rare building tradition and uphold cultural identity in a transcolonised society.

Aims: This project will record the dimensions, materiality, and morphology of the components in detailed drawings and document the processes of fabrication and assemblage in photography and animation. Related research will also record lateral movement and seismic resilience.

Project Lead: Anthony Hoete

Collaborators: Ngāti Ira O Waioweka, Dante Bonica, Jeremy Treadwell

Location of Research: Aotearoa, New Zealand

Host Institution: University of Auckland

Type of Grant: Small grant

Te whare rangitupu, Photo: Anthony Hoete, 2022

Endangered architecture: The Churches of Chiloé represent an architectural tradition begun by Jesuit itinerant preachers in the 17th and 18th centuries; a successful fusion of indigenous culture and European techniques. There are a total of 151 still-standing churches across the remote Chiloé Archipelago. Located in the south of Chile, these wooden buildings withstand a cold and rainy climate that forces constant maintenance and replacement of structural materials due to pathologies caused by different types of rot. The physical conservation of these buildings is difficult, due to a lack of local knowledge of wooden building techniques, which has gradually been lost, and the need for regular professional inspections to assess their state. Out of the 151 Churches of Chiloé, 16 were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 as a unique example of religious architecture in Latin America, being one of the seven listed sites in Chile.

Aims: The project will document around 15 Churches in Chiloé, important wooden structures currently at risk, some of which are listed as UNESCO World Heritage. The churches will be selected according to their state of conservation and cultural significance, directing the efforts where most needed. The accurate three-dimensional documentation of these structures will provide a virtual platform for disseminating vernacular wooden building techniques and allowing expert technical assessment to ensure their physical conservation. Using mixed methods of terrestrial LiDAR, drones and photogrammetry, the churches and their immediate surroundings will be documented and shared online, making them available and virtually visitable by a global audience. 

Project Lead: Bernadette Devilat

Collaborators: Umberto Bonomo, Natalia Cruz, Lorenzo Berg, Gamal Abdelmonem, Felipe Lanuza and Andrés Morales 

Location of Research: Chiloé, Chile

Host Institution: Nottingham Trent University (NTU)

Collaborating Institutions (Chile): Centro del Patrimonio Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CENPUC); Fundación Iglesias de Chiloé; Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo Universidad de Chile (FAU)

Type of Grant: Large grant

Church of Caguach, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Chiloé Archipelago, Chile. 

Photographer: Natalia Cruz (Fundación Iglesias Patrimoniales de Chiloé), 2021

Endangered architecture: Within the Ribeira Valley in Brazil, 14 buildings are today listed as Japanese Immigration Cultural Assets. These buildings represent a unique hybrid form of Brazilian wooden architecture that combines the architectural traditions of Japanese immigrants who settled in the region during the early 20th century with the knowledge, skills and crafts of the Indigenous and Maroon groups already present in the region, resulting in a unique wooden architectural tradition that successfully merged disparate architectural traditions while being adapted to the Brazilian landscape and climate. Most of the hundreds of houses that were built at the time no longer exist today, while the remaining ones are uninhabited and in a precarious state, partially deteriorated, destroyed, or at risk of imminent collapse. 

Aims: Using a literature review and detailed architectural survey methods (including descriptions, drawings, plans and photographs), this project aims to record an exemplar of these unique Japanese immigrant houses, identifying construction components, jointing systems and the construction processes of the carpenters within the wider cultural context. 

Project Lead: Akemi Hijoka

Collaborators: Alain Briatte Mantchev, Hector Yuji Yokoyama Inafuku, Makoto Kawajiri

Location of Research: municipality of Registro, Brazil

Host Institution: Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo

Collaborating institutions: FUNARBE, (Arthur Bernardes Foundation)

Type of Grant: Small grant

Endangered architecture: The wooden churches of Romania date back to the 16^th century and represent architecture at the crossroad of several cultural and religious influences in eastern Europe. In 1999, eight wooden churches of the Maramureș region were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, highlighting their significance. Today over 1400 churches exist, demonstrating several different building techniques: A) horizontally stacked logs jointed at the corners (also known as the blockbau system), B) vertically framed logs jointed with horizontally stacked beams, C) wattle and daub, and D) earth-lodging (similar to the folk pit-houses, which were mostly semi-recessed into the earth with a roof standing out). Today these churches, some in small remote villages, are being abandoned and damaged at increasing rates. There is also much to be recovered and understood about traditional carpentry by preserving and thoroughly documenting these buildings.

Aims: This project aims to ensure the long term 3D digital preservation of 30 endangered and valuable wooden churches in Romania. The project also aims to set up a regional technology teaching hub integrating the project equipment into future training and recording programmes.

Project Lead: Cosmin-Bogdan Ilieș

Collaborators: Ileana Burnichioiu, Călin Șuteu, Celina Gora, Mihai Moldovan (RA)

Location of Research: Romania

Host Institution: Monumentum Association 

Collaborating organisation: Wooden Churches Association (Asociația Biserici Înlemnite), Universitatea “1 Decembrie 1918” Alba Iulia, National Heritage Institute (Institutul Național al Patrimoniului)

Type of Grant: Large grant

The "Saint Paraskeva" Wooden Church of Mirosloveşti (Iaşi county, RO), dating back to 1756, with an architecture that displays a unique influence, usually found in the brick and stone masonry of the regional monasteries and known as the "Moldavian style".

Photo credits: Călin Șuteu, 2022

Endangered architecture: Traditional wooden architecture has historically been widespread in the continental part of Croatia. Today the greatest concentration is found in central Croatia, in the regions of Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje, Posavina and Turopolje. The local environment, terrain, abundance of timber and ways of farming influenced the typology of rural settlements and the characteristics of traditional architecture in the region. The houses are typically constructed with hewn planks, joined with wooden wedges, making it possible to disassemble and reassemble the units. Walls are typically smeared with mud, earth, or clay with mixtures of chaff or chopped straw, and then whitewashed with lime. Carvings or decorations may appear on parts of the buildings, usually on the street or courtyard façade. Unfortunately, the wooden architecture in the Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje and Posavina regions has been highly endangered for several reasons, including damage and demolition from earthquakes, depopulation, and neglect.

Aims: This project aims to develop a multidisciplinary methodology for documenting historic environments and structures, survey over 100 villages, and record in detail houses within eight villages. Importantly, it aims to raise awareness of the wooden heritage in the region by recording village histories, the ways of life and usage of buildings and spaces, life stories of families and individuals, and woodworking skills and traditions. In particular, the project will organise a crowdsourcing campaign with high school students in order to collect information on wooden buildings and craftsmen in the region.

Project Lead: Sanja Lončar

Collaborators: Goran Andlar, Hrvoje Tomić, Filip Šrajer

Assistants: Tanja Kremenić, Grga Frangeš, Davor Konjikušić

Location of Research: Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje and Posavina Regions, Croatia

Host Institution: Društvo "Terra banalis" / Association "Terra banalis" (https://terrabanalis.wixsite.com/terrabanalis)

Type of Grant: Large grant

Neglected house in Bok Palanječki, Municipality of Martinska Ves, Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia 

Photo: Sanja Lončar 2021