The Role of the Vernacular in Modern Architecture: Form, Identity and Contextuality Issues

The architectural vanguards are often understood as movements opposing tradition. Nevertheless, and in spite of part of them having been born under such a will, multiple links between tradition and modernity exist and have existed. Among them, the way successive generations of architects have valued particular vernacular traditions stands out, especially those belonging to the Mediterranean regions. These last traditions would historically become a source of references for some of those new architectural trends. From purely formal appreciations, disconnected from the cultural and functional conditioning factors which shaped them generation after generation, often a wider understanding of them was reached. From that starting point important debates would come up and they would significantly contribute to the evolution of modem architecture.