Learning from the 'other': Early modern emulation and trans-imperial exchange of 'native' building technologies
| Author(s): |
Pedro Guedes
|
|---|---|
| Medium: | conference paper |
| Language(s): | English |
| Conference: | 6th International Congress on Construction History (6ICCH 2018), July 9-13, 2018, Brussels, Belgium |
| Published in: | Building Knowledge, Constructing Histories [2 vols.] |
| Page(s): | 299-306 |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Abstract: | Most European traders, conquerors and colonists sought to build familiar settlements in unfamiliar surroundings. These ambitions were often challenged by scarcity of known building materials, skilled labour and the demands of alien climatic conditions. To find suitable translations of European building techniques, observation of local construction methods and their selective appropriation solved many such difficulties. This paper is largely based on articles in military and learned journals published in Britain and India in which non-European building practices and materials were described and illustrated not as exotic curiosities but as ideas worthy of emulation, until they were set aside in favour of the supposedly superior products of European mechanical industry and scientific knowledge. The paper will focus on three Indian modes of building that gained wide admiration and comment beyond the subcontinent. These are: Superior Chunam mortars capable of fine finishes and waterproofing, ingenious vaulting techniques with reduced lateral thrust erected with minimal falsework and well foundations, a reliable alternative to piling. |
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data sheet - Reference-ID
10078183 - Published on:
19/09/2018 - Last updated on:
05/03/2019
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