Abstract

The topic of the current contribution is the discourse around “non-pedigreed” architecture (an alternative term for vernacular architecture), mostly in the first decades after WWII. As a matter of fact, knowledge around “non-pedigreed” architecture belongs automatically to the realm of the Tacit; little is known about its actual "ways of doing", relying mostly on interpretations. In this context, several key interpretations of the vernacular are being revisited and discussed through the perspective of its "actors", meaning the scholarly work of chosen architects. The paper is structured into three parts. The first presents the incentives behind the study of "non-pedigreed" architecture and touches upon questions of aesthetics and authorship. The second highlights the fruitful contradictions found in the first part while it focuses on the relationship of vernacular architecture with the notion of Time and the development of craft skills. Finally, in the third part, the contribution examines selected case studies in which the value of the vernacular is shifted from the realm of reference for architecture to that of the process of architectural production.