That’s not the point of vernacular architecture. Read or skim the wiki. The beauty of it is adapting to the surroundings to maximize environmental benefits as a way of preventing environmental externalities or other damages — at least in the sense of climate.
So to respond to your glib remark, no I’m not seriously proposing 2m walls for everyone. That’s ridiculous. There are better ways of building. (We actually have the technology to make net positive energy buildings with sophisticated materials and capture techniques.) The point of my comment was to show the ignorance of modern building techniques in a desert that was doing just fine until modernity started mixing in concrete. Vernacular architecture doesn’t have to be applied everywhere, but we can learn from it and implement what’s convenient.
On a parting note, I like to think of my old building’s thick stone walls built from rock probably quarried at the time on the other side of the hill. We have a southern exposure, and yet the rooms remain chilled without air conditioning so long as I shut the metal blinds at peak heat, and we are warm enough in the winters that we don’t need space heaters everywhere. The same can’t be said for my friend across the city in a newer apartment building that likely isn’t made with hefty stone.
So to respond to your glib remark, no I’m not seriously proposing 2m walls for everyone. That’s ridiculous. There are better ways of building. (We actually have the technology to make net positive energy buildings with sophisticated materials and capture techniques.) The point of my comment was to show the ignorance of modern building techniques in a desert that was doing just fine until modernity started mixing in concrete. Vernacular architecture doesn’t have to be applied everywhere, but we can learn from it and implement what’s convenient.
On a parting note, I like to think of my old building’s thick stone walls built from rock probably quarried at the time on the other side of the hill. We have a southern exposure, and yet the rooms remain chilled without air conditioning so long as I shut the metal blinds at peak heat, and we are warm enough in the winters that we don’t need space heaters everywhere. The same can’t be said for my friend across the city in a newer apartment building that likely isn’t made with hefty stone.