THE HIDDEN INGENUITY IN THE GREEK RURAL ARCHITECTURE

The present paper examines the issue of sustainability in vernacular architecture of rural buildings in Greece. Today, when the built-environment influences and is influenced by climatic, social, economic and all kinds of crises, the teachings of vernacular architecture can redefine sustainability in contemporary architecture. To this end, the study of examples of traditional architecture in the Greek, and more broadly Mediterranean, rural environment is valuable. By narrowing down the field of study to the building type of the pen, it becomes clear that even the most shoddy or seemingly “low-tech” structures can hide an ingenuity in both their structure and their function. Focusing on the socio-economic sphere around them and the dynamics between creator and building, the pen is studied as the result of a complex process that maintains a continuous and direct interaction with its environment. Indeed, by living in symbiosis with the natural environment, these communities have managed to produce infrastructure that is resistant to time and capable of responding to exogenous changes.