Transmitting Culture through Building Systems: The Case of the Tile Vault

Abstract

Until now, the technology behind building systems has largely been neglected, and an exploration of the cultural transmission of these systems has been undervalued as a way of understanding changes in the symbolic worldview of society. This article analyses the developmental transitions in a specific building system, specifically the tile vault, as a case study that illustrates the changing values of a construction process as it has evolved, together with an understanding of the philosophy that has accompanied those changes over time. An ethnohistorical and ethnographic method has been used, enabling a longitudinal and rich analysis through time that illustrates the indissolubility of the technical issues from the prevailing social institutions of each era. These are based on a careful reading of changing conditions (environmental, social, and cultural), and of the progressive participatory appropriation which takes place through cooperative, synergistic working.