**2.7 Experience of housing in Mexico**

Houses in Mexico have currently been influenced by various styles, from the traditional pre-Columbian style, with its intense colors, rough textures, and thick walls, to functional modern architecture with simple straight lines. Land and housing are part of one thing [51]. The traditional vernacular dwelling becomes one more element of the same territory. The houses were made of wood and marl, the roofs were made of reeds, although the pyramids, temples and palaces were generally made of stone. The homes have a dwelling function, a cellar, and a stable, which are separated by thick structural walls and few openings (see **Figure 16**). Inside the divisions are few, some wall to isolate the kitchen, which sometimes moves towards the corridor in the simplest homes.

Most of the Mexican house style is inspired by the old famous Spanish architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries, better known as "Mission" or "Colonial" style houses, where the typical stone or white walls stucco, with red-tiled roofs and triangular ceilings but low, since it does not rain, or with small vaults. Plants, especially *aloe vera* and the like, in addition to cacti or those that need little water, usually populate the garden [52, 53].

*Lessons from the World Sustainable Housing (Past Experiences, Current Trends, and Future… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100533*

#### **Figure 15.**

*The house types from Iran, Syria, and Central Asia.*

**Figure 16.** *Different traditional Mexican houses.*

#### **2.8 Experience of housing in in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and North Africa**

Rooms in houses from this area are not communicate directly with the overheated air from outside, but through a buffer space. At the same time, between the yard and the street there is at least one wall, or a building, often with several cores [54]. This isolation from the road indicates defense concerns (see **Figure 17**).

The cities of North Africa are compact with inner courtyards, winding streets between the built volumes. In this way the surrounding streets have the role of a cold air reserve and similarly the air in the inner courtyard will replace the air in the surrounding spaces [55]. This phenomenon occurs in the following cases:


#### **2.9 Experience of housing in Balkan**

Houses in Balkan has been traditionally labeled either an "Ottoman house" or a "Balkan house." The focus here is on constructing national interpretations of the vernacular residential architecture in question, meaning symbolic appropriations or "nationalizations" of a shared cultural heritage from the Ottoman era 8 see **Figure 18**).

**Figure 17.** *Typical house from the north of Africa.*

**Figure 18.** *The characteristic houses in Balkan.*

Although dedicated to a particular form of traditional architecture, this text does not present the outcome of research in the field of art/architectural history or ethnography [56]. The house area dominates by simplicity and modesty, functional and natural elements, fabrics made with care and attention to detail, and solid furniture made to last. Each component of the traditional houses is justified by the owner's lifestyle, by the traditions he respects, and by the relationship with nature.

The traditional Balconies house is not unitary but differs depending on the area. Specialists classify these as distinct ethnographic areas. Among the most critical

#### *Lessons from the World Sustainable Housing (Past Experiences, Current Trends, and Future… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100533*

ethnographic regions, which have preserved mainly their local specificity today. In other areas, traditional architecture can only be found in the village museums. Even if these areas have a distinct character of their own, there are still some common features. The peasant houses had few rooms, and the oldest were single rooms. The house usually consisted of a porch, a space, and a pantry. The access to the house was made through the porch, after which one entered the hall, and from the hall one entered the room. The porch, sometimes called porch or porch, is the open and covered space that mediates the interior-exterior relationship and is also the most ornate area of the house. The decorative elements usually covered the porch pillars, also called slippers or forks; their role was both esthetic and magical, protecting the home from evil. The porch was not just a passageway but sometimes served as a place to store snacks or household utensils. At other times, there was a hearth in the hall and thus, this space became the kitchen and living room of the house. Most of the time, however, the room was the place where the hearth was and the place where it was cooked, eaten, and slept. This is not accidental, because the fire was also used to prepare food and heat the building.

Therefore, the oldest houses had a single room, also called "house". In the summer, on hot days when the fire was not lit inside, the hearth in the yard or a summer kitchen was used for cooking. or the "cellar" or "file" (so named because it was in the back of the house) was the storage space for food, tools, or small tools. The main food storage space was either the attic of the house or the cellar. The attic was used to store grain and smoke meat, and in the cellar were kept fruits, vegetables, pickled pots, and barrels of brandy or wine. The roof of the house was usually high and in four glasses of water. Multi-room houses appeared a little later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, and in this case, one of the rooms was kept for special days. In the "beautiful room", the "good house" or the "house before" guests were received at the big holidays, important family events were held. Here were placed the most precious furniture and decorative objects and here were kept the holiday clothes. Because it was used only occasionally, the beautiful room rarely had a heating system. Today there is so much talk about vernacular architecture because it is the condition for the sustainable development of rural communities. Vernacular architecture has the quality of being ecologically sustainable by adapting to the climate and relief of a particular place and by using the natural building materials available in that area [57]. Thus, vernacular architecture has a minimal impact on the natural environment, being sustainable from a social point of view, because it is based on the science of construction (local know-how) and local labor. This stimulates the feeling of belonging to people in that space, makes them feel that their place has something unique and that they share the specifics of the area. The brick was used sporadically in some areas of the country, for example in Saxon villages from southern Transylvania or Banat, and this happens under the influence of culture urban. Brick became a material favorite construction with the era of industrial. Clay or adobe was used in older times, being easy to find and by the process. They are still found today, mainly in the houses on the plain, where it has been kept construction system with clay reinforced with twigs woven, specific to Neolithic architecture [58]. The predominant decorations in most houses in the country have religious themes or depict flora, fauna, or anthropomorphic elements. The fabrics are adorned with decorative motifs with definite meanings, and the colors are usually bright.

#### **2.10 Eṭxperience of housing in Southern Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany**

Many cities and villages in South-West Friesland are built on what is called terpen. It is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides, and sea or river

flooding [59]. There are incredibly many terpenes in Friesland, and now there are about 400 of them. The front door was in a narrow pediment and led to the utility part [60]. The hearth was still almost in the center of the room, but its transition was already outlined closer to the rear wall and the residential part's allocation. The stalls located behind the pillars were divided by low wicker partitions (see **Figure 19**).

Vernacular Houses from the Southern Netherlands and Belgium were of a different type. Although here and there were also rectangular semi-dugouts like the northern ones, all the same for these areas, starting from the Neolithic, round or oval-shaped huts, deepened 1.5–2 m into the ground, were characteristic. The walls were very low or completely absent, only the roof towered above the ground. It was built of long poles, had a cone shape, and was covered with straw and leaves [61]. Such a dugout is characterized by a roof structure with a DAKZUl - one pillar supporting the roof. There was an open hearth near the pillar. These houses bear a resemblance to the places of the ancient Celts in the British Isles. Apparently, in the Belgian and Dutch lands, the evolution of the house proceeded in the same way as in Britain - from a round hut through an oval to a rectangular single-chamber dwelling with an open hearth in the middle. An interesting type of dwelling, often found at the same time as round huts, in the eastern regions of Belgium: elongated buildings with an open canopy "VOORHALLE" over the main entrance from the narrow pediment. Two pillars supported the roof of the shed. The ridge beam of the gable roof was reinforced on several posts located on the centerline of the house. The area of homes varies from 20 to 84 m. Some of these dwellings have a three-chamber plan: for example, in North Limburg, dating back to the 1st century. n. e. the "VORHALLE" building was an elongated building made up of three rooms of the same size. Unfortunately, it is difficult to judge their purpose since not even the remains of the hearth have survived development of rural dwelling in the Netherlands and Belgium.

**Stable house (HALLEHUIs)** is one of the most ancient houses of the Netherlands, which also existed everywhere in Germany in the early Middle Ages, had only a narrow passage between two rows of pillars separating the stalls. With the development of agriculture, and especially when agriculture began to play an increasing role, the central longitudinal aisle expands and is used as a vast threshing floor. Such a transformation occurred because the high humidity of the air, frequent rains, and fogs made it challenging to thresh grain in an open room. Large houses, combining a residential part, a barn, and a barn under one roof, have been found since the 12th century, but they have become widespread since the 16th century. The residential part is divided into several rooms, more often into three: the central place is occupied by the main living room with a frontal fireplace and niche beds

**Figure 19.** *The characteristic of the Southern Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany houses.*
