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Earthen Architecture As Living Heritage: Material Continuity, Technical Knowledge And Contemporary Reactivation

  • Nicola Parisi
  • Angelo Vito Graziano
  • Daniele Colapinto
  • Vincenzo Berardi
  • Federica Fiorio

Earthen architecture shows that heritage conservation cannot be reduced to the physical survival of buildings, but depends on the continuity of the knowledge that makes them constructible, maintainable and transmissible. Drawing on the Venice Charter, the Nara Document and the Faro Convention, this paper interprets construction techniques as heritage entities in which material and intangible dimensions are inseparable. Comparing New Mexico, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Italy, it identifies trajectories of continuity, weakening and reactivation of technical knowledge, arguing that raw earth remains living heritage only when regulations, education, research, supply chains and design experimentation translate inherited practices into verifiable forms within contemporary architecture

  • Keywords:
  • Earthen architecture,
  • Material heritage,
  • Construction techniques,
  • Technical knowledge transmission,
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Nicola Parisi

Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-0629-3719

Angelo Vito Graziano

Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-3961-7721

Daniele Colapinto

Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy - ORCID: 0009-0009-6396-9840

Vincenzo Berardi

Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy - ORCID: 0009-0008-1629-7407

Federica Fiorio

Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy - ORCID: 0009-0004-3647-2728

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  • Anno di pubblicazione: 2026
  • Pagine: 188-218

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Informazioni sul capitolo

Titolo del capitolo

Earthen Architecture As Living Heritage: Material Continuity, Technical Knowledge And Contemporary Reactivation

Autori

Nicola Parisi, Angelo Vito Graziano, Daniele Colapinto, Vincenzo Berardi, Federica Fiorio

Lingua

Inglese

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1113-0.12

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Anno di pubblicazione

2026

Copyright

© 2026 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Licenza dei metadati

CC0 1.0

Informazioni bibliografiche

Titolo del libro

ReUso 2026 - New heritage and future strategies. Perspectives on conservation and promotion

Sottotitolo del libro

14th International Congress Barcelona-Girona, 4-7 November

Curatori

Alessandro Scarnato, Marisa García Vergara, Ángeles Layuno Rosas

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Anno di pubblicazione

2026

Copyright

© 2026 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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CC0 1.0

Editore

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1113-0

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979-12-215-1113-0

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979-12-215-1112-3

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