Description:
Studies on West European thatching are typically locally focused, lacking a broad perspective; those in the north miss the southern link; the few made in Spain are unaware of the continued northern practice. Our aim was to fill that lack with a comparative field work of wide scope, tracing the tradition across West Europe and searching for signals of an ancestral architectural identity. A comparative methodology was applied to gain an insight into the reasons for thatching, learning about styles and materials employed in the different areas, tracing underlying cultural links, and finding out the political implications, if any, that surface in keeping or not this building technique. A first phase set research in NW Spain, progressively expanding to Portugal, then to Britain and Ireland (following the old Atlantic connection). The second phase encompasses the continental NW: Germany, Holland, Denmark, and the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands). The final phase ends in a round of the French regions, including the Italian Piedmont where thatching still survives. The resulting book integrates a trans-national scholar study and offers a new approach for decisions to be made about relevance of thatching with present day demands for sustainable practices in architecture.