Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how traditional architectural and housing knowledge is perceived, used and presented in different examples of sustainable rural architecture built nowadays in Croatia.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores how traditional architectural and housing knowledge is perceived, used and presented in different examples of sustainable rural architecture built nowadays in Croatia. The author analyses the examples of natural building, modern architecture, the plans for reconstruction of houses destroyed by floods and the rebuilding of traditional houses, which draw on certain elements of traditional architecture and housing (presence of architectural details, usage of local building materials, functional space organization, respecting rural ambient, etc.). The author discusses what aspects of tradition are recognized as the most suitable and applicable in contemporary attempts at creating sustainable buildings, i.e. providing a sustainable way of living. The author analyses how these ideas and perceptions of tradition appear and function in different economic, social and cultural contexts, how knowledge about traditional architecture and housing is gained and combined with knowledge about modern technology, materials and renewable energy sources. The author also touches upon the role of experts, especially ethnologists and architects, in these phenomena.