AESTHETICS IN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FORM OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN THE BALKANS, AN AESTHETIC APPROACH

The article reviews research into vernacular architecture of the Balkan region. There is a large building stock with an increasing potential in the contemporary context of preserving existing resources. The topic focuses on the form of the vernacular house and on the analysis of its aesthetic characteristics. The subjects of study are single-family dwellings. The selection comprised two regional types of vernacular Balkan architecture, emerging in completely different historical contexts, natural and morphological characteristics of the terrain, and climatic conditions: the lowland house (in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina) and the highland lake house (in the Ohrid region). The first section of the research contains the analysis of the selected examples of vernacular architecture: the basic characteristics of architecture and urban design, the history of its development, the climate and the soil, etc. In addition, the studies of theoretical views in the field of aesthetics were used to define the principles upon which it was possible to examine the aesthetic characteristics of the house of vernacular architecture. The final step of the research contains the analysis of the elements of the form (surface and volumetric) for the particular examples of traditional buildings in Vojvodina and Ohrid, and the comparative analysis of their aesthetic characteristics. The research showed that the form of the building of vernacular architecture is the result of a complex evolutionary process. The aesthetic characteristics of vernacular architecture created through the evolutionary process of adaptation to the particular natural and built environmental conditions make up an intricate set of various aesthetic categories, interconnected and intertwined. These aesthetics categories are integrated in order to create the general aesthetics of the architectural object as a compositional whole, and of the whole comprising the building and its environment. The developed methodology can be applied to any structure of vernacular architecture whose aesthetic features need to be examined. Derived methodology is applicable to the investigation of aesthetic characteristics of any vernacular building. In conclusion, its applicability was verified on the chosen example of Bulgarian vernacular architecture.