Vernacular architecture in general and earthen architecture in particular, with their rich variety of forms worldwide, are custodians of the material culture and identity of the peoples who built them. In addition, they are widely recognized as ancestral examples of sustainability in all their variants and interpretations, and the architecture of the present ought to learn from these when designing the sustainable architecture of the future. The conservation of these architectures - seemingly simple yet full of wisdom - is to be undertaken now given their intrinsic value and their status as genuine examples of sustainability to be learnt from and interpreted in contemporary architecture.
Vernacular and earthen architecture: Conservation and Sustainability will be a valuable source of information for academics and professionals in the fields of Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Construction and Building Engineering and Architecture.
Camilla Mileto is architect (IUAV, Venice, Italy) and professor at the Universitat Politècnica of València - UPV (Spain), where she teaches architectural conservation both in graduate and postgraduate courses. She is presently director of the Master of Architectural Conservation at the UPV. She has been guest lecturer in the universities of Venice, Milano, Firenze and Palermo (Italy), Cordoba (Argentina) and the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, USA). She is codirector of the journal Loggia and has extensively published on architectural heritage. She has received several international awards for her research, projects and built work.
Fernando Vegas is architect (UPV, Valencia, Spain) and professor at the Universitat Politècnica of València (Spain), where he teaches architectural conservation and composition both in graduate and postgraduate courses. Together with Camilla Mileto, he coordinates de Unitwin UNESCO Chair for Earthen Architecture, Constructive Cultures and Sustainable Development in Spain. He has been guest lecturer in several international universities. He is codirector of the journal Loggia and has extensively published on architectural heritage. He has received several international awards for their research, projects and built work.
Lidia García-Soriano is architect by ETSA -UPV (2010), Master in Conservation of Architectural Heritage (2013) and PhD in architecture from the UPV (2015). Currently, she is researcher at the Instituto de Restauración del Patrimonio in the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain). Her activity has focused on the scientific field of architectural heritage and its conservation, especially in the earthen architectural heritage and rammed earth architecture in particular, with several publications in these matters.
Valentina Cristini (PhD. Architect) is assistant professor at Faculty of Architecture of the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) where she has been working since 2005, starting as granted student researcher. She has been visiting professor in several European and Extra-European Universities and Institutions from the beginning of her career. Currently she teaches both in graduate and postgraduate courses (MSc. Pedagogy). She has extensively published papers and texts on architectural conservation and she has joined several studies, projects and interventions for the preservation of monuments and vernacular architecture as in Spain as abroad.
