Neo-vernacular trends towards the recent past in Greece

Abstract

In economically advanced countries, fragments of the past are preserved, or new environments are created to match this past image. The reappropriation of old forms includes what can be called the neo-vernacular as a way to meet emotional demands, economic needs or as one mode of intellectual justification for architecture in our times. The origins of the present preservation society and regionalism in Greece began in the 30's and was strengthened in the 70's. The movement has been connected to the natural environment, the quality of the cities and the loss of national cultural identity. How the notion of vernacular enters to the neo-vernacular and how it affects the shape of the physical and ideological environment today, as well as which issues of the recent past have remained unchanged -in reference to the Greek environment- are things to be examined in the present thesis.