Negroni Talks #37 Vernacular Schmernacular

Vernacular is defined as "the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region” or as “architecture concerned with domestic and functional rather than public or monumental buildings”. In today’s planning and design setting, it seems to revolve solely around aesthetics, material and style. Hip architects and mass house builders alike, knowingly reference traditional/historical design motifs to secure a kind of moral high ground and justify why their buildings are the way they are.

Is there any such a thing as a national, regional or a particular city/town/village vernacular? Should we adhere to a sense of 'a particular way' of doing things to provide us with a sense of identity and placemaking or should the idea of 'a vernacular' be challenged and redefined as something related to culture more broadly? Are people having the wool pulled over their eyes by those delivering buildings where the actual content of what is being delivered is being trumped by self-referential form making?