-
100,000 BCE
Thesis
Shelter, being one of the most essential necessities after food and clothing, is very interesting to watch how its development through the years was impacted by humans and the environment around them. Additionally, how people have improved the materials and how they're used, and different reasons behind building such types of shelter in a variety of places and time periods. -
9500 BCE
The purpose of shelter building
Shelter building doesn't occur until when people wanted to settle down for agricultural purposes. As time passes by, natural disasters become a problem.(slideshare.net) It's not until later that they begin having durable buildings because of climate change. -
Period: 9500 BCE to 1500 BCE
How did it impact people's lives?
Different aspects made humans change the way their buildings looked. Hunting and gathering times meant that they had mobile shelters, tents ready to move. When people started to settle down for agriculture, their shelters still had the tent shape because that's what they knew, but it was something more fixed. Their shelters adapted to climate, whether a place was super high or low in temperature, they had weather-proof shelters. -
Period: 8700 BCE to 2000 BCE
How did the Evolution of shelter building develop through the years?
It started off by the "use of the natural environment", like trees. But humans were "only protected them from inclement weather," not from wild animals.(sheltertwc.weebly.com, Stone age Par. 1) Then we get into this transition that led to human starting to realize that sun-dried bricks are more durable, becoming the most used in building shelters.(shelter.weebly.com, Stone age Par. 2) Humans adapted to their environment easily, resulting in an interesting change in the way these shelters looked. -
Period: 4500 BCE to
Materials
The difference between the materials used in the earlier times and today is clearly seen, with that comes human's development of ideas from the neolithic age to nowadays. Materials used then, like rock, clay, leaves, mud and wood weren't as durable as concrete, which is used today by being mixed with gravel, sand, cement, and water to help everything stand stronger. (medium.com, Material's evolution, Cassie Blake) It has always been dependable upon the availability around human for him to build. -
3100 BCE
What did the first shelters look like?
"The ancient Egyptians started building flat-topped houses made out of sun-dried bricks."(sheltertwc.weebly.com, Ancient civilizations Par. 1) They discovered that baking bricks in the fire made them more durable, which led to the use of this idea in many places. We also get the "slanted roofs" from the ancient Greeks "to let snow and rain slide off" (sheltertwc.weebly.com, Ancient civilizations Par. 3) This showed improvements on the adaptations they started with. -
Period: 2000 BCE to 1400
Development of shelter building Cont.
By this time, the use of clay and straw begins. They still had the habit of sun-drying the clay, and use of stone and bricks, which replaced wood because it was "not as vulnerable to weathering, fires and rotting." (sheltertwc.weebly.com, Chinese Architecture Par. 2) In the mean time, in Europe, Germans were building "using frameworks of heavy timber or wood and spaces between them were filled with clay." (sheltertwc.weebly.com, Middle ages Par. 1) still keeping the slanted roofs. -
800 BCE
Slanted roofs by the ancient Greek civilizations
(vigardesigns.com) -
Period: 1400 to
Development of shelter building Cont.
Europeans stop the use of wood and start using stone and brick for foundations by the 15th century.(sheltertwc.weebly.com, Middle ages Par. 2) By the early modern period, we no longer have simplicity in building, and we see "Many technological innovations took place", with people caring more about the design of the building than the durability of materials. And we transition into the contemporary era by the increase in use of "either concrete or steel" for durability.(sheltertwc.weebly.com) -
Complexity in building
(sheltertwc.weebly.com) -
What's the reasoning behind needing these shelters?
After natural disasters occur, such as earthquakes, shelters as simple as tents are needed. In Nepal, "0.5 million tents were needed after a 7.8 earthquake took place." A place like Nepal, where monsoons occur, they need to be prepared. (beprepared.com, 4 reasons why you need an emergency shelter, emergency essentials Par. 2 & 3) Other factors like sanitation, remaining cool or warm all play a role in defining shelters. -
Conclusion
Shelter building is something that changed greatly through time, structure wise and material wise. The different types of buildings we have today is all because of these ancient civilization's ways of responding to their environment through time.
