Why do houses look different depending on where they are located? In 1620, a group of 102 English Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life in America (Plimoth Patuxet). Although they brought with them their culture, building traditions, and tools, the houses they built were different from those in England. The homes of Massachusetts were influenced by the availability of local resources related to the climate, landscape, and industries. BODY Massachusetts is located on the northeast coast of North America, and its landscape was carved thousands of years ago by glaciers. When the glaciers moved, they crushed up the ground beneath it, creating deposits of stone, gravel, and sand. As the ice disappeared, it left behind rocky …show more content…
Flowing through the state are 19 main river systems, along with over 1,000 ponds. This landscape influenced how and where people built their homes. Native Americans were able to use the land and water for farming and fishing, so they located their homes next to coastal planting grounds and lived in them throughout the growing season (Plimoth Patuxet). As a result, they built semi-permanent homes because “they did not move around like Indians of the western plains who had to follow the herds of buffalo” (Wells, Julia). During the winter, they typically moved inland where the landscape offered more protection against the elements, and where there were better hunting grounds (McVay, Lindsay). The landscape has opportunities and challenges that influence the way Native Americans lived and built their homes. Buildings need to provide protection against the elements, so the climate also influences how people build homes.The climate of Massachusetts is based on many factors including its proximity to the ocean, latitude of 42°, elevation ranging from sea level to 3,451 feet, and geography (Mass.gov). According to the International Energy …show more content…
Using local materials not only supports the state's industries, but it also results in homes that are visually related to where they are located. In addition to wood, the use of other local materials can influence the construction of a home. For example, many historic buildings in Massachusetts were built on foundations of stone extracted from local quarries. Hair from horses was also mixed with plaster for finishing interiors before the mass production of gypsum wall board. Nowadays, houses are constructed using resources extracted from all around the world, and new architecture often lacks a sense of place. Due to modern technology and globalized industries, people are able to build homes which do not respond to the local landscape, climate, or industries. Critical regionalism is an “alternative approach” to architecture, one defined by climate, topography and tectonics, as a form of resistance to the placeness of Modern Architecture and the gratuitous ornamentation of Postmodernism. An architectural attitude, Critical Regionalism proposed an architecture that would embrace global