Tensile Architecture

Philip Drew

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000314342
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

This book provides an historical perspective for modern tensile architecture in the 20th century. It explores the tents of nomad cultures, geographical distribution of tent types, the effect of the dromedary on the distribution of the black tent, and seasonal specialization of Eskimo dwellings.

Part One
Traditional Tensile Architecture:

Chapter 1
Tents and Nomads

Nomadism

The tent has been adopted in one form or another, by a large number of peoples living in widely differing environments. Despite some shortcomings it was popular because its lightness, portability, and ease of erection were advantageous in regions in which building materials were scarce and where economic survival demanded mobility. The association of tents with a specific way of life is strong among nomadic pastoralists and, to a lesser extent, among hunters and fishers. The factors which led hunting peoples to adopt the tent were even more compelling in the instance of the nomadic pastoralist.

The tent is commonly found in dry climates.¹ Precipitation rather than temperature is the factor: tents are found in regions subject to extreme heat or cold but rarely in areas receiving abundant rainfall. It seems that this common factor of low and unreliable precipitation, usually less than 254 mm and up to 508 mm. is decisive in the choice of the tent as a dwelling. Although the effect of meagre precipitation is complex, there are two aspects that favour the tent. Firstly, low precipitation results in a nomadic way of life because sedentary agriculture is either impossible or unreliable except at isolated oases, where some form of economy based on hunting or herding of animals adapted to the harsh conditions is probable. Secondly, low precipitation affects the type of vegetation, inhibiting the growth of trees which might otherwise constitute a valuable source of building materials.² Low precipitation then not only promotes a nomadic form of economy but also restricts the range of dwelling choices.

Pastoral nomads normally live in portable dwellings of the tent type, which can be readily transported along with the family while the herds migrate.³ The inclination to live in portable dwellings is a fundamental attribute of pastoral nomadism, and is as much a part of its nature as the herding of animals and the following of regular patterns of movement.⁴

Nomads derive a major portion of their subsistence from large flocks of animals which cause them to follow recurring patterns of movement from season to season in pursuit of suitable grazing and water. Their tents are designed to shelter a single family —the fundamental economic unit —which is the social and political level at which the herds are owned.⁵ Five or six tents may be grouped to form a herding unit for the pooling of labour for tasks that can be performed cooperatively, and for additional security from attack. The social, political and economic organization of the tribe need not extend beyond the herding unit.

It has been argued that house form is determined by socio-cultural rather than by physical forces by reason of the low criticality of buildings. Simply stated, 'because physical criticality is low, socio-cultural factors can operate; because they can operate, purely physical forces cannot determine form'. This requires further examination in the case of tents. The low criticality promulgated by Amos Rapoport⁶ is modified by the pastoral nomads' attempts to utilize marginal resources in areas too dry, too elevated, or too steep for agriculture to be a viable mode of livelihood.⁷ This increased criticality is decisive in the selection of the tent as a portable dwelling in competition with other alternatives. Once the requirements of light weight, demountability, and portability have been met by the adoption of a tent dwelling, then socio-cultural factors come into play. It is the action of socio-cultural factors which causes the diversity of tent details in practically identical migratory regimes.

It might well be round that the association of the major tent groups (the conical skin covered tent, the felt covered kibitka, and the black goats' hair tent) with extensive regional cultures in the northern hemisphere indicates the presence of common physical factors. Since the tent velum is normally obtained from animals rather than plants, it is useful to enquire into the influence of herd composition on the distribution of tent types. As the herd type is most often a product of the particular complex of available resources,⁸ the choice of the velum material may coincide with certain physical factors. However, herd composition is also affected by cultural factors which modify the impact of available resources. This suggests that physical factors dominate the selection of the tent as the preferred dwelling of nomadic pastoralists, and that physical factors play a role in deciding the distribution of the major tent types. The bewildering diversity of tent types at the tribal level is explained by the operation of socio-cultural factors.

Pastoral nomadism in the Middle East

Pastoral nomadism in the Middle East is a specialized offshoot of agriculture that developed along the dry margins of rainfall cultivation.⁹ Some of these agriculturalists increased the numbers of their domesticated animals until the keeping of animals predominated over their farming activities. Once the agriculturalist reached this threshold of pastoral nomadism it only required a series of unusually dry years to cause him to abandon his agricultural pursuits altogether, and concentrate upon the flocks as the major subsistence source. The pastoralist's links with agriculture are never entirely severed as the pastoral economy cannot stand alone, but must acquire agricultural goods to assure an adequate diet and to meet all material needs.¹⁰ The transition from hut to tent was not abrupt and there are many transitional forms in which hut-like frameworks are covered with skins, or reed mats besides goats' hair cloths. The gradual evolution of stressed membrane tents from rigid frameworks parallels the derivation of pastoral nomadism from agriculture. Furthermore, pastoral nomadism is best seen as a continuum between a purely sedentary society on one hand, and a hypothetical 'pure' nomadism that has no contact whatsoever with agriculture on the other.¹¹ The extent to which the details of permanent and semi-permanent dwellings have been retained, provides an indication of the evolutionary distance of the tent from the hut.

The reindeer herder of Northeastern Asia differs significantly from other pastoral nomads, having passed from hunting to herding wild reindeer. Where the relative dependence of pastoral nomadism on agriculture results in a restrictive form of nomadism or semi-nomadism this is often reflected in mixed dwelling types. Some settled pastoralists have retained the tent while others prefer to exchange it for more convenient permanent quarters.

Nomad tents

Nomad tents may be classified in accordance with similarities of shape and material. Accordingly, there are three principal families of tents, namely: skin covered conical tents, felt covered cylindrical tents and black goats' hair tents. Whilst this classification is based on physical characteristics, common environmental and cultural factors enter into each of the three principal tent groups. In general, the principal groups of tents extend in broad latitudinal bands. Conical tents stretch across the cold northern margins of Eurasia and North America from the Scandinavian highlands to Labrador. The felt tent spreads across the high plateau lands of Central Asia westward into Iran, and the black goats' hair tent is dispersed over the Arabian, Turkish and Saharan plateaux in a band between 15 and 35 degrees North.

Climate

The conical tent is not subject to snow drifts,¹² a factor of some importance in arctic polar and sub-polar climates receiving an annual precipitation of up to 508 mm. The dry highland and semi-arid climates in which the felt tent is found receive from 254 to 508 mm of precipitation, sufficient to maintain large herds of sheep, and horses. The cylindro-conical and cylindro-dome shape is approximately hemispherical and in addition to enlarging headroom this minimal surface also reduces heat loss. The black goats' hair tent occurs in regions of dry-arid and dry-semi-arid climate receiving less than 254 mm of rainfall a year.

Economy

Most of the peoples who live in conical tents belong to tribal societies based on hunting and fishing economies, reindeer herding and specialized hunting and fishing. Both the felt and black goats' hair tent families are found amongst traditional societies sustained by nomadic livestock economies. The similarity of shape and construction of the conical tent and the felt covered cylindrical tents may be explained by contacts between the northern hunters and herders and the pastoral nomads of the steppes. Compound cylindro-conical tents with heavier, cruder walls, such as those found among the tundra Yukaghir, and Okhotsk Tungus, the Chukchee and the Koryak, may represent an intermediate development between the northern conical tent and the Central Asian cylindro-conical felt tent.

Race

Roughly speaking, the conical skin tent and the cylindrical felt tents are found among Mongoloid, Turkic and Americanoid peoples while the black goats' hair tent is connected with Mediterranean Caucasoid peoples.¹³

Language

The conical tent peoples speak a number of Ural-altaic languages, palaeo-Siberian, Eskimo and American Indian, while the cylindrical felt tent dwellers belong to the Ural-al...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Maps
• Part One: Traditional Tensile Architecture
• Part Two: Suspension Bridges
• Part Three: Modern Tensile Architecture
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index