What is Caribbean architecture?

What is Caribbean architecture?

Caribbean architecture reveals influences from Amerindians, Africa, and the European colonizers, from simple Kunuku cottages to opulent Great Houses. However, even after Emancipation the slaves rarely built with stone, and single-roomed thatched houses with walls of clay and straw were still in use in the 20th century.

What are the buildings like in Jamaica?

Typical Styles. No single style exists throughout all of Jamaica. Jamaican architecture can include elements of African, Mediterranean, Spanish, contemporary, ranch, Bermuda or colonial styles. The Mediterranean and colonial styles are popular in new-construction homes, with older homes being ranch style.

What is meant by the Jamaican vernacular architecture?

Jamaican vernacular architectural style was developed by tenant farms and indentured servants, many from Scotland, and by the children of freed enslaved persons. These houses usually received the prevailing trade winds, and typically were angled to prevent smoke from the kitchen from blowing into living quarters.

What are Jamaican houses made of?

Today’s houses are built primarily with cement, sand, concrete blocks and steel, but there is still a large part of the population that use lumber and zinc roof.

What architecture did the British bring to Jamaica?

Jamaican Georgian architecture
From the 1750s until the 1850s, Jamaican Georgian architecture was the most popular style in the country. It combined the elegance of British Georgian architecture with functional objectives appropriate to tropical climate; built to withstand heat, earthquakes, humidity, hurricanes, and insects.

What are Caribbean houses called?

Chattel house
Chattel house is a Barbadian term for a small moveable wooden house that working class people would occupy. The term goes back to the plantation days when the home owners would buy houses designed to move from one property to another. The word “chattel” means movable property so the name was appropriate.

Which famous Jamaican architect designed the National Stadium?

National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica. first winner of the Governor General Award , 1962. Architect: Wilson Chong.

Who influenced Jamaican buildings?

From the mid-1800s onwards, the British immigrants were joined by a wider range of incomers, and architectural styles slowly began to change. The Spanish in particular brought with them a taste for large balconies and verandas, a legacy which can still be seen all over the island today.

How are homes built in Jamaica?

What are Jamaica Houses made of? Today’s houses are built primarily with cement, sand, concrete blocks and steel, but a large part of the population that use lumber and zinc roof. This is because it is still the cheapest option.

Why are houses built on stilts in the Caribbean?

In contrast to other houses in the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, Jamaican houses were elevated using stilts or pilings to give room for air circulation.

What are houses like in Barbados?

Chattel house is a Barbadian term for a small moveable wooden house that working class people would occupy. Chattel houses are set on blocks or a groundsill rather than being anchored into the ground. In addition, they are built entirely out of wood and assembled without nails.

Who owns National Stadium?

Sport Singapore
National Stadium, Singapore

Who are Jamaica’s most successful architects?

After Chong came H. Denny Repol, one of the most successful Jamaican architects, whose firms have been responsible for the design of large hotels along the island’s tourist-busy north shore. In the 1980s, Repol was also the architect behind the construction of the Jamaica Tourist Board’s administrative headquarters in Kingston.

Who is the architect of the Jamaican Tourist Board?

In the 1980s, Repol was also the architect behind the construction of the Jamaica Tourist Board’s administrative headquarters in Kingston. He also built the Life Of Jamaica Head Office Building, which has four floors of concrete sheltering an atrium holding a bridge and thousands of beautiful plants.

What is Section 16 of the law on architects in Jamaica?

Subject to Section 16, with effect from such date as the Minister may, by order, specify, no person unless he is a Registered Architect shall, in Jamaica –

What are the architectural features of Jamaican houses?

Jamaican Architectural Features to Spot. Nearly all Jamaican houses have their verandas and porch roofs attached to the principal body of the house; in areas that are more prone to hurricane attacks, a carpenter with some experience would purposely not connect the house’s roof beams to the beams of the porch.