An introduction to architecture and building traditions: Lessons from ethno-architects

This paper offers an introduction and overview of the papers presented to the ADDITIONS conference under the theme "Architecture + Building Traditions". These papers are specifically oriented toward scholars of Pacific rim Indigenous cultures and their vernacular building traditions, in order that a debate might arise regarding the human values of these traditions and what they represent by way of contrast to Western constructs of architecture. A general sub-theme running through this collection of papers is how a theoretical framework of "architecture" might be configured, which would serve as a cross-cultural tool to understanding the nature of constructed and composed environments used as human habitats across all cultural contexts. An extension of this question would be why the Western concept of "architecture" has so far not achieved such a unifying position, at times excluding non-Western and Indigenous building traditions. This new construct of architecture cannot be dominated by period aesthetics or popular Eurocentric philosophies, but must be useful for both theoretical and practical application to the settlements of the non-European and Indigenous cultures of the world, as well as to Western environments