rol superior o divino sobre el resto de las especies mientras expandía su influencia alrededor del mundo. Luego, hace unos 10.000 años el Homo sapiens caza- dor-recolector llegará a la dominación más establecida de la vegetación, con lo que deja de vagar por la superficie del mundo y se decide a establecer morada en un lugar definido, lo que cambia radicalmente su dieta y costumbres. Comienza aquí el Holoceno, nombre con el que se denomina la época post glacial, cuando las actividades humanas se vuelven una creciente fuerza geológica y morfológica. 4 Una era más cálida en la que se estima que la población del mundo estaba entre el millón y los diez millones de habitantes. 5 Es probablemente en este nuevo contexto de cambio donde Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-Le-Duc sitúa el primer capítulo de Histoire de l'habitation humaine . 6 En este relato, Epergos (el progreso y la innovación) y Doxius (conserva- dor y renuente al cambio), se pasean a través del tiempo, observando y discutiendo sobre arquitectura y sus princi- pios. Viendo al hombre en sus orígenes, amenazado por un entorno hostil y a merced del clima, Epergos se compadece de su miseria y les enseña una técnica constructiva con la que levanta la primera choza. Luego de inclinar las ramas de un árbol, usando materiales del lugar y orientando la
sapiens reached the most estab- lished dominance of vegetation, stopped wandering around the surface of the world, and decided to establish a dwelling in a defined place, radically changing their diet and habits. Here begins the Holocene, the name given to the post-glacial era, when human ac- tivities become a growing geolog- ical and morphological force. 4 That was a warmer period in which the world's population was estimated to be between one and ten million. 5 It is probably in this new context of change that Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-Le-Duc situates the first chapter of the History of Human Inhabitation . 6 In this story, Eper- gos (progress and innovation) and Doxius (conservative and reluctant to change), walk through time, ob- serving and discussing architecture and its principles. See-
Este salto trae consecuencias enormes, pues otros animales habían seguido procesos evolutivos graduales por millones de años antes de ocupar su lugar en las cadenas alimentarias. En cambio, “la humanidad alcanzó tan rápidamente la cima que el ecosistema no tuvo tiempo de adecuarse”. This leap has had enormous consequences, since other animals had followed gradual evolutionary processes for millions of years before taking their place in the food chains. Instead,“humanity reached the top so quickly that the ecosystem did not have time to adapt”.
ing man in his origins, threatened by a hostile environment, and at the mercy of the climate, Epergos takes pity on their misery and shows them a constructive technique with which he builds the first hut. After leaning the branches of a tree, using local materials, and facing the entrance where the wind allows it, he makes an example of a community that has just taken possession of a place. Epergos provides a first dividing layer be- tween man and his environment, a first tech- nique or architecture that comes from the place´s existing elements. There is no distance yet between the built world and the natural en- vironment, they are one and the same. In their eagerness to modernize, Doxius and Epergos continue their journey. A journey in which over the millennia man has developed his mastery of nature, following the spirit that 250 years ago, Francis Bacon had exhibited in Novum Organon. "Let the human race recover the right over nature which belongs to it by divine bequest …” 7 , a vision that extends to a greater or lesser extent even today. One hundred and fifty years after Bacon, Marc-Antoine Laugier, in "Essai sur l'archi- tecture", in a reflection similar to that of Vio- llet-Le-Duc, writes about the first human set- tlements and establishes a direct relationship with nature. The "savage" described by Laugier moves through the landscape in search of refuge. Frightened and helpless, he creates architecture as a reflection of the climate around him; the "savage" resigns himself to the restrictions of his environment, not trying to dominate those who share it with him. He is still in the state prior to that described by Harari. For Laugier, art and architecture are born as
↤ El primer edificio. En Histoire de l'habitation humaine: depuis les temps préhistoriques jusqu'à nos jours. Texte et dessins. Viollet-le-Duc, E. E. (1875). The first building. In Histoire de l'habitation humaine: depuis les temps préhistoriques jusqu'à nos jours. Texte et dessins. Viollet-le-Duc, E. E. (1875).
(4) Steffen, W., Crutzen, P. J., & McNeill, J. R. (2007). The Anthropocene: are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 36(8), 614-621. (5) www.census.gov (6) Viollet-le-Duc, E. E. (1875). Histoire de l'habitation humaine: depuis les temps préhistoriques jusqu'à nos jours. Texte et dessins. J. Hetzel et Cie.
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