Indigenous Architectural Practices for Resource Efficiency in Residential Buildings: A Critical Review

The building sector is material-intensive and is responsible for consuming large quantities of local and international resources. In extreme climates, the consumption of these resources increases manifold to ensure comfortable indoors. Contemporary buildings have predominantly used energy efficiency as the main criterion to define sustainability, which has led to the consumption of more abiotic materials. In contrast, indigenous buildings are based on local context and are guided by geographical, environmental, and economic constraints. This work aims to critically review indigenous architectural practices across four climatic zones, focusing on their resource efficiency, and identify practices that can be reintroduced in contemporary construction in extremely cold climates. To achieve this objective, literature from 1960 to 2022 was comprehensively reviewed. In addition, contemporary building construction and codes in cold climatic regions were analyzed to assess the current state of practices. Specific case studies from each climatic region were evaluated to assess applicability in residential buildings in cold climates. The main findings from this review and analysis indicate that indigenous practices have the potential to optimize the use of natural resources to create more sustainable climate-resilient buildings. In addition, more empirical studies are needed to tailor these practices and quantitatively assess resource efficiency for large-scale implementation.