Is traditional craftsmanship dying out?

Today, we build faster, in a more standardised way and using more building materials than ever before. But does that automatically constitute progress? Whilst the number of industrial products and complex building systems continues to grow, traditional craftsmanship is being lost. Knowledge of building materials is giving way to product application, and the craftsman is increasingly becoming a mere installer of predefined systems.

This talk demonstrates how the shift in construction times has led to a shift in knowledge, and why buildings and their occupants may pay a high price for this. After all, whether a building material is truly fit for generations often only becomes apparent over time.

The example of natural lime illustrates just how profound this change is: what was once a clearly defined building material has increasingly become a product name. What is sold today as ‘lime plaster’ can have completely different formulations and properties. At the same time, clients, designers and installers often lack comprehensive information about the actual composition.

The lecture therefore poses some uncomfortable questions: When is lime plaster still lime plaster? To what extent can a building material be altered before the name becomes misleading? And what do we lose when traditional knowledge disappears?