Material Availability, Climate, Comfort and the Nordic Vernacular Part 2 Dissertation 2024 Sam Beckwith Flint University of Liverpool | UK How has material availability influenced vernacular architecture and its role in the tolerance of circumpolar climates in Norway and Iceland? As a Viking colony of Norway, Iceland was settled by an agrarian society whose ongoing development was reliant on timber. While the tacit knowledge and tradition of timber construction was brought to Iceland, a sustainable quantity and quality of timber was not native to the island. As a result, two similar yet materially-differentiated forms of vernacular architecture developed, adapted to their local contexts and climates. This dissertation utilises drawn and photographic surveys to analyse the influence of material availability on the architecture of two farmhouses in Norway and Iceland, and explores how they exemplify ideologies of material reuse and longevity of design. Further, by using building simulation and isotherm modelling, the dissertation presents an explicit visual reading of the ephemeral living conditions within these dwellings, and of people’s tolerance to extreme climates in the past. The dissertation reflects on the lessons to be learnt from these historic examples as we adapt to the consequences of climate change in our own time. Tutor(s) Ranald Lawrence