The Igloo Vernacular held the Vitruvian hierarchy in the descending order: commodity,

firmness, delight. When designing these structures, their main focus was protection from their
environment. Both the shape and air pockets in the snow kept inhabitants warm. It was also easy
to deconstruct and reconstruct, enabling their nomadic lifestyle. They fulfilled all the structure’s
purposes while only using the resource readily available, snow. Igloos were built to be firm
while easy to deconstruct and reconstruct. Although the dome shape is delightful and promotes
community, it was not the main focus of design. The reason for this hierarchy was simply what
they needed. Finding protection from their surroundings was such an urgent issue, so there was
no time left to consider delight or well-being.

The use of snow as a sole resource was about as sustainable as it could have gotten in this
vernacular. Snow was used to build it up, then was placed right where it originally was when it
was taken down. It did not disrupt the environment around it, nor did it use up energy or deplete
nonrenewable resources. As for the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, the incorporation of
design for water, energy, ecosystems, resources, and change shows the importance of
sustainability in today’s field. There is a lot of focus on how design choices made now impact
the future. For the nomadic inhabitants of igloos, however, this was not a consideration. The
AIA’s framework today incorporates delight, but it does not seem to take away from
sustainability. Delight has become intertwined with efforts towards a more sustainable design.
There is even a specific framework designated for just this: Design for Integration.

The difference in times and lifestyles between igloos and design today are responsible for
the sustainability differences. It took much less effort to be sustainable for the Inuit people than it
does today. One example is energy. The Design Framework lists energy as a primary factor of
design today. This involves looking into building code efficiency standards, approaching net zero
energy and net zero carbon, and clean and renewable energy sources. However, these are not
even considerations for the design of Igloos. Today, architects have many goals aside from what
is absolutely necessary and sustainable. In the AIA Design Framework, design for equitable
communities, economy, well-being, and discovery show some of these. These new goals do not
take away from the pursuit of sustainability, but it does make it a more involved process.

Despite these differences, the AIA Framework for Design Excellence hierarchy of
Vitruvian principles is the same as that of the vernacular: Commodity, Firmness, then Delight.
Delight is much more important today than in the design of Igloos. The well-being of people as a
result of a building’s façade is somewhat new. Though the importance of this has increased, it
remains at the bottom of the list because the importance of firmness has also increased. As
people today are no longer nomadic, the length of time a building can last and carry out its
purpose is more important. Commodity is present in all ten of the parts of the Design
Framework, making it the top of the hierarchy. In the times of the igloo, the focus of commodity
was protection from the cold and wind, but there is much more to it in design today.