I am a great fan of old oak buildings, we certainly knew how to make things which lasted in those days.

I'd agree using concrete on unstable ground is a difficult one, (One place I once lived was on houses built on concrete rafts and there was one house in the village where the raft had cracked in the middle..) and I'm aiming to build onto solid rock to avoid that issue.

I also like the old Japanese buildings for the way they are designed to move with the ground.