All modern homes require active humidity management as they're sheathed with plywood externally and drywall[1] inside. Even if you use concrete or brick you still need active humidity management if you don't want mold growing on all your furniture, etc.
There's no more old growth timber to build (and furnish) homes the way they were built 100+ years ago. All the alternatives require active systems to prevent rapid degradation.
This is even true of modern towers--the types of steel, the techniques, the tolerances, the use of reinforced concrete, etc, require active systems. Towers built 100+ years ago were in some ways more resilient than today, having used materials and techniques--knowingly and unknowingly--that could hold up to the elements better with active management.
[1] Even in high-end builds, nobody except perhaps a die-hard DIY'er with money to burn uses more moisture resistant drywall variants or alternatives throughout an entire home. I once toured a 100+ year old house supposedly renovated and lived-in by an architect. They basically rebuilt the entire structure, including replacing much of the timber with steel. Everything _looked_ high-end, except the walls if you paid attention. They just used regular drywall--not the cheapest, but definitely not the nice stuff (e.g. what you might find in a class A commercial office). IIRC, the internal doors were solid core, but that hardly mattered given you could hear everything through the cheap walls.
To add, humans emit a lot of moisture just by breathing. Also, modern code limits how much air can leak out of a house. Itβs those leaks in old homes that let them survive without moisture control, because that leaked air would carry the moisture away.
Would one be able to achieve a similar effect by simply opening the windows on a regular basis? (Assuming all the other principles around good air-flow and ventilation were following in the building layout.)
Yes, but modern humidity controls are able to regulate moisture levels while also reclaiming heat. That is, if you open all the windows your warm/cool air will flow out while fresh air flows in; an energy recovery ventilator will partially precondition the fresh air as it flows into the house, using the outgoing air as the source.
There's no more old growth timber to build (and furnish) homes the way they were built 100+ years ago. All the alternatives require active systems to prevent rapid degradation.
This is even true of modern towers--the types of steel, the techniques, the tolerances, the use of reinforced concrete, etc, require active systems. Towers built 100+ years ago were in some ways more resilient than today, having used materials and techniques--knowingly and unknowingly--that could hold up to the elements better with active management.
[1] Even in high-end builds, nobody except perhaps a die-hard DIY'er with money to burn uses more moisture resistant drywall variants or alternatives throughout an entire home. I once toured a 100+ year old house supposedly renovated and lived-in by an architect. They basically rebuilt the entire structure, including replacing much of the timber with steel. Everything _looked_ high-end, except the walls if you paid attention. They just used regular drywall--not the cheapest, but definitely not the nice stuff (e.g. what you might find in a class A commercial office). IIRC, the internal doors were solid core, but that hardly mattered given you could hear everything through the cheap walls.