If this is true then whoever is responsible needs to be congratulated on an initiative long in coming. It could I suppose be just another soundbite that will just be another here today gone tomorrow policy but one can hope. Building in the vernacular is an essential part of any countries or districts distinct nature and can play an important part in making an area a decent place to live. To feel that ones surroundings are distinctive and carry with them a sense of history and place can help make a community exactly that and not just another faceless dormitory for individuals. I try whenever possible to use local materials (at a premium cost sometimes) and build in a way that reflects the surrounding area, something that is possible without slavishly following the past if something of a more modern nature is desired. The blight that is cheap redbrick boxes needs to be halted and people should be given a chance to feel that they belong somewhere and that somewhere belongs to them.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Toy town
If this is true then whoever is responsible needs to be congratulated on an initiative long in coming. It could I suppose be just another soundbite that will just be another here today gone tomorrow policy but one can hope. Building in the vernacular is an essential part of any countries or districts distinct nature and can play an important part in making an area a decent place to live. To feel that ones surroundings are distinctive and carry with them a sense of history and place can help make a community exactly that and not just another faceless dormitory for individuals. I try whenever possible to use local materials (at a premium cost sometimes) and build in a way that reflects the surrounding area, something that is possible without slavishly following the past if something of a more modern nature is desired. The blight that is cheap redbrick boxes needs to be halted and people should be given a chance to feel that they belong somewhere and that somewhere belongs to them.
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The blight that is cheap redbrick boxes needs to be halted and people should be given a chance to feel that they belong somewhere and that somewhere belongs to them.
Charlie would be with you on that.
here in the south-west the huge cost of building land and very high house prices has meant that the amount of money spent on local natural stone, thatch etc is a relatively piddling amount. Some buildings already look as if they are part of the historic landscape of villages now that moss and algae have started their 'softening' work.
Note. The above does not apply to Prince JugEars twee-town development at Poundbury. Trying to pass off 'vernacular' four story buildings in a rural landscape will never work... no matter if it is in local materials.
Haddock.... you raise an important point in the fact that decent quality materials are often only a small percentage increase in overall cost.
Good lord, one hopes to hell that in the 21st Century they had finally moved beyond the Euro-Stalinist concrete-block planned-community architecture theme. Jeeze. Stupid collectivists.
Part of the problem is that development these days tends to be done by developers and not by builders. It is inevitable that once Barrat et al. have a design that "works" it will be replicated by the thousand.
Having said that, the Victorian London town house design is a classic that can be repeated by the million without looking horrible. What's wrong with revisiting some of the older stuff? Does every new house have to look new?
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