Perhaps the most radical aspect of the landscape is the way food production takes centre stage, subverting the traditional hierarchies of the country estate. Once the owner of a country house might have demonstrated their taste and learning through references to classical mythology and architecture, but here they are showing it through the provenance of the food they grow. Showing off the exotic fruits grown on their estates was often part of a land-owner’s repertoire but it happened backstage in the walled garden. Here the new no-dig kitchen garden is on axis with the house and new apple orchards stretch off to the horizon.
An Architecture For Our Times
The buildings of the past that we most admire tend to be those made in a way that represents something of the spirit of their age. We perceive beauty when we sense materials being worked with artistry and judgement by people working to the best of their abilities in ways appropriate to their times. So what is an appropriate way of building for our time, and what might it say about our culture to future generations?
Pavement Art Gallery
Congratulations to Patrick McEvoy of our London office whose Pavement Art Gallery proposal is one of 3 winners in a competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture to design a temporary public space for a site within the square mile of the City of London.
Patrick McEvoy Bench - Here Lies Geofrey Barkington
Le Corbusier's Cité Frugès vs Poundbury
Poundbury - What's not to like?
Hans Döllgast - Post-war Reconstruction in Munich
Emil Steffann - St Laurentius, Munich
A Ride Around Berlin
Rural Architecture - Barns in Charente
Between The Earth And The Sky
Marseille Architecture - Modernism in a landscape
Welsh Vernacular
Swansea Modern
Smithson Obelisk at Shatwell
Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede – Jeffrey Jellicoe
On the way back from London at Easter I stopped by at Runnymede on the River Thames near Windsor to see the John F Kennedy Memorial, a subtle and powerful piece of landscape design byGeoffrey Jellicoe.
The Abbot’s Kitchen at Glastonbury Abbey
I finally got round to visiting Glastonbury Abbey this week, having lived near-by for 5 years and been deterred by the magic-crystal shops, and discovered this little gem of a building. The Abbot’s Kitchen is the only ...
A House in the Country
Rather than thinking about what it would look like, a lot of our discussions revolved around the atmosphere of the house and the way different spaces would relate to one another. Emily is an interior designer, so we each had different, but fortunately ...