Why Britain must stop building yesterday’s homes - Ric Blenkharn
Most people enjoy a story, be it oral, written or visual. A story can capture your imagination.
Within this realm of storytelling lies the joy of reading buildings.
Buildings generally tell stories of how, when and where they were built.
We’ve just come back from a weekend in the Yorkshire Dales staying in a converted barn. A barn that would have been built using locally sourced stone for the walls and roofs. Openings formed using heavy stone lintels and mullions. A roof structure of locally sourced timber. Larger openings created by using heavy baulks of timber to allow access for carts and animals.
The building tells a story of place and familiarity. The landscape is peppered with similar such buildings giving a unique identity to the area. Going back further in time, primitive buildings would again have been formed from what materials were available.
Wattle and daub would have been commonplace-albeit not having the longevity of masonry.
I recall numerous chats with John Oxley, York’s archaeologist, about the joy of seeing living history through archaeological excavation. John, like me, was keen that the history of buildings was seen as a continuum through time. He encouraged the use of contemporary forms and materials to state that they were of our time rather than of a bygone age.
York is a great city to witness the passage of time through buildings. From the numerous timber framed buildings that shape the city centre, to the robust stone churches through to Georgian and Victorian buildings.
These buildings explain what materials were available at that time. Elements such as small paned windows showing that glass was only available at small sizes. Yet, where do we sit today in this timeline of history?
The majority of new houses are built of brick with double pitched roofs and mock Victorian or Georgian windows. They feature dummy chimney stacks and UPVC doors styled to ape a traditional timber panelled door.
Perhaps the story here is one of nostalgia, people wanting to recreate the past. But why? Can’t we offer a meaningful and relevant style of buildings to reflect our time? To embrace green technology in all forms which undoubtedly will change our visual landscape.
Storytelling to me is key to creating a true sense of time and place. As an example, I have designed a number of NPPF Paragraph 84 houses – ‘homes of exceptional design in the open countryside.’
Each one has told a story relating to place, client brief and technology. A story so compelling that each home is unique, yet giving a feeling that ‘it was meant to be’.
Sitting as a panel member with Design Yorkshire, I have seen numerous ideas being told through stories. The stronger the narrative the more complex the brief and context, the more telling the end result.
My wish is that we keep true to the story telling of our time, so that we create a relevant visual history of evolution, making homes and buildings clearly of the time we live in.
We can and should relish this challenge to create distinctive places to inhabit rather than build a poor pastiche of a bygone era.