Tag Archives: local distinctiveness

FANN-XI: Some Answers

If you’re here because you saw the Ruralise board in the FANN-XI architecture festival exhibition at the Forum (FANN-Board-Ruralise-110909), it occurs to me you might actually be expecting some answers to the rhetorical questions I used to give a flavour … Continue reading

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Time Out…

We took a half day out of the office at Lucas Hickman Smith last week, to go and look at and talk about buildings…and have lunch, of course! Tibby’s Triangle in Southwold, a Hopkins Homes development designed by Ash Sakula, … Continue reading

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Frampton and Pallasmaa on Regionalism

Given the theme of local distinctiveness I’ve been kicking around recently on Ruralise, I thought I should finally get round to re-reading the only ‘proper’ architectural writing I can call to mind on the subject – Kenneth Frampton’s 1983 essay … Continue reading

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On ‘Fitting In’

I recently attended a ‘stakeholder workshop’ on South Norfolk’s new draft design guide being prepared by the Council’s own Design and Conservation team and Tibbalds. It was an interesting session. I was quite encouraged at the widely held opinion in … Continue reading

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Bijou Beach-Huts

I was in Walberswick at the weekend – in an end-of-term, pre-holiday sort of mood. The tar-black huts along the staithe at Southwold are enough to make you want to reach for a hammer and nails and build something – … Continue reading

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Contemporary Vernacular?

Coming back to the issue of special and normal buildings (as I did in the last post), put me in mind of a house which I drive past occasionally on my way up to Holkham Hall, where Lucas Hickman Smith … Continue reading

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The Cork Rural Design Guide

In a recent post I talked about the impact that local ‘design guides’ might have on how developers approach the design of new housing, and previously I’d talked a bit about the Norfolk Residential Design Guide. I noted that aside … Continue reading

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On ‘Local Distinctiveness’

In my previous post I reflected on the complex issue of ‘local distinctiveness’. Back in 2006 I attended a seminar run by the English Historic Towns Forum entitled ‘Designing for Housing Growth: Sustaining Historic Towns’, and was quite alarmed by … Continue reading

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Local Materials Faux Pas

While writing the recent posts on local building materials, I was thinking about an estate in Wymondham called Whispering Oaks. The development is set at the very northern tip of the town, over a mile from the town centre and … Continue reading

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Building Norfolk

Matthew Rice’s book ‘Building Norfolk’ attracted quite a lot of attention when it was published last year; not surprisingly. It is a beautiful book full of exuberant, colourful drawings. I could write a whole other post, lamenting the death of … Continue reading

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