JDDK Millmount News - Winter Edition 2023 - Magazine - Page 12
THE DESIGN
Arts & Crafts:
The human experience
and contemporary
architecture
William Morris, whose timeless designs feature
as part of the interiors of homes across the world,
famously declared, “have nothing in your house
which you do not know to be useful or believe to
be beautiful”. Morris, alongside other artists such
as John Ruskin, is still celebrated for his role in
inspiring the Arts and Crafts Movement, which
grew to become an international trend born out of
mid-19th century Britain.
Brought to life by many architects over the years such as
Edwin Lutyens and William Richard Lethaby, the movement
has had a signi昀椀cant in昀氀uence on architecture and design. It
began in response to the rise in factory production of 19th
century, at a time when the decorative arts was awarded
relatively low status and marked a change in how society
valued how things were made.
The in昀氀uence of the Arts and Crafts core principles is not
restricted to the past. Today, they continue to in昀氀uence
the design of buildings that go on to have a sense of place
and are expressive, being able to communicate with their
users. Recently, we have seen how projects like ‘Humanise’
are acknowledging people’s desires for better connections
to our built environment, and for buildings to bring joy for
hundreds of years to come, instead of building for short-term
commercial gain.
Our founder, Jane Darbyshire, was heavily inspired by the Arts
and Crafts movement in her architecture, and over 35 years
since JDDK was established, some of our projects are still
in昀氀uenced by the movement today.
Here, we explore its lasting legacy, and how the human
experience remains at the forefront of our decision making
in design, to make sure we always create buildings that are
rooted in their location and have a lasting impression with
everyone that passes through them.
12 Millmount. Winter 2023.
Alison Thornton-Sykes,
Principal Architect
Nicky Watson RIBA,
Director
The look and feel
Many well-known Arts and Crafts buildings, such as Blackwells in the
Lake District, embody how we typically envision how buildings that are
inspired by the movement might look. However Arts and Crafts is not
only a stylistic movement, and applying the principles of Arts and Craft
design in contemporary architecture does not mean slavishly following
an architectural style, or look, of the past. In fact, one of the core
principles of the movement was to be free of an imposed architectural
style. Instead, applying Arts and Crafts thinking creates architecture
that: responds to its place; is well crafted in its construction; and meets
the needs and values of its inhabitants. It is those things that drive how
a building looks and feels as well as enabling a building to communicate
with its users.
For example, views and how they are framed by windows or open glass,
anchor a building in its landscape. And a landscape can be ampli昀椀ed by
the 昀氀ow of a space, using local materials to hold a building in keeping
with its surroundings. These characteristics communicate, speaking to
you as part of your experience when you’re within a space, and good
design vitally creates a dialogue between place, building and people.