JDDK Millmount News - Winter Edition 2023 - Magazine - Page 14
THE DESIGN
The Arts and Crafts approach
in contemporary in practice
We have been privileged to work on some Arts and Crafts
movement buildings, such as Jesmond Dene House, where as well
as conservation of the old, we have been able to respond to the
original architecture, in the spirit of the movement, with modern
extensions where natural materials and the skills of craftsmanship
are celebrated. However, it is also interesting to look at some of our
buildings which aren’t obviously Arts and Crafts at 昀椀rst glance but
have design principles shared with the Arts and Crafts movement,
that lift the design to be something special.
Rivergreen Centre
The Rivergreen Centre’s architecture has a contemporary look but
embodies many of the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement.
The building communicates with its users, thoughtfully expressing
the materials it is made of and their careful detailing telling the
viewer how the building “works”. A vast temperature controlling
rammed earth wall was created from site materials, and sits
alongside the exposed timber structure, connecting users of the
building to the outside. Stained glass windows bring ornament into
functionality - a classic Arts and Crafts design technique.
How buildings communicate over a lifetime
Albert School
A recently completed scheme in Sunderland, Albert School, is a
restoration project which saw the conversion of an old school
building into homes for vulnerable adults. The original Victorian
building remains alongside new contemporary extensions,
designed with Arts and Crafts principles throughout. A cream
coloured brick is a modern response to the Victorian red brick, and it
has been detailed with 3-dimensional patterning that brings simple
and human scale ornament to the building in an modern way. The
roof parapets and eaves are crisply detailed, the roof incorporating
modern photovoltaics. The apartments are designed with visual
and physical connections to the central garden and treed landscape
surrounding the site. These details together create a multi-sensory
experience for the user and help them to feel connected to their
space in a way that enriches quality of life.
A 昀椀nished building speaks back to the people using it, for decades
after it was built. Each detail can and should communicate
something about where the building is and where its features have
come from – its sense of place. Design can root a building in its
local vernacular, and we design in response to that context. The
enduring qualities of design are a form of communication and
build those all-important connections between building, place and
people.
Many buildings today were designed for one purpose and the
architects could never have imagined how they would end up
being used in the future. A stately home might be converted into
a wedding venue, a brewery may be converted into an of昀椀ce, or a
church into a restaurant. Architecture is simply a platform for the
human experience and the fundamentals of the Arts and Crafts
movement only enhance this, using its guiding principles to relate
the building to its context and provoke a meaningful and positive
human response to spaces and places.
Albert School housing, Sunderland
Watch Alison and Nicky discuss
the in昀氀uence of Arts and Crafts
on contemporary architecture
Watch now
14 Millmount. Winter 2023.