House

One of my great frustrations in this country is our attitude to architecture. In fact, if you unpick our attitude to architecture what we might find there are the foundations for most of our contemporary national problems; thinking surrounding architecture is symptomatic of a greater issue at the heart of British identity.

By ‘we’ I’m not really referring to the population or to architects and designers as there are many examples of inspiring ideas, some built and some on the page conjured up on home turf. Despite years of conditioning created by inhabiting the floorpans designed some 150 years ago, I also think that the general population are pretty open minded about building design. We want above all places that are warm, cheap to run and happy to live in.

So my first gripe is this; how is it that but a few companies are responsible for the majority of major residential building developments up and down the country? Companies that regurgitate lazy designs that no longer fit our contemporary living requirements or respond to increasingly acute environmental pressures such as rising water levels. I find it frustrating that centrally, our country is not harnessing the innovation and skill set available and drawing on inspirational models of living already established in mainland Europe and beyond.

Through exploring my own responses to the environments and issues that surround me, the constructed landscape is something that crops up frequently. I have started to experiment with texture and form and aim to distil these ideas into three dimensional symbols that champion human ingenuity and craftsmanship.