On time

“Architecture domesticates limitless space…it should likewise domesticate limitless time and allow us to inhabit it”

‘The Eyes of the Skin’

Juhani Pallasmaa

The narrative quality of architecture - the associations and stories connected to buildings and locations - often excites our imagination as much as the physical traces, remnants and built form.

Through working on or living in existing buildings, we become part of their timeline - which in turn gives both a direct connection to past inhabitants and a sense of being involved in something greater than ourselves.

We have worked on many properties that have existed for several hundred years, where the associated historical value is every bit as captivating as the tangible physical fabric. Our Cotswold manor house project was home to a Knight of Agincourt who fought with Henry V at Agincourt, and whose effigy is in the nearby church. Another was inhabited by a romantic poet and one by an international cricketer, some have witnessed Civil War skirmishes, while others have been used to shelter animals and survived fires and near dereliction.

Wherever possible, our aim as architects is to enhance these past connections through a careful process of revealing or layering - seeking to create a rich collage unique to a specific place - while allowing the building to go on creating stories for generations to come.

The same approach applies when we create a new building, where we are enabling a new story to be written and, learning from our experience of working on traditional properties, we draw inspiration from the way natural materials invite the traces and marks of human life, amplify a sense of place and give us a feeling of interrelatedness.