Day Conference Report - New vernacular By Keith Parsons

12 / 16

Warehouse, Titanic Hotel scheme in Stanley Dock, Liverpool. Although this had been a vast
project the aims had been to create a destination whilst at the same time conserving the
significance of the building. The scheme had been a great success and was as an example of
good practice in heritage-led regeneration. The award was accepted on behalf of the project
team by John Hinchliffe, of John Hinchliffe Associates.
The afternoon session included presentations on the theme of Materials and Design. The first
presentation was by Richard Harris, Course Director for the MSc Timber Building Conservation
at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum. His topic was Timber.
Harris began with the brief for his presentation, stressing the point about looking at how the
vernacular is still developing today, without the influence of style or fashion. He then
considered perceptions of the vernacular with a quote: “Vernacular architecture is
fundamentally linked to cultural context.” The quote was from Marcel Vellinga, who had
made the key note presentation in the morning. Harris explored this theme by explaining
what the quote meant. In the 18th century vernacular architecture tended to be primitive
huts and was about the spirit of the place, whereas in the 19th century arguably it could be
linked to the Picturesque and the idea of the rural idyll. He suggested that the Arts and Crafts
Movement was the context for vernacular buildings in 20th century and asked whether the
Eco home and “sustainability” were the context in the 21st century.
The question was: what comes next? It was important to understand how the vernacular had
developed over time. Harris considered the issues of technology, availability of materials and
climate and asked whether these were drivers or constraints. In identical conditions of
technology, availability of materials and climate, the form and construction of vernacular
buildings are determined by culture: so it was important to consider what culture was, how
it was created and how it was transmitted.
There were certain aspects that defined our everyday culture: language, clothing, food,
narrative and hierarchy. An example of cultural difference that Harris cited was how in
German the verb came at the end of the sentence. Culture depends on a system or rules of
procedure. The rules themselves are essentially arbitrary, however, so we should not ask
why.
Builders were not problem solvers, but buildings were solutions. Harris talked about how we
translated trees into a beams and asked: which way up is a post? In the UK we turned them
upside down, but in Japan they had them the right way up. The question of form was related
to status: wings, gables and chevrons were examples of this. There was a hierarchy of spaces
in a house: the hall, the parlour …etcetera and this hierarchy had its origins in medieval times.
We had abandoned this hierarchy now, which means we are the first generation to abandon
housing culture.
Harris referred to the dissertation he had written at the AA in 1975. His dissertation had
looked to identify carpentry procedures that were not the product of material/technical
constraints but had been in (near) exclusive use for a long time. In this way he had identified
what he called the Grammar of English Building, which he explained by means of four “rules”.