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emphasised that siting and planning are as important as aesthetic design. Eastwood said
architecture had influenced planning policy in Skye, which was the opposite of the IOM
experience.
Architecture was the outcome of socials and environmental conditions, she said. Dualchas
was creating architecture that contributed to a sense of place and Rural Design was promoting
a more transitionary architecture.
The final presentation of the morning was by Jerry Spencer: a chartered planner, urban
designer and heritage advisor, from Jerry Spencer Associates Ltd. in Cheshire. His
presentation was entitled
Vernacular Urban Form and the Eden Design Guide
.
The growth of the car and new buildings like supermarkets were part of modern life. Local
politics and Planning tended to be conservative, so Spencer had been commissioned to
produce a design guide.
As an undergraduate, Spencer had studied urban geography at Glasgow and urban design at
Westminster. He also had a post graduate diploma in Town Planning. His definition of
vernacular was: how places evolved when their design and layout is controlled by the
community rather than a higher authority.
Urban form was a key determinant: it was more significant than the form of most secular
buildings. As an example, he cited Su Nuraxi, a nuragic settlement at Barumini in Sardinia.
Here individual buildings were subsumed by the pre horse and cart urban form. The whole
was greater than the sum of its parts. Consequently, Spencer thought that in order to achieve
a revival of the vernacular, attention may need to be paid to the design of the urban form as
much as the individual building.
The traditional house had a simple form, but it changed to suit individual needs. The huts on
Vancouver Island were an example of this. Spencer then looked at squatter towns and asked
whether they were vernacular. Certainly in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro buildings have been
personalised by the colour of their elevations.
Spencer felt that with modern mixed use developments often the whole is not greater than
the sum of its parts. Buildings do not enclose space: they were surrounded by space instead.
This meant that space was not used and often the development was characterised by sporadic
design.
Spencer contrasted vernacular urban form from modern mix use developments. Vernacular
urban form was influenced by available materials, the climate and the need for security. The
buildings may be tightly clustered as a result of there being limited development land. The
clustering may also be a response to the low mobility of residents. The way the buildings are
arranged can very often help to define communal open space: for business, religious and
social activity. There tends to be little variation in building typology, but there is a high level
of adaptability and personalisation. With vernacular urban form the whole is almost always
greater than the sum of the parts.