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Rule A
concerned the tie beam lap dovetail joint. This detail was used in almost all buildings
with tie beams and wall plates (except crucks) in England & Wales from C13 to C19, whereas
in Germany and France they used the anchor beam.
Rule B
was the bay system. This refers to the interaction between structure and plan – where
cross frames supported and tied the structure, but at the same time they divided the plan. In
Germany and France there was a different system.
Rule C
was the direction of the upper face. The upper face of the internal cross frames faced
into the middle/heated room. Although this systematic relationship between structure and
plan was totally arbitrary Harris said it was ubiquitous in Europe and had even travelled to
North America.
Rule D
was converting trees into beams. Harris explained that the symmetry of beams in the
tree was translated into “a congruent symmetry” in the building. The tree was “unfolded”
into the building. Basically the carpenter converted trees into beams, beams into frames and
frames into a hierarchy of spaces with social or cultural meaning: or the carpenter translated
nature into culture.
Harris highlighted the regional distribution of timber construction with specific reference to
the cruck frame and the aisled barn. He also talked briefly about the development of new
timber frames today. He finished by talking about Gold medal architecture in the shape of
the Downland Gridshell 2002, by Edward Cullinan, at the Weald & Downland Open Air
Museum.
The next speaker was David Grech, an Architect and Historic Places Advisor for the East of
England, from Historic England. His presentation was entitled:
Contemporary Architecture in
a Vernacular Context
.
Grech began by talking about the vernacular context. He started by describing it as a rural or
agrarian context and having a village setting. The vernacular context could be urban,
however, and he referred to Cambridge, which he dubbed as ‘vernacular town and polite
gown’ - with Kings College Chapel perhaps being the prime example of the latter. The context
could also be industrial.
There has been a long established tradition of replicating vernacular cottages. Grech cited
examples: the work of John Nash at Blaise Hamlet in 1812; the Arts and Crafts Movement;
and the work of Ernest Grimson, at Stoneywell, in 1899. Despite this of tradition, replication
made no contribution to the evolution of vernacular architecture.
He referred to the Vernacular Zone (Brunskill) and said that since all buildings today were
professionally designed that meant none of them were vernacular. The important elements
of vernacular buildings were identified as: the urban grain of the place; the siting of buildings
in that place; the scale, form and massing of the buildings; the window to wall ratio; and the
colour and texture of materials.